TIME

In the consummation of the ages
There came - for One who was God -
A predicted, foreseen, time
To be born.

God’s Man, having shown perfectly
Man according to God, moved
Inexorably, and devotedly, to a time
To die.

The days of a desert life
Were, as He spread His grace
In oases of His love, a time
To plant.

Among the rebellious Jews,
Satisfied in themselves,
With sadness, He found it a time
To pluck up that which is planted.

While, when grace is rejected,
And repentance disdained,
He will institute a time
To kill

Now in the day of grace
He, from the Father’s throne,
Presides with joy over a time
To heal.

When Paul advance on Damascus
Against the name of the Lord,
And His people, it was a time
To break down.

When Paul invaded Europe
In all the power of the Lord
And His Spirit, it was a time
To build up.

If at the Bethany tomb,
Surrounded by those he loved,
Death’s influence made it a time
To weep

Yet He now sees, joyfully,
A wife who works for His will
Who sees in the dawn a time
To laugh.

As He came to the holy city,
Amid the apparent triumph,
He alone knew it a time
To mourn,

While as He looks on His spouse,
In character like Himself,
He knows that it is a time
To dance.

And the rejecting city,
Stout against the government of God,
Came, in government , to a time
To cast away stones.

But among the faithful saints
The Lord’s hand worked in might
Initiating a time
To gather stones together.

Souls who turn to Him,
Repenting from their sins,
Are welcomed in a time
To embrace,

But those who reject God’s grace
And the value of Christ’s death
Bring on themselves a time
To refrain from embracing.

He, in His shepherd love,
Uses this dispensation,
In tenderness, as a time
To seek

While those who have known that love,
Seeing their selfish wills,
Learn to come to a time
To lose.

He, in His shepherd love,
Uses the days of storm and trial,
In faithfulness, as a time
To keep.

While those who have known His love,
Seeing in their flesh the works of darkness,
Learn that it is a time
To cast away.

Seeing the ascending Man,
His fresh, and our old, garments
This has become a time
To rend.

Having our treasures with Him
It is, since we need purses
Which do not grow old, a time
To sew.

Led as a lamb to the slaughter
The Lord, in wisdom and grace,
Showed when it was a time
To keep silent.

Risen, and come to His own,
Christ, as revealer of secrets,
Came with joy to a time
To speak.

Seeing His faithful saints
Who keep His word and Name
He rejoices to tell of a time
To love

But as He views the deeds
Of those who despise His claim
Against these deeds is a time
To hate.

When He will come in power,
Conquering and to conquer,
Then it will be a time
Of war,

That He may establish in judgment,
In righteousness, and grace,
Forever and ever a time
Of peace.