“I am alive forevermore” (Rev. i. 18).
Here is the message of the Christ of the cross and the still more glorious
and precious Christ of the resurrection. It is beautiful and inspiring to
note the touch of light and glory with which these simple words invest the
cross. It is not said I am He that was dead and liveth, but “I am He that
liveth and was dead, but am alive forevermore.” Life is mentioned before
the death. There are two ways of looking at the cross. One is from the
death side and the other from the life side. One is the Ecce Homo and the
other is the glorified Jesus with only the marks of the nails and the
spear. It is thus we are to look at the cross. We are not to carry about
with us the mould of the sepulchre, but the glory of the resurrection. It
is not the Ecce Homo, but the Living Christ. And so our crucifixion is to
be so complete that it shall be lost in our resurrection and we shall even
forget our sorrow and carry with us the light and glory of the eternal
morning. So let us live the death-born life, ever new and full of a life
that can never die, because it is “dead and alive forevermore.”