Jeremy Riddle – We Crown You

Jeremy Riddle is an American Contemporary Christian artist.  He served as the worship community pastor at the Redding, California location for Bethel Church from September 2011 to June of 2019.  He left Bethel because he “felt the Lord leading [him] back to Southern California”.  According to this Facebook post, he was increasingly troubled by the lack of Vital Scriptural teaching, which makes me wonder if he left Bethel for theological reasons.  It is for these reasons that I’ve chosen not to associate him with Bethel on the Resources page.

Riddle released a respectable 17 albums.

According to this page, “Riddle has received numerous awards for his work including being named GMA Dove Award Songwriter of the Year in 2011 and 5-time GMA Dove Award Winner for Song of the Year for “Furious”, “This Is Amazing Grace” and “Sweetly Broken”.”

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Jeremy-riddle-we-crown-you-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?

Jesus:

• Suffered and died for our redemption
• Suffering includes wearing a crown of thorns, flogging, crucifixion, and bearing the guilt of our sins
• Rose again
• Sacrifice connected to the torn veil
• Is worthy of our worship
• Gave Himself to us out of love

In response, we celebrate His sacrifice through praise.

Score: 10/10

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

It perfectly lines up.

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

[Stanza 1]

Lines 1 and 2: Jesus wore a crown of thorns (Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17, and John 19:1-3).

Lines 3 and 4: Jesus was flogged (John 19:1, Mark 15:15, and Matthew 27:26).

Lines 5 and 6: Curiously, Jesus being nailed to the cross is a detail absent within the four Gospels when its authors recount the actual crucifixion! The only hint we get that there were nails in Jesus’ hands is within John 20:25. Feet isn’t mentioned at all containing a nail. However, this singular verse has led to the overwhelming tradition that both Jesus’ hands and feet were nailed to the cross. Considering the potential reasonability of Jesus’ feet as nailed to the cross, I’ll let this small detail slide.

Lines 7 and 8: This detail is mentioned in Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, and Luke 23:45.

[Stanza 2]

Line 1: Not that we have the authority to “crown” Jesus as ruler of the universe, but this phrase is a figurative expression of surrender (Psalm 43:5, Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6).

Line 2: We join the early followers of Christ who did the same (Matthew 2:11, Matthew 14:33, Matthew 21:9, Matthew 28:8-9, Matthew 28:16-17, Luke 24:50-53, John 12:13, and John 20:28).

Lines 3 and 4: He is worthy of our praise (1 Chronicles 16:25, 2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 96:4-5, Psalm 145:3, and Revelation 4:11).

[Stanza 3]

Line 1: Essentially repeats Stanza 2, line 3.

[Stanza 4]

Lines 1-8: Jesus paid for our lawbreaking on the cross (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 9:15-26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9) out of love for the world (John 3:16).

[Stanza 5]

Repeats Stanza 2.

Side Note: In the audio, this stanza is repeated a second time.

[Stanza 6]

Lines 1-10: We praise the Son of God because of the same reasons in Stanza 4 and that He 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).  He is also called the Lamb who was slain (Isaiah 53:7, John 1:29, John 1:36, Acts 8:32, 1 Peter 1:19, Revelation 5:6-8, Revelation 5:12-13, Revelation 6:1, Revelation 7:9-17, Revelation 12:11, Revelation 13:8, Revelation 14:1-10, Revelation 15:3, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:7-9, and Revelation 21:9).

[Stanza 7]

Lines 1-7: Essentially makes the same point as Stanza 6.

Side Note: In the audio, Stanzas 6 and 7 are repeated a second time.

[Stanza 8]

Repeats Stanza 2.

Side Note: In the audio, this stanza is repeated a second time, followed by Stanzas 6, 7, 6, 7, and 8 three times.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers should easily interpret this song. Riddle’s language is not as his last name suggests. It is written mostly in plain English with a smattering of Christianese and points mentioned in section 1 are instantly understood. They will know that it’s Christian because it mentions the “crown of thorns”, “pierced by nails”, “torn the veil”, “cross”, “God”, and the “Lamb who was slain”, among other Christian terminology.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as the One who paid for our redemption through His shed blood and overcame death, giving us hope.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Jeremy Riddle’s We Crown You is great. It causes us to remember the reason why we gather together every Sunday: to remember and celebrate the cross and His subsequent resurrection. We praise Him because He is worthy. These points bring Him glory and are easily understood by those who don’t follow Him.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.

Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: We Crown You (listen to the song)

Artist: Jeremy Riddle

Album: Live In The Prayer Room

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2022

Duration: 7:30

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