Christ Our Hope in Life and Death

Keith and Kristyn Getty structure the whole hymn as question and answer, a catechism set to music: "what is our hope in life and death? Christ alone, Christ alone." Each verse repeats the pattern—asking what holds, what calms, what reward remains—rather than stating conclusions outright, so the certainty has to be arrived at line by line.

The second verse turns from hope to trust under pressure: "who holds our faith when fears arise? Who stands above the stormy trial?"—language that locates grace specifically "in our great Redeemer's blood" rather than in general reassurance. The chorus answers every question the same way regardless of which one is asked, a repetition that's the point rather than a limitation.

The final verse moves past the grave itself: "there we will rise to meet the Lord, then sin and death will be destroyed." It's the one verse that doesn't ask a question first—by then the song has stopped needing to ask, closing instead on a feast that doesn't end, "when Christ is ours forevermore."