The very first time I heard “Above All” my spirit was disturbed. The last line “You took the fall and thought of me Above all” made me want to…(I can’t find the words to describe how saddened and disappointed I was). I thought immediately Christ’s death was for God’s glory above all. I think man has exulted himself and more than ever believes that God needs man. God doesn’t need man; He created man for His own glory. And man doesn’t add to God’s glory. Oh how I am grateful that God, in displaying His glory, paid the price for my sin with His own blood. Because of His grace and kindness, I now know my Savior and have hope.

SG Ministries has blessed me for many years. I utilize many of SG’s resources including the music CDs. SG’s music emphasizes the cross which is what my soul needs on a daily basis. If SG’s music was recorded on LPs, I would have worn out many of record player needles. But, with caution therefore, I have a question about one of SG’s songs. The song “For Me” has a line in it “Every thorn in your crown, ev’ry tear on your back, ev’ry drop of your blood was for me, oh, it was all for me, for me, oh, it was all for me”. Again, when I heard this song my spirit was disturbed. The words, “it was all for me” I feel fall into the same category as “…and thought of me above all”. I sing out loud with all the songs on “Everlasting”, but when it comes to “For Me” I am too distracted to sing “…it was all for me”.

Will you help me better understand this line in “For Me”? I find your wisdom to be helpful. (I hope this doesn’t offend Mark A. because his service to the Church is appreciated more than he will ever know.)

Thank you,

Ken

I think this highlights the believers response to Christ’s atonement - praise and adoration.

My church had sung this song before I became worship pastor. It sings well and has many other wonderful qualities.

That is a good observation about that verse in “Lo He Comes.” I’ve recorded my version of that song (with slightly different lyrics), and had not thought of that verse in a Jews-and-Romans way, but now that you mention it, your interpretation seems fairly obvious and could well have been the intended meaning.

I always took those lyrics to mean “all those facing judgement,” since all of us are culpable for the crucifixion, not just those present on that day. I don’t see it as gloating though, but a sobering part of longing for the Christ’s return. We may cry “Come, Lord Jesus!” but part of that is also crying “Come, Lord Jesus to judge!” Not a comforting thought necessarily, but I think the key to worship here is twofold:

1) Here is a chance to say to God “Your ways are higher than my ways– I don’t understand judgement and hell, but You do. You are greater than I am.”

2) Here is a chance to say “I deserve that judgement, yet You will be gracious to save me on that day because of Christ’s work on my behalf.”

Another thought: I wonder how much the musical context here colors our interpretation of the lyric. My music for this hymn is meant to be sobering and to underline that mystery and the tension in the lyric. I’m not too familiar with other music for this text, but if it is more celebratory or upbeat sounding, it might make that lyric sound like gloating.

Onto a question:

‘Ev’ry eye shall now behold him
Robed in glorious majesty;
Those who set at nought and sold him,
Pierced and nailed him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall their true Messiah see.’

A related verse from a hymn we sang last Sunday. I was a little hesitant singing exactly that, though I agree with it all, it seems a little twisted in the way it seems to gloat over those who crucified Jesus (historically speaking, the Jews and the Romans).

Any thoughts on that?

I think you’re being tripped up by the definition of the word “prove.” You’re using it to mean “showing to others that something works.” I don’t think that’s the meaning of “prove” here. In this particular song it means, “To determine the quality of by testing; to try out.” Jesus doesn’t test (prove) Himself - we do. But we’re not testing Him to see if he’ll be faithful or not - we know he will be. So we can “prove” him over and over.

Hope that’s helpful. Thanks for seeking to sing with your mind ( 1 Cor. 14:151 Corinthians 14:15
[15]What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I
will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my
spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. (ESV)

).

This type of thinking still blows my mind, and it may be one of those areas where we may never fully grasp what exactly is going on. I’m still interested to know what you think, though.

Nick

Thanks for stopping by. The hymn writer is speaking in the sense of testing something that you know is going to hold you. Like testing a parachute. You’re not expecting it to fail. We rejoice that we can “test” God’s faithfulness over and over, because he will never break his promises.
Is that helpful?