Photo by frank mckenna
Brandon Lake is an American worship leader for Bethel Music and Maverick City Music. He released three albums and one EP, including:
- Closer (2016)
- House of Miracles (2020)
- House of Miracles (Live) (2021)
- Almond Eyes (EP, 2021)
He won a GMA Dove Award for Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year (This Is a Move (Live), 2019) and Songwriter of the Year in 2021. He was also awarded in 2021 for his work on Graves into Gardens, receiving credit for a GMA Dove for Worship Recorded Song of the Year and a Billboard award for Top Christian Song, both in 2021.
Also, check out my reviews of Too Good To Not Believe, Pour Me Out, We Praise You, and This Is a Move.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Brandon-lake-son-of-heaven-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. 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?
This song is about Jesus, who is:
- The Word as a man
- Lives among people who are gentle and humbled as He
- He brought forth the message of salvation
- Seen and praised
- Loving and merciful
- Alive
- Living inside believers
- Worshipped by believers
- Our hope
Although the song’s title is absent in Scripture (section 2 explains what it means), most Christians will interpret it to mean Jesus. Thus, it doesn’t affect the Christian interpretation of its message.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All of it is Scriptural.
[Verse 1]
Line 1: Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1 and John 1:14).
Line 2: This is unsurprising, given that Jesus is meek and lowly at heart (Matthew 11:29).
Lines 3 and 4: Jesus taught that the following are necessary for salvation:
- That He pays for our sins (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, and John 19:30).
- It is only through Him (John 14:6).
- Repentance and trust in Him (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, and Luke 24:47).
From that outflows obedience, that we would be baptized by water (Acts 2:38) and endure to the end (Matthew 10:22). These are pieces of evidence that we’re saved.
[Chorus]
Lines 1 and 2: Stated by John the Baptist in John 1:36. Not to look from a distance, but to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). As for the “Son of Heaven”, though 1 Thessalonians 1:10 says Jesus is the Son from heaven, this title isn’t found anywhere in Scripture. It was a title used by a Chinese monarch; a demigod chosen by heaven’s gods and goddesses. Its wiki page on “Son of Heaven” says at the beginning, “not to be confused with ‘Son of God'”. Yet, it’s clear from the context of the rest of this song to whom Lake refers.
Lines 3 and 4: This word comes from the Koine Greek term “hósanna” and appears in Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:10, and John 12:13 to exclaim Christ as “help” or “save, I pray”. Much like “Psalm Sunday”, where the crowds praised Jesus in word and (perhaps) song, we too worship Christ.
[Verse 2]
Lines 1 and 2: Christ shows His loving heart in that He was willing to die to save us (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10).
Line 3: The Son of God defeated death (Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, Luke 20:35-36, 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, 2 Timothy 1:10, and Hebrews 2:14).
Line 4: Three days after Jesus died, His tomb was discovered empty (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20:1-10), pointing to His resurrection (Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
[Verse 3]
Line 1: Not literally our chest, but Jesus living inside us (Romans 8:10, 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, Galatians 1:15-16, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 4:19, Ephesians 3:17, and Colossians 1:27).
Lines 2-4: Christ is knocking on the door of our hearts to come in (Revelation 3:20). When He enters, He permeates and transforms every aspect of our lives (Romans 12:2), expected to tell others about Him (Matthew 28:18-20) and His coming Kingdom (Matthew 6:10).
Lines 5 and 6: An image of the full assembly of God praising Jesus, our Savior and hope (Revelation 7:9-10).
[Outro]
Lines 1-3: There’s just something about that name!
Line 4-8: Essentially repeats lines 1-3.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers will know immediately that it’s Christian given its references to Jesus, God, salvation, Hosanna, praise, saints, and the cross. Lake intermixes Christianese terminology with everyday language, making it easy for them to comprehend its meaning. They will conclude that Christians worship Jesus because He saves them, died on the cross for them, and lives inside them.
Those who aren’t currently Christian will also likely interpret “Son of Heaven” as Jesus, perhaps not aware of its Chinese origins.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies Jesus that we worship Him for becoming one of us, saving us, and changing us from the inside out.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Brandon Lake’s Son of Heaven is great. It proclaims Christ as the God-man, whose death and resurrection save us. He lives inside believers and is worthy to be praised, bringing Him glory. Unbelievers should find it easy to interpret.
I highly recommend it for corporate worship.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Son of Heaven (listen to the song)
Artist: Brandon Lake
Album: House of Miracles
Genre: Rock
Release Year: 2020
Duration: 6:04
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Comments
The Berean
Hi Vince. I just want to bring your attention to the fact that there is no Bible translation in any language that reads as “the Son from heaven” on 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Most have “HIS Son from heaven” with some saying “GOD’S Son from heaven”. It is not the same as “son of heaven”. In Christianity Jesus is only the Son of God and the Son of Man, and never the Son of heaven. That wiki page you mentioned rightly refers to that title as that of the Chinese emperors as do the millions of websites if you put “son of heaven” in a search engine. This passage cannot be used to support that title. I cannot find any other verse in the Bible to support that strange notion that Jesus is the “son of heaven”. Therefore this song is not entirely scriptural.
Vince Wright
The Berean,
Thank you for your comments!
I’d like to start this reply with a link to the Merriam-Webster page for the definition of “of”, at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/of. There are several to choose from! Definition 2.a says, “used as a function word to indicate origin or derivation”. In other words, the word “of” is sometimes used to indicate a place of origin. For example, the title “Jesus of Nazareth” uses this word to describe His origins as his hometown. Yes, He was born in Bethlehem; However, He grew up in Nazareth. Similarly, the title “Saul of Tarsus” uses the same word to describe Saul’s hometown of Tarsus.
In the same way, the word “of” in Lake’s usage also points to Christ’s ultimate place of origin. Namely, the third heaven (or just “heaven” for short). Thus, the word “from” and “of” are synonyms in this respect.
-Vince Wright
AMM
Hello!
I have been looking at your website for a while now for more knowledge about these songs. I do not use it as my primary source, but if there is a detail that is confusing or obscure to me, I check this site and the comments for different opinions about what things mean.
Anyway, a note I would like to mention is that the first verse, second line claims that Jesus was “living among the meek and lowly”. Although in your review, you connect “meek and lowly” as describing Jesus, but it is obvious that the song writer means the people on earth. Humans are NOT meek and lowly, but instead prideful.
Thanks for providing extra thought in my endeavors to find biblically sound music!
Vince Wright
AMM,
Thank you for your comments!
There are two issues I have with your response:
1. It assumes that there are no meek and lowly people to whom Jesus was around. This is not the case. For example, Luke 7:36-50 provides an example of a “meek and lowly” sinner. She quietly humbled herself before Jesus’ feet, anointing his feet with perfume. Another example is Luke 10:38-42, where a “meek and lowly” Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and hung on every word He said. Just because there are prideful humans does not mean meek and lowly humans don’t exist.
2. It assumes that my commentary states that the artist claimed that Jesus is meek and lowly. That isn’t what I said. The first thing written is “This is unsurprising”. In other words, it should not surprise us that a meek and lowly Jesus lives among meek and lowly people.
-Vince Wright
AMM
Wright,
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond, I think I understand what you mean now.
Thanks again!
AMM
Vince Wright
AMM,
Cool beans!
-Vince Wright