Lyrics
You’re the Word of God the Father,
From before the world began;
Every star and every planet
Has been fashioned by Your hand.
All creation holds together
By the power of Your voice:
Let the skies declare Your glory,
Let the land and seas rejoice!
You’re the Author of creation,
You’re the Lord of every man;
And Your cry of love rings out
Across the lands.
Yet You left the gaze of angels,
Came to seek and save the lost,
And exchanged the joy of heaven
For the anguish of a cross.
With a prayer You fed the hungry,
With a word You stilled the sea.
Yet how silently You suffered
That the guilty may go free.
With a shout You rose victorious,
Wresting victory from the grave,
And ascended into heaven
Leading captives in Your wake.
Now You stand before the Father
Interceding for Your own.
From each tribe and tongue and nation
You are leading sinners home.
A celebration of the eternal Word of God
This song (co-written with Keith Getty) was an interesting journey for me lyrically. Sometimes I have a very clear pattern for where a song is going to go; with this one, I knew that I wanted to start with Paul’s great statements about Christ in Colossians, and contrast that with His humble humanity, His death, resurrection and humanity. But it didn’t quite hold together until I noticed the underlying theme of SPEAKING.
Jesus is the Word, through whom all things were made, and who sustains all things by the word of His power. Then we see the power of His words when He lived on earth – His prayers, His speaking to the storm – until we come to the unique moment in all of history when he is silent, as He offers up his life on the cross – as a sheep is silent before the shearer, as the Old Testament puts it.
This again contrasts with the ‘shout’ of the resurrection, and the continual intercession he performs on our behalf before the Father. And throughout the whole of history, this ‘Word’ is being spoken out across the lands.
The metaphor of speaking is deeply and beautifully embedded in Scripture, and is a wonderful indication of God’s desire to be in relationship with his creation.
