ENJOY THIS INSPIRING MUSIC!
"ZION" - Aaron Shust
Hi, David Kiern here! Aaron Shust's "ZION" is one of my favorite songs about the promises of God. I think it's a masterpiece of powerful storytelling and inspiring melodies. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how his song came about.
Around the time we wrapped production on I AM ISRAEL and began editing, I was invited back to the Holy Land to shoot music videos for a concert tour featuring some top Christian artists. It was on that trip where I first met Aaron Shust and his wife Sarah. You may have heard Aaron's music on the radio, such as "My Savior, My God," "Ever Be" and "My Hope Is In You." (He also won GMA Dove Awards for Song of the Year, Best New Artist and Songwriter of the Year. Wow!)
During our trip, we toured the Biblical places where Yeshua walked. We met Jewish men and women who had returned to their ancient homeland after 2000 years of exile. And we saw with our own eyes how the mountains and valleys of the Promised Land, dusty and lifeless only a few decades ago, are now green and full of life.
Inside our tour bus, in between stops on our journey, Aaron, Sarah and I talked about Bible prophecy and the incredible things we were seeing.
Aaron's Israel experience was profoundly moving for him. "I went home after that trip and re-read the entire Bible, cover to cover with fresh eyes," he said. Not long after, he began writing his song, "ZION."
"ZION" is a song about God's eternal promises to Abraham and his descendants. Every single line comes from a specific verse in the Torah, Prophets or the Psalms. The ending incorporates The Shema, the most essential and most recited prayer of the Jewish people. For Christian listeners, it's also incredibly significant, because Jesus taught The Shema as the greatest commandment in the Scriptures.
"I will make you a blessing (Gen 12:3)
Count the stars if you can (Gen 15:5)
You will be a great nation (Gen 12:2)
I will give you this Land (Gen 17:8)"
- ZION Lyrics
When the time came to create the music video, Aaron asked me what I thought we could do. We decided to incorporate very old photographs of the rebirth of Israel (which my wife Natalie found in the Library of Congress Archives) with our own 4K cinematography of present-day Israel. I also shot documentary footage of Aaron in prayer at the Western Wall, which we used in a pivotal section of the video.
All of this culminated later that year when Aaron performed "ZION" with his Israeli friend, Joshua Aaron, inside the walls of Jerusalem during a concert at the Tower of David. That night, Aaron sang about God's promises for Israel to an audience of Jews and Gentiles in the very city where the Messiah is prophesied to return... and everybody sang along. 🇮🇱
