Vineyard Music – Arms of Love

Per my tradition, I close out each year with a positive, uplifting song that will rate well.  As I was praying, I remembered the litany of covers that my grandfather, with his band Revelation, led worship with.  Some of them I’ve already reviewed, including Trading My Sorrows, Spirit of the Sovereign Lord, and Shout To The Lord.  However, I found myself singing Arms of Love, a simple song with a simple message.  It also happens to be one of my personal favorites.

I found it difficult to track down useful information concerning the original artist, earliest release, and original lyrics.  Craig Musseau wrote the song.  It is currently copyrighted in 1991 under Vineyard Publishing.  However, the earliest Vineyard release I could find that contains this song is from Change My Heart Oh God, Vol. 2, released in 1994.  If there’s an earlier version, I’d be happy to update this review.

I couldn’t find any information on Craig Musseau, except that he wrote the song and is associated with Vineyard, was born in 1965, and that he wrote Good To Me.  Since Vineyard Music is the earliest “artist” I could find, I’ll use that to title this review.

Vineyard Music is a sub-label under the conglomerate church organization Association of Vineyard Churches, which has similar reach as Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation Worship.  It is a culmination of churches under the Vineyard banner.  While I could not find a reliable source that contains their massive album list, I managed to discover their full litany of Vineyard songs.

Lyrics can be found at https://vineyardsongs.com/songs/arms-of-love-2/.

Side Note: The lyrics presented in the link above do not contain repeats that are within the earliest recording discovered when writing this review.  Since I could not find a reliable copy. I’ll review it as-is.

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?

Vineyard’s simple song to Jesus is their expression of gratitude.  They are thankful to Christ because He:

• Is their Savior
• Owns them
• Provides a place of love

It is for these reasons that Jesus is precious to Vineyard.

Score: 10/10

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

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

[Stanza 1]

Lines 1 and 2: This song is sung specifically to Jesus, Vineyard’s Savior (Isaiah 45:21-22, Hosea 13:4, Luke 1:47, Luke 2:11, Acts 13:23, 1 Timothy 2:3, Titus 2:13-14, and 1 John 4:14).  They are correct when they call this song “simple”, as compared to other Christian songs that are out there.  The word “my” in front of Jesus personalizes Him for Vineyard, that He is theirs, describing a connected, personal relationship they have with Christ (Acts 17:27, Romans 8:15, John 15:1-11, and Romans 11:16-24).

Line 3: Section 1 provides a list of things Jesus has done according to this song, to which Vineyard shows gratitude.

Line 4: We know Jesus is loving because He demonstrated it on the cross (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10).  We also know He is precious because, according to Philippians 3:8-10, all other pursuits are rubbish in comparison to knowing Christ.

Line 5: Vineyard is Christ’s possession through adoption (John 1:12-13, John 14:18, Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:23, Romans 9:1-8, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 2:11-22, Hebrews 9:15, and 1 John 3:1-3).

Line 6: What place is that?  Stanza 2 answers.

[Stanza 2]

Line 1: That is, Vineyard is within God’s shelter (Ruth 2:12, 2 Samuel 22:3-4, Psalm 3:3, Psalm 5:11, Psalm 18:30, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 32:7, Psalm 34:22, Psalm 41:2, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 57:1, Psalm 59:1, Psalm 61:3, Psalm 91:1-16, Psalm 118:8, Psalm 121:7-8, Psalm 138:7, Proverbs 18:10, Proverbs 30:5, Nahum 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, and 1 John 5:18).  Vineyard also experiences God’s comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3).

Line 2: Essentially repeats line 1.

Lines 3 and 4: This describes closeness that only a relationship with Jesus can provide.

Line 5: Repeats line 2.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will think that Vineyard is talking to Jesus initially in the third person, then in the first person. Vineyard is personally experiencing His abundant lovingkindness.  They will know it’s Jesus because Vineyard explicitly stated it.  I can’t think of a single thing that unbelievers will likely misinterpret.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as Vineyard’s Liberator, Protector, and Master.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Vineyard Music’s Arms of Love is simple, but not simplistic.  Vineyard personally experiences Christ’s love, a place of security and rest that is better than anywhere else.  Jesus is their personal Savior whom they possess, and who possesses them.  These bring Him glory.  Unbelievers should easily interpret similarly.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Arms of Love (listen to the song)

Artist: Vineyard Music

Album: Change My Heart Oh God, Vol. 2 (earliest I could find)

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 1994

Duration: 3:57

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

Updates:

01/03/2023 – Forgot to add the final score.