There are a lot of terrible sequels in the world. If you were one of the unfortunate ones, I’m sure you wish you had never wasted two hours on Blues Brothers 2000, Dumb and Dumberer, and the Batman movie from the ’90s where Arnold Schwarzenegger played the villain, Mr. Freeze, and kept throwing out painful puns about ice like “Ice to see you” and “Everybody chill.” Still, there are a few really good ones out there as well, like Terminator 2, Rocky IV, The Dark Knight, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Godfather, Part II.
A necessary sequel
A few years ago, I wrote and recorded a song called “One God” with Ghost Ship. We released it on a homemade EP, and since then have sung the song with our church countless times.
But a few months ago as the band was putting together the new album, The Good King, I was reading 1 Timothy 2:5–6 and it hit me: it’s time to write the sequel. “One God” focused on the first five words of that passage, “For there is one God”—the sequel song, “Mediator” takes on the rest of it:
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” 1 Timothy 2:5–6
With “Mediator,” I really wanted to write a song that flowed exactly like the passage flows because there is no way I could write this as well as Paul did. He hits four huge concepts so concisely that it blows me away every time: Jesus is God, Jesus is our mediator, Jesus died for us, and Jesus is the ransom for all.
The man Christ Jesus
But my favorite part of the passage is when it culminates, crescendos, ascends to its pinnacle with these four words: “the man Christ Jesus.” Paul’s words reach their crest at Jesus.
Our God
Jesus, our mediator
Jesus, our Savior
Jesus, our ransom
Jesus!
Everything musically and lyrically culminates into those four words, and I wanted “Mediator” to work that way, too.
Today, the more I read this passage, memorize and then recite it, or sing it at the top of my lungs in the chorus, the more I love it. I’m grateful to get to sing lyrics that Paul wrote.
Sing!
So let’s sing it and shout it together. Let’s sing the mighty works and the epic glory of “the man Christ Jesus”!
Stay tuned this Tuesday for another post from Pastor Cam on the theology behind the new album. The Good King will be released June 11 on Mars Hill Music.
