You Alone Can Rescue -- Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin

 

Matt Redman’s few words to explain why he wrote “You Alone Can Rescue” include one very significant word, one which anyone who’s ever lived needs to accept in order to live forever with the Maker of all life. Salvation. Countless books, videos, songs, and works of art (like the one shown here, Allegory of Salvation, by 16^th Century artist Wolf Huber) throughout history have attempted to describe the import of this transaction. In trying to define it, none have really been equal to the task, for this one-word deal was something over which even the Lord Himself agonized, when He considered what was necessary to accomplish this. To say it was a stress-inducing time for Jesus (see Luke 22:43-44) would be a gross understatement. No one had ever done what He was about to do, and its value is underscored in that He did this for all time (Hebrews 10:11-14). What other one-time deals have purchased so much?

 

Could it be that co-writers Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin were thinking in the same vein when they first penned and polished their thoughts about salvation (shortly before, or in 2008)? It’s such a ‘churchy’ word, this salvation that is only rarely spoken outside of a religious context. In an interview, Matt says he and Jonas were looking for something fresh, an up-to-date way to thank God with a new salvation song. Was part of this freshening objective accomplished by replacing this seminal word with another – rescue? Alternatively, they could have said redemption, escape, recovery, or deliverance (all synonyms for salvation, according to this Word document’s query function), but rescue seemed to fit what they were trying to say. Rescue implies that someone has been in danger, and that a trusted entity has reversed the situation for the imperiled. Escape likewise implies that a dangerous condition has been reversed, but not necessarily through someone else’s action. Matt and Jonas could have said redemption, deliverance, or recovery, but rescue is more pithy (fewer syllables). Just how dangerous was my condition, and why was Jesus’ intervention so necessary? I had something like a disease, apparently, for which I needed ‘heal(ing)’; it was accompanied by a ‘shame’ with a deep-sea-like depth (v.1). The song’s title words say ‘You (God) alone’ has the answer, my ‘rescue’ within His grasp, because only He can dispense the ‘grace’ that goes deep enough to find me; I’m in a ‘grave’ leading to ‘death’, otherwise (refrain). He bridges a ‘great divide’ by way of His great ‘love’; I’m desperate, because this separation threatens to keep me ‘far away’ (v.2). Matt concludes his few thoughts by saying he and Jonas thought of ‘You Alone…’ as a simple song, with a bridge section that says one thing, the only thing that I, as a fallible human, can do in that moment when I’m saved: ‘Lift up…(my) eyes’, to see the ‘Giver of Life’. Will any words be adequate at that moment in Eternity, when my rescue is finally completed?   

 

There’s one other significant word in this song by Matt and Jonas: Alone. That was the one that perhaps troubled Jesus’ spirit so much in the garden, that He had to do this by Himself; even His closest earthly friends could not stay awake to help Him in this dark moment (Matthew 26:38-45). He was to be left ‘forsaken’, even by His Father (Matthew 27:46, quoting Psalm 22:1) while His body was about to expire. What’s that like, to be God, and yet be alone? He must not much like it, for He made you and me in His very image (Genesis 1:27), and then noted that it wasn’t right for man to be alone either (Gen. 2:18-23). If I’m like Him, then He and I are alike in our mutual desire for companionship. He alone rescued, so neither He nor I need be so lonesome anymore.          

 

 

Matt Redman - You Alone Can Rescue - Popular Christian Videos (godtube.com) (comments on song at 1:17 – 1:22)

 

Read about the principal songwriter here: Matt Redman - Wikipedia

 

Read about the other songwriter here: Jonas Myrin - Wikipedia

 

The album on which the song appears: We Shall Not Be Shaken - Wikipedia

 

See here for information on the artwork about Salvation: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allegory_of_Salvation_by_Wolf_Huber_(cca_1543).jpg... 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.

Great Things -- Phil Wickham and Jonas Myrin

Who was it that said ‘necessity is the mother of invention’? Phil Wickham was really not thinking as far back as this little aphorism’s first usage (perhaps in Aesop’s Fables [see the information below] in ancient times, before Christ.), but instead around 2018, some 26 centuries later. He and his friend Jonas Myrin were looking for a new upbeat song to use in the opening moments of a church’s worship service in Riverside, California (see the seal of that southern California city here), and Phil says “Great Things” was that necessary piece they happened to co-write. But, as so often occurs, these two contemporary songwriters traced back through ancient scriptures, namely those found in the Bible, to find inspiration for their 21^st Century solution. They didn’t think about awe-inspiring events in their own experiences, but rather those centered around what God has done, ones about which we all can all read and re-read to appreciate Him repeatedly. He’s still that same timeless One.

 

Phil and the other worship leaders at Harvest Christian Fellowship had what at first glance might seem like an unusual problem – they were feeling that the lively songs they had been using were becoming too familiar, maybe even stale. Hmmm, how does something positive become a negative? Phil would say that that happens through overuse, and so he gave himself the task of finding at least one more opening song that could be the jump-off point for Harvest’s worship hour. The pages and the stories within his bible gave Phil so much grist for the music mill that was grinding in his spirit, that it wasn’t long before he was struck by a common theme – and indeed the theme for a new song – that he discovered in these well-known God-protect-and lead-the people stories as he read them. He looked in Psalms for a new musical message, but also in the wide variety of historical episodes when God was someone’s rescuer or the One choosing His people to do something miraculous – Daniel in the lion’s den; David versus Goliath; the Israelites taking Jericho; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego surviving Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace; and Moses and the people at the parting of the Red Sea. Phil noted that in almost all cases, the people praised their God in words, especially in songs, in the aftermath of the incidents. He found what Mary said upon learning her role as the coming Messiah’s mother (Luke 1:46-56, and especially v. 49) as perhaps the most provocative for his thoughts. ‘…for he who is mighty has done great things for me,     and holy is his name’, Mary sang in what we know today as the Magnificat (also see this blog’s 3/16/2023 entry for the Magnificat story). Mary’s baby’s pivotal position as all of humanity’s savior speaks to all generations in the present tense, rather than to a group of people in some past event. That was enough to spark Phil’s lyric-writing muscles, although he admits his mind was still stuck in neutral at one point, until Jonas captured the right words to complete a second verse and the song’s bridge. The two’s song theme, in a sense can never wear out, because God is not yet done doing great and amazing things.

 

Indeed, Phil and Jonas, while they were thinking of what He’s done already, also want us to expectantly rejoice in God’s never-done nature, because they wrote lines like these: You'll be faithful forevermore…And I know You will do it again…You will do great things. You can travel the musical road that Phil and Jonas constructed from beginning to an end, although exactly when that end will happen is unknown, for it’s hidden to the angels and even to Jesus (Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32). Is that part of God’s point, to keep us in the dark? Exactly what is He up to, we might sigh, and grouse, and complain when things seem tough. That was oftentimes the reaction of His chosen people, until they witnessed Him in action – Godly, awe-inspiring, terrifying action. Phil and Jonas tell us he was, and is, and is to come, in the musical phrases they chose…and, perhaps without really intentionally trying to do so, Phil and Jonas were looking at and thinking about what John was once told (Revelation 1:4,8 and 4:8), through some visions that were no less startling than what his ancestors observed. Ready to see Him do some more mind-blowing, astounding, stupefying things? My online thesaurus is inadequate to really capture the Almighty I AM!                 

 

 

See song story shared here (beginning/ending at minute mark 4:04 – 8:12) by the primary songwriter: Great Things // Phil Wickham // New Song Cafe - Bing video

 

Also see the story here: Phil Wickham – Great Things Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

 

See information on this quoted saying here: Necessity is the mother of invention - Wikipedia

 

See information on the image/seal of Riverside here: File:Seal of Riverside, California.png - Wikimedia Commons. This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, city, and municipal government agencies) that derives its powers from the laws of the State of California and is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 6250 et seq.). It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright, and is therefore in the public domain in the United States.

 

Cornerstone -- Edward Mote, Eric Liljero, Jonas Myrin, Reuben Morgan

 

Some music lovers would probably have said that there’s a silver lining in this tragic episode. Reuben Morgan and his co-writers Jonas Myrin and Eric Liljero would probably actually say that the message of the “Cornerstone” song they collaborated to write was a lot more than a silver lining. This Divine One about whom they sang in 2011 was a God capable of turning things upside down, which is what believing people in Scandinavia, and indeed around the world, needed to help make sense of what had just happened. Senseless hate and death had hurting people searching for answers, as they pored over the heartbreaking news from Norway and two places where events had invaded; one was a place called Utoya Island (see a map/picture here, and note the red circle), a place where the infamy won’t soon be forgotten. Mercifully, it will however be outlived by the One we call Cornerstone.

 

Reuben Morgan tells the story of how ‘Cornerstone’ emerged in 2011, in the wake of a car bombing and a mass shooting in Norway. He relates (in a New Song Café telling of the story on 7/14/2016, see link below) that he was in Stockholm, Sweden just about the same time in July 2011 when terrorists killed 77 people in two places (one in Oslo, the capital; the other at a summer camp at Utoya Island), leaving people in shock, including kids who had been at the camp and saw their friends die. What could they do to help, Reuben and his friends Jonas Myrin (another songwriter) and Eric Liljero (worship pastor in Stockholm’s Hillsong Church) wondered. What made them think of the classic old hymn written by Edward Mote (My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less) is not known, except that they all thought its original words fit their circumstances and that this was the message people needed at that moment. They re-shaped the melody and added a new chorus to emphasize that Jesus is an anchor – a cornerstone -- who can be relied upon during times like that. These suffering Norwegians had just been in ‘the storm’, and certainly needed a ‘Lord’ who could turn the ‘weak’ into ‘strong’. Mote’s nearly two-centuries old poetry still had a balm for their aching hearts. ‘Hope’ in our world is based only on Jesus’ righteous act to spill His own blood for everyone else (v.1). ‘Darkness’ might seem to obscure even God’s visage at times like July 2011, but His ‘grace’ endures, no matter how fierce the storm, because Jesus is a firm ‘anchor’ (v.2). All believers can await the ‘trumpet sound’ with composure, since he transmits His own ‘righteous’ and ‘faultless’ attributes to each of us; we won’t stand before His ‘throne’ naked and vulnerable (v.3). He won’t let the ground crumble beneath us on that last eternal day, even if we might have felt like that was happening here on earth on July 22^nd, 2011. That indeed is a message with more that a sliver lining in it, even for those who experienced the numbing events in Oslo and on Utoya Island.   

 

Reuben emphasized that writing songs is ‘pastoral’ work, meaning that songs aren’t just composed to sound pretty in God’s ears and satisfy our internal temperaments. Instead, incidents like those of 22 July 2011 affect masses of people; Reuben shared that he thought lots of Norwegians knew people who were affected personally on that day. And so, songwriting has a purpose, to help the emotionally afflicted people trying to work and sing through what they were feeling about their faith. Reuben felt that hymns throughout history have been like that for believers. They speak of real life, gritty and ugly though it may be, with a beam of light shining through that gets larger and brighter as time elapses. That light will eventually envelope everything, except those that run instead for the darkness, like that in July 2011. Get ready with more songs to counter the darkness in our world. Reuben and company are doing their part, so let’s join them in this work!

 

See this link for an interview with one songwriter (Reuben Morgan) about this song: https://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/cornerstone-hillsong-worship/

 

Information on the 2011 attacks in Norway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks