Lyrics
Before the Earth or Sky
These words are here to be learned and sung. Play the recording above and follow the highlighted line, or simply use the lyrics as a hymn text.
Verse
In the beginning was the Word,
before the first of days,
before a single note was heard
or morning learned to blaze.
All things were made by Him alone;
not one thing stands apart.
The Word who framed the starry throne
held time within His heart.
Chorus
Before the world had morning light,
before the stars were sown,
the Lamb was slain in God’s own sight,
the ending fully known.
Verse
The cross was never second thought,
nor mercy’s late reply;
the Lamb was slain, the ransom bought,
before the earth or sky.
No sin surprised the throne of grace,
no fall took Him by shock;
the Shepherd knew the wandering race
before He formed the flock.
Chorus
Before the world had morning light,
before the stars were sown,
the Lamb was slain in God’s own sight,
the ending fully known.
Verse
Before a page was ever penned,
before a scribe was born,
the book was finished, end to end,
as sure as coming morn.
The men He moved were not their own,
not knowing all the whole;
each wrote a part, and God alone
held every page and scroll.
Bridge
The Word came down and made it known,
the story He had penned;
He walked the road, He bore alone
our guilt, and made amends.
He rolled away the sealing stone,
and rose, and called us friend.
Verse
He opened up His mouth and told
the secrets long concealed,
of seed and soil, of sheep in fold,
of treasure in a field.
These meanings were not made that day;
they waited from the first,
kept secret till He walked our way
and spoke, and quenched our thirst.
Chorus
Before the world had morning light,
before the stars were sown,
the Lamb was slain in God’s own sight,
the ending fully known.
Verse
The lamb, the bread, the vine, the door,
the shepherd’s tender care,
were pictures hung up long before
a single soul was there.
The lives men lived, the roads they trod,
were parables He gave;
true stories, written out by God,
yet real as wind and wave.
Chorus
Before the world had morning light,
before the stars were sown,
the Lamb was slain in God’s own sight,
the ending fully known.
Music and lyrics: Public Domain / CC0 1.0 Universal · Sound recording: Public Domain / CC0 1.0 Universal.