City Of Evil (2005) "Blinded In Chains"

[reprinted as written by Avenged Sevenfold]
As performed by A7X

And we're at it again, I turn around another f***ing war, man
I don't know where to begin, but I'll start with the radical leaders
Their steps we're followin'

Running, don't go back and fight, too many you'll lose
(And as clowns you follow suit behind the blood between the red and white and blue but it's too deep for you to see and
everyone eventually will take the step cause it's in sight you take the left I'll take the right I fell the hate you've built
for me and I say pay attention baby)

As they thank the Lord the blind can't see
Like a plague fed to the brain, deadly disease

But it wasn't a sin, a sorry life in judging every action
And as they're feeding your mind with this sh*t you forgot
How to speak how to ask all the questions

The business at hand tonight, make the people choose
(I see another side in you but there's not much more I can do from on the outside looking in your government is listenin' to
push you on the story of immortal father mortal son give them your mind and all your wealth the cycle will rebirth itself)
If they had it their way I'd burn in Hell and your future's a f****n' disaster can't you see
Don't give them all the power when your future's in desperate trouble baby

As they thank the Lord the blind can't see
Like a plague fed to the brain, deadly disease
I'd run away tonight with my mind still intact you gotta make it alright
Easier said than done with no place to hide and having no place to (run)
Running away from condition, I see you but you're running away from
Your scared seductive system

Most would claim I live a lie when pointing out it's easy to predict these things
Every color has its side, they live together vote and most won't read between these lines
Please help us, please save us of coarse they have control we're all the same
Up on the cross, crucified their problem drove the nail and let Him rot
Family and friends, it won't matter in the end I'm sure they'll understand
Now look at the world and see how the humans bleed
As I sit up here and wonder "bout how you sold your mind, body and soul
Looking at the fields so green I know this sounds obscene
I see you're living for tomorrow but decisions you have made will leave you empty

You've fallen asleep in denial
Look at the way we're dyin'
How it ends I'll never know
Just live your life blind like me

The poet himself has weighed in on this piece, saying "Blinded in Chains has to do with all of our political parties always fighting over little thing and never really coming together for a common good. Everyone knows its unproductive, but we all continue to support that system of government. It also is a tribute on how this country was started and how we became what we are, our characteristics and our flaws, and how I feel some of our flaws are what makes the USA great"

With canny insight, he describes within his poem another ancient travesty that was brought about by politics. Incredibly, the powerful elite were not a bit bothered about taking God down when His way went against theirs. Yes, they knew what they were doing, but they were so blinded by their own desire for power that they did not truly absorb the eternal implications of what they actually had done,

Up on the cross, crucified their problem drove the nail and let Him rot
Family and friends, it won't matter in the end I'm sure they'll understand
Now look at the world and see how the humans bleed As I sit up here and wonder 'bout how you sold your mind, body and soul

Same thing, isn't it. Somehow the religious and political intelligentsia of Jesus' day got the people to agree to murder the one person who was on their side, so that not even His own mother stood up to defend Him as He hauled His cross through the streets of Jerusalem (that's why the Romans did it that way, so that even at this last possible juncture, if someone had a defense, they could step forward, halt the proceedings and bring in their disputation).

And so today, sometimes you and I are willing to allow ourselves to be persuaded to conduct a war that doesn't really help us, or help the world, that is actually only serving the agendas of the politicos.

And yet that ancient murder, as sickening as it was, changed everything for all eternity, it is the fulcrum that swings you and me from hell to heaven if we so choose to believe it.

As a Roman governor, Pilate was pledged to uphold the law. But as a politician, he knew he had to get along with the people. He tried to set Jesus free in all kinds of ways, finally offering to do a prisoner exchange: the known terrorist Barabbas for Jesus. But the Jewish religious leaders threatened Pilate by saying he was no friend of Caesar’s if he did that (insinuating treason). Here's how Jesus' disciple Matthew described what happened:

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere and that a riot was imminent, he took a basin of water and washed his hands in full sight of the crowd, saying, "I'm washing my hands of responsibility for this man's death. From now on, it's in your hands. You're judge and jury."

Washing his hands was Pilate’s final attempt to absolve himself of all responsibility in putting an innocent man, possibly even the king of Israel, the Son of God, to death. But God had given Pilate plenty of insight, and authority, to do what was right. His long, private talk with Jesus had troubled him. His wife had sent him a message about her dream, something Romans took very seriously.

He knew the only thing the Jewish leaders had against their Messiah was their own envy. Pilate knew that he had power in the situation, and Jesus had told him that he would be guilty of sin if he handed Jesus over to be crucified. But he did it anyway, because it seemed expedient, and you know God holds him responsible.

In turn, the religious leaders, and all the people gathered, were willing to take responsibility for killing their own king and savior,

The crowd answered, "We'll take the blame, we and our children after us."

God did hold them accountable, and their children too, in 70 A.D. (look it up in Wikipedia, the blood from the slaughter was so thick, eye witnesses said it ran down the streets like rivers).

John, another of Jesus' disciples who had inner connections with the priestly system, remembered something that had happened a little earlier, when Jesus had raised his friend Lazarus from the dead,

That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him. But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus. The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body.

"What do we do now?" they asked. "This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs. If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have."

Then one of them—it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year—spoke up, "Don't you know anything? Can't you see that it's to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?" He didn't say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation, and not only for the nation but so that all God's exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.

From that day on, they plotted to kill him.

This concept of one dying in the place of others was deeply embedded in the Jewish culture and religion, stemming way back to Abraham, and even further back, to Cain and Abel.

The chief Greek term for expressing this principle of substitution is "huper": it means "on behalf of" or "in another's place." This idea of huper, or substitution, is the chief salvation concept in the Bible. You and I are saved because God sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die huper ("on behalf of") us, or "in our place." You and I receive undeserved mercy and escape the inevitable price of sin, which is death.

It's important to see both sides of substitution: God treated Jesus the way you and I deserved to be treated, so that He could treat us in the way that only His beloved Son deserves to be treated. Jesus died as the perfect for the imperfect, the sinless for the sinful, and He lived the life of perfect obedience required for our salvation and sanctification. He stood in our place, as a sinner, and bore the full force of the wrath of God for our rebellion against God. As a result, we are able to stand before God "as Christ" and be seen in His righteousness.

But it isn't as though the Lord Jesus merely switches places with you, as He did with Barabbas. There is no guarantee that Barabbas was a reformed man after he was given unexpected freedom and pardon. He may have just gone back out and committed more notorious crimes. But that's not what "huper" is all about in the Bible. In the Bible Jesus actually became your sin, and mine, so that we could be conformed to His righteousness, we could actually have a brand new, righteous nature created within us

Here's the concept: Jesus died in your place so that you can live with Him in His place

You and I are often tempted to take the path of least resistance. Let’s not rock the boat, let’s not upset people, let’s just go with the flow. Sometimes that’s the wise thing to do. But sometimes doing what is expedient means compromising your integrity. When have you tried to rationalize taking the easy way out of a tough situation? When have you allowed yourself to feel a little uncomfortable inside, because you know you’re people pleasing instead of seeking to please God in a situation?

In the words of the poet,

But it wasn't a sin, a sorry life in judging every action
And as they're feeding your mind with this sh*t you forgot
How to speak how to ask all the questions

Think about this, then, and what's right even if it's the hard thing to do, and the unpopular thing to do.

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