Charles Wesley wrote this hymn in 1739, less than a year after his Aldersgate conversion. It was first sung in the Foundry Meeting House, an old iron foundry in London that Wesley converted to religious purposes.

Wesley’s original version had eleven stanzas, but did not have the Alleluias that distinguish it today. Some hymns perfectly capture the spirit of their season, which is true of this hymn. Both hymn tunes associated with this hymn (“Easter Hymn” and “Llanfair”) have solid and driving rhythms that make us want to “raise the rafters” with joyful singing. The first line, “Christ the Lord is risen today,” sets the tone and tells us what we are celebrating. “Raise your joys and triumphs high” suggests how to celebrate. The Alleluias soar.

The hymn portrays both the resurrection and the crucifixion. It tells us, "Love’s redeeming work is done, fought the fight, the battle won.” It says, “Death in vain forbids him rise.” But the resurrection is the dominant theme, as we would expect in an Easter hymn.

However, the hymn we have today differs from the one that Charles Wesley wrote. The original hymn had no Alleluias. It seems as if the hand of God directed what came next. Someone whose name has been lost in time decided to set the words to the tune that we now use, a tune by a composer whose name has also been lost in time. But the words didn’t fit the tune, so he added the Alleluias to make it fit.

The perfect Easter hymn came into being through the work of three different people who probably never met. It is unlikely that any of the three had any idea how much their hymn would add to our celebration of Easter.

While this hymn is primarily reserved for Easter Sunday morning worship, it remains a reminder throughout the year that “made like Him, like Him, we rise, ours the cross, the grave, the skies!”