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.

Man of Sorrows -- Matt Crocker and Brooke Ligertwood

One could say that this song was actually being written and conceived something like 2,700 years before Matt Crocker and Brooke Ligertwood decided to put some notes together with a set of preexisting words around 2012. Could the prophet Isaiah have realized that he’d put some of the words in play, when he wrote about a “Man of Sorrows” during the days of exile for the Jews from their homeland? He probably had not even heard of a place called Sydney, Australia (see the flag of the state of New South Wales here; Sydney is its capital), and that faith among a monotheistic people could actually take hold there. Who exactly was or is this ‘Man of Sorrows’ anyway? That is a subject that people of faith – Christians and Jews, at least, and probably Muslims, too, and any others who stumble across this name in the scriptures – are still discussing, though Christians are convinced that he’s someone that all of us on the planet should get to know very well. He’s the model for who we aim to be, and actually one could say that this God-Man we worship knew so well what Isaiah had said, and aimed to be the suffering servant – on purpose, not by accident.     

 

Matt and Brooke have some vivid memories of how ‘Man of Sorrows’ came together in a joint songwriting venture one day in Sydney. Matt had already written some of the main chorus for the song that refers to ‘the rugged cross’ which Jesus bore to Calvary and upon which He died, but it was not linked in the same day or even in a few weeks with the remainder of the song. Instead, it was a few months until Matt and Brooke met at her house and scoped out the song’s verses and bridge section. Brooke credits Matt with a gift for crafting melodies, including lots of words that allow stories to be told, like this one that really begins in a piece of ancient text that they both read as they opened their bibles. Isaiah 53:3 was what captured their attention -- He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows^, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Reading that was a moment of worship for both of them, which seemed to fit their emotions about what they were trying to saying spiritually, and from there many words flowed to write several verses (they say six or seven initially emerged, though they trimmed the song to four eventually), a testimony about the impact Isaiah still has today. Brooke was so moved that she spontaneously sang the song’s bridge section completely as they sat and pondered the prophet’s poetry. Matt remembers feeling as if God was telling them that the bridge was His unprompted gift to them that He dropped in their laps for their efforts that day. Although he and Brooke hadn’t been trying to write a modern hymn (a worship song with several verses, unlike some 20^th/21^st Century worship songs that have fewer verses and perhaps a chorus) that day, Matt relates that this was a rare occasion in which the song’s melody and the lyrics inspired by Isaiah just flowed naturally in that direction. Stories that become hymns just connect easily with worshippers, Matt says. Funny how what He has prompted others to say in the bible still means something today, huh?  

 

And, we in the 21^st Century are not the only ones who have been staring at scripture to gather its import. A podcast discussion I heard of what Isaiah and his ‘Man of Sorrows’ meant 700 years after he wrote suggests the following: Isaiah did not point forward to Jesus as the fulfillment of what he was saying; instead, Jesus pointed backward to emphasize that He lived His life to show people how to be the suffering servant, in a perfect reflection, of all that Isaiah wrote about. Reimagine that, if you will. How difficult would that have been for Jesus to live out his time on earth – including all the brutality of a death He would need to endure – in order to stamp His identity unmistakably as the Messiah? Matt and Brooke are not textual scholars, and neither are most of us. But, look at the body of evidence. Ask yourself ‘Has anyone else done even a fraction of what Jesus did?’ He was either the most insane and crafty madman in history, with lots of ways to convince others of His time about himself, or He was really who He said He was/is. Why would anyone go willingly to a death like He did for a lie? Matt and Brooke are telling the story in song about this Messiah, the one that seems more rational and accessible to everyone; versus a cynical, ugly hoax that has led and will lead so many of God’s creation to destruction. Which story seems to match up with the personality of Jesus that you see in scripture?    

 

See/hear the song story here (5:24-10:50 of video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHtEX1Eko_A

 

Hear a discussion of Isaiah 53 here, in a podcast called BEMA: https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/64

 

See here for information about the image of the New South Wales, Australia flag and its public domain status: File:Flag of New South Wales.svg - Wikimedia Commons -- This image or other work is of Australian origin and is now in the public domain because its term of copyright has expired. According to the Australian Copyright Council (ACC), ACC Information Sheet G023v19 (Duration of copyright) (January 2019). (5:24 start of song story thru end of video.)

 

I Desire Jesus -- Scott Ligertwood

 

The time and place seem nearly irrelevant, as one considers the words that Scott Ligertwood penned on one occasion to express some thoughts about the One he serves. It was sometime around 2011, and this 28-year-old and his wife Brooke were probably in Orange County, California (see the seal of Orange County here), a place where each of them were saying – in fact, had been living for some time – that “I Desire Jesus”. The words Scott wrote focused his and his listeners’ attention on the Divine One that he said he most wanted, and so directing one’s eyes toward this omnipresent being made his own circumstances seem rather unimportant. Perhaps that’s why nothing has really been said publicly regarding what Scott was doing or thinking to spur his poetry and music-writing at the Hillsong Church in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. You and I do not have to try to be important, as Scott might have said himself if he were asked. Just attach yourself to Him, and don’t let go, for that’s they way to be taken somewhere that you could never go on your own strength.  

 

Scott and Brooke had both been serving at Hillsong for several years, so that is probably the most important reason for Scott’s motivation for “I Desire Jesus”. Neither Scott nor Brooke were raised in Christian homes, and yet they somehow managed to seek out Jesus as teenagers. So, desiring Jesus wasn’t just a song for Scott or his wife; it was something they had already expressed in reality. And being connected to the Hillsong Church, which has a global span with many branches outside of Australia where it began, must have allowed Scott to believe that the reach of Jesus into all of the world was achievable. And so, telling about Him and how this planet’s inhabitants should regard Him must have been pretty captivating. It’s a planet with so many problems, as Scott could not have missed as he looked at Hillsong’s worldwide ambitions. But, Scott did not let that depress him as he wrote. Jesus as the Precious Lamb (v.1 and 4) was the one drawing Scott’s attention, and what He did to ‘ransom me’, was the place where Scott opened the song for all to see Him. The ‘thorn-scarred brow’ (v.2), the ‘cross’ and ‘His blood’ (v.1), all had Scott mesmerized. He transforms all that ignominy into a ‘crown of victory’ (v.2), the impetus for the response we mortals are to give Him, the only proper way to regard Him whose sacrifice makes possible what comes next. Scott said he is ‘free’ (v.1), so an appreciation of that transformation drives what comes to full flower in verses 3 and 4, though it begins in verse 2 as ‘His Name … (we) esteem’. He’s the ‘Triumphant One…we await’, as we anticipate a moment when the ‘earth will shine’ and He receives the ‘glory’ He is due (v.3). Scott said he’d give his own life as ‘an offering’ (v.4), as he thought about how to sum up his reaction to this God-Man’s work. The chorus further underscores how the saved individual can respond – giving Him ‘honor’ and ‘glory’, as he basks in the consummation of His ‘eternal reign’. It’s all about Him, though Scott said you and I get to reap the reward of being in Him.

 

It's theologically challenging for mortals who’ve not yet arrived at the realization that they need saving. ‘Why desire Jesus?’, they scoff. And yet, Scott didn’t try to strike back in 2011 with words that were harsh, though he must have felt the sting of others from time to time when they rejected this eternal message. Just keep telling about Jesus, what He’s done, and what’s to come. It is a hopeful promise that He makes, and which Scott repeated as His ambassador. No one can miss, with even a cursory look around where we live and move about daily, that strife and all kinds of ugly stuff are standard fare here. And, getting older with hurts and incomplete solutions for all of those maladies – what are we to conclude? You cannot ignore what all that entails, and that is this: you and I need rescue. Scott and oh so many others have told us about the prescription, so are you willing to try it? It’s spelled J-E-S-U-S, and it tastes really sweet.

 

See a video of the song’s performance here: Bing Videos

 

Read some pretty brief information about the author-composer here: https://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/scott-ligertwood.html and here: https://cbn.com/article/bible-says/brooke-and-scott-ligertwood-teach-children-about-wonder-god

 

Information about the church worldwide in which the songwriter serves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsong_Church

 

See information on the Orange County seal here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_Orange_County,_California.svg …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.