Emerging from the billboards of the pop culture of music, Imagine Dragons is an alternative-indie rock band that started out in 2008 in Utah. With continued success through its enthusiastic music and message, this band now plays all over the country, and has even done a nearly sold-out tour to Europe. Although the band doesn’t display itself to the public as a Christian band, many of its songs pertain to giving hope to people. An attempt is seen through its third most popular song titled, “Demons.” In this, the band portrays hope to society in the darkness and evil of this world clouded by sin and greed.
The lyrics from verse one and two resonates this current battle our world is in against evil, in how it says when everything we see is cold, with failing dreams and out of luck (cards all fold). The message of these two first verses also speaks of “all the saints we see are all made of gold”. From these lines, the lyrics tell that society focuses too much on money and the temporary pleasures of this world, which is seen in how society views celebrities and wealthier class. In the world today, people think that what governs our lives is money and power, though this is not the truth.
In verse three, the character in the story says, “I want to hide the truth… shelter you…” This verse is similar in appearance to the innocence of a child and a father who attempts to shield all evil from the child through their relationship. Being an identifiable theme of this song, it closely parallels how God views his relationship with us, his children. In Matthew 18:3, it is written: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
As the pre-chorus begins, it really shows the main ideas of the message intended for this song. It says, “No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed, this is my kingdom come…” From this, the songwriter draws at how all humans are full of greed with evil desires in their hearts and there’s nothing we can do about it. This revelation ties very similarly in with original sin with Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis, when humans first disobeyed God’s command. This disobedience is still common today with humans, if not more so than before.
And along with this pre-chorus, God also commands us to not be filled with this greed. An example of this comes from the book of 1 John 2:16, saying, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.” This means that whatever we do to satisfy ourselves instead of our Father is not right to do, and is sinful in our hearts.
Examining the chorus, the lines, “Look into my eyes, it’s where my demons hide” brings the theme of lustful desires, since originally it spoke of undeniable greed. A parallel from the passage of the bible comes from, 2 Peter 2:14, saying, “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!”
As the song continues, verses 5, 6, and 7 all show how darkness and evil forces (demons) control this world through sin. But the final verse is distinctive compared too all verses previous. It says, “Your eyes, they shine so bright, I want to save their light, I can’t escape this now, unless you show me how.” What is unique about this last verse is that it contrasts the dark and sinful things of this world such as lust, greed, failed hope, by showing that there is a light to follow as an escape. It tells us to hold onto the light of the opposing eyes that brightly shine. This shining light is the one who died and rose for our sins, in order to conquer what we could not bear to do. This man is Jesus.
This idea of a path of light is shown in many examples throughout biblical context. One of the most recognizable is Psalm 119:105, saying, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Another instance is seen in 2 Samuel 22:29, where it says, “You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light.” This is just what Jesus does for us; He guides us when we turn our sin-filled eyes towards his perfection, because this is what God commands us to do.
I believe we can all take some form of relevance to these lyrics with a suggested message of trying to be less greedy in our hearts. With the help of God, by following in his lighted path, facing the demons in our hearts will be easier to counter when we are in the hands of God and not our own. Imagine Dragons strong choice of lyrics and meaning has even helped to strengthen my faith when I was in a time of struggle in the past. I originally found this band this past summer of 2012 and had been listening to their music for a while, but it was just recently when I had a struggle within my life where these lyrics helped me to grow and see that I just need to let go of the things that went wrong in this world and my life and just let God in. If we all take in this idea, and trust completely in Him with our whole hearts following as He commands, life would be a lot simpler to accomplish.