Ellie Rogers – Eagles

Ellie Rogers is an independent teen pop artist hailing from South Carolina.  During her early teens, she wrote Danger to express her doubts and uncertainties during her life.  Eagles is her response to this aforementioned song.

She has two more songs to release: Tightrope, which expresses anxieties and fear in her ADD teen’s life, and Concrete, which responds to it, showing that God is the answer and assures us of his promises.

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1. What message does the song communicate?

It speaks of many truths about Jesus, who is God:

• He is responsible for our trusting Him
• He is our bulwark
• He aligns our desires to His will
• He helps us rely upon Him for strength and direction
• He rebukes the storm
• He created us and eagles’ ability to fly
• He defeated the war against our rebellion through His death and resurrection
• He knows our actions and thoughts
• He uses our suffering for His ultimate good
• He gives us opportunities to do good works and gives us trials to make us better
• He bore our transgressions
• He will come again
• He transforms us

Rogers also states that He rolled the stone that sealed Christ’s tomb; However, as I explain in section 2, this is incorrect and as a minor impact on Rogers’ overall message.

She chose to explicitly use the name of Jesus rather than relying on indirect pronouns and references.  Good for her!  There is power in that name.

Score: 9/10

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

Almost all of it agrees with the Bible, except for a minor error in Verse 3, line 3.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Verse 1]

All my confidence,

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of confidence (Job 4:6 and Proverbs 14:26).

All of my defense,

God is our protector (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).

My strongest wish it comes from You,

The end of the song identifies “You” as Jesus.  By “strongest wish”, Rogers refers to desires.  God transformed her will such that she aligns her life to Christ’s will instead of hers (Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 24:7, Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 2:29, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and 2 Corinthians 7:10).  He gives her the desires of her heart (Psalm 37:4).

We can interpose Jesus and God throughout the rest of this review because Jesus is God (Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 43:10-11, Matthew 1:23, Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26, John 1:1-3, John 1:14, John 5:17-18, John 8:23-25, John 8:28, John 10:30-33, John 14:9, John 20:28-29, Philippians 2:5-6, Colossians 1:16-19, Colossians 2:8-9, Titus 2:13, 1 Timothy 6:14-16, Hebrews 1:10-12, Revelation 1:8, and Revelation 22:13).

In a new light,
All of us confide,
Even in the night,
This is something only You can do

References God’s light that drives out the darkness within our hearts (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).  Rogers is correct: only God has this transforming power!  This is because God is light (Psalm 27:1, Psalm 119:105, Psalm 119:130, Matthew 4:16, John 1:1-8, John 8:12, Ephesians 5:14, James 1:17, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 1:5-7, and Revelation 21:23).

[Chorus 1]

The one who raged against the storm,

That is, the One who calmed the storm (Matthew 8:23–27, Mark 4:35–41, Luke 8:22–25).  “Rage” is an appropriate word considering that Jesus rebuked this natural phenomenon.  It is difficult to imagine stern and sharp disapproval without an element of anger!

The one who made sure I was born,
The one who makes the eagles soar,

Rogers is fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).  God is responsible for creating everything, including her (Genesis 1:1, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 8:3-8, Psalm 33:6, Psalm 96:5, Proverbs 3:19, Isaiah 37:16, Isaiah 42:5, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 66:1-2, John 1:1-3, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:16, and Revelation 4:11)!  That includes the eagles’ function to fly.

The one who died to win the war

That is, Jesus’ death wins the battle against our rebellion.  He paid the penalty for our lawbreaking so that we could enter into a restored relationship with God (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).

[Verse 2]

You know everything I’ve done

This is so because God knows all things (1 Kings 8:39, 1 Chronicles 28:9, Psalm 44:21, Psalm 139:4, Psalm 147:4-5, Isaiah 40:28, Matthew 10:30, John 16:30, John 21:17, Acts 1:24, Hebrews 4:13, and 1 John 3:20).

And You can turn my pain to good, Lord,

As stated by Joseph in Genesis 50:20, God is in the business of taking the evil things that happen in this world and turning it around for good and for His glory.

You closed a door to open one,

This is an indirect reference to God’s Sovereignty.  According to Revelation 3:7-13, there are doors that God opens that nobody can shut.  It stands to reason that the opposite is true also: that God closes doors that nobody can open.

What are these “doors” to which this passage refers?  In my humble opinion, it is a combination of the works that God prepared beforehand for us to do (Ephesians 2:10) and challenges that prune us, making us better people (John 15:1-10, Romans 5:3-5, Hebrews 12:4-11, and James 1:2-4).

The closing/opening of doors also represents stages of life.  According to Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, there is a time and a season for all kinds of things, including laughter, sadness, war, and peace.  When God closes the door of one season, He opens another to begin the next stage of our lives for testing and reflection.

Notice that Rogers acknowledges God as the One who opens and closes doors!  We cannot force doors to open or close.  It is a futile effort.  Revelation 3:7 says as much when it says “What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open”.

You made me strong while the devil came undone

God grants us strength when we are weak (2 Corinthians 12:9-11).  He also grants us authority over Satan (Luke 10:19); power to escape temptation (
1 Corinthians 10:13).

[Verse 3]

You carried weight on Your shoulders,

That is, the burden of sin (Isaiah 53:4-11, Matthew 8:17, John 1:29, Galatians 3:13, and 1 Peter 2:24).

And had those nails on Your hands

Christ’s nail marks were shown to the disciples of Jesus in John 20:20-27 as part of a larger body of evidence that Jesus was indeed crucified.

And when You woke You rolled that boulder

Jesus rose again (Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29 Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8)!

Though this is a minor point of contention, Matthew 28:2 tells us that an angel of the Lord rolled the stone away, not Jesus.

So we could see Your face again

We as Christians look forward to the second coming of Christ (Matthew 24:43, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, 2 Peter 3:10, and Revelation 16:15).  Without a resurrection, there is no second return.

[Chorus 2]

The one who raged against the storm,
The one who made sure I was born,
The one who makes the eagles soar,
The one who died to win the war
The one who raged against the storm,
The one who made sure I was born,
The one who makes the eagles soar,
The one who died to win the war

Repeats Chorus 1 twice.

[Refrain]

Lord, You take my heart and You make me alive,
You make me alive Lord, You stitch my wings, and
You make me fly, You make the eagles fly, Lord,

References the transformation of Roger’s heart from deadness in her sins to alive in Christ (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24), soaring like an eagle.  God is in the business of mending broken hearts, giving them rest (Psalm 147:3 and Matthew 11:28-30).

You take my heart and You make me alive,
You make me alive Lord, You stitch my wings, and
You make me fly,

Repeats lines 1-3.

Jesus You make me fly

Identifies Jesus as the One who does all the aforementioned things Rogers said about “You”.

Score: 9/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Rogers provides a metric ton of Biblical truth, much of which is easily accessible to unbelievers, including Christ as our confidence, protector, source of new desires, miracle worker, source of strength, crucifixion, second coming of Christ, and transformation of the Christians’ hearts.

It also contains a few concepts that require a deep understanding of Christian theology.  This includes the war against sin and the open/closed doors; However, there is a high chance that unbelievers are not Rogers’ intended audience.

Overall, I think those outside the camp of Christ will get the gist of Rogers’ communication.

Score: 8/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God through the many truth listed in section 1, only slightly hidden through Rogers’ minor mistake.

Score: 9/10

Closing Comments

Ellie Rogers’ Eagles is a great song.  It speaks of our transformation as Christ-followers, who were once plagued by darkness, now created anew through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection.  He changes our hearts and minds to focus on His will, providing opportunities to grow, bringing Him glory.  Although it contains a small hiccup regarding who moved the boulder and a few portions likely require a deeper study for unbelievers to comprehend, its core teachings can be enjoyed by anyone.

I highly recommend this for churches that can handle some theological depth, assuming that they do something with “You rolled that bolder”.  Perhaps the singer could fit all the syllables within “the angel rolled that bolder” as a proper replacement?

Final Score: 9/10

Artist Info

Track: Eagles (listen to the song)

Artist: Ellie Rogers

Album: N/A

Genre: Pop

Release Year: 2020

Duration: 3:44

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*Copyright © 2020 EllieRogersMusic. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Updates:

03/24/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.