Easter Prayer of Praise

Lord Jesus Christ, Risen One, we give You praise this Easter morning as we rejoice in Your resurrection.

We give You praise, Risen One, Messiah. In Your birth You were declared the heir of David, the King who would rule over all things and whose kingdom would have no end. In Your resurrection God vindicated this claim and seated You at His right hand. From there You now rule over all things, bringing them under Your dominion, destroying every enemy. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Teach us, Anointed One, to live as loyal citizens of Your heavenly kingdom and to be ambassadors of its truth and peace in this age.

We give You praise, Risen One, victorious over death. From Adam until this Easter morning, death reigned. It swallowed all of mankind. It swallowed You up. Yet in Your divine power and perfect righteousness, Hades could not lay claim to You. In Your resurrection You tore open death’s gullet and emerged, leading a victorious train of souls set free from death. In that resurrection we are given assurance that, if we are in You, so we will be raised. Teach us, Living One, to live boldly with the confidence of those over whom the grave no longer has dominion.

We give You praise, Risen One, killed for our trespasses and raised for our justification. In Your new life we find the verdict for our sin: it has been paid in full. You have triumphed over our guilt. You have lived as a second Adam, offering us a heritage of innocence and righteousness. You now plead our case before Your Father, showing Your scarred wrists when Satan would accuse us and speaking the power of Your blood to pay for our evils. Teach us to recognize in our sin a beast defanged, no longer able to destroy us, and call us to join with You in the victorious life of righteousness You now offer by Your grace.

We give You praise, Risen One, who gives the Holy Spirit. The power that worked in Your dead limbs to rouse them once more with life is the same power You now pour into our hearts. Your presence, while absent from us in flesh, has been placed inside of us. You had to depart that another might come, and that in Him we might experience Your resurrection life even in these dying bodies. Teach us to walk in freedom and hope that You are at work in us and that You will carry that work on to completion.

We give You praise, Risen One, who will return. In Your resurrection You brought life into this world; You will come back one day to finally put an end to death. Your victory will be complete. Your reign will be made visible. Your verdict of righteousness imputed to us will finally be joined with true righteousness in our beings. Our bodies will be raised like Yours, imperishable and so filled by the Holy Spirit that creation itself will give thanks for what its labor pains have finally seen born. Teach us to walk in mindfulness of that day, doing the work of new creation in the midst of this old one until the day when You complete the work You began at Easter and all things are made new.

AMEN