Victory Worship – Tribes

Victory Worship is another church-based worship band, much like Hillsong, Bethel, and Citipointe.  Their church, Victory Christian Fellowship of the Philippines, Inc, is based in, well, the Philippines!  They released Radical Love (2014), Rise Heart (2015), and Tribes (2019) among several singles and extended plays.  The latter album’s signature song will be this review’s main course.

For those who are interested in their doctrine, Victory Christian Fellowship is a member of Every Nation Churches & Ministries and agrees with them doctrinally.  Consider examining the pro’s and con’s of their theology before financially supporting them.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Victory-worship-tribes-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?

This song makes important points about the nature and character of God, including His:

• Holiness
• Worthiness of praise
• Incomparableness
• Eternality
• Unhinged love for us (implicitly demonstrated on Calvary)

It also describes our response to God, that all nations, tribes, and tongues will praise, worship, and prostrate themselves to God, seeing His glory, rulership, and reign.  All earthly treatures pale in comparison to knowing Him personally, deeply, relationally.

Score: 10/10

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

All lyrics are Biblical, including foreign language usage.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1 and 2: All nations will know about God’s glory, will bow, and confess Christ as Lord (Psalm 86:9,  Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 40:5, Isaiah 45:23, Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17, Romans 14:11, and Philippians 2:10-11).

Lines 3 and 4: We should count our earthly possessions as rubbish in comparison to knowing Jesus, just like Paul did (Philippians 3:8-10).

[Pre-Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: In much the same way as Isaiah’s vision of the Seraphim in Isaiah 6:1-3 and John’s vision in Revelation 4:8, we too shall sing of God’s holiness, both in this life and the life to come.

Lines 3 and 4: Worthy of what?  The Chorus tells us: it is praise, glory, honor, and strength.  Why is God worthy?  The Chorus tells us that too.

[Chorus]

Lines 1-4: God is worthy of praise (Psalm 147:1, Jeremiah 10:7, 3 John 1:6, and Revelation 4:11).

Line 5: That is, there is no one like God (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) and God’s existence is eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Job 36:26, Psalm 48:14, Psalm 90:2-4, Psalm 102:12, Psalm 102:26-27, Proverbs 8:23, Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 41:4, Habakkuk 1:12, John 17:5, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 1:4, Hebrews 1:11-12, 1 Peter 1:20, 2 Peter 3:8, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 11:17, and Revelation 22:13).

Line 6: As demonstrated through sending Jesus to pay for our sins (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).

Line 7: Yes it is!

Line 8: See Verse 1, lines 1 and 2.

Lines 9-16: Repeats lines 1-8.

[Post-Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: According to this video, this has no inherent meaning, but meant as a tribal-sounding expression of worship.  Ayo is Indonesian for “come on” and “ayo-waa” (or ayowa) is an African word meaning “joy”, solidifying this line as an invitation for others to joyfully praise God.

Line 3: A rough english translation of line 1, but without the word “joy”.

Lines 4 and 5: Repeats line 1.

Line 6: Casper the friendly ghost.

[Bridge]

Line 1: See commentary in Chorus, line 5.

Line 2: Emphasises part of line 1, that there is no one like God.

Lines 3-5: Repeats line 1.

Lines 6 and 7: Filipino translation of line 1.

Lines 8 and 9: Spanish translation of line 1.

Line 10: Repeats line 1.

Line 11: Invites others to join, much like in the Post-Chorus.

Lines 12-14: Repeats line 1.

[Outro]

Lines 1-8: Repeats line 1.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Those who are not Christ-followers will easily recognize this as tribal chanting, with praise, honor, glory, and praise directed to the God of creation.  Those with rudimentary understanding of Christianity will quickly recognize obvious Scriptural references regarding all nations, tribes, and tongues confessing Christ as Lord, bowing the knee to Jesus.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Victory Worship’s Tribes is a simple song with a simple message: that all of us will bow the knee to Jesus.  It mixes Filipino and Spanish language to add appropriate international unity, glorifying God.  Unbelievers should have no problem comprehending its intended meaning.

It works well for churches that have a heart for international ministry.  Sunday school is also a wonderful place to utilize this song.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Tribes (listen to the song)

Artist: Victory Worship

Album: Tribes

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2019

Duration: 4:27

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.  I also increased section 1’s score, raising the overall rating, from 9.5/10 to 10/10.