“Alleluia! Now we cry to our King immortal, who, triumphant, burst the bars of the tomb’s dark portal.” 

The 8th century hymn, Come, You Faithful, by John of Damascus, has been sung during the Easter season for well over a thousand years, and for good reason! In the first stanza of this hymn the image of God rescuing His people from bondage in Egypt through the Red Sea is set before our eyes, and then the remaining stanzas connect the Red Sea deliverance to Christ’s Resurrection and our deliverance from sin and death. Given our recently commissioned artwork placed on the walls, it seems appropriate to meditate on how the deliverance at the Red Sea connects to Easter.

The Israelites were in bondage and slavery to the Egyptians, and were freed from their bondage during the Passover, when God killed the firstborn sons of the Egyptians and passed over the Israelite households who had slaughtered a spotless male lamb. Christ is our Passover Lamb, the spotless Lamb of God, the first-born beloved Son of the Father, whose blood was shed so that eternal death may pass over us.

The Israelites were led into the wilderness, and the Lord divided the waters of the Red Sea so that the Israelites could pass through the waters, while the Egyptians were drowned behind them. We Christians are rescued from sin and death when we pass through the waters of baptism, and our old sinful nature is drowned behind us. We are like the Israelites, crossing through the Red Sea, the enemy is chasing us, the Lord is conquering our foes, and freedom is on the other side of the water.

The Lord leads us throughout our wanderings in this desert on earth from death to life. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is therefore a deliverance as bright as the sunrise, and gladens our wearied hearts. He gives peace to the troubled heart when we see that the tomb could not hold Him in! The prisonhouse of death has been rent asunder by our immortal King, so that just as death cannot hold Him, neither can it hold us! God has brought His Israel into Joy from sadness! 

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Pastor Koopman