Phil Wickham – Your Name is Holy

Contemporary Christian artist Phil Wickham was 18 years old when he began his career in 2002.  Since then, he released 11 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)
• I Believe (2023)

He received four Dove awards for his work, including Songwriter of the Year – Artist (2022), Worship Recorded Song of the Year (2019, 2022), and Worship Album of the Year (2022).

Also, check out my other Phil Wickham reviews and Christmas review, Creator.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Phil-wickham-your-name-is-holy-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?

God is:

• Unmatched
• Sovereign
• For/with us
• Worthy of worship

Also, Jesus’ name is holy.

Side Note: To those annoyed by massive repetition, Verses 1 and 2 repeat “There’s never been anyone like You, God” twice in a row, followed by a related point and then this phrase again.  Also, Bridge repeats the same four lines four times in a row.

Score: 10/10

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

To quote from Kool-Aid Man: “Ohh yeah!”

[Verse 1]

Line 1: God is unique (Exodus 8:10, Exodus 9:14, Deuteronomy 3:24, Deuteronomy 33:26, Jeremiah 10:6, 1 Samuel 2:2, 2 Samuel 7:22, 1 Kings 8:23, 1 Chronicles 17:20, Psalm 86:8, Psalm 89:6, Psalm 113:5-6, Jeremiah 10:7, Isaiah 40:18, and Isaiah 46:9).

Lines 2-4: Repeats line 1 explicitly or reiterates the same idea.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-4: Repeats Verse 1, line 1, except for line 3, which states that God is the greatest Being ever (Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 8:3-4, Psalm 147:5, Job 26:14, Isaiah 40:28, and Isaiah 55:8-9).

[Chorus]

Lines 1-3: Wickham is busting out different names of God:

• Yeshua (or Jesus; 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)
• Jehovah, which shows up in the original 1611 KJV in Genesis 22:14. Exodus 6:3, Exodus 17:15, Judges 6:24, Psalm 83:18, Isaiah 12:2, and Isaiah 26:4
• The English pronunciation of the tetragrammaton YHWH.  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.

Also, 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: Emmanuel means “God with us” and references Jesus (Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:22-23).  If He is for us who can be against us (Romans 8:31)?

Line 5: Jesus is 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).  His name is also holy (Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34, Acts 3:14, Acts 4:27-30, 1 John 2:20, Hebrews 7:26, and Revelation 4:8.)

Line 6: Repeats line 3.

[Verse 3]

Line 1: We eternally praise Him (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).

Line 2: Repeats line 1.

Lines 3 and 4: Most likely referencing Isaiah 45:43, Romans 14:11, and Philippians 2:10-11, which teach that every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord.

[Post-Chorus]

Line 1: Repeats the middle section of Chorus, line 3.

[Bridge]

Lines 1 and 2: Wickam invites his audience to join the heavenly hosts in song (Psalm 66:4, Psalm 96:1-2, and Isaiah 42:10-12).  Also, the “great I AM” references Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58.

Lines 3 and 4: Quotes from the first part of Revelation 5:12, with the “lamb” referencing Jesus.

Lines 5-16: Repeats lines 1-4.

[Outro]

Lines 1-6: Repeats/essentially repeats the middle section of Chorus, line 3.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will be quick to see that this song explicitly mentions God, Jesus, holiness, and the word “hallelujah”, all of which point to Christianity.  It is written in plain English, with my summary described in section 1 easily understood.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as I AM, holy, mighty, monarch, and worthy.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Phil Wickham’s Your Name is Holy is a winner.  It reminds us That God is in charge and deserves our praise.  We remember His holiness, presence, and glory.  Unbelievers should easily interpret it similarly.

This song is suitable for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Your Name is Holy (listen to the song)

Artist: Phil Wickham

Album: I Believe

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2023

Duration: 5:05

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.