Elevation Worship – Overcome

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. 

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 this artist’s theology’s potential blessings and dangers by visiting Resources.

1. What message does the song communicate?

It is a list of things we engage with because of Jesus.  We:

• Wait expectantly to speak of Christ’s eternal reign
• Will not budge in our convictions amid persistence to the contrary
• Avoid fear
• Experience miracles

It also says that Jesus:

• Resurrected
• Reigns eternally
• Shields

Score: 10/10

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

The whole thing reflects God’s inspired Word.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Verse 1]

Now the darkness fades
Into new beginnings
As we lift our eyes to a hope beyond

Most likely, borrows from Psalm 30:5.

All creation waits
With an expectation
To declare the reign of the Lord our God

Quotes from the first part of Romans 8:19, with line 6 paralleling the context of this passage in Romans 8:20-25.  Also, the heavens declare God’s glory (Psalm 19:1-4).

[Chorus]

We will not be moved
When the earth gives way

We will persevere under trial (Romans 5:3-5).

For the risen One has overcome

That is, Jesus conquered 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).

And for every fear
There’s an empty grave

That is, we remain unafraid because God is with us (Genesis 15:1, Joshua 1:9, Deuteronomy 31:6, 1 Chronicles 28:20, Psalm 23:4, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 34:4, Psalm 56:3-4, Psalm 94:19, Psalm 115:11, Psalm 118:6, Isaiah 35:4, Isaiah 41:10-13, Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 54:4, John 14:25-27, Romans 8:15, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Timothy 1:7, Hebrews 13:5-6, 1 Peter 3:13-14, 1 Peter 5:6-7, and 1 John 4:18).

For the risen One has overcome

Repeats line 3.

[Verse 2]

Now the silence breaks
In the name of Jesus
As the heavens cry let the earth respond
All creation shouts
With a voice of triumph
To declare the reign of the Lord our God

While most of this is a rephrasing of Verse 1, lines 4-6, the silence breaking is from the perspective of heaven without people vs. heaven with people.  Apart from the shed blood of Jesus, all of us would perish (Hebrews 9:22).

[Bridge]

He shall reign forever

He rules forever (Exodus 15:18, Psalm 10:16, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 145:13, Psalm 146:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:3, Daniel 6:26, Micah 4:7, 1 Timothy 6:16, 1 Peter 5:11, and Revelation 11:15).

Strongholds now surrender
For the Lord our God has overcome

Because Jesus overcame death (see Chorus, line 3), this grants us the possibility to overcome obstacles that hamper our relationship with Him (Romans 5:3-5, Hebrews 12:4-11, and James 1:2-4).

Who can be against us?

Quotes from the last part of Romans 8:31.

Jesus our Defender

Christ is our bulwark (Ruth 2:12, 2 Samuel 22:3-4, Psalm 3:3, Psalm 5:11, Psalm 18:30, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 32:7, Psalm 34:22, Psalm 41:2, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 57:1, Psalm 59:1, Psalm 61:3, Psalm 91:1-16, Psalm 118:8, Psalm 121:7-8, Psalm 138:7, Proverbs 18:10, Proverbs 30:5, Nahum 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, and 1 John 5:18).

He is Lord and He has overcome

Essentially repeats line 3.

He shall reign forever
Strongholds now surrender
For the Lord our God has overcome
Who can be against us?
Jesus our Defender
He is Lord and He has overcome!

Lines 7-12: Repeats lines 1-6.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

The name of Jesus explicitly mentioned numerous times will easily give away its Christian interpretation.  This song contains an intermixing of Christianese and everyday language, lending them to conclude that Christians worship our defender Jesus because His grave is empty, implying resurrection.  Our conviction is steadfast and sure.  We believe He is our hope.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as the One who overcame death and whose Presence spurs us to surrender, unyielding in our zeal to remain faithful.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Elevation Worship’s Overcome is awesome. It calls for Christians to unceasingly declare Christ’s reign, having left the shadows for His hope. He rose again and lives forever, ruling our hearts and the world around us. Amid temptation and the snares of sin, we will remain firm, triumphantly throwing our fears away. These points glorify God. Unbelievers should be able to interpret similarly.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Overcome (listen to the song)

Artist: Elevation Worship

Album: There Is a Cloud

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2017

Duration: 4:00

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

*Copyright © 2017 Music by Elevation Worship Publishing (BMI) (admin at EssentialMusicPublishing.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission.