K

Proclaim hosannas,

Exclaim loud hallelujahs,

And acclaim Christ King!

J

Good, great, just? Gentle?

No word could add to the charm

Of the name Jesus.

I

The One who appeared

In time could rightfully claim

To be the I AM.

H

To His assembly

The Father gave Him to be

Head over all things.

G

Seeing Baby, Child

Or Man, remember He is

Personally God.

F

When my need was for

Oil, wine, binding and bearing

Jesus came as Friend.

E

In descending grace

God Himself came near to us

In Emmanuel.

D

From sin, God’s judgement,

And self, Jesus has become

The Deliverer.

C

God so approved of

The Man who acted for Him

That He made Him Christ.

B

Love has been made known

Lovingly in the Man who

Is the Beloved.

A

Verily the whole

Of the speaking of God is

Sealed in the Amen.

DONALD

I will not call for

Pibroch or coronach

This time. This was not

A work part done. The model

Was working and complete -

The testimony of Jesus was testified

To an end. The talents had been

Fully traded. The Master’s

Final touches had touched. “And all

The Trumpets sounded for him on

The other side.”

On the death of Donald Dewar, Scotland's first minister, I wrote some verse - but about a year later at the funeral of another Donald I realised that this believer, unknown yet well known, was a more worthy subject of verse.

HIS

Who did the love of God send

At the fulness of time?

His Son.

God’s glad tidings are concerning

Our Lord, and

His Son.

That “Abba Father” may resound

God has sent out the Spirit of

His Son.

In His saints God wills to have

The effulgence of

His Son.

The One we await from heaven is

Our Deliverer, and

His Son.

For, who did He not spare?

His

Own Son.

CHRIST

Among the dust of Palestine

He, come within our human span,

Displayed a worth that was divine

While God was glorified in man.

Between heaven’s glory and earth’s sod

The Son of man was crucified,

And through Golgotha’s torments God,

Regarding sin, was glorified.

As faithful women reached Christ’s tomb

The rising Sun dispelled the night -

God’s glory dwelt on Christ through whom

Men are accepted in God’s sight.

A Man is now at God’s right hand -

A Man is on the Father’s throne!

And Christians gladly understand

God’s thoughts secured in Christ alone.

GIVING

Into a world inured to shame

Because of Adam’s fall

God’s Son, the Man Christ Jesus, came

And gave Himself for all.

He lived for us in poverty

Possessing not a penny,

Until He went to Calvary

And gave His life for many.

Faced by God’s judgement’s awful tide

I have a place to flee -

To be the One in whom to hide

He gave Himself for me.

FATHER

When a perfect Child

Expressed committal to His Father’s business

How much God enjoyed

Being that Father!

As His bosom Son

Walked in the way of His will

How God rejoiced to be

His Father.

And what the Father’s delight

In being the Father whose glory

At the earliest instant

Raised Christ from the dead!

Now with that Son

Sharing His throne

The Father is enjoying

Being His Father.

Now as Christ’s men

Share His place

The Father is enjoying

Being their Father.

And what is His pleasure in saying

“I will be to you for a Father”

To those who follow

The strait path of His will.

THEIR GOD

After the death of Joseph, God’s dreamer,

Egypt haltered Israel,

Bowed under brick.

What did they need? God knew well

And, sovereignly philanthropic,

Came as Redeemer.

Shot of the Egyptian, their horse-dealer,

Fed by the Passover lamb,

Led through the Red Sea,

With tambours psalming their psalm:

Yet God perceived their need that He

Should be their Healer.

In the desert, watered by Moses’ rod,

Daily fed by manna, yet

Flesh-bridled to err,

Meandering with regret

They found God willing to be their

Tabernacle God.

Come to the land of honey, milk, cedar,

Store-corn, water-brooks, brave towns

And walled enemies:

As they wreaked justice on crowns,

Sword or wall in their victories

God was their Leader.

Such-loving-kindness! What an investor

Of love! What adaptation

To His people’s need!

Till, glad in His salvation,

In the house to which His plans lead

God is a Rester.

PROSPECT

Our prospect is delighting:

To be with Christ, through grace:

Oh! Won’t it be exciting

To see our Master’s face!

Relieved then from the scrimmage,

Our testimony done

We’ll be in His own image,

Conformed to God’s own Son.

His glory will be blazing,

And we shall all rejoice -

Oh! Won’t it be amazing

To hear our Master’s voice!

If every view will please us,

And make our praises brim,

What will it be to Jesus

To have His bride with Him!

THOUGHT

To see Jesus’ face

Is the most exciting thing

That I can think of.

MAN

We have sinned, and the pain of this

Cross is just. How can

We make any claim? But this Man

Has done nothing amiss.

We have sinned - whether beginner,

Runner, finisher, our race

Has been perverse, contrary to grace:

Yet, this Man receives sinners.

We have sinned - and sins release

Turmoil: outwith, against God, or men;

Within untwisting, twisting again,

But, this Man shall be peace.

LAMB

Sometimes the owner

Gives the shepherd a lamb

For himself.

And how that lamb is feted,

Cherished and nourished,

With the acme of

The shepherd’s skill.

I am

The shepherd’s lamb,

Lord Jesus.

I AM

He who could assert,

“I AM”

Condescended to say,

“I am the door”.

ARISTARCHUS

Paul's fellow-traveller, he would have seen
Paul's teaching, conduct, purpose, faith and light;
Among the fresh assemblies would have been
A sharer of Paul's fatherly delight,
While as his fellow-worker he would share
His love, endurance and long-suffering:
Stiving to conquer moments of despair
And finding Christ his help in everything.

But as Paul's fellow-captive he endured
What Paul endured - the bondage and the storm -
Till by the grace of God he was secured
In safety - where Paul's service made him warm.
Lord Jesus help me, till I hear Thy call
To move, and work - and be in bonds -with Paul.

THE SYSTEM OF LOVE

From a heart rich with mercy, grace and love
The Father's purposes for us display
His grand desire to have before His face
A glorious, loved and loving company.

Thus through unbounded grace His own Son came
To save us, and, more preciously, to lead
Those justified - and powerful in His Name -
Up to the Father as a holy seed.

And in the Father's presence we can be
Not only known as sons but cause to feel
That since the Son has died to set us free
Our sonship is not nominal, but real.

For grace gives, crowning all that mercy starts,
The Spirit of adoption in our hearts.

THERE IS A MAN UPON THE FATHER'S THRONE

There is a Man upon the Father's throne
Sufficient for the glory of that place
Dispensing power and blessing to His own.

He who could dwell in unseen light alone
Outwith the scope of human mind or space,
There, is a Man - upon the Father's throne.

That God and all His mercy might be known
He was on earth among the weak and base
Dispensing power and blessing to His own.

Since on the cross He suffered to atone
And opened wide the floodgates of God's grace
There is a Man upon the Father's throne.

The might of sin and death is overthrown
And Christ is Leader of a heavenly race
Dispensing power and blessing to His own.

Soon all His grace and glory will be shown
And we shall see the beauty of His face.
There is a Man upon the Father's throne
Dispensing power and blessing to His own.

COMING

He did not come with troops, with flags unfurled
And burnished swords; He came to heal the lame,
The blind and poor; and to make known God’s Name;
And show God’s love. If Jewish lips were curled
Disdainfully, and jibes or stones were hurled,
He did not act as Judge. He was the Same:
Rightly could the Samaritans exclaim,
“This is indeed the Saviour of the world!”

He came to Greek, Jew or Samaritan
In grace and vigour, as the Son of Man;
He showed, in shedding love and power abroad,
The dignity which marks the Son of God;
While heaven - before His public work begun
Parted to acclaim Him, God’s beloved Son.

LOVE

A Saviour’s love has taken up my case
That one who had been captive should be free;
A Bridegroom’s love has claimed and cherished me,
And held me in the warmth of His embrace.
A Father’s love has lavished on me grace,
Riches and blessing, and has given me
The status of a son that I might be
For His eternal praise before His face.
The Spirit’s love has acted in my soul
And shed abroad God’s love within my heart;
Thus in the church He touches every part
And in uniting love makes all one whole.
The love of God has been so full shown
That now the God of love Himself in known.

THE KINDNESS OF GOD

Marred; weak; afar; with the opprobrium
Of the rejected race... to catalogue
My blemishes would take too long; in sum
Encompass all in three words - “a dead dog”.
Mercy has reached me; grace has brought me near;
Kindness has given me a prince’s seat
And riches; perfect love has cast out fear:
The King Himself has made my bliss complete.

So if He is rejected in this world,
And the rebellious challenge has been hurled:
“We will not have this Man to reign”, should I
Follow that trend? Surely I must deny
Myself, and, till my Sovereign comes again,
Live in the consciousness that “He must reign”.

TRIOLET

O praise the Saviour for His love
That took Him to a world of strife
Where humans elbow, kick and shove.
O praise the Saviour for His love
That came from peaceful scenes above
And caused Him to lay down His life.
O praise the Saviour for His love
That took Him to a world of strife.