Avenged Sevenfold (2007) "The Wild Ride"

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

Somewhere life is good, and things go as they should
It's hard to find, but that's alright yeah
Searching for the way, push harder everyday
It's deep inside, that shining light yeah
But I'm scarred, by barriers placed in my path
I'm scathed

This ride that takes me through life
Leads me into darkness but emerges into light
No one can ever slow me down
I'll stay unbound

Sometimes when we're young, and always on the run
It gets so dark and I know that place yeah
So don't be too concerned, you've got a lot to learn
Well so do I and we've got plenty of time yeah
Don't fall off the track yet with so many races to go
Hold on

This ride that takes me through life
Leads me into darkness but emerges into light
No one can ever slow me down
I'll stay unbound

Some live so wrong, with what we do is each his own
But living in fear, endless shame for countless years
I never lived in fear I knew I'd die another day
I never viewed my life as something... slipping away

Some live so wrong, with what we do is each his own
But living in fear, endless shame for countless years
I never lived in fear I knew I'd die another day
I never viewed my life as something... slipping away

There's nothing here to take for granted
With each breath that we take
The hands of time strip youth from our bodies,
And we fade,
Memories remain,
As time goes on

There's nothing here to take for granted
With each breath that we take
The hands of time strip youth from our bodies,
And we fade,
Memories remain,
As time goes on

In describing this song M Shadows explained, "We wanted to write about growing up and the whole circle of life: you grow up, you get older, you have one chance... and the kids at the end are singing something very heartfelt and meaningful, something that’s way too intelligent for their age and life, and that’s why we wanted to have these little kids singing this thing, ‘cause... they’re starting, you’re dying, then you’re creating energy for something new to be born.”

Somewhere life is good, and things go as they should
It's hard to find, but that's alright yeah
Searching for the way, push harder everyday
It's deep inside, that shining light yeah
But I'm scarred, by barriers placed in my path
I'm scathed...

Sometimes when we're young, and always on the run
It gets so dark and I know that place yeah
So don't be too concerned, you've got a lot to learn
Well so do I and we've got plenty of time yeah
Don't fall off the track yet with so many races to go
Hold on

Some live so wrong, with what we do is each his own
But living in fear, endless shame for countless years
I never lived in fear I knew I'd die another day
I never viewed my life as something... slipping away

It seems as though this knowledge is deep inside every person. We know that we were created, designed, for something beautiful and good. We sense it. But as we grow up stuff happens, and every person, no matter how happy the childhood, ends up with scars, limitations, a skewed sense of self, and a whole set of fears and coping mechanisms. We all grow up learning how to survive, one way or the other. At least of those of us who make it.

There's nothing here to take for granted
With each breath that we take
The hands of time strip youth from our bodies,
And we fade,
Memories remain,
As time goes on

Speaking from my vantage, with nearly fifty years of living behind me, this is what I've been thinking about for a while. And it also makes the song "Seize The Day" that much more poignant.

At regular intervals comes the refrain,

This ride that takes me through life
Leads me into darkness but emerges into light
No one can ever slow me down
I'll stay unbound

Synyster Gates likened this wild ride through life to flying on a magic carpet, or even more, "a Disneyland acid trip." Psychedelic, magical, full of wonder and excitement, risk and beauty; fantastic. There are dark times, but those times won't last; there will be light after the darkness. For those who thrill to the adventure of life, their hearts will remain free.

Throughout this piece the poet brings in the contrast between darkness and light. There's light deep inside a person. In the wild ride of life, as one presses forward for that good place we just know is there, there will be darkness to go through. But light is waiting at the end. Sometimes the dark times can be so rugged that there is the danger of succumbing to it.

Maybe that's what the poet meant when he said that "some live so wrong" living trapped in their fears and sense of shame.

Jesus also talked about the juxtaposition of darkness and light. He told His disciples, during a particularly difficult time,

"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

In other words, when you are where you’re supposed to be, in the light of day, doing what the day holds for you, you’re not going to stumble. The light is God’s will, and it’s also your life, the time God has given you to do the good things He has in mind for you. Every situation you find yourself in is an opportunity to what's good and right.

On the other hand, "if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." You are not going to be fine if you’re in the dark, outside of God’s will, and also, opportunities don’t wait around. When an opportunity comes, you know the saying, you must seize the day.

Another time, when Jesus was teaching on the right kind of treasure to have, He said,

Your eyes are like a window for your body. When they are good, you have all the light you need. But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. If the light inside you is dark, you surely are in the dark.

Good eyes are open to wisdom, illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Good eyes will recognize Jesus for Who He is and embrace Him. Bad eyes are blinded by fears, selfishness and self-centeredness, which actually brings darkness and clouded thinking. Bad eyes will reject the goodness of God.

Early in John's gospel he wrote,

Everything that was created received its life from him, and his life gave light to everyone. The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out.

John was saying that life is Jesus, He is the source of all life.

And with life comes light. Light, as John used the word, is a symbol of knowledge, understanding and truth, and it points to the kind of life that goes beyond our physical, temporary life. Understanding and truth point to eternal life.

Then John introduced a hint of the struggle that would happen when light came into the world, "The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out." The original Greek word that is translated “put it out” actually means “to lay hold of, to lay hands on, to seize.” That can mean either as a hostile act, or in order to possess, so sometimes it’s translated “to understand.” John was saying that darkness can’t get a hold of the light, darkness can’t possess light, it can’t apprehend or comprehend light. Think of what light does in a dark room. Darkness just can’t win. No matter how tiny the light is, darkness has to recede. Darkness and light cannot exist together.

It’s hard for us to accept that we live in a world of darkness. Think of all the scientific advancements, of our great social and technological progress. Think of all the great things we’ve done just in the last two hundred years. But if we’re honest we have to admit that regardless of all of our impressive advances, we have not changed basic human problems of fear, hate, violence, injustice and crime.

The light is intellectually the truth and morally holiness, which is contrasted to the darkness of intellectual error, and moral wrong doing. John was not suggesting that the whole activity of life is the fight between light and darkness. This isn’t yin and yang. What he was saying is that light will not ever be overcome by darkness – it’s the nature of light to always penetrate darkness, it can not be taken hold of, or even understood by it.

Later in his gospel John returned to the theme of light and darkness,

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

"This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.

God loves the world. But God sees the awfulness of sin. His wrath is poised to cleanse all of creation from sin, and He wants to rescue people because He loves people.

The rescue was going to be costly. It cost God pain, separation, being beaten and mocked, descent into darkness when the Lord Jesus, God the Son, was made sin for us in our place. It cost death. And He did all that so that people would not be corrupted by sin anymore, which would end in death, but could be cleaned, healed and have eternal life.

“Have” is immediate. Eternal life doesn’t just describe the duration, forever, but the quality of life, having the same spiritual life as God Himself.

The religious rulers of Jesus' day, the Pharisees were expecting the Messiah to come as judge, to condemn all evildoers (everybody but them, when you get right down to it, as most judgmental people would think today too) and destroy them, and restore Israel to its full glory.

How many people see God as mean and distant judge, never satisfied, not approachable? One of the main criticisms nonChristians have about Christians is judgmentalism, this constant sense of being disapproved of by Christians, being uncomfortable in church settings because of this pressure to look and act a certain way.

This isn’t God’s way at all. His way is love and compassion and understanding. Jesus did not come to condemn, or to point His finger at people and tell them what terrible sinners they are. Instead Jesus’ way was always sensing a person's hurt and their need, and their shame and loneliness.

This doesn’t mean that the Lord Jesus was indifferent to sin. He knows you and I can’t be free until the sin issue has been solved in our lives. Jesus came to free us from the bondage of sin.

This is God’s gift, given in love, but His gift still requires a response. The Bible takes the position that humankind is living under the wrath of God all the time. He sees the evil that mars His creation and destroys the people He loves, and God intends to get rid of it. God’s wrath consumes evil and wickedness not as the opposite of His love, but as the expression of His love. God will protect and set free the object of His affection.

It’s not people God seeks to destroy but the sin that destroys His people. In that sense God’s wrath is far more a cure than it is a punishment. It’s primary purpose is not to hurt us but to heal us.

But that’s not to say that God’s wrath doesn’t ultimately consume people as well. His wrath has been described as a refiner’s fire that purifies. But sometimes God’s presence brought the end to people’s lives when He was dealing with their sin. God’s wrath, as it consumes sin will also consume people who have become so ensared by sin that they are no longer interested in reaching out to God’s mercy.

This is one of four illustrations John used in his gospel to describe what regeneration, or rebirth, means:
Light and darkness: Just as, in Genesis, God’s word divided the light from the darkness, so now Jesus, the Light of the world, came into the world and divided those who love the Light from those who embrace the darkness.

It isn’t really intellectual issues that keep people from trusting in the Lord Jesus. According to this passage, the real problem is moral and spiritual blindness that keep people loving the darkness and hating the light. Nobody really likes being shown to be wrong. That’s why it can be so hard to change. What have you been defending, and resisting changing with every last ounce of your strength? The light of God’s truth exposes what’s wrong within you and me and that truth presents a dilemma: Acknowledge we’ve been embracing sin; or change.

But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is. In other words, if you are willing to begin obeying the truth, even when that means that sin will be exposed in your life, then change will take place. This is called repentance: When you acknowledge that something is wrong, and it has to change. This process begins with a recognition, a conviction deep inside, that something is not right in your life and you want it to be right. There is only one person Who can make it right. The Lord Jesus Christ.

The truth is: In order to love the light you will have to hate the darkness.

You can’t love what’s wrong and love God at the same time. You can’t love Jesus and your own sin. The bottom line is that you and I have to pick, and what we pick carries immediate and eternal implications. To pick Jesus means coming into the light, knowing that God’s light will expose the sin in your life. There will be some painful times involved in that, in fact, the Bible describes it as being like dying. But what will really happen is that you will be freed from corruption and death, and you will have, starting now, eternal life.

Where might you be habitually choosing to step back from the light of God’s truth because it’s uncomfortable, and you don’t want to change? To reject Jesus means to stay in the darkness, stay under the condemnation of God’s judgement against sin, and to remain under the wrath of God, which will deal with all sin, ultimately.

The real ride of one's life, into the light that Jesus brings, is more magical than anything you and I are really capable of imagining. One day, John wrote, in his Revelation, there won't even be a need for the sun because of the brilliance of Jesus shining unfiltered into the world. Paul talked about the difference between the old testament faithful who had the Law standing between them and God, and the new testament faithful who are able to receive Jesus' life within them and be reborn,

God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone [the ten commandments]. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

That adds incredible depth and breadth to this refrain, then,

This ride that takes me through life
Leads me into darkness but emerges into light
No one can ever slow me down
I'll stay unbound

So that, literally, those who have been born again are unbound by the strictures of the old testament Law, those who have been reborn emerge into and are saturated ever more by the Light, Jesus, from within and from without, and not only are such people never living in fear or shame, they also never have a sense of life slipping away or fading away. Instead, life becomes richer and more vibrant until the day when one walks from life into Life.

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