I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the very modern hymns.
Today’s song is Ain’t No Grave It’s from 2019.
I think of it as a very modern song, and the version in the video is. But it’s an old song too. Claude Ely said he composed the song in 1934, at age 12, while sick with tuberculosis. And it was first recorded and released in 1943 by gospel singer Bozie Sturdivant.
I must confess, I don’t understand all of the lyrics, but I like the general flavour of the song. So, is it about our resurrection or that of Jesus? Well it’s both, because the death and resurrection of Jesus makes our resurrection to eternal life possible.
Even if Jesus didn’t die and rise, it seems clear from Scripture that humans would die but rise, but it would be a resurrection to judgement and eternal punishment. That wouldn’t be something to rejoice about. But if you know that you’re saved, safe, and heaven bound, the resurrection is something to rejoice about and to look forward to.
I used to wonder what the point of a physical resurrection was. Don’t you go to be with Jesus when you die anyway? But the general resurrection is a huge celebration of the defeat of death. We know little about the “intermediate state” that we’ll be in when we die. Much of the New Testament focus is on the return of Christ and the general resurrection when everything in the New Heavens and New Earth will be wonderful. And I’ll be much more handsome, but everyone else will be too 😂.
Anyway, my favourite line from the song is the following:
If you walked out of the grave, I’m walking too.
The resurrection was a key part of the New Testament Christian message. If Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, the church might not have even existed. Why follow someone who predicts his death and resurrection in three days if He didn’t rise. And why invent and spread a message of resurrection to the Jews who believed that no-one will be raised until the last day – or to the Greeks who saw little point in a physical resurrection. But the apostles preached it because they witnessed it, as did over 500 other people. So, when Paul spoke to the Greek philosophers at Athens, here’s what he said:
Acts 17:31-32
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
If Paul and the other apostles wanted to invent a religion, telling everyone that its founder was crucified and rose in three days wouldn’t have been a good strategy. In fact, early depictions of Christ avoided showing him on a cross, and people were in a position to meet and interview the hundreds of witnesses to the resurrection. So, if it was a lie, it wouldn’t have been difficult to expose it.
I sometimes use the following illustration – suppose that a Roman Catholic here in Limerick (Ireland) went around saying that Pope John Paul II raised 10 people from the dead in Limerick back in 1979. Would Roman Catholics support such a story? Surely, the Roman Catholics in Limerick would be among the first to expose it as a lie. And if Christ hadn’t risen, surely his followers would have squashed any rumours or legends that might expose them to ridicule and just focus on the ethical teachings of Jesus. But Jesus did rise, which is why, 2026 is 2026 years since the most significant event in history. And today it’s given rise to a new U2 EP – Easter Lily. If I were in U2, I’d say, just for the challenge, let’s see if we can write a few songs that people would actually sing in church. If they did, their music might end up being remembered for centuries to come, like Charles Wesley’s hymns. And they might perform a concert in heaven.
Anyway, here are some other versions of todays hymn. Some of the older ones are quite different, both lyrically and musically.
And there are numerous debates etc. on the resurrection on YouTube. I like some that put the facts concisely, like the following:
Hibernia Gospel 