Hymns: You’ve Already Won

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 Hymns: You’ve Already Won from 2023.

I find that certain hymns have titles that instantly bring me joy, regardless of the lyrics. And today’s hymn is a good example.

I’m currently watching the World Cup. Ireland aren’t in it, so I’m not deeply engaged, though I often choose a team to support just to make it fun. But when you are truly engaged, it’s can be so troubling watching a game and fearing what might happen 😀. But then there’s the joy of winning – if you do win. And it’s so delightful to feel that you’re among thousands of others celebrating the victory. With Jesus, it’s billions of humans. I don’t know how many angels exists, but maybe there are even more. And we are assured of the victory of Jesus, though the final whistle hasn’t blown yet. There’s the line; “I’m fighting a battle You’ve already won”. Our salvation is totally the work of Christ, but there’s a sense in which we share in the battle. One of the puzzling verses for me in the New Testament is the following:

Colossions 1:24
“I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, the church.”

Paul is not saying Christ’s atoning suffering was incomplete. Instead, he means that the church continues to experience suffering as part of Christ’s ongoing work in the world. Sometimes people compare it to D-Day in World War 2. From the time, victory seemed inevitable, but the war went on for a little while. In this case, victory IS inevitable, yet, we won’t witness a complete victory until Jesus returns. For now, we need to play on – or fight on.

2 Corinthians 1:5
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

The hymn is only a few years old, but it’s nice to see other versions already on YouTube: