Christ Is Risen

Shane & Shane start "Christ Is Risen" with the first verse of "Amazing Grace" and attach a new refrain to it: "Hallelujah, Christ is risen from the grave." Old hymn and Easter proclamation are sung as one confession, with the lost-and-found language of grace explained by the empty tomb.

The second verse supplies pictures of the change that follows, "The prodigal is welcomed home / The sinner now a saint," because "the God who died came back to life." Then the song confronts death directly. "O death, where is your sting? / O fear, where is your power?" it asks, and answers that the "mighty King of kings has disarmed you," leaving "eternal life" as ours. The final turn looks ahead to the day of being called into "heaven's sweet embrace," when the singer expects to "see Your scars, Your open arms."

The taunt to death is lifted from 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, the welcomed prodigal comes from Luke 15:20, and the scars recall the risen Christ showing his wounds in John 20:27.