RIGHTEOUSNESS

The sun darkened:
There, at Golgotha,
Righteousness was accomplished.

The sun risen:
In the garden, testimony
To accomplished righteousness.

The sun in its firmament:
Accomplished righteousness
Celebrated in ascension.

RESPOND

Owning the majesty
Of the eternal One,
The I AM,
Worship.

Seeing the glorious Man,
Accomplisher of God's will,
Made Lord and Christ,
Do homage.

Knowing the greatness
Of His victory, the nobility
Of His manhood
Praise Him.

Captivated by the charm
Of His loveliness; enraptured
By His warm embrace
Love Him.

JUST

There He is set down, our Advocate,
Pleading His greater accomplishment:
Jesus Christ
The
Righteous.

There in the heavens
Is the Accomplisher
Who has been made
To us
Righteousness.

But we are here
Fruit of His accomplishing,
Through His bitterness,
God's righteousness
In
Him.

I'm following a line of thought of Christ as Accomplisher in poems reposted over the last few days.

OPENED HEAVENS

Heaven had observed
Thirty secret years; perfection
In a Man.  Heaven saw
The Accomplisher of righteousness
Baptised.  Confident in Him,
And what He would achieve, the heavens
Were opened to Him.

That Man now stood, glorified:
Accomplished righteousness, heaven's
Celebration.  But on the earth Stephen
Suffered - suffered but beheld
The heavens opened.  Steeled
By his view of the Son of Man
His dying breath initiated
The address, "Lord Jesus".

And it came to Peter's vision
From the opened heavens, a vessel
In heaven's grip: including,
Cleansed and made righteous
The persons who would enliven
Heaven's view, the vessel
Of a heavenly character.

When the vessel has been caught up,
Responsive to the Lord's voice,
The heavens will be opened.  The Accomplisher
Of righteousness will go out
To execute righteous judgement -
His saints following Him clad
In white, fine, pure linen.

HE DOES ALL THINGS WELL

Creation composed;
Perfection in manhood portrayed:
Atonement made; Christ
Is the Accomplisher.

Creation maintained;
Men borne on His heart and shoulders;
God's praise continued: Christ
Is the Sustainer.

The truth in Jesus;
Sons blessed in the beloved;
A new creation formed:
Established in Christ.

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What would not be superseded.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!"

ELEPHANT

In forest darkness,
Under the wilderness glare
Or on the pleasant grasslands,
Acme of strength, He moves,
Breaking straight paths to
The watercourses.

Hearing, beyond the ear of man,
Scenting, beyond the scent of man,
Touching, as man cannot
He senses ‑ superior
In feeling as in power.

His preciousness,
His shining strength,
Intrinsically grand in life
Becomes available
Only in death.

And men collude,
Rulers, soldiers, silver‑touts;
He is betrayed, encompassed,
Who is
"Chief of God's ways".


Job 40: 19 refers to the behemoth as "chief of God's ways.

INFLUENCE

Distressed and storm-tossed seamen found a berth,

And hungry found an answer to their dearth,
Under the influence of the Son of God
Rejected and a pilgrim on the earth.

The savage man sat calmly at His feet;
The stricken woman's healing was complete;
The girl was raised - and given food to eat -
Under the influence of the Son of God.

Under the influence of the Son of God

The eunuch went upon his happy way,
The Pharisee was brought from night to day,
And Gentiles yielded to the Spirit's sway.

God will secure Himself a universe

Under the influence of the Son of God
Where His enjoyed affections will immerse
His world, expelling all that is diverse.

INFLUENCE

A pebble dropped into a pool
disturbs the water in a circle
widening without definite boundary.

Motion displaces air, 
nor can we assign any limit 
to the extent of such displacement.

Earth revolving within space 
carries along with itself 
its own vast atmosphere.
 
And more or less like each of these, 
personal influence is certain
and is incalculable; 
is a mighty engine inseparable from 
a proportionate burden 
of responsibility. 

None are too great, none too small, 
for this burden. 

St. Paul laid himself out, 
moulded himself, 
spent himself 
to bear it worthily; 
as his own words attest.


"Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."
(CGR and DCB)

If I call this a poem of mine - it's a plagiarism: see here!   It is a poem?  Was it before I started?  Does it give a hint of what a modern Christina Rossetti would have been like?

HIM

In Him

We have redemption,

Forgiveness of offences.

With Him

We have been buried,

And with Him raised and quickened.

From Him

In highest glory

The Spirit has descended.

Through Him

We, by the Spirit,

Have access to the Father.

For Him

The church, His body,

Is here in testimony.

To Him

Will soon be bending

The knees of every being.

GROUNDED

Our hope, our blessing,
Our safety, are all grounded
On the atonement.