Red Rocks Worship – Fill This Place

Red Rocks Worship, much in the same structure as Hillsong, Elevation Worship, and Bethel Music is a church-led band.  This one hails from Red Rock Church in Golden, Colorado.  They released five albums and three EP’s, including:

• The Rooftop EP (2014)
• Into the Light (2015)
• Living Liturgies (2016, EP)
• Here (Live) (2017)
• spark. (Live) (2019)
• spark.  ACOUSTIC SESSIONS (2020)
• Things of Heaven (Where We Come From) (EP, 2021)
• Things of Heaven: The Other Side (2022)

Also, check out my reviews of Be Still, On Earth as in Heaven, Echo Holy, Breakthrough, and Not Afraid.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Red-rocks-worship-fill-this-place-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?

Red Rocks Worship offers subtle hints of God’s attributes and acts and its effects on us, including:

• His illumination drives out the shadows.
• His love casts out all fear.
• He provides peace that helps us through the day.
• His sacrifice on the cross pushes us to yield and bow before God, worshipping Him for all eternity.
• He is a ruling King whose death was His act of mercy that saves us.
• He rose from the grave, defeating death.

In addition, we request that they might be more sensitive to feeling the Holy Spirit’s Presence.

Side Note: To those annoyed by massive repetition, Bridge repeats the same three lines six times in a row, with each line essentially repeating the same phrase, except the occasional “always”.  There are four more of these chunks in Outro.

Score: 10/10

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

All of it is Biblical.

[Verse 1]

Line 1: That is, God’s light that defeats darkness (Psalm 107:10-16, Luke 1:79, John 1:1-13, John 12:46, Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:13, and 1 Peter 2:9).

Line 2: The hope is in Jesus, while the fear is our formerly dead spiritual life (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).  This is confirmed in Verse 2, line 4.  Also, see 1 John 4:18.

Line 3: This peace comes from God (Matthew 11:28-30, John 14:27, John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Philippians 4:6-7, Colossians 3:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:16, and James 3:17).

Line 4: Christ’s sacrifice on the cross (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10) moves us to surrender (see Chorus, lines 1-3).

Lines 5-8: Repeats lines 1-4.

[Chorus]

Lines 1-3: Prostration is a position of humility, surrendering to the Father’s will (Psalm 43:5, Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6).  Feeble as it might be, it is an offering we bring to God.

Lines 4-7: That is, a prayer for increased sensitivity to experience God’s Presence.

We do this by:

• Aligning our desire with God’s (Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 24:7, Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 2:29, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and 2 Corinthians 7:10).
• Studying Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
• Obeying God’s commandments (Matthew 25:34-40, John 14:15, John 14:21-24, John 15:10-14, 1 Peter 1:14-15, 1 John 2:3-5, 1 John 4:19-20, 1 John 5:2-3, and 2 John 1:6).
• Spending time with God in prayer, alone just like Jesus did (Matthew 14:1-13, Matthew 26:29, Matthew 26:42, Mark 6:30-32, Mark 14:36, Luke 4:1-2, Luke 4:14-15, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12-13, Luke 22:39-44, and John 18:11).

Line 8: Repeats line 4.

[Verse 2]

Line 1: References Christ, who was victorious over death (Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, Luke 20:35-36, 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, 2 Timothy 1:10, and Hebrews 2:14) as our King (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 11:10, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1-6, John 12:15, John 18:37, 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16).

Line 2: Mere human mercy isn’t enough to save us from the consequences of breaking God’s laws.  Only Christ’s mercy through His sacrifice can accomplish that (Hebrews 9:22).

Lines 3 and 4: See commentary on Verse 1.

Line 5: Repeats line 4.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-3: Red Rocks Worship worships God eternally (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 4-18: Repeats lines 1-3.

[Outro]

Lines 1-12: Repeats lines 1-3.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will think it’s Christian because the song mentions “Lord”, Spirit”, “Father”, and especially that love overcame death, pointing to Jesus’ resurrection.

Verses 1 and 2 are descriptions of God and His acts.  Chorus is the Christian response to God, that they worship Him.  Bridge makes Chorus more explicit.  Perhaps they don’t know what God’s love is like experientially, but they will conclude that Christians praise God for it.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God by proclaiming back to Him His wonderful acts, including His salvation, peace beyond comprehension, and victory over death, prompting us to worship.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Red Rocks Worship’s Fill This Place is great.  God is the light that drowns out darkness, the peace that settles our restless hearts, and the hope of mankind’s biggest problem: violating the laws of a holy God.  He rose again, defeating death.  In response, we worship Him, asking to become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s Presence, bringing Him glory.  Unbelievers should find interpretation easy, even if they haven’t personally experienced God.

I highly recommend it for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Fill This Place (listen to the song)

Artist: Red Rocks Worship

EP: The Rooftop EP

Genre:  Rock

Release Year: 2014

Duration: 6:11

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