Vertical Worship – 1000 Tongues

Vertical Worship has received highly favorable Berean Test scores for Do What You Want To, Found in You, and Spirit of the Living God.  However, the band’s ministry, Harvest Bible Chapel (HBC) landed in hot water this year.

Moody Radio canceled an appearance by Vertical Worship on their campus due to HBC’s financial controversy in supporting disgraced pastor James MacDonald.  MacDonald helped remove elders who accused him of bullying, sexual harassment, authoritarianism, lack of transparency with finances, and misuse of church fund.

In 2018, HBC attempted to sue bloggers Ryan Mahoney, Scott Bryant, and journalist Julie Roys, who accused MacDonald of gambling addiction, significant debt, and neared bankruptcy.  The suit was withdrawn in 2019 and MacDonald defrocked and removed from service by HBC due to inappropriate comments to the media.  He told a joke about planting fake evidence on Harold Smith’s computer, blackmailing him for child pornography.  Smith is the CEO of Christianity Today.

Perhaps a favorable review of 1000 tongues will cheer HBC up?  I doubt it, but we’ll see if they earned it anyways.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Vertical-worship-1000-tongues-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, Jesus’ followers, united as the body of Christ, praise the Holy King, the Savior of mankind, because He bore our sins.  Vertical Worship reinforces this message by repeating it, over and over, by altering their language upon each refrain.  This is a creative expression of drilling home a few points, in much the same way as some of Paul’s letters.

Score: 10/10

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

All the lyrics are Biblical.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-4: The body of Christ comes together to praise God (1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and Ephesians 4:1-16).

Line 5: This is only true because God cannot be contained (1 Kings 8:27, Job 36:22-24, Acts 17:24, and 1 Timothy 6:13-16) and His Holy Spirit indwells within us (Acts 6:5, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:16-19, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 5:18, and 2 Timothy 1:14).

Line 6: Repeats line 3.

[Chorus]

Lines 1-3: Similar to Verse 1, lines 1-4 in terms of content.

Line 4: Expounded in Verse 2.

Lines 5 and 6: That is, worthy of praise due to rationale in Verse 2.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1 and 2: That is, we praise because Christ paid the penalty for our lawbreaking (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, 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).

Line 3: Repeats Verse 1, line 3.

Line 4: The chains of our enslavement to sin broken, we are now free to worship and follow Jesus (Psalm 119:45, Isaiah 58:6, Isaiah 61:1, John 3:16-21, John 8:31-36, John 10:10, Acts 13:38-39, Romans 6:1-23, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 8:20-21, 1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 7:21-23, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 2:4, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 3:22, Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13, Colossians 1:21-23, Hebrews 2:14-15, and 1 Peter 2:16).

Line 5: Eventually, yes (Revelation 21:4).

Line 6: Repeats Verse 1, line 3.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-8: That is, we will sing “holy, holy, holy” in reference to Christ, the king (Revelation 4:8-11 and Revelation 5:8-14).  All of creation will cry out to God (Psalm 150:1-6, Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11, and Philippians 2:10–11).

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

There is a healthy mix of Christianese with plain language for unbelievers to understand the message espoused in section 1.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Jesus’ death and implied resurrection.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Vertical Worship’s 1000 Tongues is a worthy worship song.  Biblically sound, it poetically beats into us choral worship due to Christ’s sacrifice for us, comprehendible by unbelievers and glorifying the Almighty.

The personal pronouns “we” and “our” fit nicely with corporate worship.  Consider adding this song to your worship sets.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: 1000 Tongues (listen to the song)

Artist: Vertical Worship

Album: Vertical Worship

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2017

Duration: 3:55

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

Updates:

03/26/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.