Elevation Worship (Feat. Tiffany Hudson) – Forever YHWH

Elevation Worship is a church-led band that was created in 2007.  They join Bethel Music and Hillsong as the “big three” that has the biggest reach in modern Christian music.  They released many albums and EP’s.

They also won nine awards, including two Billboard for Top Christian Artist (2021) and Top Christian Song (Graves into Gardens, 2021), and two GMA Dove awards for Spanish Language Album of the Year (Aleluya (En La Tierra), 2020) and Worship Recorded Song of the Year (The Blessing (Live), 2020).

Also, check out my other Elevation Worship reviews. 

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Elevation-worship-forever-yhwh-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?

God/Jesus is:

• Lord
• I AM
• Almighty
• Fills Elevation Worship
• Is present with Elevation Worship
• Prince of Peace
• Lifted high
• Eternally worthy of adoration

In response, Elevation Worship both worships and invites others to join.

Side Note: To those annoyed by massive repetition, Bridge contains essentially the same two lines repeated six times and a few more in other iterations.

Score: 10/10

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

The entire song.

Side Note: Though I normally poke fun at filler with my commentary I chose not to on this review except Bridge.  Almost all the filler is on the repeated phrases that would make the review unnecessarily longer than it needs to be.

[Verse]

Line 1: Meaning “Lord” or “Master” (Genesis 15:2, Genesis 14:18, and Genesis 16:13).

Line 2: Combines God/Jesus as I AM (Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58) with the fact that He’s living inside Elevation Worship (Romans 8:10, 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, Galatians 1:15-16, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 4:19, Ephesians 3:17, and Colossians 1:27).

Line 3: Meaning “God Almighty” (Genesis 17:1 and Genesis 35:11).  The Prince of Peace reference is in Isaiah 9:6.

Line 4: Meaning “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

[Chorus]

Line 1: He is both great (Psalm 8:1, Psalm 8:9, and Jeremiah 10:6) and worthy of praise (1 Chronicles 16:25, 2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 96:4-5, Psalm 145:3, and Revelation 4:11).

Line 2: Repeats line 1.

[Instrumental]

Lines 1 and 2: Elevation Worship invites others to worship Him (see commentary on Chorus, line 1).

[Bridge]

Lines 1 and 2: He is worthy in the past, present and the future (see commentary on Chorus, line 1).

The English pronunciation of the tetragrammaton “YHWH” or “YHVH”.  We’re not sure if “Yahweh” is the correct way to pronounce it; However, we know what we mean, and God knows what we mean when we pronounce it this way.  Besides, if it was that important that we pronounce His name correctly, He would have preserved it.

Lins 3-12: Repeats/essentially repeats lines 1 and 2.

Side Note: In Bridge’s final iteration, in an ad-lib, Yahweh is explicitly identified as Jesus.  See Verse, line 2.

[Refrain]

Line 1: See Chorus, line 1.

Lines 2 and 3: Elevation Worship invites others to worship Him (see commentary on Chorus, line 1).

Lines 4-9: Repeats/essentially repeats lines 2 and 3.  Line 8 summarizes Bridge, lines 1 and 2.

Line 10: No one else is worthy.

Line 11: See line 8.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

The song’s opening lines make it clear that this song is Christian, cemented by the name “Yahweh”.  Jewish scholars will quickly point out that we’re probably mispronouncing YHWH/YHVH.  Thus, some Jewish people will take offense to the name “Yahweh”.  However, this is more an issue with use than interpretation.  It’s difficult to say Christians are wrong if they don’t know how to pronounce it!

Unbelievers will conclude Christians worship Jesus because he’s great.  What makes Him great?  He just is.

This song contains many names of God.  Those outside Christianity need not know what they mean, only that they reference the God we worship.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

God/Jesus.  He is both worthy of praise and receives it.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Elevation Worship’s Forever YHWH succinctly summarizes the entire song.  He is forever God and will always be worshipped.  This brings Him glory.  Unbelievers should easily interpret this one.

This song is suitable for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Forever YHWH (listen to the song)

Artist: Elevation Worship (Feat. Tiffany Hudson)

Album: LION

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2022

Duration: 8:19

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