More than A Collection of Books 2

Joshua continued where Moses had left off

And presided over the conquest of Jericho,

After a great defeat in the campaign at Ai

He conquered the lands where his feet did go.

Judges demonstrates God’s strength

Particularly in the light of human weakness

And each of these leaders that He used

Showed it was God who passed the test.

  

Ruth is the love story of a Gentile girl

Who was married to a prominent Hebrew man,

What is significant with this Old Testament book

Is Boaz and Ruth’s role in the redemptive plan.

1st Samuel chronicles the acts of two kings

King Saul is the first and king David’s the next,

It begins with Samuel’s birth and childhood

Then the acts of those kings both bad and good.

2^nd Samuel is dedicated to David the king,

Part one records his victories and conflicts,

Part two shows his defeats when out of God’s will

And his consequent punishment when he slipped.

1^st Kings tells of the close of king David’s stint

And of the golden reign of king Solomon,

The dividing of Israel into North and South

And of the successive kings of those kingdoms

2^nd Kings continues along this track

And shows the spiritual decline of the leaders,

It chronicles the miraculous ministry of Elisha

And the captivity of Israel and of Judah.

1Chronicles starts out with the genealogies

From Adam to Abraham and Abraham to Israel,

Its focus is spiritual rather than historical

While appearing to repeat 1^st and 2^nd Samuel.

2Chronicles continues from 1^st Chronicles

With a coverage similar to 1^st and 2^nd Kings,

Of Judah’s nineteen kings seven were good

None of Israel’s twenty rulers for God ever stood.

Stewart Russell © March 2017 

The Other Side of Justice

The soul that sins shall die

That’s what justice says,

The wages of sin is death

That’s what justice pays.

So if I get my fair deserts

Justice has been done,

The system is working well

I should like the way it runs.

Justice is what we call for

Justice is always fair,

I’m talking about God’s justice

I want make that clear.

The truth of the matter is

All justice must be fair,

If the fairness is missing

Then the justice disappeared.

Lawyers are about justice

That is what we hear

But often about justice

They don’t seem to care.

They fight for their client

Whether he is wrong or right,

At times though he is wrong

They still win the fight.

“O he is a great lawyer!”

His praises would be sung,

But the truth of the matter is

Justice was not done.

It was some technicality

On which he was able to win,

This is man’s pseudo justice

It’s not so in the case with sin.

There’s no such thing with God

No technicality or flaw,

Adam and Eve transgressed

And felt the weight of the law.

First, fellowship was broken

Between themselves and God,

This of course gave reason

For the devil to applaud.

He is that sinister attorney

That misrepresents each case,

His clients are made to suffer

Even to the point of disgrace.

But there is another justice

It is called God’s grace,

It takes the path through mercy

And of injustice there’s no trace.

Mercy has stepped in

Though we should have died,

Justice was still carried out

That’s why Jesus was crucified.

Someone had to die

It should have been us,

That someone took our place

That someone was Jesus.

Mercy bridged the gap

Between justice and grace,

Before, a frowning Judge

But now with a smiling face.

We really should have died

But mercy stepped right in,

Now we don’t have to pay

The penalty for our sin.

Out of all this emerges

God’s magnanimous grace

Expressed to all the repentant

In our Saviour’s smiling face.

“Come unto me,” he says

“And I will give you life.”

A gracious call you will agree

And end to all sin’s strife.

Right now it’s a promise

But a promise that is guaranteed

And the way the days are flying

It’s coming at greet speed.

Not only will we not die

As God’s mercy has ensured

But eternal life is ours

God’s grace has that in store.

For just as Christ has risen

One day the dead will rise,

And those that are still alive

Will meet him in the skies.

Grace is the side of justice

That made this possible,

Now we who were once estranged

Have become God’s people.

Justice is what we deserved

Mercy our deserts deferred

But on the other side of justice

Grace is what God conferred.

Justice says “death”

Therefore the Saviour’s dying

Mercy says “not death”

Hence the Saviour’s rising

Grace says “everlasting life”

Thus the Saviour’s returning

Justice and Grace: two sides of a coin

With Mercy: the circumference,

From death to life: the Father’s reward

For the soul that chooses repentance.

Stewart Russell © September 2018

More than a Collection of Books Volume 1

 

The books of the Bible comprise one Book

Which is the God-breathed Holy Word,

Holy men wrote as God had inspired

Though many still consider this absurd.

How men think is not the principle thing

It’s still the Best Instruction Before Leaving Earth,

The Bible I mean; you had better get one

For in it you can find your rebirth.

Genesis is the book of beginnings

That tells of the creation of the world,

Of humanity’s fall and redemption’s plan

And ends with the death of a man.

Exodus is the coming out of Egypt

And a forty years trek in the wilderness

Arriving near Canaan after most had died

Only Joshua and Caleb had passed that test.

In Leviticus God gives his law to His children

To govern their sacrifices and festivals,

The Sabbath also is instituted

As the mark or sign of God’s people.

In Numbers there is an ordered census

Including the numbering of the tribes,

The Israelites had moved from Sinai to Moab

Where a second census was prescribed.

Deuteronomy is a re-statement of the law

To give direction to the new generation,

Moses passes on the leadership to Joshua

Then climbs Pisgah for his pending graduation.

Joshua continued where Moses had left off

And presided over the conquest of Jericho,

After a great defeat in the campaign at Ai

He conquered the lands where his feet did go.

Judges demonstrates God’s strength

Particularly in the light of human weakness

And each of these leaders that He used

Showed it was God who passed the test.

  

Ruth is the love story of a Gentile girl

Who was married to a prominent Hebrew man,

What is significant with this Old Testament book

Is Boaz and Ruth’s role in the redemptive plan.

1st Samuel chronicles the acts of two kings

King Saul is the first and king David’s the next,

It begins with Samuel’s birth and childhood

Then the acts of those kings both bad and good.

2^nd Samuel is dedicated to David the king,

Part one records his victories and conflicts,

Part two shows his defeats when out of God’s will

And his consequent punishment when he slipped.

1^st Kings tells of the close of king David’s stint

And of the golden reign of king Solomon,

The dividing of Israel into North and South

And of the successive kings of those kingdoms.

Stewart Russell © 2017