So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Cowering man, a legion of no-ones call,
bet it all
Covenant kill, he points to the heavens, bare
with blank stares
Beckoning search in self for his answer
Reckoning, purge, the great fall, the cancer
Settlement comes in wages now he is
shattered, broke, and all alone
We’ve lost all our control
Our faces fall to the ground
We’re powerless to your voice
Surrender to the sound..
What’ll it take to prove our decision’s wrong
will we fall?
Alone in ourselves there nothing but chaos, fear
end it here
‘til we concede to drink from the endless
The desert we find ourselves in is hopeless
‘til we submit and let go the control
we will always be alone...
We’ve lost all our control
Our faces fall to the ground
We’re powerless to your voice
And No longer seeming so, shattered, broke and all alone
Who do I belong To?
Not Earth
Not world
Not Evil
Not mortals
Not wretches
Not horrors
Who do I belong to?
Unchanging
Unbreaking
Unfailing
Creator
Immortal
Eternal
Surrender to the sound.
bet it all
Covenant kill, he points to the heavens, bare
with blank stares
Beckoning search in self for his answer
Reckoning, purge, the great fall, the cancer
Settlement comes in wages now he is
shattered, broke, and all alone
We’ve lost all our control
Our faces fall to the ground
We’re powerless to your voice
Surrender to the sound..
What’ll it take to prove our decision’s wrong
will we fall?
Alone in ourselves there nothing but chaos, fear
end it here
‘til we concede to drink from the endless
The desert we find ourselves in is hopeless
‘til we submit and let go the control
we will always be alone...
We’ve lost all our control
Our faces fall to the ground
We’re powerless to your voice
And No longer seeming so, shattered, broke and all alone
Who do I belong To?
Not Earth
Not world
Not Evil
Not mortals
Not wretches
Not horrors
Who do I belong to?
Unchanging
Unbreaking
Unfailing
Creator
Immortal
Eternal
Surrender to the sound.
Lyrics submitted by LivingFlame
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I think this song is saying that in order to find/return to our solace, our safe havens, God. we need to listen to his "go to the desert" where we surrenderd to God in the first place(hence to the sand we return). Because with out his voice, his help, we are hopeless, filled with chaos. "We're powerless to your voice And No longer seeming so, shattered, broke and all alone"
side note, "Who do I belong to? Unchanging Unbreaking Unfailing Creator Immortal Eternal" never heard such a way to describe my God. Andrew Scwab is a genius.
Why have we ignored the first bit of lyric? its about a man who is completely broken and is finally look up to God, he is face down. It is beautiful, how we are so delicate in that state of brokeness, we become shattered, we have no other choice when we reach this state "we've lost all of control, our faces fall to the ground, we are powerless to your voice, surrender to the sound." Its amazing how powerful God is. AND THEN he surrenders and doesn't feel so shattered broke and all alone. I cried at the lyrics of "Who do I belong to?" it has such a secure feeling that we belong to such a powerful God, and that we do not belong to such evils. It is truely an amazing worship song. Why can't churches get with the times and worship this way?