“There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.”
--Psalm 118: 15, 21-23
Think about what you hear as you listen to the Easter story:
-You hear shouts of praise as Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem.
-You hear Jesus speaking of his own death as he lovingly serves his disciples at The Last Supper.
-You experience the quiet of the garden, where Jesus prayed and was betrayed.
-The quiet is broken by angry shouts as Jesus is turned over for trial—beaten, scourged and humiliated.
-You hear the sad sounds of a funeral dirge, as Jesus dies on the cross and is laid in a tomb.
Gratefully, that funeral dirge gives way to a joyous shout, “He is risen! We have seen him!” The disciples discovered what we must also discover—the power of God is greater than anything, even death. I like how one preacher put it once: ‘What death did to Jesus is nothing compared to what Jesus did to death.” If death can be defeated, nothing can stand against the victorious power of our risen Christ.
In 1973, when the African nation of Uganda was steeped in violent conflict, three men were to be executed one day in front of thousands in a sports stadium. Bishop Festo Kivengere was permitted to talk with the three men shortly before. The bishop felt he had no words for them, expecting them to be filled with rage for what was about to happen. What he found was quite different. Their faces were alight with an unmistakable glow and radiance. As they had sat in prison, each had asked Jesus into their hearts. To them, heaven was open and nothing could stand between them and God. The three men faced their death with such peace and joy that the military men stood there, guns cocked, with bewilderment on their faces. Later, when the bishop shared their testimony in the parish of one of the martyrs, the congregation erupted in a great song of praise to Jesus.
The reality of Christ’s power and the salvation it brings gave the three African martyrs songs of victory, though death stared them in the face. God’s salvation had the psalmist singing a glad song of victory. We cannot be ultimately defeated, because Christ, once rejected, has conquered death and become our strength and
salvation.
How about you? For what can YOU sing glad songs of victory? What has the Lord done that is marvelous in your eyes? May the songs of victory never cease from our lips!
