Converted

 

 

Confused I was

There was no doubt,

As hard as I tried

I couldn’t figure it out.

 

But I showed a face

Full of confidence,

My life was a sham

In its truest essence.

 

 Confused I was

But only I knew,

Well, except for the Lord

That was true.

 

Convinced I was

When I heard God’s Word

Preached by someone

Who had not heard…

 

 But Spirit led that time

He ministered to me

Whereupon confusion left

And then I could see...

 

My sin, my wrong,

My every fault,

For a moment there

I felt quite distraught.

 

Convicted I was

And full of remorse,

I had been as stubborn

As an own way horse.

 

Then I was overcome

By a Godly sorrow

And on confessing my sin

Repentance followed.

 

 

I asked God to forgive me

For the sin I had done

And opened my heart

 To His precious Son.

 

Now, Converted I am

And that without a doubt,

I am so relieved

I feel I could shout.

 

Controlled I am

By the Holy Spirit

Ever since from Satan

I took my exit.

 

Configured I am

In my mind and my soul,

I am a new creation

Since I’ve been made whole.

 

Contented I am

With Jesus my Saviour.

I give God praise

For His Divine favour.

 

Composed I am

And truly confident in Him

Thank God Almighty

I am delivered from sin!

 

Stewart Russell © February 2020

 

A Provisional Heaven

 

 

Could there possibly be

A provisional heaven

Where the physical dead definitely go

If their sins are forgiven?

 

Maybe some paradise

Like as in Abraham’s bosom:

A kind of holding area, if you like,

For deceased Christians?

 

Could it be immediately

On passing away,

Or in another way of expression,

On that very day?

 

What does it truly mean:

The dead in Christ?

Are these really in a physical grave

Or experiencing life?

 

If we are joint-heirs

And seated with Christ,

Isn’t this a very telling reference

To a heavenly life?

 

 

Isn’t any man in Christ

A new creation

Already possessing eternal life

Due to salvation?

 

Yet Christians die

And they do so everyday

So where do they go, I must ask,

Where do they stay?

 

In a provisional home

Maybe annexed to heaven

So that we can rest assuredly

They are already risen?

 

 

Would this in fact be

The first resurrection

To which the Apostle is referring

In the book of Revelation?

 

Where go the dead:

The dead that die in Christ?

Is there a provisional heaven

Where they enjoy life?

 

Ever since the creation

Believers have died!

Have they just rotted in the grave

And no longer survive?

 

 

Or, are they somewhere

In a provisional heaven

Still fully functional and conscious

Of sins forgiven?

 

A provisional heaven

Before the eternal one

When God in Christ will judge all

Before time is gone?

 

I am merely asking

And I am yearning to know,

Do you have any clear evidence

You’d like to show?

 

Stewart Russell © June 22, 2025

 

New Presupposes Old

 

 

If there is a new

There must have been an old

And when the new comes, out goes the old,

At least, so I have been told.

 

Throughout the Bible

We read of the old and the new,

Perhaps beginning with the Testaments

One Bible divided into two.

 

Premised on this

We have the old covenant and the new,

From the call of Abraham

There is the redemption view.

 

The implication of an old Israel

And the combining of nations in the new,

Hence, the emergence of new Israel

Made up of both Gentile and Jew.

 

 

Ushering in a new creation

Though only spiritual at this time,

Adam, the centre piece of the old

But Jesus, the first fruit of its kind.

 

Thus the old Adam and the new

Of the earth and from heaven,

None are justified by the law

But through grace all are forgiven.

 

And new here means better

As clearly shown in Hebrews

Where there are several references

Differentiating the old from the new.

 

 

The promise of a new Jerusalem

Presupposes there is an old

And in the book of Revelation

We can see this promise unfold.

 

Old Jerusalem is shown as a harlot

The New Jerusalem as a chaste bride,

Christianity acknowledges the Saviour

In the old Jerusalem he is denied.

 

The persecution of the early Church

Came firstly from the Jews,

They rode on the backs of the Romans

And the Christians they abused.

 

 

Starting with the crucifixion of Jesus,

“We have no king but Caesar,

His blood be on us and our children.”

And this fulfillment was not far.

 

God put away the old bride

When He gave her a bill of divorcement

And in the penultimate chapter of Revelation

A new bride is now present.

 

This bride is the Church of Christ

Without wrinkle and without spot,

Having been washed in the blood of Jesus

The new heavens and earth is her lot,

 

Thus a new heavens and a new earth

The first having passed away,

Behold, God makes all things new!

O what a wonderful, wonderful day!

 

Stewart Russell © November 2019