"In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins….and by Him all things consist" (Col. 1:14,17).
To where the fallen, sinful creature lay,
In creature-form the Word Creative came-
From Godhead glory to earth's toilsome way,
From throne eternal to the cross of shame!
The Holy One, where sin o'er all had sway-
The Living One, where death claimed all beside-
The True, yet to a world estranged He came,
The Lamb of God, to seek and win the Bride!
Incarnate Light! Proud Pharisee and priest,
Scribe, lawyer, Sadducee-He silenced all;
Convinced of sin, His tempters speechless stood;
The band who came to seize Him backward fall.
All Godhead fulness robed in servant form!
Creative Word! dependent, weary, worn!
The mount beheld the glorious Son of God,
The garden saw a Man with sorrow torn!
Incarnate Love! O blessed, tender call
To weary hearts, to all by sin oppressed,
The heavy-laden and the anxious soul-
"Come unto Me, and I will give you rest!"
In wilderness, or midst the pressing throng,
In upper room, or Pilate's judgment-hall,
In mighty deed, or way-worn at the well,
The Christ of God is manifest in all.
Who, save the Word Incarnate, could command
And still the tempest, quell the stormy wave?
Could summon back from hades and from death,
And raise a Lazarus from the moldering grave?
Redeem from thraldom helpless, hopeless man,
Despoil the spoiler, dispossess the foe;
Save from the doom and from the power of sin,
And sins forgive, and life and bliss bestow?
The Father voiced His glory as "the Son,"
The angels served Him in His path of grace,
The demons bowed and trembled at His word,
Yet man, defiant, smote Him on the face!
But, ah, in love unquenchable He came
To bear man's burden and for sin atone;
In life of service, and in life laid down,
God glorify, and vindicate His throne!
All power is His in resurrection now;
The Victor He o'er Satan, death, the grave;
When He absolves, what creature can condemn?
When He condemns, what creature-power can save?
In things of God no neutral ground obtains;
"For" or "against" all mankind must record; And,
"What think ye of Christ?" the test remains;
"Whose Son is He," since "David calls Him LORD?"
That question standeth paramount today,
And must be faced; evade it no one can-
Was He the Truth? or what He claimed untrue?
God manifest in flesh, or fallen man?
While grieving o'er the nation's unbelief,
And weeping o'er Jerusalem's darkening doom,
He visioned still the glorious age to come,
Beyond the Cross, beyond the empty tomb-
When Israel, gathered, their long exile o'er,
Shall hail, repentant, their redeeming Lord;
When He shall reign o'er all in righteousness,
And heaven and earth rejoice in blest accord.
But God makes blinded Israel's unbelief
Subserve the counseled purpose of His grace,
For in that Kingdom-age the Lord shall bless,
Not Jew alone, but e'en earth's farthest race!
And now, ere dawns that day of earthly bliss,
From those who had no promise, hope or claim,
The Gentile nations, God is calling out,
In sovereign grace, a people to His Name.
More blessed still! a heavenly calling theirs,
The Lamb's beloved Bride ordained to be-
Made meet, adorned with glorious gifts divine,
To share His throne to all eternity!
Yet now, alas, the nations favored so,
Are turning from the glorious gospel-light
To blinding darkness-and 'tis spreading fast-
A darkness deepening to apostate night;
For while professing followers deny,
Betray anew, the Son of God today,
The bold forerunners of the Antichrist
Proclaim his gospel and prepare his way.
The faith denied, the world in wild unrest,
The signs presage earth's judgment draweth nigh,
When marshaled legions, leagued with Darkness' power,
Shall God and His Anointed dare defy.
But ere that hour, the rapture shout will sound,
And all His own shall hear the quickening word,
And blessed dead and living saint caught up
Shall greet in triumph their redeeming Lord.
God's judgments, long deferred, shall follow fast,
And Armageddon's dark and fearsome day:
Oh, woe to earth when, robed in glorious power,
The Lamb shall His avenging wrath display!
The judgment-storm o'erpast, the kingdom purged,
And vanquished all that held so long in thrall,
God's rule on earth in power shall be enthroned,
And His Anointed hailed as Lord o'er all!
Then o'er the earth the healing balm of peace,
As gentle dew from heaven shall descend,
And righteousness shall reign, oppression cease,
And earthly bliss and heavenly glory blend.
Yet, e'en an age of bliss shall prove in vain
To overcome the enmity of sin,
And dark the scene shall yet earth's record stain,
E'er Time shall cease, Eternity begin.
The long, long conflict of the ages o'er,
And all the tears and travail of the night,
Lo! o'er new heavens and earth, to pass no more,
The "Day of God" shall dawn in living light.
O Rest Divine! in new creation fair,
Where grace its crowning glory shall attain,
And love's redeemed, in bliss beyond compare,
Shall dwell with God and with the Lamb once slain!
What glories Thine, O Thou Incarnate Son!
The Lord of all, yet serving all in grace;
With power divine, yet the dependent One-
Stooped to the lowest, fills the highest place!
A life of service and of suffering Thine,
Who gavest all in love, that sought till found;
A creature pathway trod in grace divine!
O God the Son! O Man with sorrow crowned!
O Thou who all our sins and sorrows bore,
And sharest with us all Thy love hath won,
Our Saviour-Lord! we bless and we adore,
With reverence worship Thee, O God the Son!
W. L. G.