Throughout the history of mankind there has been music; when Christians have worshiped their God they have used music. In my lifetime I’ve declared truths about God in old hymns, I’ve proclaimed the gospel of Jesus in songs of salvation, I’ve appreciated the presence and power of the God’s Holy Spirit in modern worship songs. Some songs are gentle and reassuring, some are grand and majestic… then this week I heard the new song from Rend Collective:
Rend Collective – Salt And Light (Offical Audio)
We are the salt and light
We are the beacon burnin’
We are the fire bright
A city on a hill
We’ll ransack hell and win back souls
And take back all the enemy stole
We’ll ransom hearts as the kingdom starts
A fire in our bones
By the ragged scars of the rugged cross
He leads the charge the battle’s ours
We bear no sword but the word of God
And we’ll win the fight unarmed
This is no reflective reassurance. This isn’t, ‘Be still and know that I am God’. It’s a call to action to be salt and light, to join the spiritual battle, to be actively involved, to get out there and do something.
There’s the repeated, collective ‘we’. It’s not about me doing my own thing for God or with God. It’s emphasising the power and responsibility of Jesus-followers together to be that clear burning beacon, the ‘city on a hill’.
The gates of hell will not prevail
The blood He spilled will never fail
The cross of Christ every scar and stripe
Is the victory we hail
When the saints march in like a hurricane
There’ll be freedom hymns blowing in the wind
The blind will see every captive freed
From the shackles of their sin
When at last He comes and the race is run
A thousand tongues will join our song
But ’til then we will empty hell
In the name of Christ the Son
We are the salt and light
We are the beacon burnin’
We are the fire bright
A city on a hill
We have a future to look forward to – the day when the battle is won, life’s race is complete and we have a glimpse of heaven, but until that time…
…I’m hearing the rallying call. Sometimes I need the kick in the pants. I remember Jesus, realising his call to bring freedom to captives and give sight to the blind, returning to the power of the cross, be part of the city on the hill
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