What this song does in a room
Most rooms sing the chorus of this song louder than they sing anything else in the set. It is one of those songs that the congregation just knows, even people who never come to church except on the holidays. The line "we stand and lift up our hands" tends to produce, in real time, the action it describes.
That is the obvious thing the song does. The less obvious thing is what happens during the bridge. "It is rising up all around. It is the anthem of the Lord's renown." When you have led this song twenty times, you stop hearing the bridge as a lyric and start hearing it as a description of what is actually happening in the room. The congregation is the anthem. They are the rising-up. The song is naming itself while it happens.
The danger of this song, after twenty years on the CCLI top list, is familiarity. Your team can play it on autopilot. The congregation can sing it on autopilot. The work of leading it well is to refuse the autopilot and let the holiness register actually land.
What this song is saying about God
The song's foundation is Isaiah 6:3. The prophet Isaiah, in the year that King Uzziah died, sees the Lord seated on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim hover above him and call to one another "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory." The Hebrew word for holy (qadosh) means set apart, other, distinct. The triple repetition is the strongest possible emphasis in Hebrew, and the seraphim use it to describe the only being in scripture worthy of it.
The song lifts the seraphim's cry and gives it to the congregation. When your church sings "holy is the Lord, God almighty," they are joining a worship service that has been going on in heaven for as long as there has been a heaven.
Revelation 4:8 reinforces this. The four living creatures around the throne never stop, day or night, saying "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." The song's chorus is a participation in that eternal anthem. The congregation is not inventing the song. They are joining one.
What the song claims about God is sharp. He is holy in a way that nothing else is holy. His glory fills the earth, which means there is no neutral ground. The right human response to him is to stand and lift up hands, because the body, not just the mouth, has to participate. The song refuses to let the congregation worship from the neck up.
There is also a Trinitarian undercurrent in the structure. "God almighty" is the Father. "Worthy is the Lamb" (in the bridge of some versions and in the family of songs this one belongs to) is the Son. The Spirit is the one producing the anthem in the room.
Where to place this song in your set
In the Isaiah 6 model, this song is the holiness moment. It belongs at the front of a set that intends to move through conviction, cleansing, and commission. When you open with this song, you are framing the entire service in the throne room. Everything that comes after has to reckon with the holiness the room has just confessed.
In the Tabernacle model, the song belongs at the entry to the inner court. The congregation has come through the outer court, and now they are being prepared to encounter the holiness that lives behind the next curtain.
Use it as an opener when you want the congregation to start the service in awe rather than enthusiasm. Use it on Easter morning, on Christmas Eve, on any high-holy day when the church needs to remember that the gathering is not about them. Use it after a sermon on Isaiah, on Revelation, on the holiness of God.
Do not use it as a transitional song between two heavier songs, because it is itself a heavy song and the set will collapse under three back-to-back declarations. Do not use it on a week when your room is grieving, because the holiness register is the wrong first move for a grieving room. Lead with lament, then bring this song in later as the response.
Practical notes for leading this song
The song sits at 84 BPM in 4/4. Male leads in A, female leads in D. The tempo is the first place teams get tripped up. The song has a forward lean built into the kick pattern, and bands tend to push it. Keep it at 84. The weight of the lyric needs the space.
Vocally, the verses are mid-range. The chorus opens up to the top of the male range (high E if you are in A) and sits there for a sustained stretch. If your lead is not warm, this song will expose it. Warm up before you take the stage, even on a Sunday when you do not feel like it.
The instrumental between verse two and the bridge in most arrangements wants to grow. Let it. The room is being set up to sing the bridge with full participation.
For the production side. Lighting: this is one of the few songs where a true wash on the chorus is warranted. Open the room up. Let the congregation see each other. The line "we stand and lift up our hands" is helped by being able to see other hands going up. Audio: do not over-compress the vocal on the chorus. Let the dynamics from quiet verse to full chorus be real, not artificially flattened. The chorus needs to feel bigger than the verse, not just sound bigger. ProPresenter: this song's lyrics are familiar enough that operators sometimes get lazy on the bridge. Make sure every line is on the screen. There will always be someone in the room who does not know it by heart.
Songs that pair well
Into this song: "Holy Forever" (Tomlin) extends the Revelation 4 register and shares the same theological gravity. "How Great Is Our God" (Tomlin) sits in the same key family and prepares the room for the holiness declaration. "Agnus Dei" (Michael W. Smith) bridges from Lamb language into holiness language.
Out of this song: "King of Kings" (Hillsong Worship) carries the throne-room imagery forward. "Build My Life" (Pat Barrett) gives the congregation a response to the holiness they have just confessed. "Worthy of It All" (David Brymer / IHOP) extends the worship vamp if you want to linger.
Before you lead this song
You are about to invite a room to join an anthem that has been going on without them for eternity. Some will catch the weight. Some will sing it like a familiar chorus. Let the bridge breathe and let the room hear itself.