Phil Wickham – This Is Our God

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.

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?

Wickham asks us to remember our former life of lawbreaking and mortification, where we were destined for the lake of fire.  Yet, out of love for us, Jesus alone paid the debt that we owed by dying a horrible, gruesome death on the Roman cross.  He rose again three days later, showing that we who are spiritually dead can enter eternal life.  He will never fail us.

How do we respond to Christ’s lovingkindness?  We tell others about Him.

Score: 10/10

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

The whole thing is derived from Scripture.

[Verse 1]

Remember those walls that we called sin and shame?
They were like prisons that we couldn’t escape
But He came, and He died, and He rose
Those walls are rubble now

Though we were once sinners whose end was the prison called eternal separation from God (Matthew 18:7-9, Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46, Mark 9:43, Romans 6:23, Jude 1:7, and Revelation 14:11), we were rescued by Jesus, whose payment for sins (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, 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) and subsequent resurrection (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) eliminated the certificate of debt that we owed (Colossians 2:14).  The only difference here is that Wickham uses a construction metaphor instead of a legal one.

[Verse 2]

Remember those giants we called death and grave?
They were like mountains that stood in our way
But He came, and He died, and He rose
Those giants are dead now

Wickham makes the same point as Verse 1, except he uses a different metaphor.  This time, he references giants called “death and grave”, which directly supports my commentary on Verse 1.

[Chorus]

This is our God, This is who He is
He loves us
This is our God, This is what He does
He saves us

That is, God is love embodied (1 John 4:8) and showed His love toward us by rescuing us from the consequences of our lawbreaking (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10).

He bore the cross, beat the grave

Essentially repeats Verse 1, line 3.

Let Heaven and Earth proclaim
This is our God, King Jesus

Every knee will bow and confess Jesus as Lord (Isaiah 45:43, Romans 14:11, and Philippians 2:10-11).  He is also our 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).

[Verse 3]

Remember that fear that took our breath away?
Faith so weak that we could barely pray

References mustard seed faith (Matthew 17:20-21).

But He heard every word, every whisper

God promises to hear the prayers of those who are His (1 John 5:15).  Indeed, He even hears our groanings that are too deep for words (Romans 8:26).

[Verse 4]

Now those altars in the wilderness
Tell the story of His faithfulness
Never once did He fail, and He never will

There were many altars built during Israel’s trek from Egypt to the promised land.  One such altar is recorded in Exodus 17:14-16, which was called “The Lord is My Banner”.  Indeed, He has fulfilled His promise to make war against Amalek from generation to generation.  Deuteronomy 25:16-19 contains God’s command to blot out the Amalekites.  Saul fought them in 1 Samuel 15:1-9 and David contended with them in 1 Samuel 30:1-2 and 2 Samuel 1:5-10.  Yes, God fulfills all His promises, though based on His timing and not ours (2 Peter 3:9).

[Bridge]

Who pulled me out of that pit? He did, He did
Who paid for all of our sin? Nobody but Jesus

It is only through Jesus that we can have redemption (John 14:6 and Acts 4:12).

Who pulled me out of that pit? He did, He did
Who paid for all of our sin? Nobody but Jesus

Repeats lines 1 and 2.

Who rescued me from that grave? Yahweh, Yahweh

The English pronunciation of the tetragrammaton “YHWH” or “YHVH”.  We’re not sure if “Yahweh” is the correct way to pronounce it; However, we know what we mean, and God knows what we mean when we pronounce it this way.  Besides, if it was that important that we pronounce His name correctly, He would have preserved it.

Who gets the glory and praise? Nobody but Jesus

By “nobody but Jesus”, Wickham references the entire God-head, not literally “only Jesus”.  This is based on the unity of the Godhead that, for example, if you’ve seen Jesus, then you’ve seen the Father (John 14:9).

Who rescued me from that grave? Yahweh, Yahweh
Who gets the glory and praise? Nobody but Him

Repeats lines 5 and 6.

[Outro]

Oh, this is our God

Essentially repeats the first part of Chorus, line 1.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will think it’s Christian, chiefly, because it explicitly uses words like “Jesus”, “God”, “cross”, “pray”, and “sin”.  Wickham’s lyrics are everyday, with metaphors that make it easy for them to interpret these lyrics similarly to my summary in section 1, except that He will never fail us.  To them, unanswered prayer feels like God failing them.

Jewish scholars will quickly point out that we’re probably mispronouncing YHWH/YHVH.  Thus, some Jewish people will take offense to the name “Yahweh”.  However, this is more an issue with use than interpretation.  It’s difficult to say Christians are wrong if they don’t know how to pronounce it!

The word “sin” is addressed in this song.  It is paired with “shame” and connected with “death” and “grave” in Verse 2.  While unbelievers typically interpret sin to mean “error”, these additional words should give them pause, that the Christian meaning of sin is much deeper than mere mistakes.

Score: 8/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as the Ruling God who saves us from spiritual death and keeps all His promises, as He receives our adoration and worship.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Phil Wickham’s This Is Our God is a Christ-centered song.  It reminds us that our former life of sin and shame is dead and gone.  We thank our rescuer, Jesus, whose death and resurrection paid the debt that we owe and shows us to path to eternal life, by spreading the good news about Jesus to others.  These bring Him glory.  Unbelievers should easily interpret similarly, except that some might take “never fails” the wrong way, pointing to their unanswered prayer.  Some Jewish people might find the word “Yahweh” offensive, though perhaps without merit.

This song is appropriate for corporate worship.  I recommend that seeker-sensitive churches explain the meaning of unanswered prayer before worshipping with this one.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: This Is Our God (listen to the song)

Artist: Phil Wickham

Album: N/A

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2023

Duration: 4:26

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*Copyright © 2022 Housefires Sounds (ASCAP) Capitol CMG Genesis (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com), Phil Wickham Music (BMI) / Simply Global Songs (BMI) / Music by Elevation Worship Publishing (BMI) / Brandon Lake Music (ASCAP) / Maverick City Publishing Worldwide (ASCAP) (admin at EssentialMusicPublishing.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission.