Click below to hear the song…
THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS
Words & Music by Nancy Gilbert Crowson

[God] disarmed the principalities and powers
that were ranged against us
and made a bold display and public example of them,
in triumphing over them in Him [Jesus] and in it [the cross].
Colossians 2:15 AMP

For us as Christians, Easter should be the most exciting and popular holiday of the year… even beating out Christmas! You may say, “But without Jesus birth He couldn’t have died and been resurrected.” True…but without His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, we would have no sacrifice for our sins, no fellowship with God the Father and no hope of heaven! As a matter of fact, Jesus sacrifice would have been in vain if the resurrection hadn’t taken place.

Let’s go back in time for a moment. Can you imagine how the disciples must have felt when the man they had accepted as Messiah was crucified on a wooden cross like a common criminal? Indeed, He was crucified between two criminals. Jesus had tried to prepare them for this moment, but they hadn’t understood. They just couldn’t fathom such a thing! He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Savior and Deliverer and NOW He was hanging lifeless on a cross. What would happen to them now…to His followers everywhere? They huddled in an upper room in hopelessness and despair. You could have heard a pin drop as they were rendered speechless by the atrocity that had just taken place. Their Deliverer had been himself delivered into the hands of the enemy. Would they be next? The fear and trepidation in the room was almost tangible. Every movement on the street below was suspect! They stayed confined there the entire weekend…watching…waiting… contemplating…grieving.

He had been laid in the empty tomb of one of His benevolent followers. The women in the group went down early Monday morning to anoint the body with spices they had prepared prior to the commencement of Sabbath. But as they arrived, they were startled to see that the huge stone covering the entrance of the tomb had been moved to the side. They had wondered how they would manage to move it. But stranger still was the fact that a man was sitting on the stone…not just any man, but an angel! He told them that Jesus had risen from the dead just as He had said and commissioned them to go and tell the other disciples.

Filled with joyful excitement and fear they hurried quickly on their way. But as they were going, Jesus met them and greeted them with the firm assurance that only He can give…“Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my disciples to go to Galilee and they will see me there.”

Indeed they did see Him there alive and well! Hope was restored, joy was reinstated, victory was secured, not just for the moment, but for eternity! Satan thought he had done Him in. The disciples thought He was gone forever. But…the mouth of an empty tomb continues to shout the TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!