In this series, I explore some of the newer Christian worship songs. I ignored new songs for most of the last 30 years. About 10 years ago I started catching up with some of the 1990s songs. Now, I’m trying to get to know the songs of the 21st Century. I don’t want to live in the past all the time – though I do live in it most of the time 😀.
So, today’s hymn is 2019’s, See a Victory:
Wow – look at his haircut. Why didn’t anyone tell me that I can get a haircut like that and be accepted in church? Well I’m talking about my church as it was in 1980. Actually, they would have accepted me, but they’d probably have laughed at me 😀.
Seriously, it’s a great hymn. When Christians speak of victory, they’re not speaking of earthly wars. It’s more about the battles of daily life, when so much within us, from the world, or from the devil might draw us away from God. And of course, we look to the ultimate victory when Jesus returns.
You can view the lyrics in the video or at the worshiptogether.com site. I love the lyrics. He’s basically singing that we’re on the winning side. The battle belongs to the Lord. And even when something bad seems to be going on, God turns it for good. For example, in the Old Testament, the jealous brothers of Joseph were going to kill him. As it happened, they sold him into slavery. However, as a slave, he went on to rise to a high position in Egypt, and in the end, when his brothers fled to Egypt during a famine, he was in a position to save them. They must have feared that he’d kill them, but here’s what he said to them:
Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
R.T Kendall wrote a book about the life of Joseph and took the title from that passage.
And in the New Testament, the crucifixion of Jesus must have seemed like the death of all the hopes of his disciples. But he rose from the dead. And after his resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, his disciples saw it as part of God’s plan. It’s through his death on the cross that he became the Saviour.
Acts 2:22-24
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
And think of this line from the prayer of the disciples in Acts 4, after the arrest of Peter and John:
Acts 4:27-28
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
It was a great comfort to those Christians, who were facing persecution for many years to come, that God was ultimately at work. Their greatest persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, went on the be converted himself, and was later known as the Apostle Paul.
Many Christian hymns rejoice in the victory of Jesus. Here’s a couple that I remember from my early years.
1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hibernia Gospel 