Too Late

 

 

Build a what?

An ark?

What is that?

Between my knowledge base

And this ark-thing was a huge gap.

 

But not for long,

I was given specific instructions

Which I followed to a “T”

And that without question.

 

Finally, it was completed

Down to the very last nail,

Pitched within and without

It was now ready to sail.

 

Two by two

The animals came,

Their variety of sounds

Making a cacophonous refrain.

 

Their homing devices

Set to destination, the ark,

Ordered by an unseen power

Before the imminent dark.

 

And I in awe

At this turn of events,

Meanwhile they that should know better

Refusing to repent.

 

 

Mocking and laughing

And having loads of fun,

Unaware of the pending peril

From which they cannot run.

 

That is, of course,

Unless they follow the animals

They would soon be past tense:

An eradicated people.

 

A flood?

What flood?

Old Noah, are you mad?

All of that work for absolutely nothing,

How foolish, how sad!

 

A massive boat

And no water to float it,

Poor Noah had lost his senses

And didn’t know how to quit.

 

Persistence is all right

When you are aware of your goal,

But surely not in Noah’s case

He was now in a hole.

 

 

A massive boat

Built in the middle of nowhere

With no water to sail it

And none likely to appear.

 

And so, they mocked

And so, they laughed

Not recognizing

This was their final repast.

 

 

 

An evening at the movies

Suddenly turned sour

And their fun turned to horror

That very hour.

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020

 

No Nations in Heaven

 

 

No nations in heaven

Not a single one,

God ushered in the heavenly Jerusalem

And the old was gone.

 

He didn’t start with a nation

But with one man

To whom he gave a woman

For redemption’s plan.

 

The first Adam failed

With his eyes opened wide,

That he knew what God required

Cannot be denied.

 

 

Judgement came later

In the form of a great flood,

Noah preached for 120 years

But nobody budged.

 

Eight people were saved

To repopulate the world:

Noah, his wife and six others

According to the Word.

 

Next it was Abraham

Called from among his clan

And who was instructed by God

To journey to a land.

 

Followed by Isaac

And Jacob renamed Israel

Out of whom came the twelve tribes

God’s chosen people.

 

 

In faithful Abraham

All nations are blessed

Becoming one people in Christ

Thus, entering God’s rest.

 

No nation at the start

And no nation in the end

But a people out of many nations

Christ calls his friends.

 

To all that received him

They are children of God:

A people not limited to ethnic Israel

But scattered abroad.

 

 

 

Made up of every nation,

Every kindred and tongue

Having heard the everlasting gospel

To YAHWEH now belong.

 

A people, not a nation,

Do not be mistaken!

All of ethnic Israel will not be saved;

Only those that are forgiven.

 

Now no wall of partition,

No longer Gentile and Jew,

All are one people in Christ Jesus

No chosen nation in view.

 

 

No nations in heaven

Only the people of God,

And with these God tabernacles

Though scattered abroad.

 

1 John 3:2

 

Beloved,

Now are we the sons of God,

And it doth not yet appear

What we shall be:

 

But we know that,

When he shall appear,

We shall be like him;

For we shall see him as he is.

 

The New Jerusalem

Prepared as Christ’s bride,

Coming from God out of heaven

With us to forever abide.

 

Stewart Russell ©June 13, 2025

 

God Looked Down

 

 

God looked down

And He smiled then He frowned,

He looked again

Then he saw a cross and a crown.

 

God looked down

And everything was very good,

He smiled a radiant smile

Two people in His garden stood.

 

God looked down

And then he frowned again,

Those two people had found

The path to death and pain.

 

God looked down

On eight people after the flood,

Here was another opportunity

For His children to be good.

 

God looked down

And His smile changed to a frown

For He knew all along

These children would go wrong.

 

God looked down

Across millennia of years

He frowned at the cross

But then a smile appeared.

 

 

This is my beloved Son

In whom I have infinite pleasure

For depraved humanity

This is my utmost treasure.

 

God came down

In the form of His Son

And on Calvary’s tree

Was crucified for everyone.

 

God looked down

As they mocked and ridiculed

And treated His Son

As though a lunatic and fool.

 

God looked down

And on all this he frowned

But the dawn was coming

When His smile would rain down.

 

God looked down

And that frown went away

To be replaced by the smile

As He viewed a coming day

 

For glorious in majesty

Was the Son whom he love

Sitting on the throne beside Him

In heaven above

 

God looks down

And today He still frowns

Because of every human being

Who Him has not yet found

 

But the smile returns

For everyone that comes home

And the Trinity rejoices

Around God’s throne.

 

Stewart Russell © February 2018

 

Grace Trumps Obedience

There was a man named Noah

He was mandated to build an ark

He assiduously committed to the task

Right from the very start.

It was not easy one would imagine

For this boat was very huge

But he laboured on it night and day

Due to the coming deluge.

God’s word he did not doubt

That it would rain for forty days

And so while building he also preached

To the people to change their ways.

But the people laughed him to scorn

And they continued as before

But Noah would not be deterred

And continued to preached the more.

Year after year had passed

And there was not even a trace of rain

But Noah kept on building the ark

And from his preaching did not refrain.

One could just imagine

When the first twenty years had passed

How those people must have felt

About Noah’s seagoing craft.

For there was no sea around

And not even a semblance of rain

And here was this crazy man

Building an ark in vain.

“I wonder how he would move it,”

Somebody must have thought

But none of their silly observations

Caused Noah to be distraught.

So on and on he worked

Till one hundred years had passed

And still the abuse kept on coming

But Noah stuck to the task.

  

There are some who will opine

It was Noah’s obedience that saved him

But I pause to state emphatically

That view is rather dim.

God’s word points out one and all

That before Noah had laid a plank

He had found grace in God’s own sight

It is God’s grace we have to thank.

There’s nothing that we can do

To merit the favour of God

For grace is God’s unmerited favour

And this must be spread abroad.

Noah had preached to the people around

That God would send a flood

But for one hundred and twenty years

The people against him stood.

Not one of them had repented

And had taken advantage of God’s grace

And so the flood came as appointed

And they vanished without trace.

But Noah and his immediate family

Were safe in the belly of the ark,

‘It’s time we heed the glorious message

The angelic host still bids us, “Hark!”

God’s grace is extended to one and all

As he bids us all to come in,

Would you today believe His word?

Would you be saved from your sin?

Stewart Russell © January 2018

It's Your Move

 

 

God made the first move

And He created,

Lucifer pushed back next

And he retaliated.

And thus began the war

On the draughts board of life,

Satan in his deception

Causing more and more strife.

The god of all selfishness

Versus the God of all Love,

Lucifer, son of the morning

Cast from heaven above.

A silly, selfish ambition

Beginning with the pronoun “I”

Saw war occur in heaven,

On earth many would die.

Victory number 1 to God

One-third of the angels fell,

Satan lost his place in heaven

And God created hell.

Satan became real mean

And got stuck in an evil groove,

Meanwhile God created man

 Satan made the next move.
 

He pushed at Eve in the Garden

And got her to disobey,

Again selfishness reared its head

Satan had won that day.

 

Then God made a decision

To ban man from the Garden,

Adam and Eve were banished

Satan had started his kingdom.

And so he pushed and pushed

And God countered by and by,

Cain killed Abel in his hatred

Yet another reason to sigh.

  

But another son was born

He sought the way of God’s word,

And round about that time

Men called on the name of the Lord.

But Satan was not finished yet

He had a few more moves to make,

He moved men to be very evil

And God’s word to forsake.

Every imagination was evil

Oh, they did their very worst,

God’s next move was a flood

For rain this was the very first.
 

For forty days it rained

All but eight souls were lost,

Satan had ruined the day for man

But God was still the boss.

Noah came forth from the ark

And continued to walk the walk,

Even though he got drunk one day

And there was a lot of talk.

Satan was still determined

That he must have the last move,

But God was not sidetracked

He had some things to prove.

For a moment Satan thought

That all was going his way,

But God had moved to Abraham

That was a significant day.

 

God was setting up the devil

And he didn’t even know,

In Genesis 3:15 God prophesied

About the serpent’s fatal blow.

For out of Abraham would come

One that would rescue man,

That was a four-stroke move by God

Delivered by His very hand.

The devil, limited in his sight

Did not understand this play,

And so he continued as before

Thinking all was going his way.

But God was always in control

From eternity He had planned,

The move He would eventually make

To deliver sinful man.

The four-stroke move He made

Removed much of Satan’s sting,

David became the prospect

And now Satan saw God’s king.
 

King Saul had played the fool,

Satan snatched him from the board,

But King David would be a type

Of our coming King and Lord.

God made His greatest move

With the devil’s men in disarray,

The Christ child born in Bethlehem
On that first Christmas day.

On that first Christmas day.

The devil became desperate

And tried his evil worst,

To kill that tiny baby boy

Before he rid us of the curse.

But God was ahead of Satan’s play

And protected Jesus His Son,

Even though Satan thought he’d won

When Jesus died in the crucifixion.

Satan misunderstood the cry he made

When Jesus cried, “It’s finished!”

For Satan that cry had really meant,

“You have lost!  You are diminished!”

In three days time the King of kings

Had risen from the grave,

Satan tried to keep him down

But Jesus vanquished that knave.

 

This game is now all but complete

With the Holy Spirit in control,

Why not open your heart to him?

It’s your move: hell or heaven’s roll.

Stewart Russell © 2014