Photo by Alex Shute
Onething Live spawned from the International House of Prayer of Kansas City (IHOP–KC) OneThing conference, which includes original and improvised, on-the-fly lyrics and music.
They released 11 live albums, including:
- Pursuit of the Holy (2006)
- Holy to the Lord (2007)
- onething’09 LIVE (2009)
- Before His Eyes (2010)
- Magnificent Obsession (2012)
- You Satisfy My Soul (2013)
- Sing Your Praises (2014)
- Psalms: Songs of David (Music from the International House of Prayer) (2015)
- Shout Your Name (2015)
- Love Makes Us Strong (2016)
- All Cry Glory Deluxe Edition (2017)
This song was written and performed by David Brymer. Therefore, I also created a Song Review Index entry for him.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/David-brymer-worthy-of-it-all-live-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?
Christ, the Lamb of God, is worthy of our worship, including the angelic beings, the elders, and the saints who bow before God on His throne. Incense is used figurately, referring to our daily routine of worship. He is the creator of all things.
Side Note: To those annoyed by massive repetition, this song has a lot of it! After Verse’s second iteration, Chorus repeats twice, followed Bridge, which contains the same line eight times. After this, it goes back to another two repeats of Chorus, then four more lines of Bridge, another Chorus, then finally, Outro, which is just another Chorus.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
The whole song is Biblical.
[Verse]
Lines 1 and 2: Interprolates Revelation 4:10 and Revelation 7:11, describing the angelic beings and post-death saints who worship God before His throne. Lamb of God references Jesus, often referred to as 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).
[Chorus]
Line 1: That is, all the worship described in Verse.
Line 2: Essentially repeats line 1, except that it identifies the object of worship as Jesus.
Lines 3 and 4: Quotes from parts of Romans 11:36. Naturally, this would not include Himself, as God does not create Himself.
Line 5: He is worthy of praise (Revelation 4:11 and Revelation 5:12).
[Post-Chorus]
Lines 1-4: An elongated call to Casper the friendly ghost.
[Bridge]
Line 1: Borrows from Malachi 1:11, indicating that praise towards God is a daily affair.
Lines 2-8: Repeats line 1.
[Post-Bridge]
Lines 1-4: See commentary on Post-Chorus, lines 1-4.
[Outro]
Lines 1-5: Repeats Chorus, lines 1-5.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
This song explicitly mentions Jesus and the bowing angels and people, making it easy for unbelievers to interpret this as daily and nightly Christolic worship.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It explicitly states that Jesus deserves the glory, demonstrated by angels, saints, and elders prostrated before Him.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Onething Live’s Worthy of It All is Biblical. It tells us that Jesus is worthy of our praise, as we prostrate ourselves before Him alongside the angels, elders, and other saints, bringing Him glory. Unbelievers should easily interpret similarly.
Though highly repetitive, this song is appropriate for corporate worship.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Worthy of It All (Live) (listen to the song)
Artist: Onething Live
Album: Magnificent Obsession
Genre: Rock
Release Year: 2012
Duration: 7:00
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Comments
Elizabeth
I am concerned that it is connected with IHOP.Yes, the words of the song are Biblical, but why all the repetition? Thank you for your blog.
Karen Gould
Your comment “Lines 1-4: An elongated call to Casper the friendly ghost.” Seems a little random and odd…..
Thank you for this site. It encourages me to think scripturally about we are saying when we sing.
Vince Wright
Karen,
Thank you for your comment and compliment! The “Casper” reference is a running joke that pokes fun at the “oohs” and “aahs” that are filler in song lyrics.
-Vince Wright
Matt
Help me understand how you arrived at a 10/10 for an outsiders interpretation with a bridge that talks about incense arising?
Steve Barhydt
Incense, in and of itself, is neither secular nor sacred. It has been used by nearly every major religion, including Judaism, for thousands of years.
In Christianity and Judaism it is both literal and symbolic Psalm 141:2
2Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice
Now I agree that the unbeliever may not be aware of this scripture but the context of the song makes it unmistakably clear that, whether literal or symbolic, the incense is about Jesus.
Tara Jackson
I literally LOL’d at the “Casper” comment! HAHA! But in all seriousness, thank you so much for all y’all do for us Worship Leaders as we seek to sing songs in our corporate settings that truly bring honor and glory to God! We’re introducing this song this Sunday (the CeCe Winans / Lifeway arr.). Blessings to y’all!
Vince Wright
Tara,
I am glad you liked that bit! You’ll find other reviews where this poltergeistly creature makes an appearance. I am also thrilled that my content helps you decide which songs to select for corporate worship.
-Vince Wright
Leslie Hammonds
As a worship leader (aka pianist who tries to sing lol), my input on repetition in songs is this… Repetition in worship is an opportunity to pray. As I worship and play, it’s a meditation of sorts. I talk to God, He talks to me. Sometimes, when you want to rest in the Lord’s presence and just worship, you don’t need a lot of words. Where there are a lot of words, the prayerful atmosphere can get lost. Pull your nose out of your hymnal or off the lyrics screen, close your eyes, sing the repetition or just listen and pray. Envision yourself before the throne of God, and rest in His presence. You drop what’s on your mind, and focus on Him. You leave worship refreshed, renewed and with a new outlook on things. Yes, repetition can get excessive, but in moderation there’s also a purpose for it. It can be meditative prayer.
Lastly, “Let incense arise…” refers to prayers of the saints. Worship and prayer go together. Our prayers are a pleasant aroma to God.