‘Look at the King’ Q&A with Bianca De Wit

We chatted to one of our Worship Leaders, Bianca de Wit, to find out about how she wrote the modern Christmas Carol “Look at the King“.

How did you write it?
I have had it on my heart for a while now to write a Christmas song. One of my favourite things about Christmas is how we stop and actually consider the miracle of God coming to earth as a man, to be our saviour. It really is my favourite time of the year!

I loved the idea of painting the picture with imagery of how it would have played out, on an ordinary night, having the King of Heaven, come to earth as a baby. A baby who would have cried and needed his mother’s help to survive. A King who deserved to be born into a palace, with honour and extravagance, humbled Himself to make his entrance into the world in such a beautifully ordinary way.

I sat in my room one day a few months back and just worked through the verses, trying to picture what it would have been like that night. I liked the contrast of talking about Christ’s humanity and the way that Heaven would have been rejoicing at what was happening. The Creator, becoming like His creation. This process usually looks like a whole lot of voice recordings being sung into my phone, as I work out how it would all work together as a full song.

I wanted the chorus to be an invitation for people to look at Him, to picture Him, to see Him and what He did that night, which is where ‘look at the King’ came from. I wanted the majesty of that moment to transcend time and fill people’s hearts as they imagined angels heralding in the Mighty King. I also wanted to highlight the fact that Christ was the ultimate gift of love from the Father. Love came that night, not just in the Father’s words but in the selfless action of sending His Son to be our substitute.

The original song only had verses and a chorus and I struggled to find a bridge that was a moment to worship and reflect on this wonderful event. The song is busy, with lots of lyrics, so a moment to breathe was what it needed. I asked Kane and Eugene for some help and after a week or so of nothing working, came the ‘ping’ of our group chat with Eugene saying, “what about O Come Let Us Adore Him as the bridge?” It was such a simplistic, perfect, Holy Spirit inspired suggestion and it is now my favourite part of the song!

Kane in his musical genius took the song, helped identify a few places we could tweak lyrics to fit better with the melody and then brought the song to life with such a beautiful arrangement of the melody I heard in my head.

What inspired you?
Christmas! I love that people visit church or play Christmas carols regardless of whether they are truly right with God. It’s a time when so many people consider the nativity and the birth of Christ.

I love Christmas songs and had the desire to write something new that would hopefully present the Christmas story in a way that would cause people to worship out of a fresh revelation of what God has done for them.  Christmas wouldn’t be the same without our favourite, traditional carols and even those often move me in a new way each year. I just also felt like there was space to be creating new ways of presenting the good news of the Gospel story. My heart was heavy with a burden to do it at a time where people particularly need a reminder of the love and hope found in Christ.

What is the message of this song?
The message of this song is so simple, it’s one of God’s love for each individual person. Love truly did come at Christmas time. Christ, the expression of the Father’s love for each one of us.

The message of the song is hope! In a world doomed and lost, paying the price for man’s rebellion and sin, Christ came. The hope of the world! The saviour that our hearts were longing for, even if we didn’t realise it.

The message of the song is also an invitation to come and adore this wonderful King! Just like those angels and shepherds and wise-men did on that night 2000 years ago. I pray that this song would open people’s hearts to see Jesus this Christmas and to worship Him out of a fresh experience of His love for them.

You can listen to Look at the King on your favourite music platform or watch our music video on our Youtube channel here.