Darlene Zschech – Worthy is the Lamb

Contemporary Christian artist and former Hillsong worship leader Darlene Zschech began her career in 1989, though not in Christian music.  She was one of many voices that sung short jingles for KFC, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola commercials.  She was with Hillsong from 1996 to 2006 before going solo.  She is most famous for her song Shout to the Lord, piquing the ears of  American Idol viewers and Pope Francis.

Her solo albums include:

• Make the Choice (1987)
• Pearls & Gold (1993)
• Kiss of Heaven (2003)
• Change Your World (2005)
• Simply Darlene (2011)
• You Are Love (2011)
• Revealing Jesus (live, 2013)
• Here I Am Send Me (live, 2017)

Lyrics can be found at https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/darlenezschech/worthyisthelamb.html.

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?

This song is Zschech leading us to an attitude of gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, paying lip service to the resurrection.  He is our Ruler, Savior, and Redeemer, worthy of our worship.

Score: 10/10

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

This song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure.  Therefore, I added Stanzas to each paragraph.

[Stanza 1]

Lines 1-3: Zschech shows gratitude to Christ for paying for her lawbreaking, bearing her sins because He loves her (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 4: Grace is undeserved favor, which God grants (Genesis 15:6, Exodus 33:19, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 4:3-8, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 11:5-6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 5:4, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Titus 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and James 2:23).  It also pays lip service to John Newton’s famous song Amazing Grace.

[Stanza 2]

Line 1: See Stanza 1, line 3b.

Line 2: Jesus still bears the nail marks, shown to Thomas in John 20:24-27.

Line 3: That is, Zschech asks Jesus to wash her in His cleansing blood (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:2, and 1 Peter 1:18-19).

Line 4: Zschech shows that she receives forgiveness for sins by accepting Christ’s sacrifice (Matthew 26:28, Act 2:38, Act 5:31, Act 10:43, Romans 4:7, Romans 5:6-8, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, Colossians 2:13-14, James 5:15, James 5:19-20, 1 John 2:1-2, and 1 John 2:12).

[Stanza 3]

Line 1: The lamb of God is Jesus (Isaiah 53:7, John 1:29, John 1:36, 1 Peter 1:19, and Revelation 13:8).  He is worthy to receive honor and praise (Revelation 5:12).

Line 2: Christ is King (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 11:10, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1-6, John 12:15, John 18:37, 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16).

Line 3: That is, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus, joining the elders who do the same (Revelation 4:10–11).

Line 4: That is, victory over the grave (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 5: We praise Him (Matthew 14:28-33, Matthew 28:16-17, and Luke 24:50-53).

Line 6: Son of God is a title of Jesus to describe His Deity (Matthew 11:27, Matthew 14:33, Matthew 16:15–17, Matthew 27:43, Matthew 27:54, Mark 1:11, Mark 3:11, Mark 9:7, Mark 15:39, Luke 1:35, Luke 4:41, Luke 22:29, John 1:14-18, John 1:34, John 3:16-18, John 11:27, John 19:7, John 20:31, and Acts 9:20).

Line 7: See Stanza 1, line 1.  I have no issue with Zschech’s usage of the word “Darling”.  It simply means “a dearly loved person”.

Lines 8 and 9: Repeats line 1.

[Stanza 4]

Repeats Stanza 1.

[Stanza 5]

Repeats Stanza 2.

[Stanza 6]

Repeats Stanza 3 with two more repeated lines at the end.

[Stanza 7]

Repeats Stanza 3 with three more repeated lines at the end.

[Stanza 8]

Line 1: Repeats Stanza 3, line 5.

Lines 2 and 3: Repeats first word of Stanza 3, line 1.

Lines 4 and 5: Repeats Stanza 3, line 1.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

This song is about overtly Christian as one can get, even to most unbelievers.  Its central focus is on Jesus and Christ crucified, where we Christians are grateful.  Zschech’s language is full of Christianese terminology, yet, mostly easy for outsiders to digest.

The only possible misunderstanding is the word “sin”.  Most unbelievers think sin is to make mistakes, not breaking God’s Laws.

Score: 9/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus in worship.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Darlene Zschech’s Worthy is the Lamb is a worthy song.  It glorifies and praises Christ as the One who takes away our sins: bearing our shame, defeating death, and ruling on His throne.  Those who do not yet follow Jesus will find this interpretation easily, though perhaps thinking sin is error rather than lawbreaking.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Worthy is the Lamb (Live) [Hillsong] (listen to the song)

Artist: Darlene Zschech

Album: You Are My World (Live) [Hillsong]

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2001

Duration: 7:16

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

Updates:

09/14/2021 – Per Artist Theology announcement, I expanded the red text to encourage others to study Darlene Zschech’s theology via Hillsong.

03/23/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.