Lyrics
When my lifework is ended, and I cross the swelling tide,
When the bright and glorious morning I shall see;
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,
And His smile will be the first to welcome me.
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
And redeemed by His side I shall stand;
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
By the print of the nails in His hand.
Oh, the soul thrilling rapture when I view His blessed face,
And the luster of His kindly beaming eye;
How my full heart will praise Him for the mercy, love and grace
That prepared for me a mansion in the sky.
Oh, the dear ones in glory, how they beckon me to come,
And our parting at the river I recall;
To the sweet vales of Eden they will sing my welcome home,
But I long to meet my Savior first of all.
Through the gates to the city in a robe of spotless white,
He will lead me where no tears will ever fall;
In the glad song of ages I shall mingle with delight,
But I long to meet my Savior first of all.
Public domain hymn text and tune (published c. 1890). Words by Fanny Crosby; music by John R. Sweney.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Fanny Crosby, blind from infancy and by this point in her life already one of the most prolific hymn writers in American history, met the composer John R. Sweney at Camp Chautauqua, where he approached her as she sat rocking on a hotel porch one summer evening. In the conversation that followed, Crosby made a striking admission: if she had been allowed one request at birth, she said, it would have been to be born blind.
Asked why, she explained that because she had never seen an earthly face, the first face she would ever see would be her Savior's, in heaven. That conviction became the emotional center of "My Savior First of All," written not long afterward and published around 1890 with music by Sweney.
The hymn's chorus, "I shall know Him… by the print of the nails in His hand," later became attached to a striking, widely retold anecdote from London. A man there had begun claiming to be the Messiah and drew large crowds to hear him speak in the city's public squares. One night, as he addressed a gathering, a small Salvation Army band happened to pass by singing this very chorus, and the crowd around the self-proclaimed messiah began singing along. Someone in the crowd called out for the man to show his hands — and when no scars appeared, the gathering dispersed and left him.
Whether read as a blind woman's quiet hope for the first face she would ever see, or remembered through the story of a would-be messiah exposed by a hymn's own chorus, "My Savior First of All" has carried, in either case, the same simple claim at its center: recognition of Christ by the marks He alone bears.
