salvation

Exploring ‘Long Live the King’: A Worship Analysis

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

“Long Live the King,” written by Gabriel Wilson, Matt Gilman, and Nate Lapeer, seized my attention when it came out two years ago. Its vivid and theological description of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation brought me to tears in my car. It impressed the majesty and glory of Christ on my heart and imagination in a way that few songs have.

I learned it, practiced it, and was all geared up to use it for Easter 2023! Unfortunately, the third verse weirded me out. My church doesn’t really teach that Jesus descended into hell while he was in the grave, and I thought that event, the Harrowing of Hell, is what this verse was referring to. I chickened out, and we haven’t used it for church. But now I’m ready to give “Long Live the King” another look! What is that funky third verse about, is it biblical, and will it worship? Let’s check it out!

Focus

“Long Live the King” is an acclamation of Christ. It explores his suffering, death, resurrection, and glorification and hails him as king in each context.

It calls Jesus by name and uses lots of titles for him including Anointed One, Emmanuel, and Perfect Lamb. It also refers to the Holy Spirit’s role in Jesus’ resurrection. The language in “Long Live the King” is both personal and corporate; each chorus talks about lifting my hands, but the verses speak of our Messiah, our Redeemer, our victory.

Lyric Analysis

VERSES 1 & 2
These verses are sung back-to-back and recount the same events from two different perspectives.

Verse 1 is about the physical events of Jesus’ suffering, death, and burial. It picks out several significant events from John 19, so we’ll start with the crown of thorns. The writers do something really cool here by saying, “There in crown of thorn and thistle.” At first, I thought this was just a poetic liberty. After all, the crown in the Gospels only had thorns. No thistles to be seen. But where do we find thorns and thistles together in the Bible? Genesis 3:18 says of the ground, “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” Adam’s work is made painful and dangerous because of sin. In his death, Jesus is taking Adam’s curse upon his own head. This is something verse 2 makes explicit.

The rest of the verse recounts more familiar details: the sign reading “King of the Jews,” Jesus’ blood shed on the cross, the crimson river flowing from his pierced side, darkness falling at his death, the burial clothes, and Jesus’ interment in a tomb. This verse invites us to contemplate Christ’s suffering and humiliation. When we do, we find both grief and gratitude welling up within us.

Verse 2 deals with the spiritual realities of Christ’s work on the cross. The first line echoes the metaphor of Adam’s thorns and thistles: every curse is laid upon Christ. He bears the burden for us. He wears our sin like the robe of shame the soldiers placed on him.

Calling Jesus the “perfect Lamb led to the slaughter” recalls the words of Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.” It also looks forward to Revelation 5:5-6, where John is told to look for the Lion, but instead finds the slain Lamb standing. This song will show us both Jesus’ humble sacrifice as a lamb and his triumphant power as a lion.

In the Old Testament, a ransom was the price paid to save someone’s life, either from slavery or from the just punishment for a crime they had committed. This is what Christ has done for us. At the moment of his death, Jesus tore the temple veil in two (Lk 23:44-46). This was the curtain that sealed off the Holy of Holies, the place where God’s presence rested. It represented the great divide between God and man, the rift between our sinfulness and his holiness. Christ’s death was a great victory because he accomplished all this, defeating sin and darkness, freeing us from our enslavement to death, and bringing us safely into God’s holy presence. Revelation 12:11 teaches us that the victory of the saints is in the blood of the Lamb.

LONG LIVE THE KING
There is no single chorus in this song. Instead, each chorus has its own words that develop what was discussed in the preceding verse. The one commonality is the repeated titular phrase: “Long live the King!”

People have been wishing long life to their rulers for millennia. “Long live the king” was the shout of the people when Samuel anointed Saul and proclaimed him king (1 Sam 10:24). Daniel even addresses King Darius, a pagan ruler, this way (Dan 6:21). To say “long live the king” is to express loyalty and submission to a ruler. It’s a statement of belief that they are the rightful and beneficial sovereign. It is an endorsement of their justice and righteousness.

In Western culture, “long live the king” is often part of the longer phrase “The king is dead, long live the king!” Traditionally, this is the announcement of the death of the former ruler and the succession of the new one. In the context of Jesus’ death, it means something completely different! It is in his dying that he is crowned and exalted.

How appropriate, then, to proclaim “long live the king” of Christ Jesus, of whom Isaiah says, “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore!” (Is 9:7)

CHORUS 1
The first line of this chorus says, “the wrath of God and man now satisfied.” Many people are uncomfortable with songs that mention God’s wrath, or the idea that Jesus satisfies it. They object to the idea that a loving God should have any wrath toward his children and therefore the idea that he should send his Son to absorb such wrath on our behalf. I sympathize with their concerns, but we need to take the problem of human evil seriously if we are going to discuss God’s wrath. How can we look at genocides, murders, rapes, systemic racism, oppression of the poor, and casual acts of violence and not cry out for justice? How can we not cry out for God’s wrath to wash away the wicked? We must also remember that Jesus is not a separate entity from God; he is not merely human. He is God himself. So if one seek to blame God for creating man with our capacity for wickedness or if you think God is unjust to punish evil, remember that he stepped into our suffering and pain and took his own wrath upon himself. (Rom 2:8, Rom 3:23, 2 Cor 5:21, Gal 3:10-13, Isa 53:4-11) I think this is an excellent line because it shows that while God’s wrath is just, it is no longer directed toward us us because of Christ’s atonement. I also love that it draws the wrath of man into the equation. We humans so easily become wroth with one another, but Jesus’ death disarms our anger and violence. Ephesians 2:14 teaches that Christ broke down the dividing walls between people as well as the wall between us and God. In the shadow of the cross, how can we raise a hand against our brother or sister?

The phrase “he paid the price” echoes the early church’s understanding of atonement, called “ransom theory.” (Think Aslan dying to ransom Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.) In the Old Testament, atonement for all the people was made with continual sacrifices. Jesus has made perfect and final atonement once and for all by the sacrifice of his own body and blood (Heb 10:10).

Even sin and sickness must obey Jesus. He healed countless people during his ministry, including casting out demons (Mt 8:16-17). In the story of the paralyzed man in Matthew 9:1-8, he demonstrates his lordship over both. Not only does he forgive all the man’s sins, but he heals his body as evidence of his authority. It is important that we remember that while every sin and sickness must submit to Jesus’ authority, we are not guaranteed individual victory over each sin and sickness in our lifetime. There are sins that will continue to tempt us until we die, and each of us will eventually succumb to sickness. Even the Apostle Paul dealt with his famous “thorn in the flesh,” a persistent ailment of some kind (2 Cor 12:7). We must not take someone’s continued illness or struggle with temptation as evidence of lack of faith or evidence that God is absent.

VERSE 3
This verse is a little confusing because it could refer to a couple different things. It references several Scriptures, but the verses in question are famously hard to understand. We could be talking about the Harrowing of Hell, or we could be speaking more generally about Jesus defeating death.

In ancient Greek thought, Hades was where all the dead went, not only the wicked. It doesn’t carry the same connotations of evil and punishment as the Christian idea of hell. (Side note: Can we all agree to sing “depths of Hades” instead of “bowels of Hades?” I would really rather not say “bowels” in a worship song. 🤢) The trembling in Hades could refer to the twin earthquakes at Christ’s death and resurrection (Mt 27:54, Mt 28:2), or it could refer to death and hell themselves quaking in fear at Christ’s victory. The breath of God descending could refer to the Holy Spirit entering Christ’s tomb to bring him back to life (Rom 8:10-11), or to Jesus entering the realm of the dead to proclaim his Gospel to all the dead (1 Pet 3:18-20).

The triumphal parade seems to be a reference to Ephesians 4:8-9, which says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. (In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?).” Rather than a parade of captured enemies, as commonly seen in a Roman triumph or even in Psalm 68:8, Jesus is leading a procession of liberated captives. This procession consists of everyone who will believe in him, past, present, and future.

Either way you interpret it, this verse uses poetic and scriptural language to show the triumph of Jesus over death.

CHORUS 2
Now, instead of a the mockery and pain of a crown of thorns, Jesus, the Son of God, is crowned with many crowns. This line comes from Revelation 19:12 and also the famous hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns.”

Jesus is the light of the world who dispels darkness and defeats death (Jn 8:12, 1 Cor 15:22-26). We would be lost in darkness on our own, but instead we are found in his light.

Another potential source of controversy in this song is the line “the souls of every sinner now redeemed.” The question here is whether this line suggests Christian universalism or universal reconciliation, the belief that all people will be saved, not only those who come to believe in Jesus during their earthly lives. I don’t think this line necessarily teaches that. The line says every sinner is redeemed, not that every sinner is saved. To redeem or ransom someone (see verse 2) means to pay a price for that person’s rescue or liberation. Jesus has paid the price for the redemption of every human being. Some may reject him and flee from him, like Hosea’s redeemed wife left him, but this does not lessen the scope of Christ’s great redemption.

VERSE 4
The Bible doesn’t give us much information about what happened inside Jesus’ tomb. We don’t know all the ins and outs of the trinitarian relationship, but it seems evident that the Holy Spirit played a major role in the Resurrection. Romans 8:10-12 says, “if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Genesis 2:7 says that when God was making the world, Adam became a living creature when the breath of life entered nostrils. So Christ’s resurrection, the breath of life reentering his lifeless body, is the moment when the New Adam inaugurates the New Creation.

The dual image of Christ as Lion and Lamb is found throughout Scripture, but especially Revelation 5:5-6. Jesus has given his life as the sacrificial Lamb and he has triumphed over death as the glorious Lion of Judah. He is alive and glorified!

CHORUS 3
The name Emmanuel means “God with us,” so it’s interesting that the songwriters use this title here, at the height of Jesus’ glorification in heaven. Even when he is so very far above us, so enthroned that the very stars worship him, he is still near to us.

Much as he has exchanged a crown of thorns for many crowns of glory, Jesus has exchanged the mocking robe of the soldiers for one of true rulership. In Revelation 19:11-16, Jesus rides at the head of the armies of heaven wearing a robe dipped in blood and bearing the name “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” His reign and victory are just, faithful, and true. None is more worthy, none is more powerful. This enthronement of the Lion/Lamb King is the event for which all of creation has been longing (Rom 8:18-22). The stars and all of creation erupt in worship, and when we sing this song, we join in with them (Ps 148), declaring “long live the King!”

Accessibility

This song has a lot of words and Scripture references, but it also paints really clear and beautiful mental images that anyone can latch onto. For instance, the final chorus references Revelation 19, Romans 8, and Psalm 148, but you don’t have to know those passages to be able to picture the resurrected King Jesus filling heaven with his presence and taking his rightful place on the throne.

The main concern I have for misinterpretation is that some people might take the line, “every sinner now redeemed” as a statement of universal reconciliation, which most Christian churches do not teach. It’s also possible for people to get hung up on the intricacies of verse 3, but I’m confident that is a tangle that only experienced church people will stumble into, and if anything it will lead them into deeper study of God’s word.

The constant refrain, “Long live the King!” is easy to pick up (though the melody gets kinda funky in the second half of the song). The verses repeat the same melodic material over and over, so I think it will be easy for a congregation to learn and sing. The choruses are a little trickier, but well within the bounds of what is congregational. The melody jumps around quite a bit (slightly more than two octaves 😬), so range may be a concern. Still, the majority of it stays within an octave+2, so I don’t think you’ll lose people except on the very highest and lowest notes.

Music

The music of this song matches the words perfectly. The beginning is somber, then becomes hopeful, driving, and finally triumphant. And man is that ending triumphant! This is one of my very favorite expressions of the glory of the ascended Son of Man, and it has brought me to tears more than once. Having said all that, dynamics are super important in this song. It’s got to start quiet, it’s got to drive hard through the middle build, and it’s got to have a big ending.

The chord structure is another one of my favorite features of this song. It largely uses the chords you expect in worship songs and pop music, but it also throws in a couple minor 5s and flat 6s that somehow open up the tonality to invoke a level of majesty that you just don’t get in your typical G D Em C worship progression.

With those funky chords, the crazy dynamics, and the wide vocal range, this song demands a lot of a worship band, and it’s not for the faint of heart.

Function

Gathering | Word | Table | Sending

I would use this song anywhere in a worship service except for the very end. It unites God’s people with a shared acclamation, it declares the story of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and glorification, and it provides us with an opportunity to respond to that story from our hearts with love, devotion, and awe. So it works well as an opening song, a song of the Word, or a Communion/response song. The tricky part is fitting it into the dynamic or energy level flow of a service, since it starts so quietly and ends huge.

I would resist the temptation to use this one as a closer. The ending is big and powerful and exciting, but it lacks the kind of call-to-action that makes for an effective sending song.

Conclusions

Will it worship? You bet!

I started writing this post several months ago, before schoolwork and life circumstances necessitated taking a break from blogging. Since then we have sung “Long Live the King” a few times in church, beginning on Easter. I found that people were profoundly moved by the song, though it was more difficult than average for a congregant to learn and be able to sing along.

So, if your band is up for a challenge and you don’t mind some challenging lyrics about Jesus defeating hell, go for it! I am confident this song will bless your congregation and facilitate their heartfelt response to the gospel and the glory of Jesus.

Image by Tom Gainor on 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.

I THANK GOD – Maverick City Music, UPPERROOM, Dante Bowe

/ Jason Henry / 3 Comments

I try to list artists who have covered a song in the title of my review to make it easier for people to find, but with this one, there are so many! “I Thank God,” written by Aaron Moses, Chuck Butler, Dante Bowe, Enrique Holmes, Jesse Cline, and Maryanne J. George, seems to have taken worship world by storm over the last couple of years. It’s a relentlessly joyful anthem of gratitude, and it’s almost impossible not to clap along to.

I think another reason people love “I Thank God” is the way it fosters church unity. On Loop Community’s “Top Selling Songs” page, it is consistently in the top five in the Praise & Worship and Gospel categories. I think the genre blurring and racially unifying character of this song is part of what makes it so special. Black and white congregations celebrate their salvation together every week with this song.

So what is this smash hit about? Why exactly are we thanking God? Why can’t Hell keep track of anybody? And who are you calling a bag of bones? Is “I Thank God” biblical, and will it worship? Keep reading, and we’ll find out!

Focus

This song is all about gratitude toward God for saving us. It tells the story of converting from wandering lost in sin to being found and given new life in Jesus.

This song talks about God in 3rd person, calling Master, Savior, and God. No trinitarian specificity, but Master and Savior are both titles applied to Jesus specifically throughout the New Testament

What are the main themes of the song? Is it God-centered or me-centered? How does it address God?

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
Bad news: the bag of bones is you. Verse 1 describes the condition of the singer before encountering God. They’re wandering, drifting, trying and failing, looking for shelter, lifeless like a skeleton (cf. Ez. 37:1-14, the Valley of Dry Bones). This sounds a little bit like Paul’s description of life apart from Christ in Ephesians 2:1-6. He calls us children of disobedience, following the ways of the world, lost in the passions of the flesh, dead in our trespasses, until God steps in.

PRE-CHORUS 1
In this brief, transitional section, the singer encounters Jesus for the first time. The image of a road calls to mind Saul/Paul’s first meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. The whole direction of his life is changed through this single encounter with the Lord (Ac. 9:1-22).

Jesus tells us that we’re not alone in a few different places, notably in the Great Commission, when he tells his followers, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19-20), and when he promises that his Spirit will swell in us and with us after he departs to be with the Father (Jn. 14:15-17). I think it’s important that in both of these passages, the presence of God is connected with obedience to Jesus’ commands. So if we want to experience God’s nearness, we ought to follow his instructions and be about his mission.

CHORUS
In this part of the song, we do what the title says and thank God for several things, calling him our Master and Savior. Master and Savior are both titles of Jesus used in the New Testament (Ac. 5:38, Jd. 1:4), and they emphasize that Jesus both offers us grace, salvation, and forgiveness, and that he deserves our trust and obedience. Indeed, calling him Master is itself an expression of surrender to his will. It’s interesting to me that whenever the disciples in the Gospel of Luke call Jesus Master, they’re in the process of totally missing the point of what he’s doing. So perhaps using this title can also remind us that we too miss the picture of what God is doing, and we’re all on a journey of growing closer to him.

The first two lines of the chorus draw on Psalm 40:2 where God lifts David up from the pit and puts his feet on solid rock. They also emphasize the act of repentance and God’s role in it. We are unable to turn ourselves around on our own; we need God’s grace to turn us away from sin and toward him. Repentance requires human action, but it is always a response to God’s saving grace. We also find another connection to obedience here, in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish builders, Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Do you want to feel solid ground under your feet? Turn to Jesus and do what he says!

Healing hearts isn’t a phrase that the Bible uses often, but it’s certainly something Jesus does (Ps. 147:3, Ps. 34:18). However, healing is regularly connected to the forgiveness of sin throughout the Bible (see these verses). Healing can be physical, mental, or emotional, but it’s always connected to the spirit which needs to be healed from sin. So when this songs talks about healing the heart, I think it’s primarily referring to the healing of sin-sickness in the spirit of the person who turns to Jesus.

Receiving a new name is another feature Saul/Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus (Ac. 9:1-22). When Jesus calls us to repentance and heals us from our sins, he also gives us a new identity that is centered on him and his Kingdom (Rev. 2:17). We are no longer slaves of the world, but sons and daughters of God (Rom. 8:15). We are set free from the chains of sin in order to live in love toward God and others (Gal. 5:1, 13).

VERSE 2
I have some hesitation toward this verse. The singer describes seeing such evidence for Jesus that he has no choice but to believe, and his doubts burn up and evaporate in the wind. He sends burden and bitterness packing, declaring them no longer welcome in his life. None of this is bad exactly, and the authors are certainly describing experiences that many Christians have, but I don’t think these lyrics will speak to everyone in the congregation, and they may be discouraging to some who find themselves struggling with doubt or bitterness. This verse implies that those things shrivel up and vanish immediately when one turns to Christ, when in reality, Christians often struggle with doubt, bitterness, and other burdens throughout their lives. I worry that the blithe, joyful tone of this verse might brush aside the serious concerns and struggles of people in the congregation who need encouragement.

“No choice but to believe” also sounds pretty Calvinist, so if your church doesn’t lean that way, it might be an awkward line to sing.

PRE-CHORUS 2:
I wasn’t sure if streets of gold were actually mentioned in the Bible, but they are! Again, in Revelation, John sees the New Jerusalem, where God and his people will dwell forever, and describes the streets as pure gold (Rv. 21:21). So the singer is promising to continue singing about God’s saving grace until he reaches that eternal city.

The line about the wayward son is a reference to the story of the Prodigal Son, one of the most poignant pictures of God’s love in the Bible (Luke 15:11-32).

BRIDGE
There’s only one line here, and it’s pretty straightforward. In celebrating our salvation, we are celebrating the truth that Jesus has saved us from death, sin, and hell. When we say “hell lost another one,” we are declaring that the forces of evil no longer have any claim on us; we are bound for heaven, not hell.

It’s worth mentioning here that Christian freedom does not mean freedom from all constraints or freedom to do whatever we want. It means being released from bondage to sin so that our hearts are free to love God and do his will, to love others and serve them (Gal. 5:1, 13).

SPONTANEOUS STUFF
The remainder of this song’s lyrics have the character of spontaneous praise and exhortation. I imagine they came to the worship leader on the spot while leading this song, and then became incorporated into its text.

The most repeated statement here is “Get up out of that grave.” This is a straightforward exhortation to the congregation to leave their lives of sin, deadness, and lostness and turn toward Jesus. It echoes Jesus’ command to Lazarus and offers an invitation to join in the abundant, resurrected life of Christ.

The “If he did it for me, he can do it for you,” part is saying that if Jesus can raise me to new life, he can do the same for you. This phrase is a good reminder that we can and should share Christ with our neighbors by sharing the testimonies of how he’s changed our lives.

I have no idea what the line “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” means in this song. It comes from Revelation 19:10, and in its context there, it seems to mean that the heart of any true prophecy is the Gospel, or the testimony of Jesus. This makes sense in Revelation, since John has just received this huge, astounding vision, and he falls down at the feet of an angel to worship it. The angel rebukes him and tells him to worship only God. So it seems to be a statement that prophecy is about the glory of Jesus, no one else. Again, I’m not really sure how that connects to this song. My guess is that the church in which this song was written engages regularly in prophetic utterances, and this line might make more sense in that context where prophecy is frequently discussed and practiced.

Accessibility

I find “I Thank God” pretty easy to understand. It uses clear metaphors to paint a picture of being lost and then finding (or being found by) God. As mentioned above, I do have a concern about verse 2. I think it gives the impression that the Christian life is doubt-free and burden-free, which just isn’t the case (Jn. 16:33, Jd. 1:21-22). I also think you should leave out the spontaneous section at the end; it makes the song go on forever and adds the confusing part about the spirit of prophecy.

The melody of this song is super catchy and relatively easy to learn. The rhythms are repetitive which helps a lot. The range is an octave and a fifth, which is pretty wide, but not unusual for a worship song. So it’s fairly singable but rangy.

Music

“I Thank God” is full of energy! Like I said before, it’s almost impossible not to clap or bounce along to the beat. The fusion of CCM worship and black gospel styles is extremely appealing and unifying for a wide range of worshipers.

For the band, the chords don’t do anything crazy. There are some gospel licks in there, but they’re extra things that individual band members can learn, not obligatory parts of the chord progression. I’m not a drummer, but this one sounds like it would be difficult to play on drums. This song isn’t too difficult for the worship leader as long as it’s transposed into a singable key for him or her.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Maybe.

This song has a lot going for it! The music is great, and the lyrics are joyful, uplifting, Christ-centered, and tell the story of salvation. Unfortunately, verse 2 paints a simplistic picture of leaving behind doubts and struggles rather than continuing to face them with Jesus’ presence and strength. I just keep thinking about how it might make someone facing doubts and obstacles feel like they’re an inferior Christian for not yet being totally freed from those things.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh on verse 2? Should I interpret it differently? Let me know in the comments and share your vote in the poll below.

Image by Courtney Cook on 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.

THE CUP WAS NOT REMOVED – Justin Tweito

/ Jason Henry / 1 Comment
rustic cup on table

Image by Rey Proenza from Unsplash

I’m often drawn to songs that highlight biblical ideas we don’t usually sing about, or that present common worship topics in fresh ways. That’s what initially drew me to this song. Starting right in the title, “The Cup Was Not Removed,” written by Ben Wolverton, Justin Tweito, and Taylor Agan, focuses on some of the less-sung aspects of Jesus’ redemptive work. Here, we’ll look at some of these unique lyrics and see how they measure up to Scripture.

Focus

“The Cup Was Not Removed” is wholly focused on the atoning work of Jesus. We also emphasize that the appropriate response to his death and resurrection is praise.

This song speaks about God clearly, referring to him as the Father, the Son, the Lamb, and at its most intimate moment, “my Jesus.” (For more on calling God “my Jesus,” see my review of the song by that name.) It uses I/me language throughout, emphasizing personal salvation and each individual believer’s response of praise.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
The key Scripture for this song is Matthew 26:39, in which Jesus says, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” This prayer comes while Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper, awaiting his betrayal. The cup he wishes he could avoid is the cup of God’s wrath (Rev. 16:19, Ps. 75:8), which will be poured out on him the next day on the cross. The cup of wrath⁠—the curse, the punishment that we deserved⁠—lands on Jesus instead of us (Isaiah 53:5, Gal. 3:13).

The authors of the song also draw attention to Jesus’ choice here. He could have gotten out of this. He certainly didn’t deserve death. But the lyrics tell us that the cup isn’t just poured out on him, and he doesn’t just take a sip, instead he drinks all of it.

The authors take just a little bit of poetic license in saying “his tears were as scarlet.” Luke 22:44 says that Christ was in such agony that his sweat fell like drops of blood, not his tears. If Luke is speaking literally here, then Jesus is experiencing hematidrosis, a rare medical condition in which great emotional or physical strain causes blood vessels to burst in one’s skin. This allows blood to leak out through pores and sweat glands. There’s no mention in Scripture of Jesus’ tears being like blood, but hematidrosis is most common in and around the face (see webmd), so it’s not much of a stretch to think that his tears would have mingled with the blood as well.

CHORUS
Jesus is described as the lamb who takes away our sin in John 1:29. At the moment of his death, the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom (Mark 15:37-38), symbolizing the fact that all humanity now has access to God’s presence through Jesus. Jesus’ great work of atonement deserves all of our souls’ praise now and forever.

The scars from Jesus’ crucifixion are still visible—and touchable—in his hands and side when Jesus appears to Thomas and the Twelve after his resurrection (John 20:24-29), so there is every reason to believe that Jesus still bears those scars today. It’s always worth repeating that the Son of God died and was raised (1 Cor. 15:3-5).

VERSE 2
The Law in verse 2 is the Torah, the Law of Moses. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:17-18 that he didn’t come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Every Old Testament sacrifice points to Jesus giving his life. We are unable to meet the requirements of God’s Law on our own, so Jesus fulfills them for us and puts his righteousness on us. Furthermore, Jesus ends the role of the Law in setting Israel apart from the Gentiles, uniting the two separate peoples into one and making peace between them and God through the cross (Eph. 2:14-16).

In 1 Peter 1:10-12, we see that the suffering and glory of Christ are the culmination of the message of the Hebrew prophets. God revealed to them that their work was not just for their own time, but for the future. God’s hidden plan for the salvation of the whole world is now revealed through Christ and the Church.

Colossians 1:15 teaches that Jesus is the very image of God the Father, and 2 Corinthians 1:20 shows us that Jesus is the “yes” to every promise of God. He shows us who God us in his character, and his work of salvation and blessing is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, David, Adam, and every other saint of the Old Testament.

VERSE 3
In verse one, we already admitted that we belonged up on the cross, not Jesus. Now we take an even more personal look at our own sins using first person pronouns. We praise Jesus specifically for removing each and every one of our sins as far from us as east is from west (Ps. 103:12). The authors also carry the east-to-west metaphor forward into the next line, as if the righteousness of God stretches across the whole sky.

Accessibility

I think this song presumes at least an intermediate level of Bible knowledge. Someone who isn’t a Christian or who hasn’t studied the Bible much is likely to miss many of the references in this song and may not be able to apply the imagery. They might not even realize it’s about Jesus until verse 3 if they don’t already know that he’s called the Lamb. The flipside of that is that this song is very theologically specific and not open to misinterpretation.

I think it’s healthy to have theologically rich songs that challenge us to think deeply and discover new truths about Christ. Even if you don’t understand all the details, you can still grasp the core ideas of the chorus: Jesus takes away our sins, he invites us in, he died and rose again, and he deserves our praise.

Music

This is an easy song for a worship band to pick up and play, especially if you transpose it a half-step down from Ab to G. The only tricky chords are the little pickup notes at the end of each line of the chorus, but if you have beginners on your team then they can just skip those. I really like the two instrumental leads (one at the beginning of the song, one at the end of each half-chorus), both of which work well on piano, electric guitar, or dulcimer. I enjoy it when my drummer leans into the rim clicks on this song, and it is also easy to adapt for cajon.

Conclusions

I’m a little late reviewing this song, because we’ve been singing it for well over a year. So yes, it will worship! It approaches the Gospel in a fresh way, with a special focus on Jesus’ work removing our sins from us. “The Cup Was Not Removed” works well almost anywhere in the worship service. I find that it’s a valuable Communion song, especially on Sundays when I want to make Communion less somber and more celebratory.

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.

HONEY IN THE ROCK – Brooke Ligertwood, Brandon Lake

/ Jason Henry / 1 Comment

Image by Tim Mossholder from Unsplash

I’m not gonna lie; this song weirded me out at first. I thought to myself, “God made water come from the rock, not honey.” It turns out I was mistaken! This rich image does come from Scripture and it’s been used in church music for a long time. (Watch this video for another artist’s musical take on this idea. You’ll thank me later. Or hate me. 🤷‍♂️) The more I listen to “Honey in the Rock,” the more it grows on me, so before I go ahead and add it to Planning Center, let’s slow down a minute and ask ourselves, “Is it biblical? Will it worship?”

Focus

This song focuses on the sufficiency and provision of God. He is all that we need. A secondary and related theme is the singer’s need for him. “Honey in the Rock” is personal and vertical, using “I” language and addressing God as “You.” We also address Jesus by name and mention the Spirit.

Lyric Analysis

CHORUS 1
We come right out of the gate with the unusual title: “There’s Honey in the Rock.” What in the world does that mean? I find the idea in 2 places in Scripture: Deuteronomy 32:13 and Psalm 81:16. Let’s get a little context from Deuteronomy 32. Here’s an excerpt:

“The Lord alone guided him,
    no foreign god was with him.
He suckled him with honey out of the rock,
    and oil out of the flinty rock.
Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
    with fat of lambs,
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
    you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
    and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
    with abominations they provoked him to anger.
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
    and you forgot the God who gave you birth.”

So the honey, water (Ex. 17:1-7), and manna (Exodus 16) in the chorus represent God’s provision for Israel in the wilderness. By extension, they represent God’s provision for us, and in declaring that there is honey in the rock, we are saying that we trust God to provide for us even when it seems impossible. This applies to our physical needs, but more importantly to our spiritual needs. The passage from Deuteronomy also uses the image of the rock to describe God. He is the steady, unshakable source of our life and salvation.

It’s also worth noting that in both places where the Bible mentions honey coming from the rock, it is in the context of Israel’s unfaithfulness. This is especially so in Psalm 81 where God longs to satisfy his people with honey and wheat, but they won’t turn to him. This song combats the natural tendency of our hearts to seek satisfaction and sustenance from sources other than our Maker.

VERSE 1
This verse describes a state of longing and need. The line “praying for a miracle” can be easily applied to any situation any singer of the song is facing. I appreciate that the song doesn’t promise that we’ll get the exact miracle we ask for, it just acknowledges our need for God’s intervention in the situation.

We also acknowledge our thirst for the Living Well. This comes from John 4:7-26, where Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and describes himself as the Living Water. He tells her, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” It’s interesting that this passage immediately turns to a discussion of worship, as if John wants us to understand that worshiping God in spirit and truth is how we enjoy the living water Jesus offers, but that’s just speculation on my part! Only God can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst (Isa. 55:2).

VERSE 2
The mercy seat is also called the atonement cover, and it’s the portion of the Ark of the Covenant where the high priest would sprinkle a bull’s blood, symbolically coming between God and the law tablets that represented the people’s sins (Lev. 16:11-14). In the context of the song, it can represent both forgiveness and God’s presence. Tasting and seeing that the Lord is good comes from Psalm 34:8.

VAMP
We repeat “there’s honey in the rock” a few more times. Hopefully the congregation will take this opportunity to meditate on what the words mean.

VERSE 3
Paul tells us that there is freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is (2 Cor. 3:17). As we discussed in the first chorus, the heart of this song is God’s ability to provide bounty for us in the wilderness. This is both literal in referring to Israel and metaphorical in describing God’s provision for us spiritually.

CHORUS 2
We repeat the words from chorus 1 and add a few more. This is the part of the song where we really identify God’s provision of honey in the rock for the Israelites with Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. The purpose in God’s plan is to unite all things in heaven and on earth forever in Jesus through his death and resurrection (Eph. 1:9-10). “Power in the Blood” is the title of a classic hymn by Lewis E. Jones. For more on the power in Jesus’ blood, see my review of “Thank You Jesus for the Blood” by Charity Gayle. Jesus healed with the literal laying on of his hands (Luke 4:40), and the power to heal still belongs to God today. I love the line “everything you did’s enough,” because it declares the truth that we are saved by Jesus’ grace, not our own works (Eph. 2:8-9, Heb. 10:10).

The only line that gives me pause is “started flowing when You said it is done.” I take “it is done” to refer to Jesus’ statement “it is finished” on the cross (John 19:30). And the honey was made to flow in the wilderness roughly 1,200 years earlier, so that seems chronologically confused to me. If we take the honey as a metaphor for the sweetness of knowing and trusting God, this line still doesn’t make sense, because that sweetness has always been available to God’s people. As we mentioned earlier, Psalm 34 talks about tasting that the Lord is good. For this line to make sense, we have to see that the authors are drawing a specific parallel between the honey from the rock and the salvation we have through Jesus’ death. Jesus specifically calls himself the bread from heaven (John 6:51) and the source of living water (John 4:10), so it’s not much of a stretch to also see him as the honey from the rock. So, specifically, the sweetness of our saving relationship with him is what started flowing at the cross when he said “it is finished.”

BRIDGE
This looking and finding sounds like the wholehearted seeking that God celebrates in Jeremiah 29:13-14. (…and you thought 29:11 was the only good verse in Jeremiah!) We’ve already talked about God’s provision, which includes him giving, providing, and proving that he is all we need. God often moves in response to prayer (Exodus 32:10-14, James 5:16). I love that the bridge really clearly states what the rest of the song has alluded to. We sing to God “You are all that I need.”

ENDING
The ending sums up and encapsulates the whole song. It is so sweet to be able to trust in Jesus! I don’t think we need a chapter and verse for this one.

Accessibility

Accessibility is a big concern for this song. I’m a pastor and I didn’t even know that the Bible talked about honey coming from a rock. How embarrassing! Further, it took a great deal of analysis to discover that the whole point of this song is that Jesus is the rock and trusting him for provision and salvation is the honey. I am very skeptical that most members of the congregation will be able to make the connections needed to understand this song’s meaning without help. I wouldn’t feel comfortable leading this song on Sunday morning without some serious exposition beforehand.

Having said that, I don’t see much potential for any harmful misunderstandings of the lyrics. I suppose we could misapply the ideas of healing and provision, but I don’t see a big concern here.

Regarding congregational singing, the verse rhythms are a little tricky, but the chorus is eminently singable. The bridge is easy to pick up after a repetition or two.

Music

“Honey in the Rock” is a medium-length, country-gospel song. We start with a stripped-down piano-organ-acoustic chorus at the beginning. I think I might detect a hint of steel guitar in there too, maybe? I love the way this song starts because it gives the congregation an opportunity to learn the chorus before really diving into the song. I also love the breathy choir in the background. We build as we go, adding bass and drums. When we come back to the chorus throughout the song, it finds an infectious groove that you can’t not bob your head to. We do a quiet bridge that builds into another big chorus, and then we end with a quiet ending consisting of new lyrics. All in all, this song follows pretty standard worship song form, but that form is standard for a reason, and the dynamic arc works well here to create a peaceful atmosphere of joyful trust.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Yes, but…

“Honey in the Rock” is catchy and very congregational. Its lyrics forge a beautiful link between Old Testament imagery of God’s provision and salvation and the work Jesus did on the cross and the relationship of trust that we have with him as a result. I’m just worried that that link will go over many people’s heads. I almost feel like I would have to read and explain the section of Deuteronomy 32 that I quoted above every time we sing the song in church, and that’s a lot of explaining. This song would be easier to employ on a worship night or during a week of camp, when Sunday morning time constraints aren’t an issue and time could be devoted to teaching what it means.

Will we sing it at church? It’s still very possible, I just need to see if I can trim this 1,700-word blog post down into a 60 second song intro!

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.

MY JESUS – Anne Wilson

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

Image by Priscilla Du Preez from Unsplash

I’m not a country music guy. This is a country worship song. But I dig it.

Anne Wilson, Jeff Pardo, and Matthew West have crafted a personal, engaging anthem of the power of Jesus in the life of the believer. At a first listen, all my questions are grammatical, not theological, so if you can’t handle singing “ain’t” in church, go ahead and stop reading now! If you’re still with me, let’s see what “My Jesus” is all about.

Focus

No question here. This song is very clearly about Jesus, what he’s done in my life, and what he can do to change yours.

Lyric Analysis

Before we get into specific lyrics, I want to address who this is song addressed to. It’s not being sung to Jesus, but about him, to an unspecified person. A congregant might hear the words as though they are addressed to them, or sing them with a particular friend in mind. Shouldn’t we be singing to God in church, not to other people? That’s not what Paul says.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Ephesians 5:19, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” Do we sing to God when we come together? Absolutely. But we also have a duty to sing to one another. Part of the purpose of our songs is to build one another up as believers. Additionally, the Psalms are full of words addressed to God (Ps. 4:10), words addressed to people (Ps. 148:11-12), and even words addressed to angelic beings and inanimate natural objects (Ps. 148:2-3). So singing to someone else about Jesus is an appropriate liturgical activity.

I could also see where some people might not like the title, which is repeated twelve times through the song. Putting the word “my” in front of something could be interpreted as exercising ownership or control over it. I want to worship the real Jesus, not just my version of him that suits all my own preferences. But this song isn’t about controlling Jesus; it’s about living in a covenantal, marriage-like relationship with him that leads us to say “My Lord and my God,” with Thomas in John 28:20 and even “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” with the woman in Song of Solomon 6:3.

VERSE 1
“Is it all too much to carry? // Let me tell you ’bout my Jesus”

Both verses follow a pattern of questions addressed to a struggling friend followed by the refrain “let me tell you ’bout my Jesus.” In verse 1, the implication is that if your answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then you need to hear about Jesus.

Is Jesus the answer to a weary soul carrying burdens that are too heavy? Yes, he offers rest and a lighter burden (Matt. 11:29-30). If you’re feeling empty, God is the one who can satisfy you (Isa. 55:1-2). Jesus saves us from shame (Rom. 10:11) and offers healin’ (Matt. 8:16-17). Just remember that we’re not promised healing from every mental or physical ailment until our resurrection (2 Cor. 12:7, Rev. 21:4).

CHORUS
“He can do for you what He’s done for me // Let me tell you ’bout my Jesus”

We get to talk about verb tenses! Yay!

The chorus is all written in present tense, so the first couple lines feel a little odd. Jesus already made a way and already rose, didn’t he? But the writing here isn’t verb tense confusion, it’s using the historical present tense, describing past events in present language to give them more immediacy. There’s an interesting (to me, anyway…) article on it here.

God makes a way where there ain’t no way all throughout Scripture (Isa. 43:19). The parting of the Red Sea, David and Goliath, Ezra and Nehemiah’s reconstruction efforts, all of it ultimately points to Jesus making a way for us to be united to God when we were totally alienated from him (Eph. 2:4-6).

He rises from an empty grave in Matthew 28:6. He saves even the worst of sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15. Jesus’ love is so strong, it’s unstoppable (Rom. 8:39), and he saves us by the free gift of his grace (Eph. 1:6).

The line “He can do for you what he’s done for me” shouldn’t be applied to specific, physical blessings, since God provides for each of us differently (my new car isn’t proof that you’re going to get a new car). Applied more generally, it is saying that he saved me and changed my life, and he absolutely can and will do the same for you. If being made a new creation isn’t life change, I don’t know what is (2 Cor. 5:17).

TAG

“Hallel” is a Hebrew word meaning to praise joyfully with song, and “Jah” is a shortened form of the name of Israel’s God. So “Hallelujah” is a command to sing praise to Yahweh. We commonly use it today as an expression of praise in and of itself.

“Amen” is a word used throughout the Old and New Testaments, often at the end of a prayer, that emphasizes and affirms that what has just been said is true. In this particular song, make sure you say “ay-men” instead of “ah-men,” or you’ll sound silly.

VERSE 2
“Who can wipe away the tears // From broken dreams and wasted years?”

The next two verses ask “who” questions, and the answer is always Jesus. Wiping away tears is a form of comfort, and Jesus comforts us in affliction (2 Cor 1:3-4). Telling the past to disappear seems like a poetic shorthand for removing our past transgressions, which God does (Ps. 103:12), and also alludes again to the idea that we are new creations. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

The next lines say that Jesus can take even our past regrets and mistakes and work them together to our good. In Romans 8:28, Paul says that God does just that, working all things together for our good if we love him and are called according to his purpose. So in singing this song to somebody who needs to know Jesus, we’re saying that that’s what’s going to happen once they meet him.

VERSE 3
“Who would take my cross to Calvary? // Pay the price for all my guilty?”

Calling the cross of Christ my cross is a way of taking ownership of the sins for which Jesus died. Paying the price for “all my guilty” is an awkward phrase, but I think the authors are using the word “guilty” as a collective noun to describe everything I’ve done wrong, all the things over which a judge might declare, “guilty.” Jesus paid the price for that. One of the clearest Biblical descriptions of this idea, called the substitutionary atonement, is in Isaiah 53:4-6.

“Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.”

Notice how many times Isaiah says “our.” Jesus must care very deeply about us to be willing to take on so much suffering and punishment that rightfully belonged to us.

Accessibility

This song is clear, uplifting, and easy to grab hold of. It sings the name of Jesus twelve times, so there’s no mistaking who it’s about. It offers plenty of concrete truths about God and what he does in the life of the believer, and provides two overt calls to action. I don’t see much opportunity for anyone to get the wrong message from this song.

Music

The instrumentation and vocal style of Anne Wilson’s recording are very country, and the chord structure and dynamic arc are very “worship music.” The melody is simple and repetitive and should be easy for a congregation to learn. The repeated line “let me tell you ’bout my Jesus,” is a good entry point for someone hearing it for the first time. I don’t hear anything especially challenging in the instrumental parts either. I do really enjoy the uplifting tone of the whole song and how it draws the listener in. I’ve also found that it gets stuck in my head easily.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Yes.

This song is like a life saver at the end of a rope, tossed out for a lost, hopeless soul to cling onto. The twin invitations, “Let me tell you ’bout my Jesus,” and, “Let my Jesus change your life,” are clear, evangelistic offers of relationship, both with Jesus and the person singing the song. I think it would work well at the beginning of a service, as a celebration of God’s life-changing power in our lives, or at the end of a service as a reminder to share the life-saving good news of Jesus with our friends and neighbors who desperately need him.

Two thumbs up.

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.