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 Because He Lives (Amen) from 2014.
It’s a modernized version of Bill & Gloria Gaither’s 1971 classic “Because He Lives.”
Being oldish 😀, I prefer the 1971 version. But that one was modern back then. Some Christians are against all things modern. They might feel that hymns belong in church settings, not pop concert settings. But I don’t think that it’s a good thing to shut God out of normal culture. And I see nothing in the New Testament that suggests that spiritual songs should be set in medieval settings or 50-year-old settings.
Back in the 1960s, when John Lennon said that the Beatles were more popular than Christ, he wasn’t boasting about the Beatles. He was just expressing his opinion on where British culture was going. He saw little enthusiasm for Christ or Christianity. And when I reached my teens in the 1970s, I could say the same about Ireland. No-one young spoke much about God. If they were fascinated by anything outside of everyday life, it was astrology, UFOs, ghosts or whatever. God was a taboo subject.
Interestingly, the Beatles themselves started taking an interest in spiritual things a year later. They looked to newer movements, such as the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s organization. It’s not very surprising considering the staleness of modern liberal Christianity in the UK. Ireland was slightly more religious, but that was more about social pressure and identifying Roman Catholicism with being Irish. You wouldn’t often hear people speaking enthusiastically about God. And Ireland is less religious nowadays.
But just around the late 1960s, the “Jesus people” and the modern charismatic movement formed. It had its silly and sinister sides, but it brought new life to Churches, particularly through music, and started new churches and movements. And both the Beatles and the music associated with the late 20th Century charismatic movement had an influence on my spiritual life. The Beatles weren’t promoting Christianity, but the fact that they had an appetite to know about God was one of the things that set me on my path to find the truth.
Anyway, back to today’s hymn. Another time, I’ll take a look at the older one, though I have touched on it several times in previous posts. Today’s song is quite fresh to me. I can’t remember singing it much.
Some might be puzzled by the following lines:
I was dead in the grave
I was covered in sin and shame
I heard mercy call my name
He rolled the stone away
What does he mean by saying that he was dead? I assume he is speaking about his spiritual birth. We will be physically raised to life when Jesus returns, but when we commit our lives to Christ, we are given spiritual life, and we are dead in our sins before that happens:
Ephesians 1:2-4 (Apostle Paul writing)
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.
Paul was Jewish, and Jews saw gentiles as unspiritual. But here Paul uses the term “we”. He is emphasizing that we all have sinned, and we all need God’s grace and forgiveness. It wasn’t about going from one religion to another. It was about looking to Christ for forgiveness. And Christ doesn’t only affect our future in the next life. He helps us to face tomorrow in this life.
There’s one line in both the old and new version that you could quibble with:
“Because he lives all fear is gone” – or “Every fear is gone” in the new version.
Who can honestly say that all fear is gone? Yet, when I sing it, I feel fear diminishing. Maybe it’s a little like singing a soccer song for the world cup, where you express confidence that you’ll win. And that can inspire you to win 😀. But it’s also good to be realistic.
That’s why I like Three Lions, which expressed hope rather than complete confidence. And the English team hasn’t won much since 1966, but there’s always hope.
But in spiritual terms, all fear about what really matters, where we go when we die, is gone because Jesus died and rose again. And He secured our place in heaven.
Here are some other versions of today’s hymn:
Hibernia Gospel 