Rise, for the Lord is risen

One of the things that’s easy to forget, even as we worship him on a Sunday morning, is the power and preciousness of the doctrine of the resurrection. This, Charles Spurgeon calls “the cornerstone of the entire building of Christianity.”

It is the key-stone of the arch of our salvation. It would take a volume to set forth all the streams of living water which flow from this one sacred source, the resurrection of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; but to know that he has risen, and to have fellowship with him as such—communing with the risen Saviour by possessing a risen life—seeing him leave the tomb by leaving the tomb of worldliness ourselves, this is even still more precious.[1. From Morning and Evening, November 22 (evening).]

For Spurgeon—and, of course, all faithful Christians from the moment of his resurrection to this day—the resurrection is not only something to be believed, but a truth through which to live. Knowing the risen Christ is the key to life, for if he is risen, then we who believe in him are risen with him. Spurgeon continues:

To know a crucified Saviour as having crucified all my sins, is a high degree of knowledge; but to know a risen Saviour as having justified me, and to realize that he has bestowed upon me new life, having given me to be a new creature through his own newness of life, this is a noble style of experience: short of it, none ought to rest satisfied. May you both “know him, and the power of his resurrection.” Why should souls who are quickened with Jesus, wear the grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is risen.

Friends, it is not enough to know of Christ—we need more than facts, more than ethical teachings, more than compelling stories and even signs and wonders. We must know him and the power of his resurrection. There is no freedom without this; there is no release from our bondage to sin. We remain lost in worldliness and unbelief and sin.

But our life comes from his life—risen because he is risen. And that is most certainly worth celebrating.