Chris Tomlin & Bethel Music – Holy Forever

Contemporary Christian juggernaut Chris Tomlin began his career in 1993.  He released seventeen albums, including:

• Inside Your Love (1995)
• Authentic (1998)
• Too Much Free Time (1998)
• The Noise We Make (2001)
• Not to Us (2002)
• Arriving (2004)
• See the Morning (2006)
• Hello Love (2008)
• And If Our God Is for Us… (2010)
• Burning Lights (2013)
• Love Ran Red (2014)
• Adore: Christmas Songs Of Worship (2015)
• Never Lose Sight (2016)
• Holy Roar (2018)
• Chris Tomlin & Friends (2020)
• Miracle of Love: Christmas Songs of Worship (2020)
• Always (2022)

He is a 26-time award recipient, including 23 Dove Awards, 2 Billboard awards, and 1 Grammy.

Also, check out my other Chris Tomlin reviews and Christmas song Noel.

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.

Chris Tomlin and representatives of Bethel Music are both co-authors of this song.  Bethel’s version contains an additional Chorus 2 section that is not present in Chris Tomlin’s version.  Therefore, I will use Bethel’s lyrics for this review.

Lyrics can be found at https://bethelmusic.com/resources/come-up-here/holy-forever.  I apologize for the guitar chords.  This is the best version of the lyrics I could find.

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.  I strongly encourage you to consider the potential blessings and dangers of this artist‘s theology by visiting Resources.

1. What message does the song communicate?

God’s children, people who forsake folly and put their trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, praise and worship Jesus forever.  Christ is the Holy Lamb whose sovereignty is above all earthly rule and reign.

Score: 10/10

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

The whole thing is Biblical.

[Verse 1]

Line 1: An inference from Deuteronomy 7:9 that many, many generations of humans would worship Jesus.

Lines 2-4: Not any song in particular, but songs of worship have been sung and will be sung to the Lamb of God (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).

[Pre-Chorus]

Lines 1-4: That is, The Son of Man’s sovereignty is above all others (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 10:14, Joshua 2:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 45:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Psalm 93:1-2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 45:9-10, Isaiah 46:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 1:8, James 4:15, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 20:11).  Jesus’ name is above all others (Philippians 2:9).

[Chorus 1]

Line 1: That is, the four living angelic creatures (Revelation 4:8).

Lines 2 and 3: Every knee will bow and confess Jesus as Lord (Isaiah 45:43, Romans 14:11, and Philippians 2:10-11).  Also, see Verse 1.

Line 4: Combines the holiness of Jesus (Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7,1 Peter 1:15-16, and Revelation 4:8) with His eternal existence (Deuteronomy 33:27, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Job 36:26, Psalm 48:14, Psalm 90:2-4, Psalm 102:12, Psalm 102:26-27, Proverbs 8:23, Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 41:4, Habakkuk 1:12, John 17:5, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 1:4, Hebrews 1:11-12, 1 Peter 1:20, 2 Peter 3:8, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 11:17, and Revelation 22:13).

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-3: This who have repented and put their trust in Jesus (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, Luke 24:47, Acts 2:36-38, Acts 3:19-21, Acts 20:21, and 2 Timothy 2:25-26), walking in freedom from their former life of sin (Psalm 119:45, Isaiah 58:6, Isaiah 61:1, John 3:16-21, John 8:31-36, John 10:10, Acts 13:38-39, Romans 6:1-23, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 8:20-21, 1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 7:21-23, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 2:4, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 3:22, Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13, Colossians 1:21-23, Hebrews 2:14-15, and 1 Peter 2:16 ) should join the litany of believers described in Verse 1 in choral procession 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 4 and 5: Repeats/essentially repeats line 2.

[Chorus 2]

Lines 1-4: Christ hears His children agree with Chorus, line 4.  It also says that He is King of kings (Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 136:3, Daniel 2:47, Matthew 28:18, 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 1:5, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:16).

[Tag]

Lines 1 and 2: Repeats Chorus 2, lines 3 and 4.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will quickly identify “Lamb” as a Christian term that refers to Jesus.  Christians believe that Jesus is holy, authoritative, and forgiving.  Almost the entire song is written in everyday language with basic concepts, making it painlessly easy for them to interpret.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as the eternal Lamb whose holiness and reign are higher than anything else.  It also glorifies Him that we worship Him.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Chris Tomlin’s & Bethel Music’s Holy Forever is filled with worship.  It declares Jesus as ruler above all whose forgiveness and Lordship compel believers to praise Him, bringing Him glory.  Unbelievers should have little to no issues interpreting similarly.

This song is appropriate for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Holy Forever (listen to Chris Tomlin’s version of the song or Bethel Music’s version of the song)

Artist: Chris Tomlin’s & Bethel Music

Album: Always (Album, Tomlin), Come Up Here (Bethel)

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2022 (Tomlin), 2023 (Bethel)

Duration: 5:08 (Tomlin), 5:24 (Bethel)

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

Updates:

03/21/2023: Changed the designation of Bethel’s work “Come Up Here” from EP to Album.  Thanks to Tyeisha for correcting me!