Photo by Shardayyy Photography
Canadian rock band The City Harmonic formed in 2009 and ended in 2017. They released one EP and four albums, including:
- Introducing the City Harmonic EP (2010)
- I Have a Dream (It Feels Like Home) (2011)
- Heart (2013)
- We Are (2015)
- Benediction (Live) (2017)
They won 11 GMA Covenant Awards and one JUNO, including New Artist of the Year (2011), Group of the Year (2013 and 2015), and Praise & Worship Album of the Year (Benediction (Live), 2018).
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/The-city-harmonic-holy-wedding-day-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?
The City Harmonic tells a story of three events: Christ paying the penalty for the church’s lawbreaking, the bride waiting for Jesus’ second coming, and the final resurrection, where Christ-followers will spend eternity with God, singing “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty”.
I have one minor critique. Towards the end of the song, The City Harmonic tells us that all creation will sing in worship, including unbelievers. While it’s true that unbelievers will confess Christ as Lord, singing in worship isn’t supported by Scripture.
Score: 9/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Most of this song aligns with God’s inspired Word, except when it says all will sing “holy, holy, holy”.
This song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure. Therefore, I assigned stanzas to each paragraph.
[Stanza 1]
Lines 1-4: The account that The City Harmonic offers begins with the death of Christ for them (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) and ends with the eternal union between Christ and His bride, the church (Revelation 18:23, Revelation 19:7-9, Revelation 21:2-9, and Revelation 22:17). The glassy sea comes from Revelation 4:6 and 15:2.
[Stanza 2]
Line 1 and 2: References Hosea 13:14 and 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, which speaks of the final resurrection (Luke 20:34-38, Acts 24:15-16, Romans 6:1-5, Romans 8:11-13, 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, 2 Corinthians 4:13-14, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The City Harmonic will be with the Lord, not dead.
[Stanza 3]
Line 1: This quotes from Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8.
[Stanza 4]
Lines 1-4: Coming off the heels of Stanza 1, this Stanza comes from Revelation 7:9-17, which describes the great multitude who wear white robes, awaiting the return of Jesus.
[Stanza 5]
Repeats Stanza 2.
[Stanza 6]
Repeats Stanza 3.
[Stanza 7]
Essentially repeats Stanza 3.
[Stanza 8]
See commentary in Stanza 3.
[Stanza 9]
Combines Stanza 1, lines 1 and 2 with part of Stanza 3.
[Stanza 10]
Combines Stanza 1, lines 3 and 4 with part of Stanza 8.
[Stanza 11]
Combines Stanza 4, lines 1 and 2 with part of Stanza 3. The City Harmonic changes the second line from “waiting” to “singing”, which contextualizes this as post-Christ’s return. God takes His bride and brings her into His eternal Kingdom (Revelation 21:9-27 and Revelation 22:1-5).
[Stanza 12]
Lines 1 and 2: This is partially correct. While it’s true that every knee will bow and confess Christ as Lord (Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10-11), I don’t see Scripture that supports that unbelievers would stand before God, singing about how holy God is. It’s tempting to think that these lines have limited scope, Christians; However, “all that was, and is” seems clear that all creation will perform.
Lines 3 and 4: See Stanza 8.
[Stanza 13]
Repeats part of Stanza 7.
Score: 9/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers will see explicit references to the cross, “holy, holy, holy” and the Son of God, all pointing to Christianity. The bride, groom, and wedding will likely confuse without further research.
Score: 7/10
4. What does this song glorify?
While it glorifies God that it faithfully describes the cross, the bride, and the final resurrection, the minor error described in previous sections slightly veils it.
Score: 9/10
Closing Comments
The City Harmonic’s Holy (Wedding Day) is a decent song with one small mistake. It speaks of the cross, the bride of Christ, and our eventual entrance into God’s Kingdom, bringing glory to God. It errs when claiming unbelievers will sing/worship God. Unbelievers will get the general gist, though perhaps fuzzy on the bride, groom, and marriage.
It’s hard to recommend this song for corporal worship, even though its error is minor.
Final Score: 8.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Holy (Wedding Day) (listen to the song)
Artist: The City Harmonic
Album: I Have a Dream (It Feels Like Home)
Genre: Rock
Release Year: 2011
Duration: 4:15
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement. I increased section 1’s score. This did not affect the overall rating.
Comments
JM
Hey Vince – a thought on the issue with Stanza 12. Musically, stanzas 9-12 fit together in what would typically just be “verse 3” of a standard pop/rock song flow. The genius lyrics have it broken up a little weird, since they are also writing down the echo/response (holy, holy) lines. I think it would read more naturally like this:
——————————————
This is the story of the son of God, Hangin’ on a cross for me.
And it ends with a bride and groom, And a weddin’ by a glassy sea.
This is the story of a bride in white, Singin’ on her weddin’ day.
Altogether all that was, and is, Can stand before her God and sing.
—————————————–
With that in mind, it seems that the second two lines are talking about the church (bride in white, stand before “her God”). I read “altogether all that was, and is” as a reference to the gathering of all God’s people from all time and place (“was” being those who have died, “is” being those who were still living when Christ returned). Its the first time “the bride” has been together in one place.
Vince Wright
JM,
Thanks for the clarification!
It depends on how you define “Altogether all that was, and is”. To me, this means all of creation. “All that was and is” is an all-encompassing phrase that includes both believers and unbelievers, not just the bride of Christ; However, I can see how you arrived at a different conclusion, that the scope of “all that was, and is” are only the gathered believers, which is the church.
I think it would be clearer if they didn’t include the phrase ‘all that was, and is” and simply left it at “altogether”.
-Vince Wright