The cantata God Shall Arise is intended for Easter. The editor was able to identify a poem by Christian Weise (1642–1708), which has received little attention to date, as the source text. Kuhnau was in close contact with Weise in Zittau, so the cantata could have been written in direct chronological connection with the printing of the original text in 1682.

However, the earliest date of performance noted on the title page of the cantata is only 1703 in Grimma, thus already in his time as Th...