Poetry About Jesus and Salvation 

Martha Snell Nicholson - Page 3

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law" (1 Corinthians 15:55-56)

THE FACE OF DEATH

Death wears a strange and dreadful face.

For days and months and years

I would not look, but turned aside

With loathing and with fears.

But now I know that to God's child

Death never comes alone

To fright the soul, for with him walks

My Lord, my Blessed One!

And so when death shall come to me

I need not see his face,

For I shall turn and hide my eyes

Upon His breast whose grace

Abounds beyond my deepest need,

Beyond my latest breath.

And He will gently take me home, and I

Shall never see the face of death.

"Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

"HE EVER LIVETH TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR US"

You may forget to pray for me, my friend. O shame,

I may forget to pray for you, but praise His name

There ever liveth One who stands before God's throne,

And day and night makes intercession for His own!

Can fear or worry, sin or failure, find a place

Within this guarded life of mine? O matchless grace

Of Him who knows and meets my every need as He,

The wondrous Lord of glory, daily prays for me!

"Go ye to all the world!"

GO YE TO ALL THE WORLD

And have we gone?

Are we unruffled, knowing that the dawn,

in heathen lands means but a day begun,

Another day without the blessed Sun

Of Righteousness and Peace, another day

When souls who have forever lost the way

Sink deeper in the dark morass of sin,

Hopeless and lost, at last to enter in

To an eternal night? . . .

Ah, God of love

And tender pity, from Thy throne above

Beholding them, and willing not that one

Should ever perish, Thou didst send Thy Son,

Who bought them with His blood. But unto us,

To us, Thou didst entrust the glorious

And wondrous news, and into our weak hands

Didst place the torch to lighten heathen lands!

Strengthen our arms, dear Lord, to hold it high!

O ransomed of the Lord, if you and I

Fail in this thing, "Their blood," I hear Him say,

"Will I require of you upon that day!"

"Go ye to all the world! Is it a task

To do for Me this one last thing I ask?"

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19)

THE "MORE SURE WORD"

Though men's hearts fail for fear

Of what is yet to be,

We have a Word more sure,

The Word of prophecy,

Whereunto we do well

That we take heed, for we,

Even His feeblest ones,

Are children of the light

And not of darkness. God

Has touched our eyes with sight

To read signs of His times,

Which if we read right

Our heart grow bold with hope.

For He has said, "The wise,

The wise, shall understand."

Lift up your longing eyes,

O watchers for His dawn,

Behold His daystar rise!

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13)

BLESSED HOPE

There's a trembling in my heart

As I watch the year depart,

There's a glory and a light,

And a hope that grows more bright.

Before this coming year has gone,

Some wistful dusk, some misty dawn,

Or burning noon my Lord may come

For me at last, and take me home!

Oh, I've read about my Lord

In the pages of His Word,

And I've learned about His ways

As He ordered all my days;

I have leaned upon His arm

As He shielded me from harm,

And I've even heard Him speak

When I was afraid, or weak.

Yes, my cup is running o'er

Yet I yearn for more and more

Of His riches and His grace . . .

This year I may see His face!

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7)

APART FROM GOD

Pain wrung from Him no cry. The dying Lamb of God

Was mute. Though blow on blow

Fell on His quivering flesh, though He was wrenched

and torn, And from His sacred brow

Dripped blood, His only cry was one of loneliness,

"Thou has forsaken Me,

O God!" . . . For Him a deeper woe than anguish of

The tortured flesh, for He

Who knew no sin was yet made sin for you and me.

Beneath that dreadful load

Of guilt our Lord was dying there as sinners all

Must die -- apart from God.

As you and I would one day die, apart from God

Through all eternity,

Except for Him who bore the wrath of God for us

That day on Calvary!

"And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads" (Revelation 22:4)

ON READING AN ADVERTISEMENT OF A TRIP TO THE HOLY LAND

It would be sweet could I see it,

That land where the Saviour walked,

The quiet roads in the gloaming,

The hills where He sat and talked.

My heart would be ever searching

For some dear trace of Him there,

His footprints in the meadows,

The tones of His voice in the air.

My hand would be ever questing,

With finger tips athrill

For an ancient wall or a rock where

His touch might linger still.

My feet would falter in anguish

At the place where my dear Lord died,

My very soul would be sobbing,

My heart would be crucified.

Yes, it would be sweet could I see it,

But my cup is filled to the brim

With the blessed hope of seeing soon

Not the place where He dwelt -- but Him!

LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS

"Lo, I am with you always."

Softly the promise steals

Like sunlight into my shadows

And brightens and warms and heals.

Heals my anguish of spirit

An horror of loneliness,

Flooding my heart's dark chambers,

Words that comfort and bless.

"Lo, I am with you always."

He, my Saviour and King.

Making my heart His palace!

I, though a broken thing,

Am housing my blessed Master;

Together we sup and dine,

Together we hold sweet converse

Over the bread and wine.

And always He goes before me

On my thorn-strewn paths of pain;

Never will He forsake me

Nor leave me alone again.

Sweet is His voice in the twilight

As the evening shadows blend,

"Lo, I am with you always,

Even unto the end!"

THESE DIE NOT

Loveliness and melody,

Starlight, Smiling flowers,

All sweet winds blowing;

Dreams and wistful dusks

And far horizons --

All things pass.

Time's disillusionments,

Life's tangled threads,

All pain

And long night watches;

Broken hopes,

And loneliness --

All things pass.

The Word of God,

His Son's shed blood,

The empty tomb on Easter morn,

Heaven and Hell,

And human souls --

These things shall never pass,

Shall never die!

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever" (Psalms 23:5-6)

MY BODYGUARD

He has given His angels charge over me

To keep me in all my ways,

And goodness and mercy shall follow me

As guardians, all my days.

Though the road be fraught with peril and plague

I shall never tread it alone.

They will bear me up in their gentle hands

Lest I dash my foot on a stone;

They will tenderly guide my steps, and check

My feet when I go astray

I need not fear the terror by night,

Nor the arrow that flies by day.

Though the mountains be moved to the midst of the sea,

They will set me upon a rock.

Yea, goodness and mercy will safely keep

This last least lamb of His flock.

They will bear me on eagles' wings at last

To a City wide and fair,

And goodness and mercy will dwell with me

In the light of His presnce there.

"And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it" (Revelation 21:24)

THE KING COMES

Today I heard a king's voice speaking

Through magic of the radio,

With blare of music, and drums beating --

The pomp that only kings may know --

And cheering multitudes to give him

The honour that is but his due.

Yet in my heart a wistful longing

As I wondered if he knew,

If he knew a day is coming

When his ears shall hear the words,

"Every knee must bow before Me,

King of kings and Lord of lords!"

And I breathed a prayer for monarchs,

I, so humble and unknown,

"Touch and teach that king, and make him

Thy servant, Lord, upon his throne!"

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth; surely every man is vanity. Selah" (Psalms 39:11)

BEAUTY DYING

Beauty dying

Has its poignancy --

Opal sunsets

Fading into gray:

Autumn's crimson

Dropping from the trees,

Pearl smoke spirals

Lost upon the breeze;

Quivering last note

Of a violin --

Eve in Eden's garden,

Marred with sin.

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