CityAlight – It Was Finished Upon That Cross

Australian Contemporary Christian band CityAlight is a relatively new band.  Much like Hillsong, Elevation Worship, and Bethel, CityAlight was formed from a church organization that wanted to reach a larger audience with theologically accurate lyrics based on Scripture.  They hail from St Paul’s Castle Hill in Castle Hill, Australia.

CityAlight released two albums and one EP, including:

• Yours Alone (2014)
• Only a Holy God (2016)
• Yet Not I (EP; 2018)

Also, check out my reviews of Jesus Is Alive, Ancient of Days, Only a Holy God, Christ is Mine Forevermore and Yet not I but through Christ in Me.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Cityalight-it-was-finished-upon-that-cross-lyrics.

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?

CityAlight provides rationale for why they love to hear from Jesus and choose to worship Him:

• He paid for our lawbreaking, making forgiveness possible.
• He rose again, defeating death and giving us hope of new life.
• His forgiveness emboldens us to approach His throne.
• His work gives us freedom to live for Him.

They respond to these things by expressing their jubilation, perhaps by worshipping the King of kings.

Score: 10/10

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

This song perfectly aligns with the Bible.

[Verse 1]

Line 1: What follows are the reasons why CityAlight loves Christ.

Lines 2-4: The words “it is finished” that Jesus spoke in John 19:30 is the word “tetelestai” which appears in the back of Roman legal documents indicating that a certificate debt had been paid in full.  This certificate of debt, according to Colossians 2:14, contains an account of all sins CityAlight committed and was nailed to the cross, paid in full by the blood of Jesus (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)!

Line 5: References Jesus as light (John 1:1-8, John 8:12, and Ephesians 5:14), which appeared to stop shining after He died.  In a more literal sense, there was darkness during Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33-34, and Luke 23:44-45).

Lines 6-8: While the Pharisees probably joined in celebration when Jesus died, they didn’t realize that the Son of God was fighting a different type of battle, which He came out victorious (see lines 2-4).

[Verse 2]

Line 1: Summarized in Romans 5:12-21.

Lines 2-4: See Verse 1, lines 2-4.

Line 5: As adopted children of the Most High (John 1:12-13, John 14:18, Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:23, Romans 9:1-8, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 2:11-22, Hebrews 9:15, and 1 John 3:1-3), CityAlight has the right to approach God’s throne (Hebrews 4:16).

Lines 6 and 7: Describes the “great exchange”, where Jesus trades our sin for His righteousness (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).

Line 8: Repeats Verse 1, line 8.

[Verse 3]

Lines 1-4: Jesus rose again (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), defeating death (Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, Luke 20:35-36, 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, 2 Timothy 1:10, and Hebrews 2:14).  Freedom is more fleshed out in Verse 4, lines 1 and 2.

Lines 5-8: Repeats lines 1-4.

Line 9: Essentially repeats line 4.

[Verse 4]

Lines 1 and 2: Those who are in Christ will experience freedom from darkness and into a personal relationship with God (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 ).

Line 3: See Verse 3, lines 1-4.

Line 4: Repeats Verse 1, line 8.

Lines 5 and 6: The hope CityAlight has in Christ is that they will be with Him for all eternity (Mark 10:29-30, John 3:15-16, John 3:36, John 4:14, John 5:24, John 5:39-40, John 6:27, John 6:40, John 10:28, John 17:3, John 20:31, Romans 5:21, Romans 6:22-23, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Galatians 6:8, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 2:11, Hebrews 5:9, 1 Peter 5:10, 1 John 2:23-27, 1 John 5:10-13, 1 John 5:20, Jude 1:20-21, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 7:16-17, and Revelation 21:3-4).

Line 7: CityAlight likely responds to the truths expressed throughout this song with heartfelt praise (1 Chronicles 16:25, 2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 96:4-5, Psalm 145:3, and Revelation 4:11).

Lines 8-10: Repeats Verse 1, line 8.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

This song contains a healthy mixture of everyday and Christianese language, communicating what unbelievers will interpret as the Christian Gospel.  While we cannot expect them to comprehend the inner-workings of how Jesus’ sacrifice gives us hope or what it means to be “clothed in righteousness”, they should understand at a surface level that Christians believe Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection makes it possible to have a personal relationship with God.  Terms such as “cross”, “Jesus”, and “righteousness” point them in our direction.

Score: 8/10

4. What does this song glorify?

This song glorifies God by describing Christ’s sacrifice for sins, offers forgiveness, and gives us hope of new life with Him.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

CityAlight’s It Was Finished Upon That Cross is an excellent song.  It describes Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection and how His sacrifice pays for our sin.  This gives us hope of new life with God, bringing Him glory.  While we cannot expect unbelievers to comprehend the depth and riches of this message, including the meaning behind “clothed in righteousness”, they should walk away thinking Christian singers want them to experience God as we have.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: It Was Finished Upon That Cross (listen to the song)

Artist: CityAlight

Album: N/A (Single)

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2021

Duration: 4:03

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

Updates:

06/18/2022 –  Changed Introduction from “Castle Church” to “Castle Hill”.

03/21/2022 – Added commentary to Verse 1, line 5.  Thanks to Harold Geern for finding this!