The Story Behind the Song

In December of 2011, God gave me another new song. It had been years since the last one, but this one was special to me because I specifically asked for it.

You see… the year before, as new Christmas songs came out on the radio and old ones were re-sung and redone, I found myself wanting a new kind of Christmas song. I wanted one that didn’t focus on the baby in the manger or what that baby had come to do. I didn’t want it to focus on angels or shepherds either. Rather, I wanted to sing one that told the story of what the One in the manger had already done before that Christmas morning.

Colossians 1:15-17 tells us who Jesus really is:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

That’s a LOT of power. Seriously. One thing that I’ve gotten more revelation on this year has been that Jesus’s power is the stuff of legends… the stuff that superheroes want and story writers try to give their heroes.

Read that verse again. It says that He literally is the power that is holding the earth in its orbit and the Milky Way galaxy together. He’s the One with the power that made your heart beat its first beat when you were inside the womb. He’s got power and authority over every king, prince, president, parliament, general, genius, CEO, and emperor that ever existed. So if you take every power that every hero in every story ever written has ever had and pull it all together in one person, you still wouldn’t come close.

Jesus is the hero of the story that the Author of Life has penned. When authors write stories, they write the whole thing for the hero. They set up the forces of darkness and make them powerful, just to show how much the hero can overcome and prove that the hero is worthy of the name. As an author, if your hero looks weak, you just up the stakes against him, and then give him the skills to beat the villain anyway.

In a well-written story, everything that happens points, in some way or another, to the hero. And isn’t that what that verse specifically says that God did? “All things are created for Him.” History is literally His story.

But then, what did this hero do? Philippians 2:5-7 tells us how Jesus surrendered all that power:

…Christ Jesus, …although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

And that is the truth that I wanted to sing about last year, for it awes me.

The thing is, though… I can’t write songs. Literally. I can write articles for my blog (though I try to let the Holy Spirit write them). My day job used to be editing, so I can easily write smooth, grammatically-correct paragraphs. I can polish a mediocre plot into relatively good prose. But I can’t even write even a slightly-mediocre song.

And so I asked God to give me another, like He gave me the other songs years ago. But days and weeks went by, Christmas passed, and I heard no new song in my spirit.

The next Christmas season (2011), my worship leader asked if I wanted to sing a Christmas special. I told her I did, but I didn’t know which one. In my spirit, I told God, “Lord, I know what I want to sing, but You haven’t given me the song yet. Will You?”

Well… He started to give it to me that week. Just a few lines here and a few lines there. Over the span of three weeks, I kept listening and waiting, as I slowly heard line after line and they began to come together, along with the scriptures they were coming from.

Finally, I had it all. And 11 years later, I was finally able to record it professionally and release it for the world. I pray that you will enjoy a deeper revelation of who the One in the manger really was, what He surrendered just to be there, and why He did it all.

Lyrics With Scripture References

“All He Was”

Once outside of time began a story (John 1 :1)
It’s been told a thousand times and ways, or more
A virgin birthed and angels sang (Is. 7 :14; Luke 1 :34; 2 :13-14)
The wise men saw and shepherds came (Matt. 2 ; Luke 2 :15-16)
But the hero who lay within her arms
Had already made a sacrifice of love

He was the Maker of the universe (Col. 1 :16, John 1 :3)
The Master of the stars (Ps. 136 :7-9)
The voice of endless power (Gen. 1 :3)
And everlasting love (Jer. 31 :3)
Before foundations of the world were laid (Rev. 13 :8)
Beyond the veil of time (Ps. 90 :2)
He knew the world would need a Savior’s touch (Is. 9 :2)
So He surrendered all He was (Phil 2 :7)

He said that He revealed the face of God (John 14 :9)
That’s why the crowds responded to His power and love (Matt. 4 :25)
The sick were healed and blind could see (Matt. 4 :23 ; Matt. 15 :31)
The lame made whole, possessed set free (Matt. 21 :14 ; Mark 1 :32)
Yet they took Him and nailed Him to a cross (Matt. 27 :22-31)
But He prevailed over death and conquered all! (2 Tim. 1 :10)

‘Cause He’s the Maker of the universe (Col. 1 :16 , John 1 :3)
The Master of the stars (Ps. 136 :7-9)
The voice of endless power (Gen. 1 :3)
And everlasting love (Jer. 31 :3)
Since the foundations of the world were laid
Beyond the bounds of time
He rules as everlasting Lord of all (Phil. 2 :9-10)
Yet He surrendered all He was… (Luke 4 :17-21)

To bring good news to the afflicted (Is. 61 :1)
And peace for the broken (Is. 61 :1)
There’s freedom for captives (Is. 61 :1)
The favor of God (Is. 61 :2)
There’s joy now for mourning (Is. 61 :3)
And strength for the weary (Is. 61 :3 , 40 :31)
He’s made us the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5 :21)

He’s still the Maker of the universe (Col. 1 :16 , John 1 :3)
The Master of the stars (Ps. 136 :7-9)
The voice of endless power (Gen. 1 :3)
And everlasting love (Jer. 31 :3)
When the foundations of the world were laid (Rev. 13 :8)
The Father looked through time (Is. 9 :2-7)
He saw that you would need a Savior’s love… (Rom. 7 :24-25 ; Gal. 2 :20)

So Jesus came to be the Perfect One (2 Cor. 5 :21)
What He did for you will always be enough… (Rom. 8 :1-4)
Because He gave you all He was. (1 Cor. 1 :30)

Copyright 2011, 2022 Kathleen M. Peters (Katie) All rights reserved

A lead sheet with the chords in PDF format can be downloaded here: