Andy Park – Spirit of the Sovereign Lord

As usual, I will end the year with a positive and uplifting review.  I first heard Andy Park’s Spirit of the Sovereign Lord when my family’s band, Revelation, covered it several decades ago based on Divine Hymns’ cover.

Andy Park is a Contemporary Christian artist.  He served as an assistant pastor in two Southern California Vineyards from 1985 to 1989.  During this time, he studied the worship music industry.  One year later, he released his first solo album, I Saw Heaven.  He joined his church’s Vineyard Records label, releasing a whopping 25 albums between solo and commercial albums.

Also, check out my review of In The Secret.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Andy-park-spirit-of-the-sovereign-lord-lyrics.

Side Note: For this review, I did not evaluate the spoken portions of this song because I could not find a written version of them.  Also, I did not see anything unbiblical within these two snippets.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

It’s a song based on Isaiah 61, quoting from much of it and contextualizing it within the New Testament.  This “you” is Jesus because He:

• Was sent to the poor
• Heals broken hearts
• Frees slaves in darkness
• Comforts the mourning, causing us to praise
• Pours the oil of gladness

He, alongside the rest of us, was appointed to tell others about the good news that is the Gospel.

This song also contains a wonderful double-contrast between the year of the Lord’s favor to the day of His vengeance.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

The entire song aligns with God’s inspired Word.

This song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure.  Therefore, I assigned stanzas to each paragraph.

[Stanza 1]

Lines 1 and 2: Quotes from the beginning Isaiah 61:1, swapping the pronoun “me” with “you”.  This passage appears in Luke 4:14-21, with Jesus stating, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”.  Combining these passages, we can discern that “you” references Jesus.

Lines 3-5: Combines portions of Isaiah 61:1 with Luke 4:18.

Line 6: As stated in Isaiah 9:2 and fulfilled by Jesus in Matthew 4:16, those who sat in darkness will see a great light.  This light is Jesus (John 1:1-8, John 8:12, and Ephesians 5:14), who drives out darkness (Psalm 107:10-16, Luke 1:79, John 1:1-13, John 12:46, Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:13, and 1 Peter 2:9).

[Stanza 2]

Line 1: According to Isaiah 61:2 and Luke 4:19, Jesus came to proclaim the favor of the Lord.  Jesus’ Gospel harkens back to the Old Testament Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-55), where debts were canceled, slaves were freed, and the people rested.  In parallel, Jesus canceled our certificate of debt (Colossians 2:14), freed us from our sins (Isaiah 53:7-11, Matthew 1:21, John 1:29, Galatians 1:4, Galatians 3:13, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 2:2, 1 John 3:5, and Revelation 1:5), and gave us rest (Matthew 11:28).

Line 2: This also appears in Isaish 61:2; However, Jesus didn’t read this.  Why?  Because this Scripture wasn’t fulfilled in their hearing!  That day, when Jesus will come back (Matthew 24:43, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, 2 Peter 3:10, and Revelation 16:15) and judges the world (Revelation 20:11-15), hasn’t happened yet.

Lines 3 and 4: Repeats lines 1 and 2.

[Stanza 3]

Lines 1 and 2: We are commanded to go out and make disciples of other nations (Matthew 28:18-20).

Lines 3-6: The context shifts back to Jesus (us to He), stating that He will provide comfort for the mourning (Isaiah 61:2-3, Matthew 5:4, and Matthew 11:28-30) and pours out the oil of gladness so that they will praise (Isaiah 61:3 and Hebrews 1:9).

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will likely see a religious song given its references to “Spirit”, “Lord”, “preach”, and “God”.  Unless they studied the Bible, heard this song in Christian circles, or researched Andy Park, they probably won’t be aware of its roots in Scripture.  This song relies on heavy religious terminology, making interpretation difficult.  For example,

• What is the “spirit of the Sovereign God”?
• What is the “favor of the Lord” and “vengeance of our God”?  The latter doesn’t sound like good news!
• What is the “oil of gladness”?

The rest is interpretable and sounds like good things religion provides.

Score: 5/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God by capturing the spirit of Isaiah 61 and Jesus’ fulfillment in Luke 4 without compromising its core message.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Andy Park’s Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is awesome.  It contrasts God’s favor with His vengance, providing the former so that we’re rescued from our deserved darkness, slavery, and brokenness.  This “good news” is preached to the masses with the hope that some will escape God’s wrath, bringing glory to God.  Though unbelievers will probably not know it’s Christian without further research, I pray and hope that Christians are inspired by this song to fulfill the Great Commission.

I highly recommend this song to churches that are not seeker-sensitive.

Final Score: 9/10

Artist Info

Track: Spirit of the Sovereign Lord (listen to the song)

Artist: Andy Park

Album: In the Secret

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 1994 (single), 2004 (album)

Duration: 5:35

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.