Safe and Sound

Intentionally or unintentionally, Capital Cities’ “Safe and Sound” is full of Christian imagery and Biblical allusions. Read in a Christian context, it positions Jesus as the song’s speaker or narrator, using his voice to powerfully express the faithful promises of God.
The song’s speaker assures the listener of safety in three circumstances: “if the sky is falling down,” “in a hurricane of frowns,” and “if we’re six feet underground.” “If the sky is falling down” refers to Jesus’s second coming, when, according to John’s vision, “the sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place” (Revelation 6:14). The song’s speaker therefore asserts that neither the war, famine, plague, and natural disasters that accompany the end of the world nor the punishments of the Last Judgment will harm the listener. The “hurricane of frowns” is the opposition that believers face in this world. Whether it takes the form of being “exposed to insult and persecution” (Hebrews 10:33) or the brutal deaths of the martyrs, the Bible teaches that such opposition is an unavoidable consequence of faith: Jesus says, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). Even if a believer dies under persecution, though, he is still “safe and sound” in the assurance of eternal life. Death and the grave have been defeated by Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25); “neither death nor life … nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Against all of these frightening possibilities, the listener is urged, “Hold your ground.” The absolute certainty of salvation, expressed by the frequent repetition of “safe and sound,” allows the believer to stand firm and not be moved by judgment, persecution, or even death itself.
The joyful trumpet instrumental further reinforces these lyrics in a nonverbal Biblical allusion. At the end of the age the Son of Man “will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matthew 24:31). As Paul describes it, “The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). The trumpet of “Safe and Sound” looks forward to this moment of victory, when all the faithful, even those “six feet underground,” will be gathered together in heaven and take full possession of the salvation we are promised now.
“Safe and Sound” primarily emphasizes the assurance of salvation and the believer’s safety from evil and death. However, the verses also describe other promises from God that give the song a broader scope. These statements are made in the conditional tense (“I could”) rather than the future tense (“I will”) because each person can choose whether to accept these gifts; the song thus invites its hearers to receive what Jesus desires to give them. In the first verse, the song’s speaker offers to lift the listener up to heaven. “What you want to see” refers to the Beatific Vision, that is, the direct revelation of God himself; “where you want to be” is in the divine presence. Whether we realize it or not, we were made for God and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in him; he is our deepest desire, the place we truly want to be, although we chase illusory happiness in all kinds of other places.
In the second verse, “I could fill your cup” obviously refers to Psalm 23, in which the psalmist, praising God’s abundant provision and care for his people, says, “My cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5). The lines about the river follow naturally, continuing the same imagery of drink. Both Ezekiel and Revelation describe a marvelous life-giving river that flows out of the city of God, turning salt water to fresh and nourishing fruitful trees whose leaves have healing powers (Ezekiel 47:1-12, Revelation 22:1-2). By saying that “my river won’t evaporate / this world,” Capital Cities asserts that God intends not to destroy our world and begin anew, but to heal, restore, and recreate a world that still has many positive qualities to appreciate.
The third verse’s “tidal wave” echoes a beautiful verse in Psalms: “Deep calls to deep / in the roar of your waterfalls; / all your waves and breakers / have swept over me” (42:7). The mysteries of God, although not frightening in the same way that persecution and bodily death are, nevertheless can be overwhelming and awe-inspiring in their unfathomable profundity. In these matters too great for human understanding, like those too great for human strength, Jesus will “still be standing next to me” to help. He can “show [us] love,” giving us power “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19). Jesus is the Word, that is to say, the self-revelation, of God. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18). By his life, and supremely by his sacrificial death on the cross, he demonstrates and makes tangible for us the staggering and incomprehensible love of God.
Drawing on a wide variety of Biblical sources, “Safe and Sound” combines multiple scriptural images to create a rich picture of the blessings offered through Christ. Its insistent repetition drums in the certainty that God will fulfill his promises and keep those who love him “safe and sound” through worldly troubles, the judgment, and death; its infectious beat and stirring trumpet show the joy with which we should respond to this assurance of salvation. Although produced and consumed in a secular context, “Safe and Sound” strikes me as even more Christian than many songs explicitly in the “Christian music” genre; whenever I hear it, my thoughts lift to God.