one little stanza<\/a>, Taylor grabs two very powerful images of our savior. The first is Christ laying down his life for our salvation. \u201cGreater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends\u201d (John 15.13). Christ showed us the greatest of loves by willingly laying down his life for us, his friends.<\/p>\nThe second is what that sacrifice allowed. In laying down his life, we can \u201cstep upon [Christ\u2019s] back,\u201d as the song puts it. Christ is like the big brother, holding us up to look over the fence. And what do we see? Glory land.<\/p>\n
When Christ first approached his disciples, John records that Jesus told them, \u201cyou will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man\u201d (1.51). <\/p>\n
The image is prefigured in Genesis 28, when Jacob dreams of a ladder upon which angels traffic between heaven and earth. The ladder, Jesus says, is himself. Christ is the connection between heaven and earth\u2014a priestly function\u2014and it is only through his doing that we see heaven. We\u2019re too short to see above the fence, so we stand upon his back.<\/p>\n
Christ stoops down in his incarnation, redeems us through his voluntary crucifixion, and lifts us up to glory by his resurrection. Innumerable books have been written on the subject, but the beauty of good song writing is that Taylor deftly covers the same ground in just twenty-six simple words. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Getting your theology from pop lyrics is usually a poor idea, but there are wonderful exceptions. Take Terry Taylor\u2019s 1998 solo album, John Wayne. Known better for raucous numbers like \u201cHide the Beer, the Pastor\u2019s Here\u201d and \u201cDarn Floor, Big Bite,\u201d Taylor has also written many quiet and meditative songs over the years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1270,"featured_media":2793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[355,373,665],"class_list":["post-2464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritual-growth","tag-jesus-christ","tag-john-wayne","tag-terry-taylor"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>