Tim Hughes & Phil Wickham – At Your Name

Tim Hughes is a British artist, songwriter, and Anglican priest.  In 2015, he was appointed Vicar of St Luke’s, Gas Street Birmingham.  As a former director of worship at Holy Trinity Brompton, he created Worship Central, which provides worship training and resources internationally.

Hughes released 24 albums between himself, with Worship Central, and several Soul Survivor Event recordings.  He also published a few books, including Passion for Your Name (2003), Holding Nothing Back (2007), and Worship Central (2011).

Also, check out my review of Here I Am to Worship.

Contemporary Christ 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-at-your-name-yahweh-yahweh-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?

We Christians love to shout God’s name Yahweh, eternally praising Him with words and singing.  There is none like He who is sovereign, whom the angels reverently worship.  Hughes and Wickham explicitly state that Jesus is God.

By “At Your Name”, Hughes and Wickham are not saying that invoking the name of Yahweh causes things to happen as if Yahweh is a magical word.  Rather, they point to God’s name representing His rulership over creation.

Score: 10/10

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

The whole song is Biblical.

This song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure.  Therefore, I assigned stanzas to each paragraph.

[Stanza 1]

Lines 1-4  That is, in the authority and power of the name of God, mountains fall (Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21, and Mark 11:23), and oceans roll (Isaiah 51:15).

[Stanza 2]

Line 1: Angels prostrate themselves before Jesus (Hebrews 1:4-6) and the Father (Revelation 7:11).

Lines 2 and 3: That is, God’s people will 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).

[Stanza 3]

Line 1: That is, the God who is sovereign over creation (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).

Line 2: Hughes and Wickham later address the specific name they love to shout.

Lines 3 and 4: They worship God forever (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).

Lines 5 and 6: While I’m happy that Hughes and Wickham love to shout God’s name, we’re not sure if “Yahweh” is the correct way to pronounce it.  Yet, 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.

[Stanza 4]

Line 1-4: See Stanza 2, lines 2 and 3.

[Stanza 5]

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).

Line 2: See Stanza 2, lines 2 and 3.

Line 3: Repeats line 1.

Line 4: We praise God with song (1 Chronicles 16:23, Psalm 33:3, Psalm 96:1-2, Psalm 98:1, and Psalm 149:1).

Line 5: Combines Jesus 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) with bits of line 4.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers who hear the pronunciation of YHWH as “Yahweh” will likely think it’s Christian, though Jewish scholars will quickly point out that we’re probably mispronouncing it.  Thus, some Jewish people will take offense to the name “Yahweh”.  However, this is more an issue with use than interpretation.

The rest of the song will be easy to interpret.  Hughes and Wickham chose everyday words to communicate their message of God’s rulership over creation, whom Christians worship with song.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God as One whose name is worthy of shouting, worship, and prostration.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Tim Hughes & Phil Wickham’s At Your Name is simple but not simplistic.  It describes God’s supremacy, whom the mountains, oceans, angels, and His people obey and worship, glorifying God.  Jesus is God, whose name is unique and currently pronounced as “Yahweh”.  Unbelievers should have little to no problems interpreting this song.

This song is appropriate for corporate worship, though bear in mind that some Jewish people in your audience may take offense.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: At Your Name (sometimes subtitled as “Forever” or “Yahweh Yahweh”) (listen to Phil Wickam’s or Tim Hughes’ version of the song)

Artist: Tim Hughes & Phil Wickham

Albums:  Love Shine Through (Hughes) and Response (Wickham)

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2011

Duration: 5:00 (Hughes), 3:55 (Wickham)

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