Starting at age three, Kari Jobe has always had a passion for music. Holding a Pastoral Studies and Psychology degrees from Oral Roberts University, Christ for the Nations Institute and Dallas Baptist University, she accepted a position as Associate Worship Pastor at Gateway Church, herself a member of Gateway Worship. I talked about this band in my earlier review of Jennie Lee Riddle’s Revelation Song.

Speaking of Revelation Song, her performance singing Riddle’s hit song at the Christ for the Nations Institute catapulted her career in Christian music in the public spotlight in 2004.

She has five albums under her belt, including Bethlehem (2007), Kari Jobe (2009), Where I Find You (2012), Majestic (2014), and The Garden (2017). Her self-titled album was also released in Spanish under the name Le Canto. She has won four Dove awards, including Spanish Language Album of the Year (Le Canto/Kari Jobe, 2010), Special Events Album of the Year (Glory Revealed II: The Word of God in Worship, 2010), Worship Album of the Year (Majestic, 2014), and Recorded Music Packaging of the Year (The Garden, 2017).

As expected, her most popular and recognizable hit song is Forever, starting as a single and appearing on Majestic. It also happens to be the subject of this review. FYI: I am reviewing the live version.

Lyrics can be found in https://genius.com/Kari-jobe-forever-live-lyrics.

Update: Commenter Andrew made an excellent point about Jesus’ war on death in the grave, that it might not have Biblical support. I prayed and thought about it and agreed with him. Therefore, I downgraded all the sections, causing me to rescore the entire review sharply, from 9.5/10 to 7/10.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site! Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Jobe expresses vivid detail the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. He defeated death, is eternally praised and glorified, and lives forever. Short, simple, and to the point. Just the way I like it!

The end of verse 2 contains an unbiblical idea that Jesus’ work on the cross was not finished, that He had more work to do while dead.

I find the bridge annoying. I’ve always felt that way when we sing this in church given its repetition of “we sing hallelujah” 18 times.

Score: 8/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

Almost all the lyrics agree with Scripture, though there is one instance of creativity and one in disagreement among Christians. I did not penalize for either instance.

However, the end of Verse 2 is not supported in Scripture.

[Verse 1]

Line 1: Creative license on Jobe’s part, describing a figurative weeping of God’s creation upon Christ’s death. Given the earthquake after Christ’s death in Matthew 27:51, it is not anti-biblical to think that the universe wept.

Line 2: Probably a reference to Jesus as the “Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16).

Line 3: That is, he descended into hell/hades (1 Peter 4:6).

Lines 4-6: Christ’s death paid the penalty for our sin (see Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).

[Verse 2]

Line 1: That is, the last breath of Jesus before He died (see Mark 15:37 and Luke 23:46).

Line 2: This is a controversial statement. Some believe Jesus was abandoned by the Father, because Jesus became sin on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21) and the Father cannot look at sin (Habakkuk 1:13), combined with Jesus’ quoting Psalm 22:1: “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”. However, if you read all of Psalm 22, the Father does not abandon.

Line 3: Darkness came during Christ’s crucifixion as Jesus quoted from Psalm 22:1 (Matthew 27:45-46).

Lines 4-6: I understand what Jobe attempted to communicate. This is meant to be poetic license to describe Jesus’ eventual defeat of death. However, it has the air of unfinished business. The Koine Greek term “tetelestai” literally means “paid in full”, found in the backs of 1st-century legal documents to indicate full payment of debt. It is also found in John 19:30 in the lips of the Lord Jesus right before He died and coincides with the “certificate of debt” nailed to the cross in Colossians 2:14.

If “it is finished”, then why is Jesus doing battle with death in the grave? Yes, Jesus took the keys of death and hell/hades (Revelation 1:18) and as we will read later, Jesus’ resurrection is His victory over death, conquering it. However, there is nothing in Scripture to support the idea that Christ did battle with it while dead. There is also a popular false doctrine that Jesus fought with Satan in hell while dead. This wording feeds into it.

[Pre-Chorus]

Line 1: Refers to the earthquake after Christ’s death (Matthew 27:51).

Line 2: The stone that sealed Jesus’ tomb had been rolled away upon Mary Magdeline’s visit (Matthew 28:2, Mark 16:4, Luke 24:2, and John 20:1). According to Matthew 28:2, an angel of the Lord was responsible for its removal.

Line 3: That is, overcome by death.

Line 4: Quoted from 1 Corinthians 15:54-57.

Lines 5 and 6: The resurrected Jesus conquers death, giving us hope (see Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, Luke 20:35-36, 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, 2 Timothy 1:10, and Hebrews 2:14).

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: While there are lots of Scriptures describing God’s eternal praise and God’s glorification, Revelation 5:9-13 is specific to Jesus.

Lines 3 and 4: The resurrection of Jesus is permanent, giving us hope (see Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

[Post-Chorus]

Lines 1-4: See Pre-Chorus, lines 3-6.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-3: A compound Hebrew phrase, with “hallelu” meaning “a joyous praise in song” and “jah” or “yah”, which refers to the Tetragrammaton YHWH. Put together, we are singing “we joyfully praise God in song”.

Line 4: See Pre-Chorus, lines 3-6.

Score: 7/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Any non-christian with a rudimentary understanding of Christianity will easily recognize “christian-eze” terminology replete throughout this song: Jesus, cross, blood poured out for us, Son of God, the stone rolled away, death’s sting, resurrection, and of course Hallelujah. One would have to purposely look past these to concoct a non-Christian interpretation.

The downside of such vivid Christian language is evangelisic effort. I advocate for everyday language over Biblical terminology; However, that is not Jobe’s purpose throughout these lyrics.

In regard to Jobe’s expression of Jesus’ grave battle, Those who are familiar with the Gospel will recognize its problems. Unbelievers who do not will miss it.

Score: 6/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Christ is risen! But, He did not fight Satan while dead.

Score: 7/10

Closing Comments

Kari Jobe’s Forever is an excellent worship song. Amassing clear-cut Christian lingo (try saying that five times fast), it proves itself Biblically sound, glorifying Christ’s defeat over sin and death. Unbelievers will find it hard to legitimize a “Jesus as my boyfriend” interpretation that plagues so much Christian music.

My only two criticisms are that Jesus did not fight death while dead and my own annoyance over the repeated “We sing hallelujah” mantra X18. It might be worth considering for a praise set with less refrain’s and gutting the secong verse.

Final Score: 7/10

Artist Info

Track: Forever (listen to the song) (buy the song)

Artist: Kari Jobe

Album: Majestic (live) (buy the album)

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2014

Duration: 6:50

Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

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