Photo by Tyssul Patel
We’re back again with another Phil Wickham review! This will be my third, following the amazing scores from This Is Amazing Grace and Living Hope. I have high hopes for Great Things!
Also, check out my reviews of Living Hope and This is Amazing Grace.
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 entire song states that God does great things, shows examples of how great God is, and moves us to look and see. Worship and rejoicing are appropriate responses. Examples of God’s greatness include:
- Victory over death
- Sets captives free
- Breaks enslavement of sin
- Faithfulness to His promises
- Immutable nature
I appreciate the explicit naming of God and clarity to which Wickham presents his message.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All of it is Biblical.
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Verse 1]
Come let us worship our King
Come let us bow at His feet
He has done great things
See what our Savior has done
See how His love overcomes
He has done great things
He has done great things
We are led to see the great things God has done and worship in response. Wickham describes these great things later in the song. Also explicitly stated in Psalm 126:3.
[Chorus]
Oh, hero of Heaven, You conquered the grave
Jesus resurrected from the dead (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8), defeating 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).
You free every captive and break every chain
More good things, that God sets the captives free (Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18) and breaks the bondage of sin (Psalm 116:16, Mark 5:8, Romans 6:20, and Galatians 5:1).
While I initially criticised this song for its “every” statement, it also says in Matthew 2:3 that all Jerusalem was troubled with Herod. “Every” doesn’t always mean “every” and “all” doesn’t always mean “all”.
Oh God, You have done great things
Yes, you mentioned that in Verse 1.
We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive
An appropriate response to salvation (Psalm 30:11-12 and Psalm 149:3-4).
Oh Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high
This is so because there is no other name by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12). Of course, this doesn’t include equivalent linguistic translations.
Oh God, You have done great things
Repeats line 3.
[Verse 2]
You’ve been faithful through every storm
You’ll be faithful forevermore
That is, faithful in accordance with His will, purpose, and timing (Numbers 23:19, Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 33:4, Psalm 91:4, Psalms 119:90, Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 Corinthians 10:13, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, 2 Timothy 2:13, Hebrews 10:23, 2 Peter 3:9, and 1 John 1:9).
You have done great things
Derivative of Verse 1, line 3, though with the pronoun changed from “He” to “You”.
And I know You will do it again
For Your promise is “Yes and amen”
Borrowed from 2 Corinthians 1:20, Wickham states that God has been faithful in the past and trusts He will be again.
You will do great things
God, You do great things
Derivative of Verse 1, line 3, utilizing future and present tenses. This covers the entire time-span of His mighty works.
[Bridge]
Hallelujah God, above it all
That is, God is greater, period (Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 8:3–4, Psalm 147:5, Job 26:14, Isaiah 40:28, and Isaiah 55:8–9).
Hallelujah God, unshakable
That is, or God’s nature does not change (Numbers 23:19, Psalm 33:11, Psalm 102:25-27, Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 46:10, Malachi 3:6, Romans 11:29, Hebrews 6:17, Hebrews 13:8, and James 1:17).
Hallelujah, You have done great things
Derivative of Verse 1, line 3, appending “Hallelujah” to it.
Hallelujah God, above it all
Hallelujah God, unshakable
Hallelujah, You have done great things
Repeats lines 1-3.
You’ve done great things
Derivative of Verse 1, line 3. This time, Wickham uses a contraction at the beginning.
[Outro]
You have done great things
Oh God, You do great things
Repeats verse 2, lines 6 and 7.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Anyone who knows English should easily understand this song to mean Christian worship of their God, expressing how great God is. Any other interpretation is highly unlikely, especially given every day, non-churchy language Wickham chose in his wording.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God through His works and attributes.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Phil Wickham’s Great Things is an excellent song. Its message that proclaims the goodness of God compels Christians to worship and unbelievers to explore Christianity, both of which bring glory to God. He has done a wonderful job explaining why God is good using language understandable by everyone.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Great Things (listen to the song)
Artist: Phil Wickham
Album: Living Hope
Genre: Pop, Rock
Release Year: 2018
Duration: 4:50
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 2018 Son of the Lion (BMI) Capitol CMG Paragon (BMI) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) / Be Essential Songs (BMI) / Simply Global (BMI) / Phil Wickham Music (BMI) / Sing My Songs (BMI) (admin at EssentialMusicPublishing.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
11/17/2022 – Updated commentary on “every” to be consistent with other reviews. This raised its score from 8/10 to 10/10. Thanks to clicky (in his comment on Living Hope) for finding it!
02/04/2021 – Caleb pointed out an inconsistency between this review and others where I’ve criticized the word “every”. This changed this review’s score, from 10/10 to 8/10.
Comments
Steve Kuhn
Tastywallet, I can hear why this song garnered a 10/10 score! It’s wonderful song, and has been added to my playlist. God bless the person who submitted it for review.
tastywallet
Steve,
Your playlist will be a mile long at the end of the year! 🙂
-TastyWallet
Steve Kuhn
I’m counting on it tastywallet! God has blessed this ministry, and I am so thankful He led me to it!!!
Matt
It pains me to say that dislike this song for a couple of reasons. The song has some beautiful imagery in it (O hero of Heaven is… **chefs kiss**) but the song doesn’t do enough to enumerate the great things God has done, which leaves the interpretation of the great things up to the individual person, rather than Biblical truth. It’s got a ring of prosperity gospel in it, if you ask me.
Admittedly, these may be personal pet peeves more than valid critiques, but here we are.
The great things that the songs lists are:
1) God conquered the grave
2a) God frees captives
2b) God breaks chains
3) God is faithful
I take exception to number 2, because Jesus explicitly says in Matthew 11:30 that [His] yoke is easy and [His] burden is light. Humans are born yoked to sin. We can opt to be yoked to Jesus instead, through accepting the free gift of God in sending Christ to suffer our penalty. But we’re yoked to something either way. Or another way to say that is that we are either servants of sin or servants of God. It’s a common trope in modern CCM/praise songs to say “who the son sets free is free indeed” or some varietal of “break chains” and it’s a little disingenuous to say that and leave it there without also pointing out that being free from the chains of sin means being tied to Christ in His death and resurrection. Yes. His yoke is easier than sin’s, and His burden lighter. But we are still yoked, and burdened.
If you’re going to call a song “Great Things” then my belief is that you should spend more time talking about the great things instead of leaving them kind of vague. This vagueness lends itself too much to attributing financial windfall, or good health, or other things that would be considered great in earthly, human terms. When the Bible teaches us that trials, and tribulations, and testing of our faith, and periods of feelings of desolation are great things, too. Because they deepen our faith, and help to form us into the person that God wants for us to be. Because the great things mentioned are kind of bland, there’s room for even ardent Christians to miss the point about the great things God is doing. As such, and I’ve watched this happen independently of this song, the individual believer will look at what in their life they think is going well, and view it as the goodness of God. Which is a notion that a brief foray into Job will quickly disabuse you of, but I think the point stands.
As such, I would be extraordinarily hesitant to include it in any Sunday morning worship service unless the message from the pastor is going to shine some contextual light onto the song.
Vince Wright
Matt,
Thank you for your commentary!
I can see why that might bother you. As you’re probably aware, the concept of God freeing captives shows up in Isaiah 61:1 and fulfilled by Jesus in Luke 4:18; However, I see your point about becoming a slave to righteousness (Romans 6:18), that there’s still a sort of chain that ties us to Jesus. He is our master and we are His servants.
I won’t update my review, but I just wanted to let you know that you’ve been heard.
-Vince Wright
Caleb
“You free EVERY captive”. I love this song, but this line has bothered me. In your review of Great Are You Lord by All Sons and Daughters you stated the use of the absolutist term “every” in that context was unbiblical (“You restore every heart that is broken”). Is there a difference here?
I love your website btw.
Vince Wright
Caleb,
Great catch! When I get a free moment, I’ll update my review and give you credit for finding it.
-Vince Wright
BETTY
I love this song! I understand what you are saying about the word “every” but I also understand the songwriter’s intended meaning behind his use of the word ‘every’ in this song, i.e., that God CAN free “every” captive and break “every” chain. So I guess what I don’t understand is your meaning of absolutist terms and their use. Would it apply to David’s use of ‘He/You” in the 23rd Psalm to mean that what David says about how God comforts/leads/restores etc. him, doesn’t apply to anyone else? If so, then it would seem by your absolutist definition, that passage of scripture has been incorrectly used for many years in many settings.
Vince Wright
Betty,
Thank you for your comment!
Yes, God CAN free every captive, and break every chain, but does He? Phil Wickham says He does.
-Vince Wright
Steve Holm
This is my first time on this site so thank you for the work you are doing here! I have to disagree with the whole absolutist argument. We should be able to listen to a song and not have to try to change the meaning of words. The song should be written more accurately so that there isn’t controversy. It would not have been controversial if he had written He can free every captive He can break every chain. I went to Merriam Websters website and here is the primary definition for every:
being each individual or part of a group without exception
If we accept the absolutist argument then we couldn’t have any issues if a song said every person is going to heaven or every person is a son or daughter of God or every person is redeemed. We know that billions of people will never be freed from captivity because they haven’t accepted Christ and even more chains will never be broken because even we as believers don’t surrender ourselves 100% to God. I think a song like this can bring false hope. People can think I don’t have to do any hard work. God will just break the chains that bind me. I’ve worked with sex addicts who are Christians in the past (fyi roughly 60% of evangelical Christian men have a sexual addiction problem). Most of them would never say their chains have been broken. It’s a lifelong struggle and they are the ones responsible for either choosing good or evil each and every day. God rarely does a miracle to break the chains of sexual addiction. Freedom from sexual addiction takes a lot of work but with the help of the Holy Spirit and a willingness to surrender daily it can and does happen! But many sex addicts aren’t willing to fight that fight for years on end. I’m sure this is true with other sins, too.
Steve Holm
Vince Wright
Steve,
Thank you for your comments and compliments!
I used to think this myself until I was shown in Scripture that not all instances of the words “all” and “every” follow the strict Merriam-Webster definition. Take a look at https://yuriystasyuk.com/relearn-the-bible-10-verses-where-all-does-not-mean-all/ and tell me what you think.
-Vince Wright
Steve Holm
Thank you for writing back. I did read that article. 🙂
For #1 the news of an event like this would spread like wildfire. Think of the telephone game and what the last person in the line hears compared to what was said at the first. With war being so prevalent in that data and injustice done on a massive scale at times, the whole of Jerusalem could have been concerned that these wise men coming would cause some great calamity because of how Herod responded. They could have also thought that if the wise men were rejected that an invasion by a foreign nation could be a result. We don’t have enough info on this but I can see how all of Jerusalem would be troubled.
For #2 Some of this might depend on the accuracy of the translation. The NIV has Matt 3:5-6 like this.
People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.
That sounds more accurate than the version quoted in the link.
For #3 there is no way from a tall mountain that he could probably see even more than one nation so it must have been a vision of some sorts. I have no trouble with all here.
#4 is a little tougher along with a few others. 🙂
#8 The Bible says that the rain falls on the just and unjust so all benefit. There is goodness in so much that God gives everyone. And His mercy is over everyone too. He doesn’t just strike down everyone who rejects Him. He gives them the chance to repent again and again. I’m totally ok with all here meaning all.
#9 from the NIV. In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. To Caesar the whole world was the Roman empire. All would be all in the Roman empire.
#10. In verse 18 it says Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. Is all in 22 referring back by chance to those who have fallen asleep in Christ? I think it could be something like that or that there is a nuance here that I would have to do greater research to find. One thing that does frustrate me about Scripture is all the unclarity that is there that causes issues such as Calvinism vs. Arminianism. We have a multitude of issues that sadly divide our churches. 🙁
I still come back to that in our modern language, every is really every if we are not using it in an exaggerated manner. And we as Christians shouldn’t be exaggerators. That borders on lying and I am confident I have seen exaggeration on numerous occasions actually be lying. Phil could have written those lyrics so that there would be no controversy. I think the controversy is enough to indicate that this song shouldn’t get a 10 rating. And knowing that only few enter thru the gate, few and every are really on opposite ends of the spectrum. If only he would have written the following we wouldn’t even be having a thread about it! 🙂
You can free every captive and can break every chain
The above is totally accurate and still recognizes the amazing work that Christ can do and the power He has.
Thank you for listening!
Vince Wright
Steve Holm,
Thank you for your thoughts!
-Vince Wright
Steve Holm
I’d like to add onto my previous comment. I was reminded of the following Scripture. Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Two things. We find from this that far more people go to destruction than find eternal life. So the use of every in the song can’t even be used in a general manner since every would be more appropriate, if I can use that word, to describe those that go to destruction vs. those that find life. But we also see in this passage accurate words. The author did not say the following expecting us to figure it out.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and all enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and none find it.
He used many and few because those are accurate terms. The words we speak and the songs we sing really should be accurate. Otherwise why have definitions of words. Let’s just say anything and leave it up to interpretation. It kind of falls into the thinking that is so prevalent today of you have your truth and I have mine and there are no absolutes. To me that is dangerous. None of us would want to be paid 10k for a car that we agreed to sell for 12k. Close isn’t good enough. We’d not release the car until we received full payment. 12k is 12k and every means without exception.