In the beginning when hope was born When God created the first night and morn An eternal plan was set in place To cleanse men’s sins with His mercy and His grace In the beginning, a Lamb was to be slain To cover sins and forgiveness obtain A prophetic act was set in place Until Jesus’ blood was shed to replace In the beginning the Word was with God Creating a plan that kept angels awed Men had free will to choose to obey Trust and love God or go their own way In the beginning, when hope was born To counter the curse of toil and thorn An eternal plan was lovingly unfurled By the Lamb slain from the creation of the world Debbie Furey July 5, 2023 Revelation 13:8 – “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Matthew 25:31-34 – “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” John 1:1-18 Hebrews 1, 2