Photo by Elizabeth KF Munro
We’re back again with yet another Hillsong review! Mighty to Save marks my 25th review of this Australian-based collective, with a discography so large, it requires alphabetization.
For those who aren’t aware, Hillsong Music comprises several artist groups, including:
- Hillsong United
- Hillsong Worship
- Hillsong Young & Free
- Hillsong Kids
Also, check out my entire list of Hillsong reviews and Christmas song, Prince of Heaven.
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?
The empathetic, gracious Jesus is the only hope for mankind, offering lovingkindness and forgiveness to anyone who asks through His death, burial, and resurrection. He is the King of kings, who has the power to transform us from deadness in sin to alive in Christ.
In response, we (along with Hillsong) yields to Jesus, where our transformed lives act as a testimony that will draw others to Christ.
Side Note: To those who are sensitive to massive repetition, the song ends with an elongated Bridge.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
This song is Biblical.
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Verse 1]
Everyone needs compassion
A love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Saviour
The hope of nations
In other words, everyone needs Jesus, who:
- Offers Compassion (Exodus 33:19, Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:16-17, Nehemiah 9:30-31, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 116:5, Psalm 145:8-9, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Romans 9:15, James 5:11).
- Embodies love (1 John 4:8), which never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).
- Forgives (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).
- Shows kindness that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).
- Grants hope to all nations (Matthew 11:28-30, Romans 5:1-8, Romans 8:24-39, Romans 15:13, 1 Corinthians 15:54-58, and 1 Peter 1:3-6).
[Chorus]
Saviour, He can move the mountains
And my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save
Jesus is our savior (2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 18:3, Psalm 55:16, Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:9-13) and the power behind the faith that moves mountains (Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21, Mark 11:23, Luke 17:6).
Forever, Author of Salvation
Jesus salvation for all people at all times to anyone wanting to receive it (Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:26-28, and Hebrews 10:10-14).
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
Jesus resurrected (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).
[Verse 2]
So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
And fill my life again
Jesus takes Hillsong’s life and transforms it into a right relationship with Him. They were once dead in sin and are now alive in Christ (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
And now I surrender, I surrender
Hillsong surrenders to God (Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6).
[Bridge]
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus
Based on Matthew 5:15–16, the light of Christ within us shines forth when others see our good works and glorify Jesus, the King of kings (1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16).
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King!
Repeats lines 1 and 2.
[Bridge & Outro]
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King!
Repeats Bridge.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers should arrive at similar conclusions as I stated in section 1. It explicitly mentions Jesus and several of His attributes and acts, attracting those who wish to receive forgiveness. Hillsong’s language is plain and everyday, making misinterpretation difficult.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
This song glorifies God, drawing us to the person of Christ and compelling us to surrender to Him.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Hillsong Worship’s Mighty to Save is a great song. It magnifies Jesus as our Lord and Savior, whose compassion and love leads us to repentance and forgiveness, where we surrender our lives to God. This bring Him glory. Unbelievers will have little to no problem interpreting similarly.
I highly recommend this song for corporate worship, though with fewer repeats to end the song.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Mighty to Save (listen to the song)
Artist: Hillsong Worship
Album: Mighty to Save
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2006
Duration: 6:38
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 2006 Hillsong Music Publishing (APRA) (adm. in the US and Canada at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
05/07/2021 – Per Artist Theology announcement, I expanded the red text to encourage others to study Hillsong’s theology.
03/24/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement. I increased section 1’s score, raising the overall rating from 9.5/10 to 10/10.
Comments
Jane
The song’s artist has a warning note about the ‘dangers’ of their theology…. yet the song is recommended for corporate worship? I’m having a hard time reconciling these two things. The “potential dangers” (however much of a softball that is) warning label indicates your obvious understanding of Hillsong’s destructively preached false gospel.
Please help me to understand how a musician/church whose theology is labeled as ‘possibly dangerous’ is worthy for worshiping our great & almighty Lord, Creator of the entire universe and everything in it.
Before doing so, I beg you to consider how your recommendation may be sending entire congregations of worshipers into dangerous territory by giving them the green light to praise and worship God with the music of wolves. Is that… worship? Are you not yoking with them in doing so? (2Co 6:14-7:1)
Vince Wright
Jane,
Thank you for your comments!
I opened the floor for discussion a few years back when I considered doing artist reviews. You can view the discussion in full at https://www.thebereantest.com/discussion-artist-profile-page. Taking everyone’s concerns into consideration, I made the tough decision to do a few things:
1. Focus on song lyric analysis as separate from artist theology. I firmly believe that songs should stand the test of Scripture on their merits regardless of an artists’ questionable teachings, which would include a nod for corporate worship inclusion. Take a look at Philippians 1:15-18.
2. Create a separate, but still accessible, section for those interested in artist theology with verbiage/linkage to it from the review. I specifically chose the “potential” language to create uniform language that could be copied/pasted into reviews with artists that I have information on their theology. It’s also meant to draw and invite people to examine the artist.
Also, just so that you are aware, I have not received a single email or comment from anyone who was shocked/learned/etc. that Hillsong, Bethel, or Elevation Worship had questionable theology, which should clue you in on the type of person that my site attracts.
Finally, I also assume (perhaps incorrectly) that people read my Evaluation Criteria page before examining my reviews. Within it, I’ve written the following:
“A high score does not necessarily endorse the theology of said artist. For example, Hillsong is well-known for promoting the Word of Faith and New Apostolic Reformation movements, both of which are unbiblical in my view. They also received many high-scoring reviews, some of which are 10/10. We should all do our own due diligence to examine the theology of artists.”
-Vince Wright
j.t.
Agree with you, on “Mighty to Save”
Regardless of the personal life of an author, I believe that God can still use a song, for His glory. If song-writers have to be perfect, shouldn’t that also apply to Pastors? If so, we’d have none of either, pastors or song-writers.
However, I think that the “Billion creatures” somewhat muddies the waters, about the author’s beliefs about Creation/evolution.
The only “Big Bang Theory we should believe in is – “God said, “Let there be…and BANG, there it was!”
J
The “Hope of Nations” line is a reference to a prophecy by Isaiah quoted in Matthew 12:21 (and probably other places); some Bible versions simplify ‘Gentiles’ as ‘nations’ (e.g. Matthew 12:21 NIV)
racefangurl
I admit I made a request for a song under elektra. The name I comment under’s simply the name I use for my WordPress. The Twitter friend I mentioned in my request is a Hillsong music fan and has at times tweeted their lyrics or said “listening to Hillsong” since I learned his name, even once mentioned a specific song he was listening to (not sure if it was them any more, but maybe as it was a Christian song). He’s raced cars in different ways and may dirt race, since he said he was building a dirt track car last year. I follow him because I’m a race fan, as my WP name implies. If my song request makes it, combined with this, that’s half your Hillsong for this year. I know they get 4 songs per year on the blog. So is it 1 winter, 1 spring, 1 summer and 1 fall Hillsong review?
Vince Wright
racefangurl,
Thanks for letting me know! I can now put two and two together! 🙂
Yes, that’s the idea! Hillsong kept winning polls almost 100% of the time, so the quarterly review allows other artists to make it through polling.
-Vince Wright
racefangurl
Desert Song, as I saw in poll archives was a 2nd place song 2 years ago, in a Hillsong poll.
Mackenna
I thought that the part about moving mountains meant God literally has the power to move mountains. Although both interpretations are correct, so it doesn’t matter much.
Also, thank you for this site and all the work you do reviewing songs!
Vince Wright
Mackenna,
Thank you for your comment! My pleasure!
-Vince Wright
Steve Witwicki
Hey Vince—
As usual, you do a great job (and a service to many worship leaders) by providing solid reasoning whether or not to use a song in worship. I appreciate that you do your homework, not only about biblical connections to the lyrical content but also to providing background about the composers and artists who create or produce the song. I will, however, take issue with one point, and you’ve made it before in previous reviews. Your comment: “The song ends with an elongated Bridge, which is too repetitious” is probably true, however that’s more or less a characterization of the way the song (or version you happened to listen to) is done on whatever album you took it from. As you know, it’s an extremely popular song and not only has been recorded, probably by every Hillsong group that exists and then some, as well as been covered by any number of other artists and groups—each one using a completely different arrangement. Additionally, as a worship leader myself, I often make changes to a song’s form and will shorten (or even omit) sections, especially bridges. Finally, Hillsong church has Pentecostal roots and their music sometimes uses long, repetitive sections or extended, spontaneous worship weaving instrumental and vocal improvisations. Not my congregation’s style of worship although I happen to like it. Anyway, not a big deal but thought I’d weigh in. Keep up the good work.
Vince Wright
Steve,
Thank you for your generous comments!
Typically, I will look at genius to find/examine lyrics, which (usually) matches the earliest recorded version of a song. I happen to use Hillsong’s 2006 release of Mighty to Save for the basis of this review. I also happen to be an originalist, which means that I prefer to review the earliest and most original version of a song, whether it’s good, bad, or otherwise. This keeps the versioning consistent. However, your point is well taken. Worship leaders are at liberty to reduce repetition if it suits their needs, and it seems you and I share similar ideas on that subject.
As you said, it’ not a big deal and I didn’t take much off in terms of scoring.
-Vince Wright