Photo by Erik Kossakowski
The Bill Gaither Trio was Bill and Gloria Gaither’s band before Bill started a solo career or developed Gaither Vocal Band. The song Because He Lives was originally released under this original band name. As an originalist, I will review this earlier version.
The Bill Gaither Trio (AKA The Gaither Trio) was a Gospel music group headed by Bill and Gloria Gaither. They released a whopping 32 albums, not including compilations. According to Wikipedia, they received two Grammys and 17 Dove awards.
Side Note: Throughout this review, I’ll refer to The Bill Gaither Trio as simply Gaither.
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?
This song is about Jesus who paid the penalty for Gaither’s lawbreaking. He rose again, giving Gaither a future and hope. Through His resurrection, Gaither can face the future and fear, knowing that God is in control of their destiny, including their children. They know that when they die, they will meet Jesus face to face, seeing Him in all His glory.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
This entire song is Biblical.
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Verse 1]
God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal and forgive
He lived and died, to buy my pardon
John 3:16 is a summary passage to describe these ideas.
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives
The empty tomb and lack of a body evidence that Jesus 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).
Side Note: This Verse is curiously absent in Gaither Vocal Band’s version of this song.
[Chorus]
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Christ’s resurrection gave Gaither strength to push through each day (Nehemiah 8:10, Psalm 22:19, Psalm 28:7-8, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 118:14, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 33:2, Isaiah 40:29-31, Habakkuk 3:19, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Ephesians 3:16, Ephesians 6:10, and Philippians 4:13).
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Through Jesus’ power over the grave, Gaither is no longer afraid (John 14:25-27, Romans 8:15, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Timothy 1:7, Hebrews 13:5-6, 1 Peter 3:13-14, 1 Peter 5:6-7, and 1 John 4:18).
Because I know, He holds the future
The plans God has for Gaither is hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives
The empty grave gives Gaither a purpose: to live for Him in surrender (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).
[Verse 2]
How sweet to hold a newborn baby
And feel the pride and joy he gives
If anyone’s held a baby as a proud mother or father, we understand is concept intimately. One is filled with mixed emotions, excited to raise the child, but scared of messing up or watching in horror as bad things happen to him or her. This must be how Mary felt about Jesus, treasuring these things in her heart (Luke 2:19).
But greater still the calm assurance
This child can face uncertain days because He lives
The resurrection of Jesus gives the Gaither’s a peace that cannot be found anywhere else (Philippians 4:6-7), calming their nerves about child rearing.
[Verse 3]
And then one day, I’ll cross the river
I’ll fight life’s final war with pain
And then as death gives way to victory
I’ll see the lights of glory
And I’ll know He lives
When Gaither dies, they will not experience pain and suffering anymore (Revelation 21:4). They will see Christ in all His glory when He comes again (Matthew 24:43, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, 2 Peter 3:10, and Revelation 16:15).
Side Note: The Gaither Vocal Band version says “I’ll see the lights of glory and I know He reigns”. This speaks of Christ’s rulership (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 11:10, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1-6, John 12:15, John 18:37, 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16).
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Despite this song’s thick Christianese language, unbelievers should be able to piece together Gaither’s message. Jesus died and rose again, giving Christians hope. One day, Christians will see Jesus in heaven. They will probably figure out that Verse 2’s opening lines are about raising a child. I can’t think of head-scratchers in Gaither’s lyrics.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
This song glorifies God by describing the nature of Christ’s rising from the dead and how that impacts Gaither.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
The Bill Gaither Trio’s Because He Lives is inspirational. His death, burial, and resurrection give us hope to live through this life and the next, bringing glory to God. Unbelievers should be able to interpret similarly.
I highly recommend this original version for corporate worship. I don’t like that Verse 1 was removed for the re-release.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Because He Lives (listen to the song)
Artist: The Bill Gaither Trio
Album: Because He Lives
Genre: Gospel
Release Year: 1974
Duration: 3:45
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 1971 Hanna Street Music (BMI) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
08/25/2021 – After reading and cross-examining T. Lewis’ comment, I discovered that I, along song Genious’ capitalization, were mistaken. In sections 1-3, I corrected the capitalization in the lyrics and comments regarding the child.
Comments
T. Lewis
I respectfully disagree that verse 2 is about Mary and the baby Jesus. I see it as being about someone holding their own newborn baby and being reassured that the child can the uncertain future because He (Jesus) lives. This is a thought to which every new parent or even grandparent can relate. It doesn’t make sense that Jesus could face uncertain days because He Himself lives. Also in verse 3, can you give any Biblical references to crossing that river? It’s obviously a metaphor for death, but where in the Bible does it say that we “cross a river” at death and if not, should we refer to death in this way? Do non-believers talk about “crossing a river” when speaking of death? If there are “head-scratchers” in this song, I think it’s this phrase.
Vince Wright
T. Lewis,
Thank you for your comments!
The dead giveaway is the capitalization in the lyrics. Notice that the word “Baby”, “Child”, and “He” are all capitalized, indicating a proper name. It also makes sense of the context of the song, which is about God sending Jesus to save us from our lawbreaking, enabling us to live fearless lives for Him.
-Vince Wright
T. Lewis
Sorry, I’m still gonna disagree. According to Gloria, who actually wrote the verse before the other verses were written: “It was the end of the ‘60s when it seemed the whole world was falling apart. In such a chaotic time, we were expecting our third baby. During this pregnancy Bill and I asked ourselves who would bring a baby into a world like this? It was easy to feel fearful for his future. But when Benjy was born and the nurse laid that little guy in our arms, it was an ‘a-ha moment’ of sorts. We came to realize that we don’t get married, make a home, have babies and go about our lives because the world is stable. When has it ever been stable? We live our lives with confidence because the Resurrection is true. We held our son and said, ‘We can do this. We can raise this child in this unstable world because of the power of life. Life wins! And because our Lord is alive, we can trust Him with our future.’ Honestly, it was a song we wrote for us.” Also, I have several versions of this song that we have done in church and in most, those words are not capitalized, until you get to “because He lives”. Thanks for all you do!
Vince Wright
T. Lewis,
Interesting, thanks for letting me know! I’ll explore your interpretation and find/confirm Gloria’s quote.
-Vince Wright
Felipe Leal
Hi brother, thank you so much for this amazing website you’ve built.
It’s something that has been pressing my heart for a few years; to thoroughly examine every song of worship we raise to our Lord so we can worship Him in spirit and truth, as He seeks.
This is gonna be a great tool for me as a band leader and for my church. Thank you very much again!
Vince Wright
Felipe,
Welcome to The Berean Test! I hope that you find my content valuable.
-Vince Wright