Because He Lives

I really can't remember how I learned this song, or even whether I've ever sung it in communal worship.  I may simply have heard recordings of it, but with its catchy tune and powerful words it has stuck in my mind.  In the UK, it might be better known outside the Anglican church, but it doesn't appear in many British hymn books.   I suspect that it was introduced here through the Billy Graham crusades, as it has appeared in Mission Praise since the first edition in 1983.  The song was sung at Billy Graham's memorial service in 2018.

Because He lives was written by an American Christian couple, Gloria and Bill Gaither, who were important figures in the development of southern Gospel music in the USA.  The forthcoming birth of their third child was part of the inspiration for writing Because He lives.  They wrote the following for The Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (published in 1993):

          "'Because he lives' [1971] was written in the midst of social upheaval,
          threats of war, and betrayals of national and personal trust.  It was
          into this world at such a time that we were bringing our third little
          baby.  Assassinations, drug traffic, and war monopolized the headlines.
          It was in the midst of this kind of uncertainty that the assurance of the
          Lordship of the risen Christ blew across our troubled minds like a
          cooling breeze in the parched desert.  Holding our tiny son in our arms
          we were able to write:
                    'How sweet to hold our newborn baby,
                    and feel the pride, and joy he gives;
                    but greater still the calm assurance,
                    this child can face uncertain days because He lives.'"
                    (cited here)

There is more information about the background to the song on the Crossrhythms website, where Gloria Gaither dates the social upheaval and personal difficulties she and her husband were experiencing to the mid-1960s.

In verse 1, the song sets out the reason we have for hope even in uncertain times (verse 2), and for the sure and certain hope of believers that the day will come when we meet the Lord face to face (verse 3): the reason for our hope being the tomb on the first Easter morning, empty of all but the Lord's grave-clothes.

For Easter 2020, Bill Gaither recorded an introduction to the song (here), in which he drew parallels between the upheavals of the 1960s and the current global pandemic.  He points out that the world has never been very stable, but because our Saviour lives, the children of God have always made it through.

There is a lyric video here.