CityAlight – Jerusalem

CityAlight, in the same structure as Hillsong, Elevation Worship, and Bethel, is a band run by a church organization. They hail from St Paul’s Castle Hill in Castle Hill, Australia.  They aim to reach a larger audience with theologically accurate lyrics based on Scripture, realized in my glowing CityAlight reviews!

CityAlight released three albums and one EP, including:

• Yours Alone (2014)
• Only a Holy God (2016)
• Yet Not I (EP; 2018)
• There is One Gospel (Live) (2022)

Check out my other CityAlight reviews.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Cityalight-jerusalem-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.  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?

CityAlight calls us to behold the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, filling in details that are contained throughout all the Gospels.  These events include:

• Jesus’ royal entry into Jerusalem
• The crowd’s demand to crucify Jesus
• Christ as the recipient of torment, humiliation, mockery, and death
• Christ’s walk to Golgotha
• Earthquake and split veil
• Resurrection

It also proclaims the acts and attributes of Jesus, including:

• Ruler of current and new Jerusalem
• Creator
• Saving us from the Father’s judgment

Score: 10/10

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

All of it does.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1 and 2: References Jesus’ triumphant arrival in Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19).

Lines 3 and 4: A different crowd, though perhaps includes some of the same people in the crowd referenced in lines 1 and 2, call for Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:16-26, Mark 15:7-15, Luke 23:18-46, and John 19:4-30).

Lines 5 and 6: Christ’s frailty was finalized by succumbing to beatings, suffering, and death (Matthew 27:27-50, Mark 15:16-32, Luke 23:26-43, and John 19:16-27).  He also felt abandoned (Matthew 27:46).

Lines 7 and 8: References Jesus’ walk while carrying the cross beam to His eventual death (Matthew 27:31, Mark 15:20, Luke 23:26, and John 19:17).

[Verse 2]

Line 1: See Scripture on Verse 1, lines 5 and 6.

Lines 2-4: This is contextually possible.  If we follow the timeline from Verse 1 up to this point, and later in this Verse (see Matthew 27:32-34, Mark 15:21-23, Luke 23:33-34, and John 19:16-18), this point would have been after Jesus climbed to the crucifixion site, but not yet crucified.  Although Scripture doesn’t record any mockery or quiet praying at this specific moment, both would be consistent with the crowd (Matthew 27:16-26, Mark 15:7-15, Luke 23:18-46, and John 19:4-30) and the character of Jesus (Matthew 26:36-46 and Mark 14:32-42), respectively.

Lines 5 and 6: Christ is both King (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 11:10, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1-6, Luke 1:32-33, John 12:15, John 18:37, 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16) and Creator (John 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:15-16).

Lines 7 and 8: Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified as His obedience to the Father’s will (Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42, and John 6:38).

[Verse 3]

Lines 1 and 2: See Scripture on Verse 1, lines 5 and 6.

Lines 3 and 4: This reminds us that we originally came from dust (Genesis 2:7, Genesis 3:19, Job 34:15, Psalm 104:29, and Ecclesiastes 3:20).

Lines 5 and 6: Both events followed Jesus’ death (Matthew 27:51-54, Mark 15:38, and Luke 23:45).

Lines 7 and 8: Jesus’ payment for sins saves His followers from the Father’s wrath (Romans 5:9 and 1 Thessalonians 1:10).

[Verse 4]

Line 1: References the empty tomb (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20:1-10).

Line 2: Jesus defeated 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).

Line 3: He came into the world to serve (Matthew 20:28).

Line 4: See Verse 2, line 5.

Lines 5-8: CityAlight calls their audience to worship Christ as the ruler of New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-5).

Lines 9-13: Repeats line 5-8.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will likely know that it’s Christian given that it directly references events pertaining to Jesus’ crucifixion and explicitly names Him.  These events are familiar to most unbelievers, except possibly New Jerusalem.

Score: 9/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as the ruling King whose death and resurrection made it possible for us to escape the wrath of God.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

CityAlight’s Jerusalem is great.  It recalls many of the events that led up to Jesus’ crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, including His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the Jewish crowd’s call for His death, beatings, mocking, and after His death, the earthquake and torn veil.  CityAlight calls us to praise Him for His salvation, bringing Him glory.  Unbelievers will likely interpret similarly, though perhaps without comprehending “New Jerusalem”.

I recommend it for corporate worship.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Jerusalem (listen to the song)

Artist: CityAlight

Album: Yours Alone

Genre: Hymn

Release Year: 2014

Duration: 4:49

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

Updates:

11/09/2022 – After a brief exchange with Harold Geern, I updated the review to shift the timeline concerning Verse 2, lines 2-4, and removed my critique concerning Jesus’ silence.  This bumped this song’s score, from 9/10 to 9.5/10 and changed my corporate worship rating to “Yes”.