My Understanding: The writer of this song is speaking about salvation from sin, death and hell that is ours for those who have made Jesus their Lord and Savior. We will never reach perfection while we are on the face of this earth, so to a certain extent we will all fail from time to time. The message in this song, nonetheless, is not to be confused with the message in “Always Have, Always Will,” where it is clear that the author there is speaking of someone who fluctuates back and forth between serving God and serving self. “I Will Rise” has a very different message – it is a message of victory; of overcoming the flesh; of faith realized; of praise and joy; of celebration; of promises and hope and the knowledge of Jesus and him crucified, risen and coming again, and of what that means for us as believers in Jesus.
The author of “I Will Rise” is speaking of that day when Jesus returns. That is the day that is drawing near. That is the day when our faith will be realized and our salvation will be made complete. Jesus won the victory for us over sin, Satan, the flesh, death and hell when he died and rose again as conqueror and victor. Yet, it will not be until Jesus returns that our salvation will be complete and that our struggle against sin and Satan will finally be over. Then, there will be no more sorrow and no more pain and we will sing together with all the saints “Worthy is the Lamb!”
Isaiah 14, I believe, is also speaking of that day when Jesus returns and sets up his kingdom here on the earth. That is the day when the Lord will give relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage. I know that in one sense, this is speaking of actual physical enemies who have, and will yet to come, hold God’s children – his beloved – in cruel bondage, and they will have to suffer much persecution at the hand of the beast of Revelation and his false prophet. Yet, one day Jesus is going to come to the rescue and he will set us free and we will be with him forever!
In this passage of scripture, the Lord’s people are told that in that day they will take up a taunt against “the king of Babylon.” There are many varied opinions of who this “king of Babylon” represents or will represent now and in the near future, but in vv 12-15, it is clear that this is Lucifer who has fallen from heaven - who thought he could raise his throne above God’s. This is Satan, the dragon of Revelation who will be thrown into the pit and bound for 1000 years. Oh, what a glorious day that will be. Certainly there will be much celebration when we are no longer tempted and hounded and persecuted by Satan and his armies of evil ones.
So, although, during the tribulation and even now and even throughout history, God’s people have been cruelly treated by God’s enemies, I believe that our greater enemy is Satan and the world, i.e. the pattern of the world and the temptations that the world has to offer us. Ephesians 6:12 states this: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” So, although we will have physical enemies in this life, our greater enemy is Satan and his rulers in the dark world – in the world of evil. The temptations to join the ways of the world and to give in to Satan are of greater danger to the Christian than to being persecuted and even killed by man.
When Jesus sent out his disciples (Matthew 10), he told them about men who would persecute them, reject them, arrest them, hate them, and even kill them, but then he says in v. 28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” So, our greater enemies are not the ones who can harm us physically, but our greater enemies are the ones who can harm us spiritually – that come from the evil spiritual realm of darkness. So, when this song speaks of overcoming and the victory being won, it is speaking of these enemies of our souls that are from Satan.
So, in that context, and in the context of this passage of scripture in Isaiah, Satan is truly the “king of Babylon.” And, Babylon is this world system; worldliness; anything standing in direct opposition to Almighty God, to his Son, Jesus Christ and to the people of God and to the message of salvation, i.e. the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Satan certainly uses people as his instruments to come against us, but we must always remember that our real enemy is Satan. That is why we must daily put on the armor of God so that we can fight against this enemy (Ephesians 6).
Then, one day, when Jesus returns and he sets up his kingdom on the earth and our salvation is complete, we can rejoice that our enemy has been completely defeated and that he has been brought down to the grave and he will no longer have any stronghold or influence over our lives. Our true oppressor, Satan, will have come to his end. We do learn in Revelation that he will be released at the end of the 1000 years for a short period of time but that we will win the battle against him even then and then he will be thrown into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet for ever and ever. And, so shall we ever be with the Lord! Amen!!
The author of “I Will Rise” is speaking of that day when Jesus returns. That is the day that is drawing near. That is the day when our faith will be realized and our salvation will be made complete. Jesus won the victory for us over sin, Satan, the flesh, death and hell when he died and rose again as conqueror and victor. Yet, it will not be until Jesus returns that our salvation will be complete and that our struggle against sin and Satan will finally be over. Then, there will be no more sorrow and no more pain and we will sing together with all the saints “Worthy is the Lamb!”
Isaiah 14, I believe, is also speaking of that day when Jesus returns and sets up his kingdom here on the earth. That is the day when the Lord will give relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage. I know that in one sense, this is speaking of actual physical enemies who have, and will yet to come, hold God’s children – his beloved – in cruel bondage, and they will have to suffer much persecution at the hand of the beast of Revelation and his false prophet. Yet, one day Jesus is going to come to the rescue and he will set us free and we will be with him forever!
In this passage of scripture, the Lord’s people are told that in that day they will take up a taunt against “the king of Babylon.” There are many varied opinions of who this “king of Babylon” represents or will represent now and in the near future, but in vv 12-15, it is clear that this is Lucifer who has fallen from heaven - who thought he could raise his throne above God’s. This is Satan, the dragon of Revelation who will be thrown into the pit and bound for 1000 years. Oh, what a glorious day that will be. Certainly there will be much celebration when we are no longer tempted and hounded and persecuted by Satan and his armies of evil ones.
So, although, during the tribulation and even now and even throughout history, God’s people have been cruelly treated by God’s enemies, I believe that our greater enemy is Satan and the world, i.e. the pattern of the world and the temptations that the world has to offer us. Ephesians 6:12 states this: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” So, although we will have physical enemies in this life, our greater enemy is Satan and his rulers in the dark world – in the world of evil. The temptations to join the ways of the world and to give in to Satan are of greater danger to the Christian than to being persecuted and even killed by man.
When Jesus sent out his disciples (Matthew 10), he told them about men who would persecute them, reject them, arrest them, hate them, and even kill them, but then he says in v. 28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” So, our greater enemies are not the ones who can harm us physically, but our greater enemies are the ones who can harm us spiritually – that come from the evil spiritual realm of darkness. So, when this song speaks of overcoming and the victory being won, it is speaking of these enemies of our souls that are from Satan.
So, in that context, and in the context of this passage of scripture in Isaiah, Satan is truly the “king of Babylon.” And, Babylon is this world system; worldliness; anything standing in direct opposition to Almighty God, to his Son, Jesus Christ and to the people of God and to the message of salvation, i.e. the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Satan certainly uses people as his instruments to come against us, but we must always remember that our real enemy is Satan. That is why we must daily put on the armor of God so that we can fight against this enemy (Ephesians 6).
Then, one day, when Jesus returns and he sets up his kingdom on the earth and our salvation is complete, we can rejoice that our enemy has been completely defeated and that he has been brought down to the grave and he will no longer have any stronghold or influence over our lives. Our true oppressor, Satan, will have come to his end. We do learn in Revelation that he will be released at the end of the 1000 years for a short period of time but that we will win the battle against him even then and then he will be thrown into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet for ever and ever. And, so shall we ever be with the Lord! Amen!!