In this series, I explore some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀.
Select the arrow for my “general intro” (which I’m reusing for all the modern hymns that I explore)
I grew up with rock music, so it’s not such a shocking thing for me to explore these. Back in my earlier years as a Christian, we had the old hymns and some modern choruses that originated in the 1970s charismatic movement. As time went on, I started to prefer the older hymns.
Nowadays, I try to maintain an interest in all Christian music. It’s easy to find “trendy” Christian music annoying, even as a Christian 😀. I don’t know why. But I’m trying to overcome that prejudice. Perhaps the older hymns give us a sense of history, but many of these would have been similar to popular music of their day. So maybe people cringed when they first heard some of these too 😀.
Anyway, today’s hymn is Holy Forever. It’s from 2023.
Sometimes people think that they newer songs don’t focus on the holiness of God, but quite a few do. This one focuses on the past, present, and future generations celebrating the holiness of God.
What does holiness mean? It means set apart from anything sinful, but it also speaks of otherness, of being set apart, above everything – something or someone that you’re in awe of.
One of the earliest references to the word “holy” in Scripture is when Moses encountered the burning bush.
Exodus 3:5
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Back in the last century, the two hymns about God’s holiness that I was most familiar with were the following:
Holy Forever speaks much of the lamb.
A thousand generations falling down in worship
To sing the song of ages to the Lamb
And all who’ve gone before us and all who will believe
Will sing the song of ages to the Lamb
Lambs are beautiful creatures. In modern times, at least where I live, we see very little of animal slaughter. In the Old Testament, and even in the time of Jesus, animals, such as lambs would be sacrificed at the tabernacle and temple. It was a reminder that sin had a price, even though animals could never pay the price. I think of a verse from There is a Green Hill Far Away, which was written by an Irish lady in the 19th Century.
There was no other good enough To pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the door
Of heaven and let us in.
John the Baptist introduced Jesus as “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And that’s exactly what he did by offering himself as a sacrifice on the cross.
1 Peter 1:18-20
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
Revelation 5:12
12 In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
In the heavenly worship, it’s interesting how the lamb (Jesus) is depicted as someone worthy of receiving something. Why would the Son of God need anything? But Jesus is both God and human. And he is sometimes compared to Adam (humanity’s first representative), who failed the test that God set for him. So, we see Jesus as our new Adam, the last Adam, who accomplished so much more and brought all those who put their faith in him with him. So, even though some Bible verses emphasize his deity, many emphasis his role as leader of humanity and as the mediator between us and God.
Here are some other interesting versions of “Holy Forever”.
Hibernia Gospel 