Phil Wickham – Sunday Is Coming

Contemporary Christian artist Phil Wickham was 18 years old when he began his career in 2002.  Since then, he released ten albums, including:

• Give You My World (2003)
• Phil Wickham (2006)
• Cannons (2007)
• Heaven & Earth (2009)
• Response (2011)
• The Ascension (2013)
• Children of God (2016)
• Living Hope (2018)
• Christmas (2019)
• Hymn of Heaven (2021)
• Hymn of Heaven (Acoustic Sessions) (2022)

He received a Dove award in 2019 for Worship Recorded Song of the Year for his song Living Hope.

Also, check out my other Phil Wickham reviews.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Phil-wickham-sunday-is-coming-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.

1. What message does the song communicate?

This song is essentially a retelling of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.  In addition, He is:

• Known as the Nazarene
• The Christ
• Perfect
• Betrayed with a kiss

In response, we are to avoid losing hope, praising Him and prepared for His eventual return.

Score: 10/10

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

The whole song is Biblical.

[Verse 1]

Line 1: That is, Jesus, who is light (John 1:1-8, John 8:12, and Ephesians 5:14).

Line 2: Probably borrowed from 2 Corinthians 2:15-17.  Christians revere Him as King (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 11:10, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1-6, Luke 1:32-33, John 12:15, John 18:37, 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16).  Others think He is crazy.

Line 3: He is the Great Physician (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, and Luke 5:31), rebellious in the eyes of some who hated Him (Isaiah 53:12, Matthew 26:55, Mark 14:48-49, and Luke 22:52-53), and the High Priest (Psalm 110:4, Hebrews 5:6, and Hebrews 7:17).

Line 4: He is the Christ (Matthew 16:16 and Mark 8:29, and John 11:27) and known as a Nazarene because He was from Nazareth ( Matthew 21:11, John 1:45-46, and Acts 10:38).

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-4: He even prayed that the Father would make a different way so that He wouldn’t have to go through with it (Matthew 26:39-42, Mark 14:36, and Luke 22:42).  He is sinless (Isaiah 53:9, Matthew 27:24, John 19:4, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 Peter 2:21-23, and 1 John 3:5) and the only way to the Father (John 14:6).

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: Traditionally, Jesus died on “Good Friday” and was resurrected on Sunday.  If He had not raised, then our faith would be in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14-19).

Line 3: Satan better run because Christ is going to destroy his works (1 John 3:8).

Line 4: Repeats line 1.

[Verse 3]

Lines 1 and 2: Judas betrayed Him with a kiss, and He did not resist getting arrested (Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-50, and John 18:3-12).

Lines 3 and 4: As prophecied in Isaiah 53:7 He is the Lamb who was mocked, yet, was silent before His accusers (Matthew 26:63, Matthew 27:12-14, Mark 14:61, Mark 15:5, Luke 23:9, and John 19:9-10).

[Verse 4]

Line 1: He only carried it partway (Matthew 27:32–33, Mark 15:21–22, Luke 23:26–32, and John 19:17–18), but He did carry it.

Line 2: He paid the price for our lawbreaking (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 9:15-26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9) to free us from its consequences (Psalm 119:45, Isaiah 58:6, Isaiah 61:1, John 3:16-21, John 8:31-36, John 10:10, Acts 13:38-39, Romans 6:1-23, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 8:20-21, 1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 7:21-23, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 2:4, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 3:22, Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13, Colossians 1:21-23, Hebrews 2:14-15, and 1 Peter 2:16).

Line 3: Darkness covers over the site (Matthew 27:45 and Mark 15:33).

Line 4: He asked the Father to forgive those who put Him up there (Luke 23:34).

[Bridge]

Lines 1 and 2: He died (Matthew 27:50, Mark 15:37, Luke 23:46, and John 19:30).

Lines 3 and 4: He was buried (Matthew 27:57-61, Mark 15:42-57, Luke 23:50-56, and John 19:38-42).

[Interlude]

Lines 1-4: But wait, there’s more!

[Verse 5]

Lines 1-4: Borrows from Luke 24:1-5.

[Refrain]

Line 1: Jesus rose from the dead (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).

Lines 2 and 3: The word ‘Hallelujah” is a compound Hebrew phrase, with “hallelu” meaning “a joyous praise in song” and “jah” or “yah”, which refers to the Tetragrammaton YHWH. Put together, we are singing “we joyfully praise God in song” when we use this word.

Line 4: Repeats line 2.

Lines 5-8: Repeats lines 1-4.

Line 9: Repeats the word “Hallelujah: twice.  See commentary on lines 2 and 3.

Line 10: Repeats Chorus, line 2.

Line 11: Repeats line 9.

[Outro]

Line 1: He is King of kings (1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16).

Line 2: Every knee bows and confesses Him as Lord (Isaiah 45:43, Romans 14:11, and Philippians 2:10-11).  They worship Him alone in the sense that He 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).  This does not exclude the worship of the Father or Holy Spirit.

Lines 3 and 4: We 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, Revelation 16:15, and Revelation 19:11-16).

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

The opening lines of Verse 1 make it explicitly clear that this song is about Jesus.  The result cements their interpretation as a retelling of the Gospel message.  It intermixes Christianese language with everyday.  None of it should be lost on them, especially those who haven’t looked deeply into Christianity.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as our Savior whose death and resurrection make possible the forgiveness of sins.  We worship Him, ready for His triumphant Second Coming like a bride ready for her groom.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Phil Wickham’s Sunday Is Coming is wonderful.  It retells the most important elements of the Gospel, including His death, burial, resurrection, rulership, perfection, and second coming.  This brings Him glory.  It is also comprehensible to the unbelieving ear with little to no research.

I highly recommend it for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Sunday Is Coming (listen to the song)

Artist: Phil Wickham

Album: PW9* (unknown info)

Genre: Pop

Release Year: 2023

Duration: 4:53

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