telling the story ~ up from Ur / fire in your hand
Composition version: yes. (incomplete)
lyrics
idols in Ur
just like my fathers
child of curse
as all of the others
a man without a future
a man without a home
a man among the masses
residing in this tomb
and you
you stepped into my world
stepped over the threshhold
of darkness around me
stripped off the graveclothes
the cycle that bound me
and you said, follow me
to a country not your own
you said, follow me
and I will show you home
so I went out
where was I going
who am I now
when will you show me
a mystery for a future
a stranger in the land
a fistful of uncertain
like fire in your hand
there's fire in your hand
there's fire in your hand
as you come down from heaven
fire in your hand
upon this land of Sodom
fire in your hand
and only one man
escapes alive
is this the way
of all the earth
nothing but death
is there no birth?
where is the promise
that you made
where is the promise
that I heard?
do you laugh at my words
laugh until there's tears?
you will laugh so much more
at this time next year
a father to the nations
I'll call you Abraham
through your generations
like fire in your hand
fire in your hand
the power of a promise
fire in your hand
walk and be blameless
take fire in your hand
tie up the promise
give it back to the Giver
you don't understand
you go up the mountain
and there's none to deliver
this is the end...
this is my son
this is my land
this is the end
this fire in my hand
is doing me in
and there on the altar
the promise is lying
gazing back with frightened eyes
and here is his father
his old eyes are crying
to hold back this sacrifice
hold it back
hold it back
hold everything
oh...
hold it back
hold it back
you promised the fire of life
but this fire in my hand
is a knife
but you
you stepped into my world
stepped into my nightmare
the nightmare that drowned me
a ram on Moriah
the promise rebounding
and you said, spare your son
cause now is not the time
[now is not the time]
you said, spare your son
[this is not the son I require]
and I will give up mine
this is the promise
that you made
this is the promise
that I heard
can't hold back this sacrifice
can't hold it back
can't hold it back
can't hold back this sacrifice
for the life of the world
there's fire in your hand
as you come down from heaven
for the life of the world
fire in your hand
can't hold back this sacrifice
narrative
Until the time of Abraham, the war between the "seed of the woman" and the "seed of the serpent" seemed to be a war of attrition that always went in one consistent direction: the serpent stealing seed from the woman. Although God restored Adam and Eve, Cain got things off on the wrong foot in the very next generation, killing his brother and despising God.
And although Adam and Eve then saw a better future transpiring through their third son Seth, Seth's descendants too eventually failed to hold fast to God and His promises, leaving only Noah and his household. Satan was stealing fast.
This pattern continued after the flood. In fact, there may have been a time when the seed of the woman was all in Satan's possession. He seemed to have won the war of attrition.
But God is stronger than Satan. And for the first time since the Garden, He chose someone from Satan's camp and made him His own. Abram's father worshipped false gods, but God appeared to Abram and promised him a new life. Life, for someone who lived in death - Abram's father and brother died long before him, and his wife was barren (a dead womb). God promised to give him a great line of descendants and his own land.
Abram (later called Abraham) followed the voice. He didn't know where he was going, didn't know how these promises were going to come true, but he followed. This surely seems strange to us, but we must remember that God had created all things by the power of just His Word. That powerful voice was life-giving to Abram. And he followed.
The calling of Abram is a significant event for the world. As we've noted, it was the first time that God demonstrated that He isn't just a loser in a war of attrition with Satan. He has the life-giving power to reclaim the seed which Satan has stolen. Beyond that, God told Abram that all the families of the earth would be "blessed" (brought to true happiness) in him. Abram didn't know how that could be, any more than he knew how God was going to give life to his wife's barren womb (which He did in her old age) or how He was going to give a foreign land to his descendants (which He did centuries after Abram was dead).
God did indeed give life to that barren womb. It was such a joyous occasion that the child was named Isaac - "laughter." The promise had come.
But there came a day when God told Abraham to give the promise back. Three days' journey, to make the ultimate sacrifice. Abraham was stunned, but somehow he trusted through his tears: the God who had gave him the impossible son would somehow do the impossible.
In the end, God told Abraham not to sacrifice his son.
This was not the Father who had to give up his beloved Son; this was not the Son who had to die....