Tag: Jesus on the cross

Battle Belongs

The next entry for my Blog is Battle Belongs, which was written by Brian Johnson and Phil Wickham.  It was first released September 4, 2020.  A link to Phil Wickham singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Battle Belongs


When all I see is the battle, You see my victory
When all I see is the mountain, You see a mountain moved
And as I walk through the shadow, Your love surrounds me
There’s nothing to fear now for I am safe with You

So when I fight, I’ll fight on my knees
With my hands lifted high
Oh God, the battle belongs to You
And every fear I lay at Your feet
I’ll sing through the night
Oh God, the battle belongs to You

And if You are for me, who can be against me? Yeah
For Jesus, there’s nothing impossible for You
When all I see are the ashes, You see the beauty
Thank You God
When all I see is a cross, God, You see the empty tomb

So when I fight, I’ll fight on my knees
With my hands lifted high
Oh God, the battle belongs to You
And every fear I lay at Your feet
I’ll sing through the night
Oh God, the battle belongs to You

Almighty fortress, You go before us
Nothing can stand against the power of our God
You shine in the shadow, You win every battle
Nothing can stand against the power of our God

An almighty fortress, You go before us
Nothing can stand against the power of our God
You shine in the shadow, You win every battle
Nothing can stand against the power of our God

An almighty fortress, You go before us
Nothing can stand against the power of our God
You shine in the shadows, You win every battle
Nothing can stand against the power of our God

So when I fight, I’ll fight on my knees
With my hands lifted high
Oh God, the battle belongs to You
And every fear I lay at Your feet
I’ll sing through the night
Oh God, the battle belongs to You

Oh God, the battle belongs to You

Do you often have those days when you just want to pull the covers over your head and shut out the world?  I think most of us have this happen to us from time to time.  So many days, from the moment we open our eyes, we see the battles ahead and we are just not ready to engage.  It may be a daily battle or a seemingly forever battle, but either way; we are just weary of all of the challenges that life throws our way.  Instead of thinking about the upcoming challenges, how often do you wake up and the first thing you do is to thank God for giving you another day and ask him to walk with you every step of the day?  Think about the fact from the perspective that there are many people who never see tomorrow.  I believe that one of the biggest issues we face in life is we believe we are always fighting these battles alone; but that is where we are making our mistake.  God is always there to help us face the challenges in front of us and he has a very different view than we do, he already knows how today’s battle will end and he knows what lies before us.  We are too focused on the challenges of today, where we failed yesterday, and what we will face tomorrow.  Yes, there are daily battles, mountains to climb, and darkness that will overwhelm us; but our focus is to remember who holds the future and what the future holds for each of us.  We are told in II Corinthians 4:17-18, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.   So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 

The writer of this song has taken an approach that is drastically different from our normal way of doing things, he is telling us to fight from our knees.  Interestingly enough, this is the strongest position when preparing for battle or while we are in the midst of battle.  This is indeed a powerful challenge for us, and we wonder, how can this be possible?  We are so used to depending on ourselves to fight the battle that we forget about the presence of God.  In this song, the writer tells us to fall on our knees as we prepare to face the battle, raise up our hands, pray to our heavenly father and give the battle to him.  In 2 Chronicles 20:15, we find this promise from God, “Do not be afraid or discouraged… For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”  The most important battle, the fight for eternal life, has already been won for us.  Christ died on the cross for each of us so that we would never be alone, we would never fight our battles alone, and we would spend eternity with him.  Once we accept Christ as our personal savior, we are guaranteed that eternal life.  He is our fortress, his light destroys the darkness, he makes beauty from ashes, and where we see Jesus dying on the cross, he sees the empty tomb.

We serve an all-powerful invincible God who never leaves our side, why should we  ever be afraid?  The best way to feel the power, love, and support of God is to begin every day with prayer, pray whenever you can during the day, and end every day in prayer.  God is always watching us and wants to talk to us through prayer.  We are told in 1 Thessalonian 5:17, “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”

It is time for each of us to learn this new way of fighting our battles, it is the only way we can win.

Click to Hear Phil Wickham Sing Battle Belongs

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #3 of 7

This Blog entry is focused on the single line below since I believe it is part of a powerful foundation for the rest of the song.

For when He was on the cross

We can see pictures of people on crosses, with many of these pictures based on crucifixions that took place during Roman times. In our society today, we seldom see people subjected to this type of torture and prolonged agony.
Crucifixion was designed to be gruesome, humiliating, painful, torturous, and filled with excruciating pain. The Romans seemed to have perfected the process over a 400-500 year period until Constantine stopped the practice in the 4th century. Crucifixion was mostly used on slaves, disgraced soldiers, Christians, and foreigners; but rarely on Roman citizens.

Those on the cross might live a few hours or a few days depending on their strength and how the crucifixion was conducted. It was common for the people to be stripped completely naked before the process began, which added to the humiliation. Sometimes the person may have been whipped or beaten, sometimes they had to carry the horizontal piece they would be nailed upon, perhaps there was a small seat on the upright beam, or perhaps a small footrest; any/all of these helped to determine how long a person would survive. Note that the horizontal piece of the cross may have weighed as much as 100 pounds and a complete cross could have weighed as much as 300 pounds.

Imagine the blood that was flowing from the beatings and due to the nails driven into the hands/wrists and feet. The nails were not like the nails we use to build houses, they were more like spikes. They were typically made of iron and were 4’” – 6” long. Larger 5”-7” spikes were probably used to nail the feet to the cross. All of these nails were square and approximately 3/8” in diameter, which is over twice the diameter of the nails used in residential construction today. The nails said to have been driven into the hands, were typically driven between the two bones in the forearm just above the wrist. Nails placed in the hands would probably come out quickly due to pressure and the hand would have split through the fingers. The Greek word used for hand, actually indicates and area below the elbow to the hand.

In addition to the extreme loss of blood, the victim was enduring the extreme pain caused by trying to support their bodies as they tried to breathe. Think about the gasping breaths as the victims struggled. The Roman soldiers would often get tired of waiting on the individual to die and would frequently break the legs so the person could not use their legs to support their weight. Once the arms and legs gave way, the person would die of asphyxiation if they have not already died of other causes such as heart failure, blood loss, or dehydration. Sometimes, the soldiers want to extend the time on the cross just to cause more torture and humiliation and therefore did not take any actions to hasten death.

Once the crucified was dead, they were often left on the cross as an example and a reminder to all to obey the laws of Rome. Many corpses stayed on the cross until they simply decayed or were eaten by wild animals.

As we picture Jesus on the cross, take a minute to think about what he was experiencing mentally, emotionally, and physically. He was the Son of God, yet he had to endure this to fulfill the mission given to him by the Father and to take the next step in offering us the gift of eternal life. I am not sure I can even begin to comprehend what He and the victims had to endure. In the case of Jesus, who had committed no crime, He was crucified an innocent man and was only on the cross to follow God’s plan for him.

I know I have shared some gory details of crucifixion, but it is important to understand the suffering Christ endured just to show his love for each of us. It was really the love he had for each of us that held Him to the cross; no power on earth could have held him against His will.