Grave Robber

What is your favorite Easter song? My favorite Easter song was performed by Petra, a music group regarded as the one of the foundations of Christian rock and contemporary Christian music. The song is titled, Grave Robber, and was written by Petra band member Bob Hartman.

There’s a step that we all take alone
An appointment we have with the great unknown
Like a vapor this life is just waiting to pass
Like the flowers that fade, like the withering grass
But life seems so long and death so complete
And the grave an impossible portion to cheat
But there’s One who has been there and still lives to tell
There is One who has been through both heaven and hell
And the grave will come up empty-handed that day
Jesus will come and steal us away

(Chorus)
Where is the sting, tell me where is the bite
When the grave robber comes like a thief in the night
Where is the victory, where is the prize
When the grave robber comes
And death finally dies

Many still mourn and many still weep
For those that they love who have fallen asleep
But we have this hope though our hearts may still ache
Just one shout from above and they all will awake
And in the reunion of joy we will see
Death will be swallowed in sweet victory

Grave Robber: More Than Just a Song

Grave robber – it sounds more like something out of a world wrestling match than church, doesn’t it? Maybe that is a far more appropriate imagery than a hallelujah or a lilly. Paul says we wrestle – not against flesh and blood – but against powers and principalities. And for centuries, we wrestled against death – and lost.

If I understand what happened on the day that Christ rose from the grave, death died.

Since Adam in the Garden, death had reigned day after day, generation after generation. From the time of a birth, mankind simply waited for the time of a death. From the moment that Adam and Eve buried Abel, people have paused respectfully at tombs, gathered together in cemeteries, planted flowers and gazed and remembered. And death smiled. Laughed. Champion again. Undefeated. Still holding the belts. Longest reigning ever.

And today, if you and I were to visit cemeteries

and look for

 

Grandpa May, whom I never knew

Grandma May

James Thomas, Uncle Wes’ son

Uncle Lloyd

Uncle Herb

Aunt Reba

Aunt Sylvia

Aunt Flossie

Aunt Emma

Uncle Wes

Sharon, a teen-aged girl, and the first funeral I ever officiated

Grandpa

Chuck

Dad

Bama

Grandma

Joe, the one who got away

Dean

Joyce

Jacob

Mom

Your loved one

 

We would be struck by seeing a man, relaxed, waiting, almost anticipating our arrival. Sitting on the headstone. Glistening. White. Radiant.

With a slight smile on his face, he whispers, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

He is not here.

She is not here.

Never was.

Never will be.

 

A Reason for our Hope

For death, you see, not only does not reign – it doesn’t even need to be considered.

Useless.

Impotent.

Stingless. Defeated.

Robbed.

 

And a grin bursts over our faces.

They are not here.

They are risen!