What Is There to See?

I see a crown, a cross and a manger,

No, not in that order, for the Divine Arranger

In His great wisdom has shown the other way

Whilst redeeming His choice creation and saving the day.

Instead, I see a manger, a cross and a crown,

This is the order that’s been there all along.

‘T was Jesus’ birth, yes, His death and resurrection,

That brought man from sin to glorious redemption!

The manger speaks of the past we celebrate today,

The crown is the future we expect without delay,

But the cross is a fact that we must not deny,

Though renounced by the world, on it we can rely.

For as we come to reflect on the manger scene,

Of the birth of the King and all that has been,

The cross is the pivotal point, that’s clear to me

To rid this world of the curse and from sin set us free.

But, many see Christmas without a Good Friday view,

Our Saviour’s birth is celebrated by many, not a few.

Spoil the Christmas merriment with the thought of the cross?

Let the joy of the season go? Oh, what a loss!

The time for Good Friday will come around soon,

Then we can concentrate on the cross and the tomb.

But this Christmas tide I can ne’er spare a thought

About salvation through the cross that Jesus Christ bought.

How blind we are when we ignore the Light!

We have twenty-twenty vision but without insight.

We can see nothing beyond the tip of our nose

And so, in the bliss of our ignorance we repose.

Tell me, what do you see as you come here today?

Is it just a time to celebrate, so no longer delay

To rush back home and raise our glasses in a toast

And dig into chicken and ham, turkey and roast?

Can’t you see the Christ of Christmas as to the cross He’d go,

Taking your burden and mine and all of our sinful woe?

Is it asking so very much of you and me

To spare a thought for the cross during this Christmas spree?

For surely, Christmas is about a path from a manger bed,

Through a life of humiliation and to a cross it led,

An undeserving death there on  Golgotha’s Hill

Whence the life blood of our Saviour and Creator was spilled.

That’s why we sing the way of the cross leads home,

That’s how we know the cross precedes the throne.

For if ever there was a fact of life, ‘tis true,

The Christ of the cross is the only hope for me and you.

So on this glorious Christmas morn, let us also see

Not only the food, the fun and the gifts beneath the tree,

Let us also see the Christ that came that first Christmas day

For the expressed purpose of walking the Calvary way.

So are you still in a hurry to get back to your share

Of turkey and ham and all that Christmas fare?

Do you still feel that this poem was too long

And wish we would hurry up and close with a song?

Then you would have missed the crowning thought

About the Christ of Christmas whom wise men sought;

While following the light of a shining star

They reached the place he lay having come from afar.

 

And shepherds too, they were minding their sheep,

Saw the heavens aglow as they were given a peep

Of the glorious unfolding in the Bethlehem inn,

They too would experience deliverance from sin.

Can you see again that that wise man’s gift of myrrh

Was given to baby Jesus so that all can concur

The manger led to the cross while enroute to the crown

And those who believe will comprise that heavenly throng?

Stewart Russell © 2009