Delirious? – Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?

The Cutting Edge Band formed in 1992, a collection of musicians who performed for youth outreach event “Cutting Edge” in Littlehampton, West Sussex. They performed at Arun Community Church with the hopes of winning the lost for Christ. Cutting Edge events played throughout England for three years to increasingly larger crowds. One such event occurred near Littlehampton’s beach, where about 4,000 people attended. They also released four EP’s over five years.

The Cutting Edge became Delirious? in 1997, releasing their first album King of Fools, with widespread fanfare as one of the most popular CCM and rock bands of the later ’90s in the UK and here in the States. Eleven years later, they would release seven more albums, including:

• Mezzamorphis (1999)
• Glo (2000)
• Audio Lessonover? (2001)
• Touch (2002)
• World Service (2003)
• The Mission Bell (2005)
• Kingdom of Comfort (2008)

The Mission Bell was nominated for a Dove Award for Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year but did not win.

Interestingly, their song Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble? did not appear on any album released by Delirious?.  It is contained within their third EP Red Tape, under their former band name.

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?

It is primarily celebratory language describing our joy when sinners bow the knee to Jesus.  It contains a deep concentration on experiential testimony, touching on God’s stirring of the unbeliever’s heart.  It also has some unfortunate linguistic issues that I cover more in section 2, communicating that our collective efforts can undo sin and (possibly) set captive hearts free.

Score: 7/10

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

Most of it is Scriptural; However, Verse 3 does not.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Verse 1]

Did you feel the mountains tremble?
Did you hear the oceans roar?
When the people rose to sing of
Jesus Christ, the risen One?

The faith of a mustard seed can move mountains (Matthew 17:20, Mark 11:23, and Luke 17:6).  Imagine what the body of Christ can accomplish if we all took our faith seriously?

Thank You, Lord
Hey

An attitude of gratitude is Godly behavior (1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 100:4, Psalm 107:8-9, and Colossians 3:17).

[Verse 2]

Did you feel the people tremble?
Did you hear the singers roar?
When the lost began to sing of
Jesus Christ, the saving One?

An earthly equivalent of the heavenly hosts that rejoice when one sinner repents (Luke 15:7 and Luke 15:10).

[Pre-Chorus 1]

And we can see that, God, You’re moving
A mighty river through the nations;
And young and old will turn to Jesus

God’s activities through kingdoms are manifested through changed hearts (Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Jeremiah 31:33, and Hebrews 8:10).

Fling wide, you heavenly gates;
Prepare the way of the risen Lord

Open heavenly doors precede the King of Glory who enters (Psalm 24:7-9).

[Chorus]

Open up the doors (Open up the doors)

The heavenly doors mentioned in Pre-Chorus 1, line 4.

And let the music play (Let the music play)
Let the streets resound with singing
(We’re singing about the wonderful Savior)
Songs that bring Your hope (Songs that bring Your hope)
Songs that bring Your joy (Songs that bring Your joy)
Dancers who dance upon injustice (Oh yeah)

Delirious?‘s call for believers to use music as a medium to evangelize to the lost.  I cannot imagine that lyrical content would be excluded from Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).  The singing and dancing celebrate the eventual second coming of Christ, when  He will rid the world of injustice and strike down the nations (Revelation 19:11-16).

[Verse 3]

Do you feel the darkness tremble?
When all the saints join in one song

Combines three concepts: the unity of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:17, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, and Ephesians 4:1-16), the fact that we have light (Matthew 5:14-16, Ephesians 5:8, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 1:5-7, and 1 John 2:7-11), and that God’s light (that we possess) is that which drives out darkness (Psalm 107:10-16, Luke 1:79, John 1:1-13, John 12:46, Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:13, and 1 Peter 2:9).

And all the streams flow as one river

This could refer to the saints joining in one song or a universalist perspective, that multiple worldviews combine as one.  The former seems more likely.

To wash away a brokenness?

This could modify either line 3 or the combination of lines 2 and 3.  If we assume that the “saints join as one song” theory is accurate for line 3, then Delirious? is saying that the saints’ collective song can undo sin.  This is incorrect.  It is not the saints joining in one song that washes away sin.  Rather, it is the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:2, and 1 Peter 1:18-19).

[Pre-Chorus 2]

And here we see that, God, You’re moving

Repeats Pre-Chorus, line 1.

A time of jubilee is coming
When young and old return to Jesus

See commentary in Verse 2.  Not to be confused with the Year of Jubilee, an Old Covenant celebratory custom in Israel occurring every 49 years.

Fling wide you heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord
Oh, prepare the way of the risen Lord

Repeats Pre-Chorus, lines 4 and 5.

[Interlude]

Let the music play

Repeats Chorus, line 2.

Did you feel?
Did you feel?

Repeats the beginning words of each Verse.

[Spontaneous]

Oh, we will play, we will play
Play like we’ve never played before

A platitude that is non-biblical, but not unbiblical.

Oh, God is gonna bring you a new song
God is gonna bring you new music

He puts a new song in our collective mouths (Psalm 40:3).

Oh, praise the Saviour
Praise the Saviour

Expression of praise.

God is gonna bring you new sounds with songs

See line 3.

Gonna release the broken hearted

God released the broken-hearted (Psalm 147:3).

[Spontaneous (2)]

It’s because of You
It’s because of You, Lord
Something is changing

See commentary in Spontaneous, line 8.

Did you feel the mountains are moving again?

Essentially repeats Verse 1, line 1.

Fling wide the gates
Lift up the gates
Lift them up
Lift up the gates

Essentially repeats Pre-Chorus 1, line 4.

Score: 7/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

It will be evident in the unbelieving mind that this song is meant for Christians, with a similar interpretation to my own.  Of course, they will not be able to join in the celebration in the same way us Christians do, unless they decide to follow Jesus.  A keener eye will pick up the error I found in Verse 3.

Score: 7/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Delirious? glorifies God through their triumphant commemoration of one sinner who repents; However, it is dulled by their error mentioned in other sections.

Score: 7/10

Closing Comments

Delirious?’s Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble? is a decent song.  An unbeliever’s repentance and faith placed in Christ is worthy of celebration and worth singing about, bringing glory to God.  Most of it is Biblical; However, the unfortunate linguistic errors in Verse 3 severely impact its scoring.

In light of this mistake, I cannot recommend this song for worship without modification.

Final Score: 7/10

Artist Info

Track: Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble? (listen to the song)

Artist: Delirious?

EP: Red Tape

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 1994

Duration: 5:29

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

*Copyright © 1994 Curious? Music UK (PRS) (adm. in the US and Canada at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Updates:

03/09/2022 – After a brief conversion with Martyn Ingham, as well as carefully listening to the song in question, my criticiam of Spontaneous is based on a misleard lyric.  I corrected the line and updated my commentary.  I also updated criticism of Verse 3 in section 2, to clarify precisely my critique.  I did not alter my score.

03/23/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.

02/07/2020 – Corrected lyric in Verse 3, line 4.  Thank you again Sue!

02/05/2020 – Added further commentary in Chorus to explain the purpose of singing and dancing.  Thank you Sue for asking about it!

11/12/2019 – As a result of my conversation with BuzzBuzzMeow, I updated my commentary on Verse 3.  I did not alter the score.