The Unfolding of a Plan

 

 

The unfolding of a plan

From inception to completion,

The narrative, not the myth,

Of man’s redemption.

 

From Eden’s perfection

To that horrendous fall

But thank God, in His agape love,

That was not all.

 

Thus, came offerings

That were only types:

Of the symbolic and ceremonial

But weren’t quite right.

 

Until Shiloh came

That was to be the Light

Shining out of gross darkness

And blackness of night.

 

From a stone as a pillow

To a pillar of stone,

Angels ascending and descending

Showing God’s throne.

 

From a stone to an altar

With many a stone

Bearing the sacrificial offerings

Whereupon burn.

 

To a crudely looking tent

But heavenly designed

Where man approached God

At an appointed time.

 

 

To tabernacle with man

Though not in fulness

But symbolic of what was to come

In man’s eternal rest.

 

To an impressive edifice

Built by David’s Son,

The third king of mighty Israel,

Who was King Solomon.

 

But this was not all;

These were mainly types

Signifying greater was to come

In the form of the Light.

 

This centre-piece temple

Became the wherewithal

And just like in Eden’s Garden

Denoted another fall.

 

Destroyed then rebuilt

By Nehemiah and Ezra

It later became a sight to behold

When refurbished by Herod.

 

Monumental in significance

It was to the Jews

When in relation to its future

Jesus gave terrible news.

 

It was the Jews ultimate

But to God: part of a plan;

A plan that was steadily unfolding

In the redemption of man.

 

Destruction was coming,

Its time near at hand

And soon very little would remain

Of this temple grand.

 

The unfolding of a plan

From inception to completion,

The narrative, not the myth,

Of man’s redemption.

 

 

From a stone to an altar,

From an altar to a tabernacle:

All bespeaking itinerancy

Before the temple.

 

Then came the temple:

A more permanent stay

But then that was removed

And Jesus is here.

 

And now we, lively stones,

Are built up into him,

Pardon of our transgressions

And relieved of our sin.

 

No longer strangers

From Israel’s Commonwealth

But one in the Lord Christ Jesus

Growing in spiritual health.

 

 

The plan has unfolded;

“It is finished!” said Christ,

He is our temple and we, his,

No more sacrifice.

 

Our bodies are temples

In which Christ dwells,

It’s a wonderful transformation

Of which we can tell.

 

We have come to Mt Zion

Leaving Sinai behind,

Never to return to that mountain

Now or at any time.

 

 

The unfolding of a plan

From inception to completion,

The narrative, not the myth,

Of man’s redemption.

 

Stewart Russell © January 5, 2025