O The Blood -- Thomas and Mary Beth Miller

 

What was it that they might have read that spurred Thomas and Mary Beth Miller onward, and especially as they thought about worship at the church where they lived in 2010? This couple was in Southlake, Texas (near Fort Worth, see here the map-graphic of Tarrant County in which Southlake resides), and thinking about “(O) The Blood” was probably a very fundamental idea for the Gateway Church whose focus was on the central figure of their lives, now and in the eternal future. Could it have been that they were reading and comparing the various episodes of animal sacrifice, especially of lambs, that the Hebrews practiced for many hundreds of years, especially in light of what happened in the 1^st Century? Two of the 1^st Century’s chief proponents of a very special lamb – The Lamb, in fact – wrote some letters that just may have influenced the Millers as they thought about the blood spilled by this one sheep. In fact, millions have believed in this lamb, and knowing His story is the most crucial piece of information in life, they would say. See what you think when you too hear it.  

 

Neither Thomas nor Mary Beth have indicated what inspired ‘O The Blood’, but that its basis in some pretty important scripture handed down to generations of Christian believers is certainly true. It began with a people who were trying to escape from Egypt, and with so many signs showing their God’s nature and purpose for them, they did not question why He required a lamb sacrifice, the use of its blood to secure their release from captivity (Exodus 12:7). The Levitical code He set up for them perpetuated this practice (Leviticus 14:25; many scriptures in Numbers), and throughout the rest of Jewish history (including 2 Chron. 29:22; 35:11; Isaiah 1:11 – even though God would say He had ‘no pleasure’ in this) the Hebrews continued dutifully to obey, though the practice could not render them clean for long. And then came One whose blood was enough, as two 1^st Century apostles would tell all succeeding generations (1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 7:14 and 12:11). The Lamb is the one to whom Thomas and Mary Beth Miller would point, some 20 centuries later. It’s ‘crimson love’ that purges ‘shameful sin’ that is ‘placed on Him’ (v.1). That’s because He’s the ‘Savior son’, ‘holy One’, and we all can ‘see the Lamb’ and simultaneously appreciate that He’s also ‘The great I Am’ (v.2). ‘O what love’, ‘no greater love’ in v. 3 initiates a question that the Millers ask for us all: How could ‘grace’, ‘that in my sin’, ‘yes even then’, compel Him to be the sacrifice? Their short, crisp phrases (mostly three- or four-syllables apiece) that describe this life-giving fluid’s power are all that the Millers needed to convey their message. It’s like a perfectly spotless mirror that reflects vividly Him and what He’s done. Not many words are needed. Just look at Him. Consider what He’s done.

 

Though not expressed, the Millers also hint at what anyone honestly looking at Jesus can expect to gain. ‘Hope’ (v.1), ‘victory’ and ‘saved…life’ (chorus), ‘so I can live’ (v.2) – how could any reasonable person not want these things? But what so many people seem to avoid is what the Millers’ words also require any mistake-ridden person – and that’s all of us – to acknowledge. It’s just a tiny three-letter word, but it’s mentioned in all three of their verses. Sin. Two of those times it is labeled as ‘my sin’. It’s a separation from the perfect, holy Creator, and I cannot purge it from my experience. I just am not perfect the way He is, despite being His image-bearer. I try to be good, but stuff happens. Are you any different? He’s got the answer, the only one that He’s said is acceptable. He’s the only God, among all the religions in practice on this planet, that has done what Jesus did to pave the path for humans. He became one of us, gave up His blood. What more can a God do?

 

Read about the primary songwriter here: Thomas Miller (pastor) - Wikipedia

 

See information about the map-graphic of Tarrant County here: File:Tarrant County Texas Incorporated Areas Southlake highlighted.svg - Wikimedia Commons…I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

King of Kings -- Brooke and Scott Ligertwood, Jason Ingram

 

These three were in Nashville (see the map of Tennessee and highlight of Davidson County where Nashville resides) to collaborate and think about the “King of Kings”, though their thoughts began separately. The Ligertwoods, Scott and Brooke, had some ideas about how to tell the story of scripture, and then when they heard Jason Ingram’s melody as the three got together later, that’s when things really flowed. That’s the short version. How would one person or a group of three people really expect to share completely the full spectrum of God-in-the-flesh’s story, without leaving out something? The song might never end! That was perhaps the conclusion they too reached, but still the effort to direct the attention of hearers toward the spiritual foundation upon which believers stand was worth the time they spent. It was not a collection of ‘feelings’, but instead truths that underpin beliefs that spurred Scott, Brooke, and Jason forward.    

 

One doesn’t have to read too far in one’s bible to really find inspiration for what the Ligertwoods and Jason Ingram would write in 2018/2019. Apparently, two of the scriptures that motivated them were about how Jesus is to be exalted – Revelation 19:16 and Philippians 2:9-11. A great place to begin, as it turned out, but the Ligertwoods also had thoughts about packing even more scriptures into verses, as part of an objective to explore and tell the story of the gospel. The three of them thought about Genesis clear through to Revelation, and were ‘unpacking’ quite a bit as they talked about what in scripture creates belief. Jason’s melody and a bridge section of the song stuck immediately, and as they sorted through the Word, Brooke’s mind and spontaneity kicked in with lots more for the verses. The wanted to sing scripture and use the song as an opportunity to teach why Christians can believe, to even impart some theological truths. Some that eventually emerged (after about a year of working and re-working notes and words) were some things that they found exciting, things that somehow often get glossed over. That Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets (Matt. 5:17); that Mary’s virgin pregnancy with the God-Son was not a surprise, but another foretold prophecy (see Isaiah 7:4; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:21-23); that many dead arose when Jesus died (see Matt. 27:50-53); and that the church was born through the work of the Holy Spirit enabling men in a miraculous way (Acts 2) were all energizing to these three 21^st Century songwriters. They firmly believed that this same Spirit is active today, and that we who believe are part of this ongoing story. It’s a song that should never be completed, if you think of yourself as an heir of Christ, as someone who wants to connect yourself to Him and what He means to human beings.

 

The words that Scott, Brooke, and Jason wrote are meant to draw you and me in. Now this gospel truth of old Shall not kneel, shall not faint…If you think history, including bigger-than-life heroes of heart-stirring episodes – maybe an Abraham Lincoln-like person – is what motivates you onward, then what about the one upon whom our calendar (at least the Gregorian one) pivots? He is the Truth, the One who rose so that you and I need not kneel or faint as we think about our graves. Death is certain, so it seems to make sense to connect myself with Him toward whom so much evidence points as the Conqueror of the grave. Don’t believe because it gives you solace, a crutch to lean upon and salve your fear of life’s end. Believe because there’s too much history – irrefutable and enduring, some 20 centuries after the facts -- for you and me to ignore this life, this King of Kings. Be like Lee Strobel (author of the The Case for Christ and so many other books that investigate the credibility of Christianity) and Josh McDowell (author of More Than a Carpenter, and like Strobel, so many other books to help us see Christ’s truth-bearing nature), both of whom started their journeys as skeptics, intending to disprove Christ, and instead found His truth the most compelling, and worthy of belief. Read some, investigate, and see what takes more faith – to believe or disregard it. As Brooke has said, the gospel story is not a ‘relic’, but something that ‘demands’ our attention. See if you agree that it’s ‘reality’, as she and so many others have said. Or, are  you too wedded to mere feelings, or to things in this world that will decay?      

 

 

Hear/see the song story here: (begin at 4:15 thru 9:20, and 12:20 thru 12:33) Behind The Song: Hillsong Worship Shares The Heart Behind Their Song “King Of Kings” | Freeccm.com

 

Read some brief information about the song here: King of Kings (Hillsong song) - Wikipedia

 

See information on the map-image of Davidson County (where Nashville is) here, including the public domain status of the graphic: File:Map of Tennessee highlighting Davidson County.svg - Wikimedia Commons . The following statement is associated with the graphic re: its public domain status: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

O Come to the Altar -- Steven Furtick, Chris Brown, Wade Joye, Mack Brock

 

He and others in Elevation Worship felt like throwing in the towel around 2015. This song wasn’t going anywhere…that’s what the four of these composers – most notably, Steven Furtick – thought when the song “O Come to the Altar” failed to even nudge his fellow musicians Chris Brown, Wade Joye, and Mack Brock across his creation’s musical finish line. That might discourage anyone, but Steven didn’t give up. Perhaps he felt this was his personal altar, where something like a sin needed to be exposed and rendered powerless, even if it took a long season to accomplish. When someone comes to an altar in most cases, they certainly don’t expect to experience long-term imprisonment or even meet their own death (unlike what someone at the Altar of Burnt Offerings might have seen or experienced during Jerusalem’s destruction, imagined here in this 1867 artwork by Francesco Hayez -- Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem); that’s the job of a sacrifice on the altar, correct? It takes the punishment. It was a very basic ancient Judaic worship exercise, but what it did to purge sin is still something we, who are several millennia past the age when it was first practiced, need to remember.   

 

Steven remembered that this song stayed ‘on his phone’ as a cue to himself for a pretty long time that it was unfinished. Eventually, he told the others that perhaps they should just leave it alone, and what ultimately occurred to finish it is left out of their story. Maybe they don’t even recall how it concluded, and yet the example of laying down one’s burdens upon an altar abounds in the bible. Some 384 times is the word ‘altar’ used in the bible’s pages (New International Version), from Genesis to Revelation, showing how common was this concept, this method of redemption. Someone (? one of the Elevation Worship group’s songwriters), in commenting on this 21^st Century song, has indicated that what God said through Isaiah (chapter 1, verse 18) motivated the song’s words. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” And so, the altar in even today’s language communicates that we humans can practice repentance and find forgiveness at an altar-like place, that we can be as clean as wool is white. However, unlike the ancient Jews, who used countless numbers of animals upon the altar to shed the blood necessary for redemption, Jesus today is the sacrifice – the perfect one – that settles the matter, once and for all time. It is fully accomplished because ‘Christ is risen’, but it begins with that altar. ‘Regrets and mistakes’ (v.2) can be unloaded there, so admit that you’re ‘hurting and broken’ (v.1), as these fellows named Elevation Worship call out to us. Jesus’ blood’ connected Him to Judaism’s altar and the method for humanity’s complete and utter liberation.

 

I don’t need a priest, another sacrifice, or some other method for getting face-to-face with God. But, also don’t forget what that altar tells you. That’s what Steven and his friends – Chris, Wade, and Mack – have said with ‘O Come…Altar’. It might be gruesome to even think about killing a living creature, of getting blood everywhere on a platform where worship is supposed to be happening. That just tells me how deep and ugly sin is, though. The only way to get right before the holy and perfect Creator-God is through killing the sin-bearer. Without all of those animals to take their place, the Jews and any of us who are human mistake-makers would have no hope for saving ourselves for all of those centuries up to this current moment in time. The Jewish people for ages knew implicitly what God had told them, something they still accepted when a writer in the 1^st Century said it again  ‘…the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ and ‘In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 9:22 and 12:4) So, can you accept that the altar is still necessary? The blood necessary for cleansing has already been spilled there, so why not lay that burden there with it?

 

See/hear the song’s story by one of the composers here: Bing Videos

 

Read comments about the song’s meaning here: O Come To The Altar - Elevation Worship

 

Read some brief information about the song here: O Come to the Altar - Wikipedia

 

See here for information on the image of the Altar of Burnt Offerings:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(Venice)_La_distruzione_del_tempio_di_Gerusalemme_-Francesco_Hayez_-_gallerie_Accademia_Venice.jpg …Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, by Francesco Hayez. This imaginative depiction centers on the Altar of Burnt Offerings. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.  {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States. (regarding the photograph of the artwork: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930.)