Photo by Rohan Makhecha
Starting in 1943 as the Bethel Baptist Church, thirty-five chartered members met at a rented store in Los Angeles, California. They grew into a multi-site megachurch named Mosaic, with over sixty nationalities represented and consists mainly of young adults in their 20’s who work in the film industry, according to the Associated Press. They also formed a band named “Mosaic MSC”, releasing MSC (Live from LA) in 2015, Glory & Wonder in 2016 and Unknown – EP in 2017. The requested song, Tremble, is from their 2017 album.
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1. What message does the song communicate?
If I were to summarize the entire song in a single sentence, it would be that Jesus is stronger than our struggles, darkness, and fears.
The first few verses are a generic, encompassing, and figurative description of Mosaic’s prayer to remove our struggles. The chorus describes two actions done by Jesus: quenching darkness and fear. Verse 3 calls for every fiber in our being to praise Him. the bridge focuses on the name of Jesus, one that is undeniable, undefeatable, and praiseworthy.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All of it agrees with the Bible. Lyrics posted with permission*.
[Verse 1]
Peace, bring it all to peace
The storms surrounding me
Let it break at Your name
It is true that Jesus has complete control of the weather. A prominent example exists in Matthew 8:23-27 and Mark 4:35-41.
If the LORD’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) has taught us anything, it is that we ought to pray according to the will of the Father. While I am not opposed to praying for our issues to go away, we should also consider that the LORD could be using it to discipline us (see Hebrews 12:4-11) and thus, decide not to respond in the affirmative.
[Verse 2]
Still, call the sea to still
The rage in me to still
Every wave at Your name
A rehash of the same points in Verse 1.
[Chorus]
Jesus, Jesus, You make the darkness tremble
This is because God’s light drives out darkness (see Psalm 107:10-16, Luke 1:79 [read in context; “child” refers to Jesus], John 1:1-13, John 12:46, Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:13, and 1 Peter 2:9).
Jesus, Jesus, You silence fear
Throughout the entire Bible, God gives the command not to be afraid. Prominent examples include 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.
Jesus, Jesus, You make the darkness tremble
Repeats line 1.
Jesus, Jesus
Repeats first part of line 1.
[Verse 3]
Breathe, call these bones to live
Call these lungs to sing
Once again, I will praise
Another prayer offered to Jesus, this time for our mortal bodies that God gave us to praise Him. Though these are several examples of this type of offering, Psalm 86:11’s description of an undivided heart succinctly captures this.
The first line references Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of dry bones come to life, meaning that God will revive spiritual deadness within His people. Also, see Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24.
[Bridge]
Your name is a light that the shadows can’t deny
Your name cannot be overcome
Jesus refers to Himself as the light of the world in John 8:12 and John 9:5. In one particular incident (see Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39) a pack of demons named legion converses with Jesus, requesting to enter into pigs after Jesus’ exorcism. According to James 2:19, the demons are aware of God’s existence, yet, they shudder. Also, while we can, in our limited capacity deny God, saying in our heart “there is no God” (Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1), there will be no doubt on judgment day.
Your name is alive, forever lifted high
That is, within the hearts of believers (see Nehemiah 9:5, Psalm 30:12, Psalm 52:9, Psalm 86:12, Psalm 89:1, Psalm 115:18, Psalm 145:1-2, Psalm 145:21, and Revelation 5:9-13).
Your name cannot be overcome
Repeats line 2.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
I have little doubt that those outside Christianity will interpret these similarly to my own. The overt explicit mention of Jesus, HIs actions that ceases storms and decimates shadows, and description of praise all point to God worship.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
With such overt descriptors, it should be obvious to even the casual listener that Mosaic glorifies God.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Tremble is a worthy worship song. Mosaic glorifies God with their numerous unambiguous references to Jesus, His behavior, and His attributes, easily understood by unbelievers.
I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Tremble (listen to the song)
Artist: Mosaic MSC
Album: Unknown – EP
Genre: Alternative Rock
Release Year: 2017
Duration: 3:03
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 2016 Mosaic MSC Music (ASCAP) Mosaic LA Music (BMI) All Essential Music (ASCAP) Bentley Street Songs (ASCAP) Be Essential Songs (BMI) Upside Down Under (BMI) (admin at EssentialMusicPublishing.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
07/11/2023 – Changed “shutter” to “shudder”. Thanks to John for finding it!
08/11/2021 – I’m not sure why I scored section 1 with a “9”. Therefore, I increased its score from 9.5/10 to 10/10. Also, I added my recommendation for corporate worship.
03/10/2021 – Updated commentary to Verse 3. Thanks to nidia for discovering it!
04/12/2019: After much prayer and discussion with other Christ-followers, I’ve changed my mind about my criticism regarding figurativizing historical events. Paul Himself did this on numerous occasions. Circumcision of the heart is a prominent example. Therefore, I changed the overall score from 7.5/10 to 9.5/10.
Comments
John
Small typo: it’s “shudder”, not “shutter” in James 2:19. Also worth noting that many Bible versions, including the KJV, translate the word with “tremble”. I’d wager the song writer(s) were inspired by this verse.
“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” James 2:19 NKJV
As for Jesus ‘ name being “forever lifted high”, Philippians 2:9 is also worth citing.
Martyn
I have always felt uncomfortable about the chorus of this song. All of the verses you quote for the first line of the chorus talk about light driving out darkness in the sense of someone becoming a believer: brought from darkness to light.
In my recent experience, and in the world I see around me, I don’t think the darkness does tremble. Any time I mention Jesus on any website at all, the darkness (those who oppose Jesus) laughs. They ridicule, they bring up academic arguments, they call us nut cases and weirdos. I have never actually received a positive response. In many parts of the world, they kill believers.
One thing they don’t do is tremble and I haven’t seen anyone quote a verse from Scripture yet that convinces me otherwise.
However, I do want to be convinced. If someone can demonstrate from Scripture that Jesus makes the darkness tremble in our lives today (because after all, this song is written for us now, not for those thousands of years ago), then I would actually be happy to sing this song – more than that, I would be overjoyed!
Vince Wright
Martyn,
Thank you for your comments!
First, the rest of the song is about the singer. The storms surrounding me. The rage in me to still. Once again, I will praise. Typically when I do reviews with the personal pronoun “I”, I contextualize it as the person singing this song. It’s hard to disagree that God makes the darkness tremble within Mosaic, much less other Christians who sing it.
Second, if we assume darkness is all human life, we must understand that things occur based on God’s timing and not ours (1 Peter 3:9). The Chorus doesn’t say when God will make the darkness tremble in the context of individual lives. It doesn’t say “you make all the darkness tremble today“.
Third, we know from Scripture that God has made Himself evident through His creation and they are without excuse to deny His existence (Psalm 19:1-4 and Romans 1:18-20). Yet, some people will reject Him (Romans 1:21-23). He gives them over to lustful hearts (Romans 1:24), degrading passions (Romans 1:26), and a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28). Laughter, ridicule, “wise” academia, and insults are behavior consistent with someone who has rejected Jesus.
Finally, there will come a day when Jesus comes back (Matthew 24:43, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, 2 Peter 3:10, and Revelation 16:15).
Every knee will bow confessing Christ as Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). When Christ returns, those who aren’t His will experience the white throne judgment, cast into the eternal flame (Revelation 20:11-15). If Revelation 6:12-17 is any indication, it’s hard to disagree that some amount of trembling will occur during this process.
Combining these four concepts, we can ascertain that this song was originally intended to be about the darkness within Mosaic or other Christ-followers who sing this song. If we assume “darkness” is the mass collection of humans, they may not tremble now, but when Jesus makes His triumphant return, judges them, and cast them into the lake of fire, they will prostrate before Him and declare Him Lord, likely trembling in the process.
I hope that helps.
-Vince Wright
Martyn
Hi Vince,
Thanks.
Yes, just as the darkness is driven from everyone who is saved, the darkness will be defeated in the final days, as detailed in Revelation.
My problem is still this:
Churches (such as my own) and indeed individual Christians will sing this song as triumphalism, their meaning that this is now: “Jesus, You make the darkness tremble (here and now)!” and we all sing this together now, as a declaration… but is it a declaration of truth?
God bless
Martyn
Vince Wright
Martyn,
Let’s take a step back. What does your church mean by “darkness”?
-Vince Wright
Martyn
Hi Vince,
I would imagine that it would be similar to my understanding, which is the powers of darkness, those powers being delivered through those who oppose Jesus and His followers.
For instance, Richard Dawkins is clearly an agent of darkness and he doesn’t tremble – he has millions of followers!
Examples like this are why I am troubled by singing – in triumphalism – “Jesus, You make the darkness tremble”.
God bless
Martyn
Vince Wright
Martyn,
Ok thanks!
I believe in the power of prayer and perhaps Dawkins will see the error of his way before he dies. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that no darkness trembles either, evidenced by changed lives who pursue Jesus. The latter would satisfy the statement as true, that God made darkness tremble, even if it wasn’t all darkness, which includes Dawkins. However, if you’re still bothered by it, feel free not to worship with this song, just like I do with Cory Asbury’s Reckless Love.
-Vince Wright
Martyn
Thank you and God bless you and for all that you do!
Martyn
nidia
Thank you for sharing – I often refer to scripture when listeneing to worship songs. One scripture you didn’t meniton is Ezekiel 37
1
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.
2
He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
3
He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
4
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, `Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
5
This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath [1] enter you, and you will come to life.
6
I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'”
Vince Wright
nidia,
Thank you for your comment!
I added Ezekiel 37 and additional commentary in response to Verse 3.
-Vince Wright
Benjamin Brooks
Doesn’t scripture say to not rejoice that the demons are subject unto us?
Vince Wright
Benjamin,
Great question!
Yes it does, in Luke 10:20; However, I don’t recall seeing any lyrics where it says the demons are subject to us. It says that they are subject to Jesus.
-Vince Wright
W. R. DeShazer
A beautiful and balanced evaluation. All praises and thanks our Lord for this work!
Vince Wright
W. R. DeShazer,
Thanks, I appreciate that! Indeed, all praise to God!
-Vince Wright