Photo by Dare Artworks
Bethel Church was founded in 1952 in Redding, California. They release their music under the label Bethel Music, which became active in 2001. They produced several albums, so many that I dare not count them all.
They won two GMA Dove in 2016: one is Worship Song of the Year for their work on No Longer Slaves. The other Instrumental Album of the Year for their album Without Words: Synthesia.
Check out my other Bethel Music reviews.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Bethel-music-beauty-lyrics.
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1. What message does the song communicate?
We see Jesus, who is:
- Radiant
- Reflected by nature
- The Word made flesh
- The Life
- God in carnate form
- Our sacrifice
- Holy
- Worshipped
Regarding the singing angels: it’s possible that the angels were singing, though the case for it is not strong (see section 2). This affects the song’s Biblical accuracy, but not its overall message.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Most of it, except for the singing angels.
[Verse 1]
Line 1: That is, behold the beauty of God (1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 27:4, and Psalm 29:2).
Line 2: Creation points to God’s magnificence (Psalm 19:1-4).
Lines 3 and 4: References to Jesus the Word made flesh (John 1:1 and John 1:14), the Life (John 14:6), and that seeing Him is seeing the Father (John 14:9).
[Chorus]
Line 1: The sounds of Casper the friendly ghost combined with rephrasing Verse 1, line 1.
Line 2: Repeats line 1.
[Verse 2]
Line 1: Another reference to John 1:14, this time, the second half.
Line 2: A nod to Verse 1, line 4.
Line 3: That is, the cross out of love for us (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10).
Line 4: See Verse 1, line 4.
[Bridge]
Lines 1 and 2: Y’all know by now that I’m a stickler for the singing angels during Christmastime. However, this reference to Revelation 4:8 suffers the same fate: the angelic beings aren’t singing here either!
It comes from the Koine Greek word “legó”, which means “to say”. That doesn’t mean that angels can’t sing (Job 38:7’s “morning stars” could be seen as angels), but the text doesn’t say that they sang.
As for the Koine Greek term Aineo (to praise), according to Bible Study Tools, praiseworthy singing is a possible translation for this word. However, no major translation translates it with singing in mind.
Lines 3 and 4: Jesus’ people worship Him forever (Nehemiah 9:5, Psalm 30:12, Psalm 52:9, Psalm 86:12, Psalm 89:1, Psalm 115:18, Psalm 145:1-2, Psalm 145:21, and Revelation 5:9-13).
Lines 5-12: Repeats lines 1-4.
[Outro]
Lines 1 and 2: Repeats the last part of Chorus, line 1.
Score: 9/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Verse 1’s second half, which describes “You” as the Word, the Life, and the face of God, makes it abundantly clear to unbelievers that this song is about Jesus. Despite this song’s heavy Christianese language, they should discern that God/Jesus is wonderful, loving, and worthy of worship.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies Jesus that this song proclaims Him as the Word made flesh, the Beautiful One, and His loving sacrifice that saves the world. However, the singing angels are potentially unbiblical as they are saying, not singing, in Revelation 4.
Score: 9/10
Closing Comments
Bethel Music’s Beauty is pretty good. The splendorous, living Word is the visible face of God who was sacrificed out of love for us. We worship Him and bring Him glory. Unbelievers will understand it. However, the angels probably weren’t singing. Not that it’s a big deal.
Feel free to sing this during corporate worship. The singing angels aren’t a dealbreaker for me, even if it’s not completely accurate.
Final Score: 9.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Beauty (listen to the song)
Artist: Bethel Music
Album: Come Up Here
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2023
Duration: 5:19
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Comments
Michael Timothy Ramsey
I think the angels singing may be a reference to Isaiah 6
Vince Wright
Michael,
Thank you for your comment!
I checked Isaiah 6:3 in the past. They are speaking here too. Good try!
-Vince Wright
Michael
Well the line is “Angels cry out, this unending song
Holy is the Lord God Almighty” technically it isn’t claiming the angels are singing. However its not unreasonable to assume they are given the fact the way it is written implies they are. Like in Luke 2, when the angels praise God saying Glory to god in the highest. Its implied but that isn’t the point today, only to raise the score.