I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the very modern hymns.
Today’s song is Miracle Child. It’s from 2023, perhaps the most recent hymn that I have explored in this series.
When I was a teenager, I used to read the New Musical Express, which tended to find fault with most of the songs that it reviewed. It was a big influence on me because for most of my life, I’ve shared the same cynical approach to all things new 😀. So, when I heard this song, I noticed that it mentioned that Jesus was “six feet under”, but Jesus was buried in a tomb, not in a modern grave. But the overall feel of the song is excellent. It reminds me a little bit of Saving Grace by Bob Dylan, where he sang:
I've escaped death so many times,
I know I'm only living,
By the saving grace that's over me
But escaping physical death isn’t the most important thing. In heaven, we’ll probably meet both people who died at 100 or more and people who died young, such as unborn babies. When they compare heaven to earth, those who died young might be very pleased that their earthly sentence was so short. Our time on earth, however long we live, is a mere drop in the ocean compared to eternity.
But there are other kinds of death. We are dead in our sins until Christ makes us alive. And Jesus warned us to fear the second death.
Ephesians 2:1-5
2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Revelation 21:8
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
I don’t know much about Brandon Lake, but sometimes you hear Christian testimonies from people who came from very troubled backgrounds and thought it was a miracle that they were still alive. And then, you get people who had pretty mundane lives and who were regarded as nice Christian people from birth by those around them. But everyone needs to be born again. Jesus spoke the words “You must be born again” to one of the nicest people in the New Testament. Nicodemus wasn’t only a prominent religious figure. He was someone who was welcoming towards Jesus, unlike so many of his fellow Pharisees.
The lyrics of Miracle Child are full of analogies. They might puzzle someone who doesn’t know about the Christian faith. But essentially, the focus is on the resurrection of Jesus and its implications for each of us who believe in Him.
Let me use my own analogy, which might be every bit as confusing 😀. I sometimes compare the death and resurrection of Jesus to a train going through the tunnel before arriving in my hometown, Cork. Jesus is the driver, and his followers are in the carriages. Where He goes, we go. So, He went through death, but emerged from death by His physical resurrection. So, we go through the tunnel of death and emerge in Cork – no, not Cork – heaven! (even though going home to Cork sometimes feels like heaven to me. 😀)
Though we’re not yet in heaven our future is secure, so we’re as good as there. Here are some verses that emphasize this:
Ephesians 2:6
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
Romans 6:3-5
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
And here are some other versions of today’s song:
And here’s a couple of songs with a similar theme:
Hibernia Gospel 