Austin Stone Worship – Something Greater

Austin Stone Worship is a collective of artists, much like People & Songs,  Psallos, The Porter’s Gate, and Red Rocks Worship.  Founded in part by Chris Tomlin, they began in 2002 and released ten albums and one EP, including:

• Austin Stone Live (2011)
• A Day of Glory (2012)
• The Reveille Volume 1 (2013)
• King of Love (2013)
• The Reveille Volume II (2014)
• This Glorious Grace (2015)
• EVERFLOW (2017)
• The Reveille, Vol.III (2017)
• Dentro (2020)
• With/In (2020)
• Something Greater – EP (2021)

Also, check out my review of This Glorious Grace.

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?

Amid our wallowing in sin’s grip, destined for eternal separation from God, Jesus, who is Lord and King and whose name is higher than all else, left His rule and reign to become a frail, weak, human being.  He ingested the cup of wrath by paying the penalty for our lawbreaking.  He resurrected, defeating death and giving us hope of salvation.  In response, we praise and worship Him with song and dancing.

Score: 10/10

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

The entire song aligns with God’s inspired Word.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Verse 1]

Beneath the broken shadow
Where sin and death did reign

Describes our spiritual state before salvation.  We were broken people (Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, Proverbs 21:16, Luke 15:11-24, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13, and 1 Timothy 5:6), living in darkness (Proverbs 4:19, John 1:5, John 3:19-21, and John 11:10), and enslaved to our sin (John 8:34, Romans 6:6, Romans 6:20-22, and 1 Corinthians 6:12).

The King of glory left his throne aside
The clouds of heaven opened and mercy fell like rain
To bring the darkened past a future bright

The King of Glory (Psalm 24:8-10) left His throne and glory to become a man (John 1:1, John 1:14, and Philippians 2:6-7).  Verse 2 tells us why.

[Pre-Chorus]

Something greater, something greater has come

That is, God (Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 8:3-4, Psalm 147:5, Job 26:14, Isaiah 40:28, and Isaiah 55:8-9).

[Verse 2]

Upon the cross of sorrow
The cup of wrath ran dry
The dying Savior drinking every drop
The sting of death accepted, the final breath of love

The cup that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 26:39, Matthew 26:42, and Luke 22:41-42 is described by many as the “cup of wrath” because of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).  He did this because He loves us (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10).

Our greatest gain was heaven’s greatest loss

This describes the “great exchange”, where God trades our wickedness for His righteousness (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).

[Chorus]

You are greater, greater
Than anything I’ve known or seen

See Pre-Chorus.

You’re stronger, stronger than the grave that once held me

God is the most powerful being in existence (Genesis 1:1-31, Job 11:7-11, Psalm 33:6, Jeremiah 32:17, Romans 4:17, Hebrews 1:3, and Jude 1:24-25).

Your love is deeper and wider
In the highest place be lifted higher still

Summarized by Paul in Ephesians 3:14-18.

Oh You have and always will
Be something greater, whoa oh oh
Something greater, whoa oh oh

See Pre-Chorus.  Also, contains a few nods to Casper the friendly ghost.

[Verse 3]

The silence there was broken
On the third day in the tomb
As the Savior’s heart began to pulse again
Then the Lamb arose in glory with fire in His eyes
And the keys of death and Hades in His hand
Now the kingdom of darkness will not stand
​For the King of kings has died and rose again

Jesus rose from the dead (Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).  The keys of death and Hades comes from Revelation 1:18, signifying that Christ has authority over both.

According to Isaiah 53:7, John 1:29,  John 1:36, Acts 8:32, 1 Peter 1:19, Revelation 5:6-8, Revelation 5:12-13, Revelation 6:1, Revelation 7:9-17, Revelation 12:11, Revelation 13:8, Revelation 14:1-10, Revelation 15:3, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:7-9, and Revelation 21:9, Jesus is the Lamb of God.

[Bridge]

The mourner’s gonna dance, the blind are gonna see
The lame is gonna run, the sinner’s gonna sing

God turns wailing into whirling (Psalm 30:11), blindness into seeing (Matthew 9:27-30, Mark 8:22-25, and John 9:1-12), paralyzed into walking (John 5:1-15), and lawbreakers into melodious praise warriors (Psalm 71:15-24).

The mourner’s gonna dance, the blind are gonna see
The lame is gonna run, the sinner’s gonna sing

Repeats lines 1 and 2.

Because Jesus is alive, He’s won the victory

See Verse 3.

So let the prodigal come home, let the captive be set free

References the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 and Jesus’ fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1 in Luke 4:18-21, that He would set the enslaved loose.

The kingdom’s gonna come and the church is gonna sing

Part of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:10 and Luke 11:2.  Also, see Bridge, line 2.

Because Jesus is alive and He’s won the victory

Repeats line 5.

[Refrain]

You are greater, greater than anything I’ve known or seen
You’re stronger, stronger than the grave that once held me

Repeats Chorus, lines 1-3.

[Outro]

You’re something greater, whoa oh oh
Yes, You are, You are, whoa oh oh
You’re something greater

Combines bits of Pre-Chorus with more Casper chants.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

This song contains much Christianese language. Terms such as “sin”, “cross”, “Savior”, “King of kings”, and “Jesus” easily point unbelievers to interpret this song as Christian. I have little expectation that unbelievers will comprehend the meaning of sin as lawbreaking, cup of wrath as Christ’s death on the cross, and keys of death and hades representing Christ’s rulership. Yet, despite this, I strongly believe those outside Christianity can comprehend this song’s overarching message: Jesus is alive and Christians worship Him, believing Him to be greater than anything else.

Score: 8/10

4. What does this song glorify?

This song glorifies God by faithfully presenting the basic elements of testimony: life before Christ, the conversion, and our response after attaining forgiveness.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Austin Stone Worship’s Something Greater is great.  It presents the basic elements of a typical Gospel song, including life before Jesus, His sacrifice that makes forgiveness possible, and our worship that shows gratitude.  This glorifies God.  Unbelievers should be able to interpret similarly, despite some misunderstood or esoteric terminology.

I recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Something Greater (listen to the song)

Artist: Austin Stone Worship

EP: Something Greater – EP

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2021

Duration: 6:20

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*Copyright © 2021 Austin Stone Music (ASCAP) Capitol CMG Genesis (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.