BEFORE

Before the worlds began
And God commanded light
The mind of God conceived a Man
To be for His delight.

Before Christ's holy life
In bondman form and part
The heart of God conceived a wife
To answer to His heart.

Before they were bereft
The Lord's disciples knew
The love of Christ prepared and left
His peace to bear them through.

Before He would ascend
To share the Father's throne
The grace of Jesus pledged to send
His Spirit to His own.

Before He reigns as King
In equity and grace
The voice of Christ Himself will bring
His bride to share His place.

SMITH

In red intensity of heat
Sweat pouring in great drops
Among the hiss of steam
I myself forged these nails,
Rough, rugged, brutal.

With my consummate skill
Toiling before the furnace
I formed this spearhead,
Sharp, jagged, brutal.

This iron will savour flesh
To liberate rare blood
And loose lustrant water.



The parabolic "Four Craftsmen"  poems are the best, I feel, that I ever have or will write.

WEAVER

A garment of plain pattern,
Its texture of staunch twill,
Has been formed on my loom:

Lines drawn with perfect tension
‑ And if the weft is dark
Warp is bright gold.

No complex design
But an inherent rich structure ‑
The whole garment seamless.

POTTER

All my life's labour
I invested in that field.

Years spent forming the stiff clay
And the vessels so often marred.

Now for my life's work they give
Thirty pieces of silver.

A goodly price that I was valued at!

CARPENTER

Roman, take your gibbet
Most harsh task to my tools
Since I came from my father.

Joining the bars together
I nailed my hand.

Carving the earthward point,
I scarred my side.

Smoothing, my chisel dropped,
Piercing my feet.

Roman, ask no more crosses:
This will be enough.


 

REDEEMER

I know that He lives

Who shed His blood that He might

Be my Redeemer.

REDEMPTION

Redemption subsists in the worth of the Person
Who holds the first place in the Father’s affection,
The Son of His love, who is given the kingdom
For which we are fit through His worth and perfection.

Redemption is known through the blood of the Saviour
Through which, by God’s grace, we are brought into favour;
Christ satisfied God in the work of atonement
While God’s heart rejoiced in His charm and His savour.

We wait for adoption, the body’s redemption,
And with us is waiting the whole of creation
Till Christ is acclaimed on the throne of his kingdom
And all is transformed at that great liberation.

NOW HE LIVETH

Once the Saviour suffered for us,
Scorned, rejected and denied;
For our peace and our redemption
Then upon the cross He died;
Now He liveth
Raised, ascended, glorified.

With His work for God accomplished
Christ is on the Father's throne
Who was once in grace and mercy
Here upon the earth unknown
Now He liveth
Giving impulse to His own.

When upon the earth He succoured
Men, the poorest and the least,
All the power of heaven's glory
Could not fully be released;
Now He liveth
Bearing us as heavenly Priest.

Once the Holy Spirit hovered
Sensitive to earth's constraints
But because Christ's cross and glory
Overwhelmed all sin's restraints
Now He liveth
In true companies of saints.

From the glory Christ delighted
To deliver to His own
An occasion of remembrance
Centred in Himself alone:
Now He liveth
Making His affections known.

PROSPERITY

Jesus will return

To rule in prosperity

As the Prince of Peace.

A SONG OF PRAISE

Praise the One who is Creator,

Heaven's and earth's Originator

Yet come near as Mediator

Between God and man.

Praise the Christ who as a stranger

Once was cradled in a manger,

Come in flesh to be the changer

Of the course of time.

Praise the Man who here was sowing

Seed from which good seed is growing

In abundance overflowing

To the Father's joy

Praise the Shepherd who has sought us:

With His precious blood He bought us,

With His tender arms he brought us

Back into His fold.

Praise the Victor who invaded

Realms where Satan's might pervaded;

Now no power we are persuaded

Separates from Him.

Praise the Man who God perfected

For the work which He effected -

Now He leads the Sons selected

To a glorious sphere.

Praise the Firstborn of creation

End of all man's perturbation

Bringing reconciliation

As the Prince of Peace.

"Perturbation" not only has the sense "the state of being perturbed" but, metaphorically, "a deviation in the course of a celestial body".

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 beginners,

Runners, finishers, 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.

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.

JEHOVAH

(Genesis 22)
Upon the holy mountainside
The patriarch saw within the thorns
The ram, entangled by its horns.
He found - Jehovah will provide:
Jehovah-Jireh.

(Exodus 17)
Among the raging of the fight
Sustained by Moses on the mount
The people found that they could count
On God to help maintain the right:
Jehovah-Nissi.

(Judges 6)
The people’s failure caused decrease
Yet Gideon, humble and discreet,
Worked in the wine-press threshing wheat
And gained Jehovah’s word of peace:
Jehovah-Shalom.

MERCY

Mercy endured for me
When I was lost;
Mercy secured for me
Peace - at great cost;
Mercy has reached for me,
Mercy has preached for me,
Mercy beseeched for me
When I was lost.

Mercy has cared for me,
One who is found;
Mercy prepared for me
Heavenly ground;
Mercy has sought for me,
Mercy has wrought for me,
Mercy has fought for me -
One who is found.



Or should it be grace in the last few lines?  What do you think?

I LOVE TO HEAR OF JESUS

I love to hear of Jesus

Because He set me free,

And dying at Golgotha

He gave Himself for me;

Because when I was sinful

He suffered in my stead;

And since, in grace and mercy,

His precious blood was shed.

I love to think of Jesus

The Man who holds my heart

Because of all the blessings

It pleased Him to impart:

He gave me free forgiveness,

He gave me love and grace,

He gave his Holy Spirit

And gives me His embrace.

I love to speak of Jesus

With those who love Him well,

To trace His many glories

Who is Emmanuel,

The Son of God, the Firstborn,

Our Shepherd and our Friend,

The First, the Last, the Living,

Our Peace, our Life, our End.

I love to sing of Jesus

The Man upon God's throne

Whilst waiting for His coming

To rapture all His own

To share with Him the glory

That time can never dim:

Eternally delighted,

Eternally with Him!

PEACE

God has made peace by the blood of Christ's cross;
By Him now all things have been reconciled.
Out of His anguish, His horror and loss
Peace comes in triumph where sin had defiled.

He is our peace who has broken the wall
Forging diversity into one man;
Coming in love He has preached peace to all:
Formed through this Source we are built to one plan.

He gives His peace ‑ what a wonderful gift ‑
More than the best that this world can provide!
How could we fear with such power to uplift
Hearts to the place where His comforts preside?

As Prince of Peace He will quickly return
Down to this earth to set everything right:
Lord! wake our hearts with desire ‑ let them burn
Till Thou shalt come and secure Thy delight.

FAILED

"You'll never guess, the hikers exclaimed
to the young woman in the headsquare
"Who we've seen just up the road there -
Philip and Charles and Anne"; excitedly
Failing to recognise
The Queen.

We have sent out probes,
Received messages that we cannot
Decipher.  We have scanned the universe,
Its black holes and quarks.  But have we
Failed to recognise
The Creator?

We have studied the microscopic,
The bright and nocturnal, seen beauty
In the forms and the lives lived
In them.  Unravelling molecules have we
Failed to recognise
The Designer?

We have poured words through a plethora
Of instruments; twisted them, vexed them,
Decanted and canted.  Articulating
Man and sagacity of man, have we
Failed to recognise
The Word?

PRESENT LOVE

If love had led Him to the grave
For those whom He desired to save
Love leads Him as a risen Man
To serve in every way He can.
If one is grieving, in distress,
He comes to comfort - and to bless;
If one denied the Lord before
He comes to cherish and restore;
If some turn from Jerusalem
He goes their way to shepherd them.
But more, through all that He has wrought,
He comes with secrets of God’s thought,
Comes to the circle of His own
That there He should be freshly known.

ELIAB

That boy! What’s he doing here
Leaving the sheep to the wilderness?

Where’s the kid off to now?
Seeing the king!

What does the lad look like
Happed up in a real man’s armour!

But look now - that youth is off
To play giant-killer!

See him - a young man against
An experienced man of war!

Here, did you see what my brother
Did to Goliath?

What a man!


1 Samuel 17

LYING DOWN

Come into infant smallness,
Swaddling love
Laid Him in the manger.

Unnailed from the cross
He was swathed by love
And laid in a tomb.

But before He had been
Love-pillowed
Lying asleep in the storm.

Before He had laid Himself down
In love’s company
To celebrate the feast.

Afterwards, knowing what it means,
He will have His faithful lie down,
For love to serve.

COME, PRINCE OF PEACE

Come, Prince of Peace, for now

The sands are run!

The root of David Thou,

Yet David's Son;

Man of the Father's choice,

Faithful and tried.

"Come!" saith the Spirit's voice,

"Come!" saith the bride.

To Him who sits above,

Far over all,

Rises the voice of love,

That eager call

From the vast desert dry,

Here where He died:

"Come!" 'tis the Spirit's cry,

"Come!" saith the bride.

Darkness is o'er in part,

Clouds pass away.

Shine on the longing heart,

Bright Star of Day,

Calling Thy spouse on high,

Close to Thy side!

"Come!" 'tis the Spirit's cry,

"Come!" saith the bride.

E.L. Bevir

"THE BALANCE OF THE SANCTUARY"

Methought I saw, as led by grace,
Strange wonders to behold,
The Sanctuary - the holy place
Where burn the lamps of gold.

A quivering Balance seemed to stand -
How marvellous the sight!
Divinely poised on either hand
The scales shone in the light.

**********************

There measured were the thousand rills
That flow down to the sea;
The mountains and the rounded hills,
Like dust they seemed to be!                     Isaiah 40: 12, 17

In purple or in rags arrayed,
Of high or low degree;
The sons of men were also weighed:
"Lighter than vanity".                                  Psalm 62: 9

Now let Chaldea's king be tried,
In pomp and majesty!
"Tekel!" the Balance true replied:
"Weighed and found wanting he!"             Daniel 5: 27

But see the gifts of purest gold
And many a precious stone;
The Temple's chest, of wealth untold,
Into the Balance thrown!

Two smallest coins then seemed to fall
From trembling hand and pale;
Their faintest echo seemed to call
From out the furthest scale;

With sudden force it fell and stayed;
The bullion rose on high!
The widow's might had far outweighed
The glittering treasury!                Mark 12: 41-44

Another by E.L.Bevir

OUR LIGHT AFFLICTION

Crushed by an adverse world of sin,
And more than mortal care;
Then glows the shining lamp within,
Celestial, bright, and fair.

From shaken flowers sweet odours fly,
When tempests sweep the dell;
And the deep purple Tyrian dye
Drops from a bruised shell.

O God! how wondrous is Thy way,
The power, the wisdom, Thine!
'Tis from a breaking vase of clay
That rays of glory shine!

by Edward Lawrence Bevir, 1847-1922

TREE

From the branches
Shooting over the wall
A few,
Rahab, Ruth, Ittai ...
Relished the fruit.

But how much further
The fruit hung when more,
Centurions, despised women ...
Savoured its lushness.

See Peter, branch out,
Growing the final inch
That topples the wall!
Gather with me,
My Gentile friends,
The fruit is free for us!

SHEEP

Abel

Well to select
For man's first sacrifice
Of the firstlings of the flock;
God saw
What would not be superseded.

Abraham

What a sheep God
Provided Himself!  Its will,
Its vigour, binding it
To the will of another,
This ram.

Moses

Without blemish, a yearling
The passover lamb - blood
For safety; flesh for food:
From head, legs and inwards
The power for exodus.

Samuel

The smallness of this
Suckling lamb!  Grandeur
Of a whole burnt-offering -
Give in humility; and God
Smells a sweet savour.

John the Baptist

But what was it like
To see One who outranks
All previous offerings?
Impulsion to exclaim,
"Behold the Lamb of God!".

John

In the midst of the throne
A Lamb standing, as slain,
Provokes the acclamation
Of myriads of myriads:
"Worthy is the Lamb!"


1/3/2012