The "machine" in this song is sin and temptation. A verse-by-verse interpretation is provided.
"Lie!”
Sin is a lie, despite how good it looks or feels it is wrong.
“Turn around, they might be watching,
And you never disappoint them.
Hide your innocence before they see right through.
You mustn't disappoint them.”
This verse describes the shame of sin. We hide it to save our reputation; sin is our skeleton in the closet.
“You need the danger just to feel your heart beat.
You need to die just to find your identity.
You need a knife just to know that you can bleed.
You need the pain now just to feel anything.”
Sin is a rush. It's addicting. It's tempting. Part of the reason is that we both love and fear the guilt of sin. We love our "guilty pleasures" but we fear being discovered because we know that we are guilty. The more we sin the guiltier we become and the guilt destroys us. But sin is a drug, and like a drug, although it hurts us, we always go back for more.
“We fall in line, we live the lie
(Give up give up and feed the machine)
It grows inside, nowhere to hide
(Give up give up and feed the machine,
Give up give up and feed the machine)”
We pretend to live as if we are without sin, but in truth, we struggle with sin as it constantly tempts us and the temptation grows ever stronger until it is satisfied. As we fall deeper into sin, we become guiltier and more afraid of our guilt. Sin wants us to stop trying and just become enslaved to it.
“They pull you faster the gate is calling,
And you never fall behind.
So choose a face you're only calling out.
You mustn't fall behind.”
The more we sin, the more guaranteed it is that we are going to hell, hence hell’s gates.
“You need another death just to have a life to save.
You need a master just so you can beg.
You need a light just because you're so afraid.
Now bow and learn to be a good slave!”
Sin enslaves us. We become so addicted to our sin that we worship it. The sin we wanted becomes the sin we need. Sin controls us and will destroy us. We try to make sin seem good because we are so caught up in it.
“Sleep
Go back to sleep
Go back to sleep”
Sin leads to endless “sleep”, death.
“Wake up!
Wake up!
Wake up!
Wake, up!”
“A wake up call to stop sinning.”
“Wake up wake up and kill the machine
(Wake up wake up and kill the machine)”
Sin is death but Jesus is life. Because we have died in sin we must be born again in Jesus who has already taken our sin. We don't have to feed the machine of sin anymore. We can kill it instead. We can stop living in sin and instead living for Jesus
