It turns out I like songs with lots of words.

“Look to the Lamb” has a lot of words. The people who wrote those words are Bryan Torwalt, Lindy Cofer, Mitch Wong, and Tommy Iceland. Jesus Culture released it as a single in March of this year, and then again on their album Why Not Right Now? in July.

This song captured my attention with its irresistible energy and the soaring exhortation, “look to the Lamb!” and held it with the deep scriptural imagery and theology of its lyrics. Let’s dive into those lyrics and ask if “Look to the Lamb” is biblical and if it will worship!

Focus

“Look to the Lamb” is about Jesus: his identity, his work of redemption, and especially his glory & worth as depicted in Revelation. It calls him King, the Way to the Father, the Life and Resurrection, the Lamb, the Son of God, the Savior, Alpha & Omega, the Christ, and our God. There is no “I” or “me” in this song, but we sing it to one another, exhorting our fellow believers to see Jesus and worship him.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
Jesus is highly exalted and worthy of worship. His name is above every other name (Phil. 2:9). He calls himself the Light of Life (John 8:12).

I think the throne here is the throne we see in Revelation 4-5, since this scene is evoked later in the bridge. If that’s the case, we might have a little bit of Trinitarian confusion in this verse. It seems that we are calling Jesus the King on the throne, but in Revelation 5, God the Father is the one seated on the throne giving the scroll to the Lamb (Rev. 5:6-7). Jesus is God, and the Father is God, and God is the only King on the throne, so there’s not really a problem here, it’s just odd that this one line describes the Father while the rest of the song is specific to Christ the Son.

VERSE 2
Jesus himself tells us that no one can come to the Father apart from him (John 14:6). He also calls himself the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25).

In Ezekiel, God tells his people that their hearts are like stone: dead, stubborn, and refusing to worship or listen to him. But he promises that one day he will send his Spirit to dwell in his people and soften their stone hearts (Ezek. 36:24-28). This songs says that it is Jesus’ love that melts our stone hearts. A little different from Ezekiel’s words, but Jesus and the Father send the Holy Spirit, an act of love, so it seems like a good use of this biblical imagery to me (John 15:26).

CHORUS
“Look to the Lamb! // See the Son of God, the Savior crucified // see the crown of thorns, his nails, his wounded side”

What lamb are we looking to? Jesus! Specifically, Jesus as the slain lamb in Revelation 5. He is the Son of God and the Savior. We also get a short, vivid picture of his suffering and passion: the author invites us to see the crown of thorns on his head, the nails piercing his hands and feet, the spear puncturing his side (John 19:2,18,24). Because of this saving work, we call him worthy.

The second half of the chorus focuses on Jesus’ eternal glory. It draws attention to his eyes, where the author finds both love and fire. The love is a no-brainer. God is love, so of course there is love in Jesus’ eyes when he looks at us (1 John 4:8, Zeph. 3:17). But what’s the fire about? We’ll look at that when we get to the bridge. And what exactly is he worthy of? Be patient, I’m getting there!

My favorite thing about this chorus is that it parallels Paul’s line of thought in Philippians 2:5-11. Because Jesus became a man and suffered humbly on our behalf, he is exalted and given the name above every other name. Jesus’ glory flows out of his suffering.

VERSE 3:
The first two lines of this verse are exactly how God describes himself in Revelation 1:8. As alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, so Jesus is the first and last of all existence; everything comes from him and is for him (Rev. 22:13, Rom. 11:36). Saying that Jesus “was and is and is to come,” means that he always has existed, exists right now, and always will. This seems like a reference to the name God gives himself at the burning bush: I Am (Ex. 3:13-14). The author of Revelation expands this present-tense name into the past and future, because God is forever and ever.

I can’t find a specific Scripture that talks about shouting at Jesus’ return, but he will return in glory and power with a host of angels (Matt. 25:31), so it’s hard to imagine that there won’t be triumphal shouts far louder than the cries of “hosanna” during his Palm Sunday entrance to Jerusalem (John 12:13). Verse 3 concludes with our own shout identifying the object of our praise as Jesus, both Christ and God (2 Pet. 1:1).

BRIDGE
“The elders bow, the creatures cry // saints and angels glorify”

I discussed this song with one of my team members before introducing it to our church and asked him what he thought the bridge was about. He came up with a beautiful description of how the elders are the leaders of the local church, and how it’s important that they set an example for the congregation by bowing to God, and the creatures are everybody else joining in worship together. I had to tell him he was wrong. 😬 At this point, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that these lyrics are a reference to the scene around God’s throne in Revelation 4-5. The four living creatures are angelic beings with way too many eyes that surround God’s throne. The elders mentioned are 24 elders who bow down to the Lamb and cast down their crowns before him. Since there are 12 sons of Israel in the Old Testament and 12 Apostles in the New, I deduce that these 24 elders are meant to represent all of God’s people throughout all time and space. The saints and angels are all the angels, and all of God’s people (Rev. 5:11-14). We also learn that this declaration of God’s glory continues 24/7 (Rev. 4:8).

What about the strange description of Jesus? Fiery eyes, hair like wool, the voice of roaring waters? You guessed it: Revelation!

“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”

Revelation 1:12-16

These descriptors are meant to convey the majesty and beauty and power of Jesus. Fire in his eyes represents his jealousy over his people and his mighty power; he has the strength to burn up his enemies and refine/purify his people (Zech. 13:9, Zeph. 3:8). Comparing his hair to wool (and snow) is about the color, not the texture. White (or gray) hair is celebrated in the Bible as a symbol of age, wisdom, and righteousness (Pr. 16:31). His voice thunders like many waters, celebrating the power of his word (Ps. 93:4).

If you were part of Revelation’s original audience, these words would have reminded you of another important, psychedelic throne room scene in Daniel 7. Here, God is called the Ancient of Days, and his hair is white like wool or snow, and his throne is fiery. One called the Son of Man appears before him and is given glory and eternal authority over all creation. All God’s enemies are defeated, and he restores his people to share his dominion. So, Revelation 1, Daniel 7, and this song are all showing us the splendor, power, unity, and victory of God the Father and his Son Jesus.

To sum up: the words of the bridge invite us to envision the heavenly throne room at the conclusion of this age, when all creation bows down to the slain, resurrected, glorified Lamb.

TAG
“Worthy is the Lamb!”

Finally, we come to the central line of this song and find that it is a bit ambiguous. What exactly is Jesus worthy of? In general, when a worship song says God is worthy, I think we assume that he’s worthy of our praise, and he is! But he is also worthy of so much more than that. Again, we find a robust answer in Revelation 4 and 5. The 24 elders declare that the Lord God is worthy of glory, honor, and power (Rev. 4:10-11). The myriad angels repeat these of the slain Lamb and add that he is worthy to receive wealth, wisdom, might, and blessing (Rev. 5:11-12).

The last one is easy to skip over, but it’s is also crucial to this passage, Jesus’ identity, and the meaning of this song: the Lamb is worthy to open the scroll. This scroll usher’s in God’s plan for the culmination of his plan; his enemies are judged and defeated and his people are vindicated and saved, made into priests who will reign with him over a restored creation. John weeps because no one can be found to open this scroll, but then the Lion/Lamb appears (Rev. 5:2-5). Jesus is found worthy to open the scroll because he was slain to ransom God’s people from every people and nation (Rev. 5:9-10).

Accessibility

The verses and the chorus are poetic but straightforward. The bridge is the tricky part, relying on an in-depth understanding of Revelation 4-5, and ideally several Old Testament metaphors. Throughout the song, it’s not apparent exactly what Jesus is worthy of, though we repeatedly call him worthy. So there will be significant gaps in understanding for most congregants. People might try to fill these in with their own assumptions, and they may be wrong, but I don’t see any danger of false theology here. I would encourage worship leaders to use this song as an opportunity to explain some of these metaphors and connections to help people grow in their understanding of Jesus and his glory.

The melody is mostly stepwise with several big skips. So it’s challenging to lead, but it’s pretty easy for the congregation to pick up on and sing along with. Also, the congregation doesn’t have to leap up as high as Lindy Cofer on the latter part of the song, so that helps reduce the range to about an octave.

Music

Classic worship song dynamic arc, builds great; I love the high descant part that the lead vocalist sings during the last bridge and chorus. Unfortunately, part of the vocal work that makes this song so exciting also makes it really challenging for your lead singer! The range works out to an octave+4 The melody line is one of this songs big strengths; it’s engaging and fun without being too difficult to learn.

The chord changes in this song are frequent and almost hymn-like. This has the advantage of making the song feel timeless and fresh, but it also makes it pretty tricky for guitars and keys, especially if you transpose it to any key other than C! Expect to take some time to work through the chord changes with your instrumentalists to make sure they’re all falling at the same time.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Yes!

I think worship songs should be accessible while still teaching us and challenging us to grow in our understanding of God and his word. This song emphatically does both. It is passionate in its worship of Jesus, and I love the way it anchors his glory and final victory in his redemptive work on the cross.

My only reservation with this song is its difficulty for the lead vocalist and band members. If your worship team is up for it, give it a go!

Image by Josh Eckstein from Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.