Hearts gone astray
Keeping up when they go
I went away
Just when you needed me so
You won’t regret
I’ll come back begging you
Don’t you forget
Welcome love we once knew
YeahOpen up your eyes
Then you’ll realize
Here I said was my
Everlasting loveNeed you by my side
Come and be my bride
You’ll never be denied
Everlasting loveFrom the very start
Open up your heart
Feel the love you’ve got
Everlasting loveThis love will last forever
This love will last foreverHearts gone astray
Keeping up when they go
I went away
Just when you needed me so
You won’t regret
I’ll come back begging you
Don’t you forget
Welcome love we once knew
YeahWhen love’s river flows
No one really knows
Till someone’s there to show the
Way to lasting loveLike the sun it shines
Endlessly it shines
You always will be mine
Eternal loveWhatever love went wrong
Ours would still be strong
We’d have our own
Everlasting loveThis love will last forever
This love will last foreverOpen up your eyes
Then you’ll realize
Here I said was my
Everlasting loveNeed you by my side
Come and be my pride
Never be denied
Everlasting loveFrom the very start
Open up your heart
Feel the love you’ve gotEverlasting love…
Everlasting Love is unquestionably one of the best songs by U2. The audio perfomance of this song can be heard at YouTube. As I have discussed previously, the relationship between God and humanity is like the relationship between a bride and a groom. In the song, All Because of You I Am, Bono expresses his love for Jesus Christ through a love serenade. The song Everlasting Love is an expression of love from the opposite direction. Bono wrote this song from the perspective of God, and in this song, God expresses his passionate desire that human beings would participate in his eternal love. Although this song is not the actual words of God, it is an accurate depiction of what God would probably say to humanity through such a song.
The first four lines of the song express the existence of human rebellion or the sin condition. It says, “Heats gone astray . . . I went away.” Because of the sin condition, all human beings inevitably rebel against God and pursue their own selfish ends. This sin against God creates a conflict in the relationship between God and humanity. Even though God loves human beings, he is also a God of justice that must punish the sins that have been committed against him. Through the unjust death of Jesus Christ, reconciliation occurs in the relationship between humanity and God. This reconciliation offers the possibility of more authentic relationships because human beings are no longer motivated to love because of fear of punishment. As John says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)
God next expresses his desire to restore his relationship with humanity when he says, “I’ll come back begging you / Don’t you forget / Welcome love we once knew.” Because of the death of Jesus Christ, God now appeals for a renewed relationship with human beings or a return to the love that was lost. As it says in Deuteronomy, “Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it.” (4-5)
He next says, “Open up your eyes / Then you’ll realize / Here I said was my / Everlasting love.” Because people are still in their sinful state, many people block God and his love out of their lives. God is appealing to people to open up their eyes and turn away from their selfishness so that they can participate in his love. As Jesus said, “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” (Matthew 13:5)
Then God says, “Need you by my side / Come and be my bride / You’ll never be denied Everlasting love.” God is expressing his desire for a deeply intimate eternal relationship with every single person who will turn to him and accept it. God is asking us to join his side in a personal relationship like the one that he had with Enoch. In Genesis it says, “Enoch walked faithfully with God . . . .” (5:24) God is asking for a relationship that is like that of a bride and groom. Isaiah said, “[A]s a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” (62:5) It also says in Revelation, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” (Revelation 19:7)
Then God appeals to the eternal nature of his love by saying, “This love will last forever / This love will last forever.” It is impossible that any being but God could legitimately express the words in this song. It would be non-sense for a human being to tell another person that their love will last forever because forever is a concept that a finite being cannot even comprehend. Only an infinite being who exists eternally, can actually say that its love will last forever. A human being promising another person everlasting love would be no more feasible than promising an infinite amount of money. In Psalms, it says, “But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him . . . .” (103:17) It is God and only God that offers the possibility of eternal love.
God next expresses the importance of sharing love with others when he says, “When love’s river flows / No one really knows / Till someone’s there to show the Way to lasting love.” In order to change the hearts of selfish sinners, one must share love with them. As Paul said, “‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:15) John said, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11) By definition, love is not something that one can just take in. Love is something that one must share.
God understands that human beings are a work in progress when he says, “Whatever love went wrong / Ours would still be strong / We’d have our own / Everlasting love.” In Matthew, Jesus tells us to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (5:48) The standard for human conduct will always be perfection, but God understands that we are works in progress, and he will extend his grace to us and continue to love us in spite of our imperfections.
God expresses his desire that he could be proud of us when he says, “Need you by my side / Come and be my pride / Never be denied / Everlasting love.” We should be like Job, “Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’” (Job 1:8) It is God’s desire that our love would be so perfect, that he can go and brag to Satan about us.
(Posted by Trask)
3 responses so far ↓
Anon // July 4, 2006 at 5:54 pm
Actually, that’s quite an old song, and U2 was certainly not the first to perform it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everlasting_Love
Trask // July 4, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Anon, thanks for the information. I was unaware that the song had such a long history before U2. However, I do not believe that this alters the thesis of my posting. Even if past bands that performed this song did not intend to convey the meaning that I have laid out here, I would still contend that, in the context of U2’s musical project, this is the meaning that U2 intended to convey through their performance of the song. Words can change in meaning based on context. I think that U2 saw something deep in the lyrics of this song, which they could bring to the surface through their performance of the song in the context of their religious convictions. Bono and Edge exert more passion in their performance of this song than in probably any other song I have heard, and I believe that this is because they are singing about something very deep.
Also, you will remember that the heart of my thesis is that the relationship between God and humanity is like a relationship between a husband and a wife. This is an idea that is at the heart is U2’s musical project, which is why in an interview with Mother Jones (1987) Bono said, “Yes, I think there is a sexuality to U2. I don’t think it’s dressed up in leather, or high-heel boots, or that type of thing.” The question is what is this sexuality to U2? I think that it has a lot to do with this idea that the relationship between God and humanity is like that between a husband and a wife. Therefore, it makes sense that U2 would take a song that previous artists used to describe the relationship between a man and a woman to describe the relationship between God and humanity.
Love Is Blindness / Can't Help Falling in Love with You (U2) « AgapeRevolution.com // March 23, 2007 at 11:27 pm
[...] live. We exist to love God with all of our being and to love our neighbor as ourself. Like the song Everlasting Love, in performing this song U2 takes a song that was to previous music artists merely a love serenade [...]