We will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. (Exodus 15:1-2)

Come, you faithful, raise the strain

Of triumphant gladness!

God has brought His Israel

Into joy from sadness.

The ancient hymn of St. John of Damascus rings bright this morning. Today is a day for us to shout and sing, to feast and rejoice. The gloom of Good Friday is lifted. The darkness of the Easter Vigil has given way to daylight. Death and the devil have been tossed into the Sea. The tomb is open and empty. The seal is broken. The stone is rolled away. Bright angels have replaced the guards. The women proclaim the news. It's almost too good to be true. The Lord is risen! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, never to die again. "Death no longer has mastery over Him."

"The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."

The reference, of course, is to the Exodus and Israel's crossing of the Red Sea. Last night at the Vigil we heard that reading. How the Israelites had their back to the wall with Pharoah's army hot on their heels. Egyptian chariots and horses panting after them, pursuing them to the edge of the sea until their backs were pressed against the water with nowhere to go.

Israel doubted. Their trust in God wavered. They thought they were finished. Dead. Outnumbered and outgunned by Pharoah's army. They blamed Moses. They blamed God. They threatened rebellion. They wanted to surrender and go back to Egypt. They were willing to trade their freedom for slavery in Egypt.

But Moses said to them, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today." Moses stretched out his hand with his wooden staff over the waters of the Red Sea. And the Lord blew His Spirit-ed breath, and the waters of the Red Sea parted. A wall of water formed on their left, and another on their right. The children of Israel crossed between them on dry ground. But the horsemen and chariots of Pharoah got stuck in the mud and drowned when the waters returned.

It was Israel's baptism into Moses, her defining moment of salvation. The Lord showed Himself mighty to save by the hand of Moses. The Lord was their strength, their song, their salvation. "The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea."

What does the parting of the Red Sea have to do with Easter? It is picture, painted in the history of Israel, of what God has worked for the world in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As He did to Pharoah and his horsemen in the Red Sea, so He has done to our sin, to death, and to the devil in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus Christ has gone forward as our Moses, extending his arms over the sea on the wood of the cross. He has gone the way of death ahead of us and made an opening for us. He holds the threatening sea back with His breath and says to us, "Follow me. Walk in my way. Follow me in the way of life through my death." He leads us through the water on dry ground. He leads us through the wilderness to eternal life with Him. And behind us, the devil and His chariots and horsemen - sin, guilt, shame - are swallowed up and drowned in the death of Jesus.

Death is swallowed up in the victory of Jesus. Where O death is your sting? Where, O grave, is your victory? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is Law, but thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Death is a horrible and frightful enemy. Pursuing us. Dogging us all our days. Threatening to overtake us. We hear death's chariots and horsemen rumbling behind us. Closing in fast. His sword is drawn. He seeks to destroy us, to devour us. We feel cornered, trapped like the children of Israel at the edge of the sea. The biological clock ticks, ticks, ticks off the precious seconds of life. Eyes weaken. Muscles grow weaker. Bones grow brittle. Wounds heal more slowly. Arteries clog. Blood vessels balloon. A strand of DNA glitches, a cancer cell begins its hellish division. Bullets hit bystanders, innocent or not. A drunken driver spins out of control on the freeway. Tornadoes rip through towns. Earthquakes topple buildings. Floods and fires sweep away lives. The enemy is real, make no mistake.

The devil tries to trick us into cutting a deal with death. "Death is your friend," he says. "Not your enemy." Embrace it. Euthanasia - "Good death." He holds out deathstyles instead of lifestyles - immorality, greed, idolatry. He turns us to false gods, idols that cannot save. Quack cures and gimmicks. Science and technology hold out hope for life, but they can't hold back death's army. The chemistry that cures also kills. The antibiotics that destroy one germ produce another more stubborn than the first. Today's virus is tomorrow's epidemic. The chemotherapy that kills the cancer also kills the patient. The machines that ease our work and prolong our lives also pollute the environment and burn our resources. The grip of the death is too strong. Our sin too great. Our wound is fatal. We are helpless, defeated, enslaved by the very things that promise freedom and life. Our backs are to the wall, death in front of us like a sea, the evil one hot on our heels in pursuit.

But the Lord is a mighty warrior. His right hand is majestic in power. His right hand shatters the enemy. His right hand reaches down from heaven to crush the Serpent, the Deceiver and Father of Lies. He stretched his hands out on the wood of the cross. He goes into hand-to-hand with the old evil foe on his own turf and wins the day. He conquers death by dying. For Jesus, death was not His defeat; death was His victory and Death's defeat.

On the third day, the first day of a new week, the first day of the new creation, the warrior-God emerges a conquering hero, proudly bearing his wounds, the battle scars of His cross, in glorious triumph. Death is defeated. Captivity is led captive through the streets of hell. Christ has conquered.

Christ is risen, and Death is overthrown.

Christ is risen, and the devils have fallen.

Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.

Christ is risen, and Life reigns. (St. John Chrysostom)

O what joy this Day brings! Jesus Christ is risen! The fiercest of our enemies, the very enemies that threaten our lives lie vanquished, conquered by Christ. With a breath of Absolution, He forgives our sins, drowning them in the water of His Baptism where they sink like lead in the mighty waters. With a breath, He breathes new life into us, defeating the death in us and raising us in His resurrection. With a breath He will raise us from our graves on the last day and give our bodies eternal life.

O what comfort and hope this Day brings! The only One who could condemn us, has died for us and has been raised to life again. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who are baptized into the sea of His death, for those who lay hold of His victory by faith in Him. Christ is the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep; the beginning of the resurrection in which not one dead will remain in the grave. Here is comfort for the grieving parent, the widow and widower, for all whose loved ones have fallen asleep in Jesus. Here is hope for those whose death seems so near, so inevitable, for those whose mortality mocks them in the mirror every morning. "I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh will I see God." (Job 19:25)

O what glorious splendor this Day brings! The Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings. In Christ there is healing for your mind, your body, and your soul. There is wine and oil for your wounds.

Be renewed in your Baptism today. In Baptism you were made a new creation in Christ. The old has gone; the new has come! Hear Christ's forgiveness today spoken against your sin and know for certain that your sins are drowned in the flood of His death. Learn to live in the freedom of His resurrection. Death cannot harm you. Learn to see yourselves as God sees you - dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Come, be refreshed at His table - the Supper of His Body and Blood, His death and His life, here offered as your food and drink. They are your strength and sustainance. Let the Body and Blood of Christ heal your wounds - the wounds you have inflicted on yourself, and the wounds inflicted on you by others. Let Him be the chemotherapy that kills the death within you, and that also gives you life in abundance.

Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you -

majestic in holiness,

awesome in glory,

working wonders,

hanging dead on a cross,

rising from the dead,

lording your life over death,

forgiving sin,

giving life,

granting salvation.

Christ Jesus is your strength and your song; he has become your salvation.

To Him be glory and honor, now and forever.

Amen.