A Worthy Comparison

 

 

Not a comparison I hear,

More of a contrast,

The wisemen had the shepherds

Totally outclassed.

 

I beg to differ

And I will show you why,

If you consider the following,

It can’t be denied.

 

They were both looking

While daily engaged,

This made these two seekers

Equally sage.

 

They both found

Though not the same time

For it was the Almighty God

That gave them signs.

 

 

Angels on one hand

And a star on the other,

Giving directions to baby Jesus

Without a bother,

 

Directed as instructed,

Both found the treasure

And understanding its significance

Brought great pleasure.

 

The God-Man

For both the high and low

Be they shepherd or wiseman,

Christ paid the toll.

 

An infinite price

For a finite soul,

One way for wise and otherwise

To enter the fold.

 

 

One entrance point

For shepherds and wise

All must bow before the Christ

Shy of any disguise.

 

For he sees the sham

Of the so-called wise,

And them pretending to be wise

But in their own eyes.

 

All one in Christ:

Shepherd and wiseman

And all who accept the offer

Of redemption’s plan.

 

Brought back again:

Both shepherd and king

And of God’s great benevolence

Both can sing.

 

A place in the kingdom

For both the high and low

Who, once knowing the Saviour,

No hierarchy knows.

 

 

Same for Jew and Gentile

Same for rich and poor,

Shepherd and wiseman must enter

 At the same door.

 

The door, Christ Jesus,

Who is the way

And trillions can’t change this,

It’s already paid.

 

Stewart Russell © December 9, 2024

 

Immanuel

 

 

Therefore

The Lord himself shall give you a sign;

Behold,

A virgin shall conceive,

And bear a son,

And shall call his name

Immanuel.

 

A prophecy from Isaiah

Fulfilled in the Christ,

Jesus, the anointed One

Does suffice.

 

Yes, he is sufficient

For both you and me

And his once for all sufficiency

Was shown at Calvary.

 

A figure of ridicule

Rejected by his own

Mocked and scorned by Jews

And there died alone.

 

True there were others

But for their crime they died,

But Immanuel, the God-Man,

For us there abide.

 

None was good enough

To pay sin’s ransom,

Only Jesus, the Christ could-

God’s only Son.

 

So, at this festive time

We call the Christmas tide,

As we celebrate his nativity

Note he also died.

 

From a cradle at Bethlehem

To a cross at Calvary,

God in his humanity paid

Sin’s price for you and me.

 

 

Once and for all!

There can be no repeat,

For he triumphed over the grave

And sits in his heavenly seat.

 

Given a name

That is above all names,

The born-again can now say

Our Messiah reigns.

 

On that Christmas morn

When the heavens did ring,

Listen, as the herald angels sang

Glory to the new born king.

 

So, we celebrate a cradle,

A cross and a crown

And thank our Heavenly Father

That Jesus came down…

 

From heaven to earth

That first Christmas morn

And the impossible is possible,

A man can be reborn.

 

 

 

In fact, rebirth is a must

As Jesus told Nicodemus

And this can only be accomplished

Because of Jesus.

 

For God so loved,

That He gave Jesus, His Son,

That the penitent sinner

To Him can come.

 

Come to Him today

At this Christmas tide,

For the promise is to you and me!

In us He will abide.

 

God with us

Says his name, Immanuel,

With Jesus as our Saviour,

All is well.

 

Stewart Russell © December 15, 2023

Adam’s Soliloquy

I am Adam

The first man

Formed by God’s own hand

Straight out of the land

Not a natural birth

Molded from the earth

One of a kind

Not another origin like mine

This is my wife, Eve

Note Eve, not Steve

She is really different

With differing intent

Bone of my bone, yes

And flesh of my flesh

The most beautiful sight in all of Eden

Our first home an amazing garden

You may say

It was too good to last

One disobedient step

And it was a thing of the past

God gave a warning though to Eve and me

Never to eat of a particular tree

But we both disobeyed

And all of humanity was made to pay

Driven from that garden in a hurry

Our first experience of God’s fury

Apart from the tree of life

Into a world of sin and strife

Out of us twain

Came our first born, Cain

After that Abel and Seth

Were followed by all of the rest

Disabuse your mind of Mother Earth

Cain is the first of natural birth

All of our children came

Through birth pangs and much pain

  

And now you’re reading this

Here’s something you shouldn’t miss

You are one of my clan

And one of Eve’s great grans

How different things had become

Very early on we lost Abel, one son

Killed by the other out of jealousy

Sin had filled Cain’s heart with murderous envy

Imagine our great pain and void

Imagine no daily news or tabloid

Imagine when we first got the news

About the way our first-born did choose

Choosing to slay his brother

Then walking away without a bother

Reprimanding God in the process

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” was his protest

Soon my entire family was torn apart

Bringing much grief to Eve’s and my heart

Cain continued in his ungodly way

Further and further from God he strayed

But out of Seth came a line

That called out to God in that time

Enoch walk with God for three hundred years

And one day, just like that, he just disappeared

Reminds me of a time when in the future

This will happen to every born again believer

One moment that great company will be here

The next the entire throng will disappear

A day is but a thousand years in God’s sight

With Him there is no morning, noon and night

We reckoned by the appearing of the great sunlight

God sits in eternity through His infinite might

Each time I recall the following I can only sigh

“The day that you eat thereof you will surely die”

None has ever reached that thousand year score

Nine hundred sixty-nine was Methuselah’s, not a year more

I was one of the ‘nine-hundred’ achievers

Besides me there were only five others

We were certainly limited by what was prophesied

In that before one thousand years we would all die

Nine hundred years experiencing the curse

Nine hundred years regretting my sin, the first

Nine hundreds years of sorrow and bereft

Nine hundred years with the prospect of death

How I wished I could return again to that start

How I dreamed after Eden with all of my heart

How I longed for that communion never to part

How I yearned for Father’s fellowship deep in my heart

Within a single day in God’s sight

All my sunshine had turned to night

It appeared Satan had won this particular fight

But suddenly I recalled something much to my delight

At first I did not understand

When first banished from the Eden land

It was not all a curse but there was a blessed strand

Of grace extended from God’s own hand

Enmity will rage between Satan and man

And it would appear as though man will be damned

But Satan’s onslaught will be a temporary show

For the Messiah will deliver him a fatal blow

Even now as I reminisce these hundreds of years

Nine hundred years of toil and fret and cares

I introduce to you the second Adam

God’s Son and my Saviour, the God-Man

Since I walked the face of this earth

Thousands of years have passed with billions of births

By now you should be looking back at Calvary’s cross

And thanking God you don’t have to be lost

In the garden I fell

In the garden Jesus excelled

I fell to my first trial

But he triumphed over Belial

I sold out the human race

Jesus was the conduit of God’s grace

My love was flawed I do regret

But Jesus’ love is absolutely perfect

I caused death but he brought life

I wilted under pressure but Jesus conquered in the strife

I took all I could but he just gives and gives

I died and decayed but Jesus died and yet lives

I was the first Adam and Jesus the second

There are mostly contrasts but little comparison

My demise was due to my own offense

But his death was for our recompense

He died that you and I can be made alive

It doesn’t matter what Satan and his demons contrive

Death shall be swallowed up and the grave will be no more

As Jesus reveals all that he has in store

I am Adam

The first man

This is my soliloquy

My heat felt plea

Stewart Russell © 2016