Rich Mullins – Awesome God

American Contemporary Christian writer and artist Richard Wayne Mullins (Rich Mullins) began his career in 1981 and ended in 1997,  where he tragically died in a car accident, hitting a semi-trailer truck while not wearing a seatbelt.  He is best known for his hits Awesome God and Step by Step.

His discography includes:

• Behold the Man (1981)
• Rich Mullins (1986)
• Pictures in the Sky (1987)
• Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (1988)
• Never Picture Perfect (1989)
• The World as Best as I Remember It, Volume One (1991)
• The World as Best as I Remember It, Volume Two (1992)
• A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band (1993)
• Brother’s Keeper (1995)
• Canticle of the Plains (1997)
• The Jesus Record (1998, posthumous)

He won four GMA Dove awards posthumously, including Artist of the Year (1998), Song of the Year (My Deliverer, 1999), Songwriter of the Year (1999), and Recorded Music Packaging (The Jesus Record, 1999).

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 follows a similar format to Psalm 136, where a single point repeats and the rest of the lines support it.  The single point is “Our God is an awesome God”.  Mullins’ reasons include:

• He demonstrates His power through signs and wonders
• He ejected Adam and Eve from Eden and destroyed Sodom, to show that He will judge people for sinning
• He died for our sins, making forgiveness possible
• He will return again
• He rules wisely, with strength, and through love
• He created light by speaking

Side Note: To those who are sensitive to massive repetition, the line “Our God is an awesome God”, repeats 27 times in the song.  It shows up the most at the song’s end.

Score: 10/10

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

All of it is Biblical.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Verse 1]

When He rolls up His sleeves
He ain’t just putting on the ritz
(Our God is an awesome God)
There’s thunder in His footsteps
And lightning in His fists

Our God’s displays of signs and wonders are not without purpose.  It is not for the sake of glitz and glamor that there’s lighting and peals of thunder (Exodus 19:16, Exodus 20:18, Ezekiel 1:13, Psalm 18:13-14, Revelation 4:5, Revelation 8:5, Revelation 11:19, and Revelation 16:17-18).  God’s displays of signs and wonders point us to Himself (Exodus 4:1-9, Psalm 19:1-4, Acts 4:30, and Romans 15:19).  This is the first of many reasons Mullins offers to show that God is awesome.

The idiom “putting on the ritz” means to behave in an arrogant, self-important, extravagant way.  God’s miracles aren’t just for show.  There’s a purpose behind them.

(Our God is an awesome God)

Repeats line 3.

And the Lord wasn’t joking
When He kicked ’em out of Eden

References Genesis 3:22-24, where Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden because they ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6).

It wasn’t for no reason
That He shed His blood

That is, there’s a reason why Christ’s blood was spilled.  There’s a hint of an explanation later in the song as to why He did that.

His return is very close
And so you better be believing that

References 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, and Revelation 16:15).

Our God is an awesome God

Repeats line 3.

[Chorus]

Our God is an awesome God

Repeats Verse 1, line 3.

He reigns from heaven above

References God’s sovereignty (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 10:14, Joshua 2:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 45:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Psalm 93:1-2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 45:9-10, Isaiah 46:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 1:8, James 4:15, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 20:11).

With wisdom, power, and love

God rules with wisdom, power, and love because:

• God is wise, because God cannot give us what God does not have (Job 28:28, Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 15:33, Isaiah 33:6, and James 1:5).  Also, Romans 11:33 and 1 Corinthians 1:30 state that God possesses wisdom.
• God is powerful (Genesis 1:1-31, Job 11:7-11, Psalm 33:6, Jeremiah 32:17, Romans 4:17, Hebrews 1:3, and Jude 1:24-25).
• God is love (1 John 4:8).

Our God is an awesome God

Repeats Verse 1, line 3.

Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power, and love
Our God is an awesome God

Repeats lines 1-4.

[Verse 2]

And when the sky was starless
In the void of the night
(Our God is an awesome God)
He spoke into the darkness
And created the light

References Genesis 1:2-3, where God said, “let there be light” into the darkness.  Also, the third line repeats Verse 1, line 3.

(Our God is an awesome God)

Repeats Verse 1, line 3.

Judgment and wrath
He poured out on Sodom

References the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:1-29.

Mercy and grace
He gave us at the cross

Contrasted with judgment in preceding verses, God offers undeserved favor through the blood of Jesus, where He paid 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, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).

I hope that we have not
Too quickly forgotten that
Our God is an awesome God

Mullins’ prayer is that we remember what God did for us.  That was part of the purpose of communion: to remember what God did for us (Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:18-19, and 1 Corinthians 11:23-25).

[Outro]

Our God is an awesome God (Our God is an awesome God)
He reigns from heaven above (He reigns from heaven above)
With wisdom, power, and love (With wisdom, power, and love)
Our God is an awesome God
Our God is an awesome God
Our God is an awesome God

Essentially repeats Chorus.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Those who are not yet followers of Jesus will see elements that are overly Christian, including Eden, the cross, God’s power in lightning and thunder, speaking light into darkness, and judgment on Sodom.  They will see a praise song towards the Christian God, with reasons why we Christians think He is awesome.

Most of Mullins’ language is easy to understand, except the idiom “putting on the ritz”.  At least, I’ve never heard of it until I reviewed this song.  Even then, I had an idea of what it meant that happened to be correct.  I would imagine that unbelievers would do the same, making it difficult for me to deduct points over such an insignificant thing.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God in that He is this song’s central focus, showing why God is awesome, including a soft Gospel.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Rich Mullins’ Awesome God is an awesome song.  It explicitly states that God is awesome and offers rationale, including His wonders, payment for sin, judgment, and wise, strong, and loving rule and reign.  These bring glory to God.  Unbelievers will find this conclusion easy to come by.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship, with fewer repeats to end the song.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Awesome God (listen to the song)

Artist: Rich Mullins

Album: Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 1988

Duration: 3:03

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*Copyright © 1988 Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publ. (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Updates:

03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.  I moved my commentary to a side note and increased section 1’s score, raising the overall rating from 9.5/10 to 10/10.