Meredith Andrews is my favorite female worship leader, and she has received acclaim for her premier singing and songwriting ability. She appears on two of my top worship albums of the year, Vertical Church Band’s The Rock Won’t Move, and my top worship album of 2013 Worth It All. Meredith consistently writes and sings piercing, relevant and moving songs.

There are a lot of choices when it comes to Christmas music, and something I’ve come to truly cherish about Meredith’s music ministry is how she is unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every one of her songs embodies the Truth of her song, “The Gospel Changes Everything” which also appears on Meredith’s excellent four-song Christmas EP called Behold The Savior.

She sings these songs with such passion it is hard to not get caught up in the emotion of the words. I had the great opportunity to interview Meredith about her amazing new original Christmas song, "Behold the Savior."

Please tell me the story behind writing this song.

When I see the humility of God, and know that He would go to any extent to reach humanity to show His glory and to prove His love to the world, it is a beautiful picture to me. I decided to write a new Christmas song, and I thought about what I wanted it to say. I wanted to try to capture a little bit of that beautiful picture of humility. Jesus the humble King, coming as a baby and knowing that even though He came in that way, He came to save the world.

Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, no one is beyond His reach and His grasp. It was a cool writing process. It was a bit of a rush. I found out two days beforehand that I was going to write a Christmas song, and I was on an airplane from Kansas City to Raleigh and I started thinking about what I would want to say in a Christmas song. I remember thinking about veiled deity.
 
That's the Christmas story, that people didn't expect God to be in that form as a baby. It's kind of like a secret. It wouldn't really be if you read the Scriptures and knew that He was the Messiah. "Mercy as a baby" is in the lyrics. I wrote the chorus and a verse and sang it into my phone. You can hear the plane engine in that initial recording. I feel like the Lord handed me the song rather quickly and I was very thankful. I had a working verse, chorus, melody and lyric and I typed it out and sent it to my friend Mia who is a wordsmith. I asked her to help me make the song singable so the Church can sing it. We got together in Nashville and she gave me her thoughts, and we tweaked it and recorded the song. It happened really fast, and we kept coming back to "come lift Him high, behold the Savior."

We knew that's what Christmas is all about, beholding Jesus, the Savior of the world, and lifting Him high. When He's lifted high, He draws people into Himself. That's the whole goal, and when we see Him as He is and get a glimpse of Him, knowing that He put on flesh, became human but was still fully God, and we can proclaim Him as our Savior. He was obedient to the Father, and "behold the Savior."
 
Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

John 1:29 (NKJV): "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

Acts 5:30-31 (The Voice): "The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from death. You killed Jesus by hanging Him on a tree, but God has lifted Him high, to God's own right hand, as the Prince, as the Liberator. God intends to bring Israel to a radical rethinking of our lives and to a complete forgiveness of our sins."

Revelation 7:9-10 (NKJV): After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

What is the takeaway message for listeners?

I wanted to write a song that our church could sing this Christmas that is very vertical and points to Jesus. When I think about Christmas in general, it blows my mind that Jesus came to earth the way that He did. He could have come in power, as a King and a Ruler, with great authority and He could have established His Kingdom and everybody would know who He was. But He didn't come that way. That is so astounding to me and I feel like I'll forever be trying to wrap my mind around that.

I believe that He came the way He did because He wanted to say that He is for everybody. He humbled Himself in this way, and it is a picture of how He ultimately humbled Himself at the Cross. It is amazing to me that He was born and made Himself nothing. He came as a baby, and was born in a stable, not a castle, but a barn in a place where animals live. That's just so crazy but it's so amazing! Everybody knows the story, but wow, the way that Jesus came. That makes me want to worship.

Lyrics:
Oh what innocence
Sleeping in a manger
Under dreamless skies
See the newborn king
Trading every glory
For a silent night

Here is the promise we have waited for
He will not leave us in the dark

He will bear our weight
He will wear our shame
Come lift Him high
Behold the Savior
Jesus Christ
Law of love and light
Come lift Him high
Behold the Savior

Veiled deity
Praise of every angel
Shepherds bowing low
Sweet humility
Mercy as a baby
God in flesh and bone

Here is the promise we have waited for
He will not leave us in the dark

Here is the promise we have waited for
He will not leave us in the dark
He is the promise we have waited for
The cry of every searching heart

He will bear our weight
He will wear our shame
Come lift Him high
Behold the Savior
Jesus Christ
Law of love and light

Come lift Him high
Behold the Savior

"Behold the Savior" includes the Lord's name being lifted up, as Meredith belts out, "Jesus Christ / Law of love and light / Come lift Him high / behold the Savior." I feel like I can count on one hand how many Christmas songs include the name Jesus in the lyrics. That's a big deal. When you search for the phrase "behold the Lamb" in the Bible it is only found a few times.

John the Baptist proclaimed "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" and in Revelation the angels and the elders and the saints are singing "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!" You can't use the word behold regarding our Savior without thinking about the reverence of who it is focused on. Our reaction should be the same as John the Baptist. The word behold is beyond "hey look" but is more "see and worship" and "look and be amazed." It is a full sensory experience. Look at Him. Embrace Him. Worship Him. Revere Him.

Jesus is the only name by which we are saved. Mary gave Him that name as she was instructed by God. This Christmas, let's all worship and adore our Savior, and lift high His holy name, joining in with the angels and saints, crying out with a loud voice: "He will bear our weight / He will wear our shame / Come lift Him high / Behold the Savior!" Amen to that!

(Preview and buy the song on iTunes here.)