Photo by Scott Walsh
Popular juggernaut Hillsong Church had a busy 2019! They toured the world, released their latest albums People and Awake, and continues to be a source of corporate worship and controversy. We prayed for one of their songwriters, Marty Sampson, to continue or regain his faith.
They won a GMA Dove Award “Worship Song of the Year” for their song Who You Say I Am. This song was also nominated for “Song of the Year” and “Worship Recorded Song of the Year”. Hillsong also received three Billboard nominations for “Top Christian Artist” (Hillsong Worship), “Top Christian Album” (There is More), and “Top Christian Song” (Who You Say I Am).
They became the subject of several Berean Test reviews! I’ve already written nineteen separate Hillsong reviews, including ten written this year. Feel free to check them out when you’re not drinking egg-nog, attending Christmas parties, or examining my other Christmas reviews.
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?
The promised child, who would be born of a virgin and become the prince of peace, the Son of God and descendant of David, has been born. He is the Christ, the King of Glory, the Prince of Heaven/Peace, the hope of mankind whose acts will cause His people to respond in worship.
Their declaration that He retained His power and kingdom hurts their overall message given its contradiction to Scripture (see section 2).
It’s possible that the angels were singing, though the case for it is not strong (see section 2). This affects the song’s Biblical accuracy, but not its overall message.
Score: 8/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Most of it does; However, it contains two instances of angelic singing. The Scriptural support for this is weak at best. It also states that Jesus’ heavenly power and kingdom rested upon Him as a child, contrary to Scripture that speaks of His emptying Himself, relinquishing His throne and glory to become man.
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Verse 1]
Earth in shadow, restlessly hold
Labour’s waiting, in silent hope
Contrasts the wicked hearts of man (Jeremiah 17:9) with the purity of Jesus, born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:26-38, and Matthew 1:18-25).
For the promise, it longs to know
What heaven holds
In the context of Christmas, the promise is that “God with us” would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).
[Verse 2]
Then the angels, in holy haste
Lift their anthem, Your Saviour lays
According to Luke 2:13-14, there was a multitude of angels exalting Jesus. Though there were heavenly hosts and they announced the birth of Jesus, Scripture does not support that they were singing. Take a good look at Luke 2:13. It says “saying”. It comes from the Koine Greek word “legó”, which means “to say”. That doesn’t mean that angels can’t sing (Job 38:7’s “morning stars” could be seen as angels), but the text doesn’t say that they sang.
As for the Koine Greek term Aineo (to praise), according to Bible Study Tools, praiseworthy singing is a possible translation for this word. However, no major translation translates it with singing in mind.
In a manger, in humble form
Your King is born
As mentioned by the Magi in Matthew 2:2.
[Chorus]
Hail the Prince of Heaven comes
Though Scripture does not state “Prince of Heaven” as a title for Jesus, it does say that He is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
To hail means to offer an enthusiastic greeting, to draw attention to it. The angelic multitude and the shepherds both hailed Jesus (Luke 2:8-18). As did the Magi when they told King Herod of their journey to find and worship the Christ-child Jesus (Matthew 2:2).
Angel choirs sound the call
See Verse 2, line 2.
For this babe wrapped in a cloth is
The incarnate Word of God
That is, Jesus, known also as the Word, is God (Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 43:10-11, Matthew 1:23, Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26, John 1:1-3, John 1:14, John 5:17-18, John 8:23-25, John 8:28, John 10:30-33, John 14:9, John 20:28-29, Philippians 2:5-6, Colossians 1:16-19, Colossians 2:8-9, Titus 2:13, 1 Timothy 6:14-16, Hebrews 1:10-12, Revelation 1:8, and Revelation 22:13).
All the kingdom and its pow’r
Resting now in this child
I cannot support the idea that the kingdom and its power were within Jesus while he was a baby. Jesus gave up this kingdom and its power when He became man (Philippians 2:5-7). He received the power of the Holy Spirit during His baptism ( Luke 3:21-22 and John 1:32-34), which began His earthly ministry. Scripture does not indicate that Jesus possessed it at birth. This should be replaced with “Given us by this child”.
Prince of Heaven
See commentary in line 1.
Jesus, hope of the world
Pays lip service to the hope that Christ offers, through His payment 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).
[Verse 3]
This means mercy, in fullest form
Loving-kindness, forevermore
Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17).
Son of David, and Son of God
He is Christ the Lord
Jesus is both a descendant of David, both on Joseph’s lineage (Matthew 1:6-16) and Mary’s (Luke 3:23-31). He is also God the Father’s only begotten Son, a title given by Jesus Himself, other humans, and demons (Matthew 11:27, Matthew 14:33, Matthew 16:15–17, Matthew 27:43, Matthew 27:54, Mark 1:11, Mark 3:11, Mark 9:7, Mark 15:39, Luke 1:35, Luke 4:41, Luke 22:29, John 1:14-18, John 1:34, John 3:16-18, John 11:27, John 19:7, John 20:31, and Acts 9:20).
[Bridge]
King of glory, we gladly greet
Combines Psalm 24:8 with commentary on Christ as God in Chorus, lines 3 and 4.
Born in wonder, and majesty
That is, born of a virgin. See commentary in Verse 1, line 2.
Forever worthy, the earth will sing
Oh, Prince of Heaven, we worship Thee
Jesus is worthy of praise. Since Jesus is God, we can apply 1 Chronicles 16:25, 2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 96:4-5, Psalm 145:3, and Revelation 4:11.
King of glory, we gladly greet
Born in wonder, and majesty
Forever worthy, the earth will sing
Oh, Prince of Heaven, we worship Thee
Repeats lines 1-4.
[Verse 4]
We can know Him, this Prince of Peace
See commentary in Chorus, line 1.
In light of mercy, confess our sin
Lay our burdens at Jesus’ feet
And with gladness sing
When we turn to Jesus, laying our burdens and sins upon Him (Matthew 11:28-30). His faithfulness to us stirs within us a heart of singing as our expression of worship (2 Samuel 22:1-51, Psalm 13:6, Psalm 18:43-49, Psalm 21:8-13, Psalm 27:1-6, Psalm 28:6-9, Psalm 51:14, Psalm 57:1-7, Psalm 59:16, Psalm 63:7, Psalm 69:29-36, Psalm 89:1, and Psalm 108:1-4).
Score: 7/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Given the references to angelic singing, the King that is born, and name-dropping Jesus, unbelievers will easily recognize this as a Christmas song. The errors pointed out in earlier sections will probably have little impact on their overall interpretation, unless they happen to know about Philippians 2:5-7.
Score: 8/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies the God-man Jesus through its clear and accurate depiction of prophecy and events surrounding Christ’s birth, except stating that He retained His heavenly dominion and might as a child, alongside the singing angels, which is Biblically weak at best.
Score: 7/10
Closing Comments
Hillsong Worship’s Prince of Heaven is a decent song, containing many of the same themes as other Christmas songs: Jesus’ prophecied and fulfilled virgin birth, declared as God, Prince of Peace, and a reigning King, bringing glory to God. It also inaccurately claims that Jesus retained His kingdom and power whilst a babe, impacting their message to all who listen. Hillsong states that the angels sang, which is Biblically weak at best.
I cannot recommend this for worship service.
Final Score: 7/10
Artist Info
Track: Prince of Heaven (listen to the song) (buy the song)
Artist: Hillsong Worship
Album: Christmas: The Peace Project (buy the album)
Genre: Christmas, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2017
Duration: 6:12
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 2017 Hillsong Music Publishing (APRA) (adm. in the US and Canada at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
10/25/2022 – Upon recent information from Heather’s comment on Joseph Mohr’s Silent Night, I updated my commentary on the singing angels. This did not affect the song’s rating.
Comments
Brendan
Hey! Really appreciate your website, it has been very helpful to me as a Pastor who also leads worship for my congregation and is discerning the songs we should sing. A few things I’d love to bounce off of you:
1) Although we don’t see the specific word “sing” in Luke 2, does it explicitly reject the idea that singing was happening? Were they singing Handel or Wesley? Of course not, but is it wrong to define ” praising God and saying” as singing? AIG has a good article that discusses this idea. https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/christmas/hark-the-herald-angels-said/
Also this song doesn’t even specifically say the Angels are singing:
“Lift their anthem” – a chant can be described as an anthem. I think of the chorus to “We Will Rock You”. It’s especially melodic.
“Angel choirs sound the call” – Now we may assume “sound the call” is singing because the multitude is referred to as “angel choirs” but again this song is not explicit in saying that the angels are singing… much in the same way that I don’t think we have enough information to say that scripture is explicitly denying the angels sang at all.
2) Regarding Phil 2, this may be a difference in theological views on Christology but my understanding is that this “emptying” is letting go of the rights and privileges to be recognized and seen in all His glory as He deserved. The hypostatic union being an adding too and never a taking away.
Grudem says in his Systematic Theology, “Some might object that these miracles just showed the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him, just as the Holy Spirit could work through any other human being, and therefore these do not demonstrate Jesus’ own deity. But the contextual explanations of these events often point not to what they demonstrate about the power of the Holy Spirit but to what they demonstrate about Jesus Himself.” (GST p.547) (Ref. Matthew 8:26-27; Matthew 14:19; John 2:1-11
Danny Akin also explains, “Verse 19 explains that in Christ we see the essence of God. “All His fullness” means that Christ lacks nothing of what it means to be God. He possesses all the attributes of God (e.g., saving grace, love, goodness, light, omniscience, etc.)…
The phrase “dwell in Him” means to be at home permanently, to reside. There was never a time when Christ did not possess deity; he is always God. In this context, we add the contribution of Colossians 2:9-10, since it expands and supplements Colossians 1:19. The verse reads, “For in Him the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily.”
”In Him” is emphatic and exclusive. It recalls 1:19. “The entire fullness” emphasizes comprehensiveness and completeness. This reiterates that Christ is completely God: there is nothing about the nature and essence of God that Christ does not possess.
“In Him the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells” means that Christ is in his essence God. Paul takes this expression of Christ’s deity one step further than in 1:19 by linking it with Christ’s incarnation in the word bodily. Paul’s point here is that Christ is fully God and fully man. This verse is therefore one of the New Testament’s strongest affirmations of both Christ’s Deity. And Christ’s Humanity, as well as the fact that he is both fully God and fully man at the same time.” (Akin, Theology for the Church p.408)
I greatly appreciate all of the careful work that you do on this site. It is a great blessing to me and my congregation.
Vince Wright
Brendan,
Thank you for your detailed thoughts! I am thrilled that my site could assist you.
Below is my response to your commentary:
1) Yes, my position is that it is unsupported in Scripture that the angels were singing. In accordance with the AIG article you provided, Luke 2:13 uses the word “legó” (G3004, https://biblehub.com/greek/3004.htm), which means “to say” or “to speak”. By contrast, the word “humneó” (G5214, https://biblehub.com/greek/5214.htm) means “to sing a hymn”. Had Luke wanted to convey singing, surely he would have used “humneó”? Just because there is a strong connection between praise and singing doesn’t mean that the angels sang in Luke 2:13. If we put AIG’s argument into a syllogism, it would look like this:
P1: Angels are capable of singing.
P2: There is a strong connection between praising and singing.
C: Therefore, the angels sang in Luke 2:13.
The problem become immediately obvious. The conclusion (C) does not flow from the premises (P1 and P2).
2) You are correct: it is a difference in Christology. I happen to be a proponent of the hypostatic union, but believe that Jesus’ miracles were done through the Holy Spirit due to Jesus’ blasphemy of the Holy Spirit commentary in Matthew 12:22-32, Mark 3:20-30, and Luke 11:14 – 54 to Luke 12:1-10.
Despite our theological and interpretive differences, I am glad that my site can bless you and your congregation!
-Vince Wright
racefangurl
His Godhood remained so maybe that confused them? He was a God/man. Does the tweaking of anthem to shouting, and the mentioned resting now in to given us by make it Christmas Eve service friendly?
PursueJustice
I’m amazed how within Christianity some have made themselves the authorities on songs and doctrine. I find these kinds of websites do more harm than good to Christianity, especially when I find so many typos in them.
Vince Wright
PursueJustice,
Thank you for your comments!
I’m not sure why you believe that I made myself an authority on songs and doctrine. I stated in my about page that “my reviews are my own opinion and should not be taken as Gospel, but thoughts worth considering”. Since you believe that this website does harm, can you be more specific about how my reviews are hurting people? I’d also appreciate specifics on typos.
-Vince Wright