Death Was Arrested

"Alone in my sorrow and dead in my sin" is the starting point, and the next lines supply the turn: "Your love made a way to let mercy come in, when death was arrested and my life began." The title phrase repeats at the end of each verse so that every stage of the story leads back to the same moment.

The second verse piles up reversals. "Ash was redeemed, only beauty remains" echoes Isaiah 61:3, "my orphan heart was given a name" matches Romans 8:15, and "my mourning grew quiet, my feet rose to dance" recalls Psalm 30:11. The third verse speaks of chains released, a "shame" that was "a ransom He faithfully bore," and a debt cancelled, with Colossians 2:14 behind it, so that the singer is now called "His friend."

The chorus is a plain thanksgiving, "Your grace so free washes over me; you have made me new, now life begins with You." A verse on the crucifixion, "our Savior displayed on a criminal's cross, darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost," leads to the resurrection, "but then Jesus arose with our freedom in hand." The finale invites "all the redeemed" to sing "we're free, forever we're free."