Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann
Leeland is a Christian rock band started by Leeland Mooring in 2004, though Mooring has been writing music since 2000, when he was 11 years old. Leeland released seven albums and one EP, including:
- Sound of Melodies (2006)
- Opposite Way (2008)
- Love Is on the Move (2009)
- Majesty: The Worship EP (2010)
- The Great Awakening 2011)
- Leeland Live: Christ Be All Around Me (2014)
- Invisible (2016, under Bethel)
- Better Word (Live, 2019)
Leeland won four Grammy’s and eight Dove awards for his work, including Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album, New Artist of the Year, and Worship Song of the Year.
Behel is mentioned due to Brian Johnson’s (Bethel) co-authorship, Lion and the Lamb‘s release under the Bethel label, and its frequent usage in Bethel’s live sessions.
Check out my other Bethel Music reviews!
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Leeland-lion-and-the-lamb-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?
The second coming of Christ will cause the whole world to bow the knee to Him, declaring Him as Lord. Though it claims that all chains will break and will praise Him, this is only true for believers who trust in Jesus. It poses a rhetorical question with an obvious answer: nobody can stop God!
He is of the tribe of Judah, the roaring lion whose massive power stops our foes. He is also the lamb who takes away the sins of the world, if only we would open our hearts to receive Him.
Score: 8/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Most of it agrees with the Bible, except two statements in Verse 1 that communicates all will experience freedom from the chains of sin post-second coming of Christ.
[Verse 1]
Line 1: References the prophecied second coming of Christ on a cloud (Daniel 7:13, Matthew 24:30, Mark 14:62, Luke 21:27, Acts 1:9-11, Revelation 1:7, and Revelation 14:14).
Line 2: Every knee will bow (Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11).
Lines 3 and 4: This is only half true. It is only believers who will experience every chain broken, where God will wipe our tears and there will be no more suffering (Revelation 21:4). Those who are not believers will experience eternal damnation (Matthew 18:8, Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46, Mark 9:43, Jude 1:7, Revelation 14:11, and Revelation 20:10). Every tongue may confess Jesus as Lord, but not everyone will praise Him. Even the demons believe, but shutter (James 2:19).
Line 5: No one can (Job 42:2, Proverbs 21:30, and Isaiah 14:27).
[Chorus]
Line 1: That is, Jesus. He is of the tribe of Judah (Matthew 1:3-16 and Luke 3:23-33). Judah was known as a lion (Genesis 49:9). Jesus is known as the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5), though not the same lion that is Satan in 1 Peter 5:8. Jesus is also 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).
Line 2: God is all-powerful (Genesis 1:1-31, Job 11:7-11, Psalm 33:6, Jeremiah 32:17, Romans 4:17, Hebrews 1:3, and Jude 1:24-25) and fights our battles for us (Exodus 14:14, Deuteronomy 3:22, Deuteronomy 20:4, Joshua 1:9, Joshua 23:10, Psalms 44:5, and Romans 8:31).
Line 3: See Verse 1, line 2.
Lines 4 and 5: Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away our sins (Isaiah 53:7, John 1:29, John 1:36, 1 Peter 1:19, Revelation 5:12, and Revelation 13:8). His shed blood washes away its struggle hold on our lives (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:2, and 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Line 6: Combines portions of lines 3 and 4.
Line 7: Repeats line 3.
[Verse 2]
Lines 1 and 2: The gates/door of our hearts must be opened to allow Him to come in (Psalm 24:7-10 and Revelation 3:20). Line 2 also contains two repeated references to Casper the friendly ghost.
Lines 3 and 4: Christ came to set those who are in bondage to sin (John 8:34, Romans 6:6, Romans 6:20-22, and 1 Corinthians 6:12) free to experience eternal life with God (Romans 6:15-23, 1 Corinthians 7:22, Philemon 1:16, and 1 Peter 2:16).
Line 5: Repeats Verse 1, line 5.
[Bridge]
Lines 1-8: Essentially repeats Verse 1, line 5.
[Outro]
Line 1: Combines portions of Chorus, lines 1 and 3.
Score: 8/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers should find much of this song easy to conclude. Leeland/Bethel’s explicit multiple name-drops of God cements it as a religious song. Taking away sins of the world is a phrase often associated with Christianity, though perhaps unbelievers won’t comprehend what “sin” is outside of error and mistakes. It’s difficult to know if they will comprehend Christ coming on a cloud, that is is of the tribe of Judah, or the gates are our hearts.
Score: 7/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God as the One who saves us from our slavery to sin, dimmed by its error that all chains will be broken.
Score: 8/10
Closing Comments
Leeland and Bethel Music’s Lion and the Lamb is average. While it brings glory to God in that Christ is the killed lamb who nails our certificate of debt on the cross, it errs when stating all will receive His grace. Unbelievers should comprehend its overall message, requiring further study for details such as Christ’s genealogy, the gates as our inner being, and that Jesus will come on a cloud.
I find it difficult to recommend this song for corporate worship without contextualized explanation for how “every chain” refers to believers and not the whole world, and fewer repeats in Bridge.
Final Score: 8/10
Artist Info
Track: Lion and the Lamb (listen to the song)
Artist: Leeland and Bethel Music
Album: Invisible
Genre: Rock
Release Year: 2016
Duration: 4:31
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
06/29/2021 – Added link to other Bethel reviews.
06/11/2021 – Per Artist Theology announcement, I expanded the red text to encourage others to study Bethel Music’s theology.
03/18/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement. Slightly increased score and removed repetition commentary in section 1. This raised its overall score, from 7.5/10 to 8/10.
Comments
lynn
I happened on this article as I was doing my own review on this song (for myself). I found that we had the same concerns about verse 1.
We sang the song at church on Sunday and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what seemed off.
Interestingly, these words (“every chain will break as broken hearts declare His praise”) seem to be true for Israel based on Isaiah 45:23-25. But we know it’s not true for everyone. Otherwise, Satan, when he’s released at the end of the thousand years, wouldn’t be able to deceive anyone. Not everyone in Christ’s thousand year reign will be saved (which is what this song seems to imply).
But, is there an actual verse that tells us when every knee will bow and every tongue confess or do we just assume it will be when He returns? Romans 14:10-11 is referring to the judgment seat of Christ when this happens.
Although, you said you couldn’t recommend this song for corporate worship without explaining that “every chain” only refers to Christians and not the whole world, I come to a different conclusion (unless this song is written to Christians for Christians only and when they say “every chain,” they already mean Christians).
Why sing it at all? There are so many good songs out there that glorify God. And isn’t it true that false teaching always has truth in it? Sometimes even a lot of truth? Again, I am assuming the artist is saying ‘every chain” means the whole world, and may even be subtly teaching the Seven Mountain theology.
I also think when Christ returns, it will be all about Him – His power and majesty.
Thanks for the review.
Lynn
Neal Cruco
Lynn,
“But, is there an actual verse that tells us when every knee will bow and every tongue confess or do we just assume it will be when He returns?”
Yes, it’s the very passage you referenced- Isaiah 45:23. This is the passage quoted by Paul in Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11. See “https://www.gotquestions.org/every-knee-shall-bow.html” for further explanation.
Also, who will be declaring Christ’s praises at His Second Coming? Not the unbelievers, that’s for sure. They will acknowledge Jesus as Lord, but they’ll be shaking with terror at the sight of Him, not singing His praises. So what evidence do you have for definitely saying that Verse 1, Lines 3-4 refer to the whole world? Evidence within the lyrics of the song, I mean, not from claims that the artist overtly or subtly promotes theology X somewhere. It is Vince’s wish that this site’s reviews remain narrowly focused on evaluating the song based only on its lyrics and not “background” material- possibly because that is how most people will be exposed to it.
lynn
Thanks for your reply, Neal.
When I asked if there was a verse that specifically said WHEN it would happen, it’s because I don’t see where Isaiah 45:23-25 says when, but it’s clearly referring to the Jews. Do we know if Israel bowing and confessing happens at the same time as Romans 14:10-12, because this verse is talking about the judgment seat of Christ and refers to believers only. Philippians doesn’t say anything to indicate when. Is it possible there will be more than one occasion this happens? Anyway, I don’t need to know the answer if there isn’t a clear one from Scripture.
I have always imagined when Christ returns, that every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord whether they did so willingly or unwilingly, because it would be obvious. But as I look further into it, no verse specifically says it will happen at that time.
I suppose I may have read into the song when I said Bethel meant the” whole world” but I based my line of reasoning on verse 1, line 2 which says, “Kings and kingdoms will bow down.” And when the next line says, “Every chain will break as broken hearts declare His praise” I thought the song (not my bias, which I clearly have) was saying the chains of kings and kingdoms will break as broken hearts declare His praise. But it might be saying that every broken heart that declares His praise will in turn have their chains broken, rather than the kings and kingdoms.
I understand what Vince is trying to do, and I don’t have a problem with it. But I still blame churches for purchasing the songs. I sincerely believe they are complicit in helping to spread error. Because buying the songs of Bethel, HIllsong, and Elevation Worship provides these churches with mega resources. And with those resources they have gained influence they would not have had otherwise. So, even if the song is 100% Scriptural, I would not recommend a church sing it if it means they had to purchase the song. I know many people disagree with me, and that’s okay.
Btw, I will look at what Got Questions has to say.
Lynn
Ken Ferguson
Continue to be baffled by this website.
Carol
“[Verse 2]
Lines 1 and 2: The gates/door of our hearts must be opened to allow Him to come in (Psalm 24:7-10 and Revelation 3:20). Line 2 also contains two repeated references to Casper the friendly ghost.”
I am curious about this comment in this review? Taken directly from the article.
Vince Wright
Carol,
Thank you for your inquiry!
As stated in the Evaluation Criteria page, the Casper reference is meant to be a running joke.
-Vince Wright
Morethansinging
I really love your biblical reviews of songs. I am not a Bethel fan. However, with many christian songs there seems to be discernment required to understand them. Not always a good thing.
I think the audience of this song is clearly for Christians, could you therefore, not argue that the line is correct when in context of who this was written for?
Vince Wright
Morethansinging,
Thank you for your comment!
No, I cannot argue differently because I do not believe the statement is true. If you wish to internalize a sub-set context of believers, then yes, it would be a true statement. But, my analysis is based on the lyrics as they are stated.
-Vince Wright