To the Ends of the Earth by Hillsong United
(Listen on Youtube/ Lyrics below)
When I was a young Christian, I refused to sing this song because I felt it was out of touch with reality. After all, the world is round and has no ends. Noticing this, a brother helpfully suggested that I worship by singing it without the S.
"to the end of the earth"
Years later, I was horrified to realize that the Bible uses the expression "ends of the earth" 46 times in the NIV. This forced me to recognize my pride. I had felt that I worshiped better because I did not allow any overstatement.
Often we look to find the most theological by going to hymns, the relevant to culture from our favorite vocalists, and only recognize the presence of God in our appreciated styles of music. We have no room for anything else because we claim to offer God only the best. But the reality is that a true worshiper lifts up holy hands... without anger or disputing (1 Tim 2:8).
***
Lyrics:
Love unfailing
Overtaking my heart
You take me in
Finding peace again
Fear is lost in all you are
And I would give the world to tell your story
'Cause I know that you've called me
I know that you've called me
I've lost myself for good within your promise
And I won't hide it
I won't hide it
Jesus, I believe in You
And I would go, to the ends of the earth
To the ends of the earth
For you alone are the son of God
And all the world will see
That You are God
You are God
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6 comments:
Here is my first contribution. Hope you like it!
Yipeng that was a great first post. You really captured the reason for this blog.
Sometimes songs are not appropriate for worship; but sometimes we just cant see what they are intended to mean. A discussion can help us all collectively sort some of them out.
Of course the highest praise is knowing God and through Biblical discussion and research we will all be one step closer to that.
:-) Welcome to the team.
Thanks T!
Fantastic! That is what this should be all about. Then there is, "When is it okay to just drop the (s), or should we just throw the baby out with the bathwater?"
Now discovering that there are 46 times mentioned in the NIV and actually, around 30 times in the ESV as well, there is another question to ask. Each time it is mentioned, does it carry the same meaning in the Greek, and if not, how was the author using it, and are we using it in the same context.
Now I'm just going overboard, but if you think about it, we should be able to explain what the lyrics we sing mean in relation to how they were used in the word.
Now I'm going to be up all night in Psalms looking for "ends of the earth" to find contexts! :)
Interesting.. as I remember it often refers to The Lord's glory reaching the ends of the earth.
I also came across one use of "to the ends of the world" in my study today. Romans 10:18 application of Psalm 19:4.
In this case, to the ends of the world possibly meant to the gentiles or to the 'known world'.
Often we look to find the most theological by going to hymns, the relevant to culture from our favorite vocalists, and only recognize the presence of God in our appreciated styles of music. We have no room for anything else because we claim to offer God only the best. But the reality is that a true worshiper lifts up holy hands... without anger or disputing (1 Tim 2:8).
Agreed...in our searching for "doing it right" we need to search ourselves and our motivations first...
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