William and Gloria Gaither wrote this song in the late 1960s. Around this time, they were pregnant with their third child. This was a troubling time for them. Gloria was dealing with mononucleosis. She also feared bringing a child into the world with the immorality taking hold.
Then, one night on New Year’s Eve, she sat in her living room, and her emotions of fear consumed her. Then very suddenly, she was filled with a calming peace. She realized in that moment, that God was going to work everything out and that everything would be okay. She chose to leave the future in God’s hands.
Remembering how the Holy Spirit had come to comfort them, they wrote this song after their child was born.
This is the first verse and chorus:
God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal and forgive
He lived and died to buy my pardon
An empty grave is there to prove my savior lives
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because He lives
The first verse is a powerful testament to the belief of the christian, and why we believe. And it makes sense that during a time of turmoil, we trust so deeply in the fact that because our Savior is risen. It is all because He suffered and died for us, we have that hope. Because of that simple fact, we have hope for tomorrow, and for eternity.
Matthew 6:25-34 says,
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Here are the next two verses of the song:
How sweet to hold a newborn baby
To feel the pride and joy he gives
But greater still the calm assurance
This child can face uncertain days because He lives
And then one day I’ll cross that river
I’ll fight life’s final war with pain
And then as death gives way to vict’ry
I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives
When we are born, or when we are on our deathbed, we can face whatever may come because He is there. We have the hope of heaven, and the the knowledge that He will take care of us no matter what. There will be times that we will suffer (Matthew 5:45, 1 Peter 4:12). Yet, because of Christ, we have no reason to lose hope in spite of those trials.
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1. http://www.staugustine.com/living/religion/2015-01-29/story-behind-song-because-he-lives
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