Charles Wesley, a genius for expressing a heart-deep Anglicanism, wrote over six and a half thousand hymns that cover the Christian year. This verse below is a typical Wesley stanza for Easter, Resurrection Day.
Come, let us with our Lord arise,
Come, let us with our Lord arise,
our Lord who made both earth and skies,
who died to save the world he made
and rose triumphant from the dead;
he rose, the prince of life and peace,
and stamped the day for ever his.
who died to save the world he made
and rose triumphant from the dead;
he rose, the prince of life and peace,
and stamped the day for ever his.
What struck me on hearing this hymn was the first and last lines. I love the force of the word 'stamped' because it conveys the power of His Resurrection to set aside that first day of the week as a regular Resurrection Day for the church and the world. This day, this time has His seal, his imprimaturial ownership upon it. The stamp upon this day pervades all time, which has become redemptive time, the Day that the Lord has made, the Day of Deliverance, the end of any pretensions of darkness and death to be the final word. God's final life-giving word is now fully revealed in the Risen One, Jesus Christ.
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