A bit of a cheat as I 've had this half done for ages - but I thought I would have a go at finishing it. (I know religious poems are boring - Meh...It's Easter sunday here!).
Apoligies for the length...but I should get some points for managing to shoehorn the entire OT into one poem...it's a big book!
103 secrets - The bigger picture
(An acrostic history!)
Introduction
Forget not the words on which you feed, this earthly temple in which you breathe
Omission is forgiven, but once chewed as food, the reaction chain, gains locomotion.
Rest not on laurels of leaven learning, lest the lictor of this lie lays the final wreath.
Go fish if impoverished! Follow footsteps of those who rose in heavenly promotion.
Our earthly temple, designer planned; earth bound foundations, heaven bound spires.
Devine design has lifted the lowly; a desert dwelling now designated a royal residence.
Slumber not while the royal flag is in sight, slovenly, sleeping servants risk being fired!
Observant servants find a kinder King - goodness and grace, their comfort and confidence.
In the beginning
Love’s story starts in the lover’s heart. The great I am – him set apart. The everlasting God.
Over all he breathed - and life was birthed, first in his plan, then expanding to all the Earth
Vessels of agape fidelities. Beloved dove of true love; vestal vines on this sphere, this sod
Evening shadows gave their gold, and there in dappled shade, love and union came to birth.
Dammed the day that sin held sway, a vassal state was born that day. Thus out of joint, out of mind,
Time, ill met, the clock set; a veil was placed to keep apart the great I am from cold stone hearts.
Hence forth mankind would err contend with thorn and flesh, lost to love they toiled in daily grind.
Everlasting, ever true, eternal love will follow through; from first to last, never leave, never depart.
Wilderness wandering - his doves. A heart is marked - a poignant but pitiful pile of stones.
Obdurate the greater part, most stones were tossed aside, lost amongst the debris of the tide.
Ruach Elohim, resides, remains above everything. Love is thus placed upon the lowly thrones
Least loved in all the land, one altar stone, (hot not cold), left to hold the wrath of God aside.
Dreaded day the rains held sway, the sod was lost. Weary, wooden love weathered the waves.
The blessed blue print plan was saved. Love still endured, and with eternal rainbows was reassured
Hence forth all floods by loves fierce force withheld. Tidal waves on-going, grace and love to save
Awakening in Abraham, first faith, flower like, fragrant, finally emerged; graced and love insured
Time to reap, time to sow; like grains of sand the growth of love, windblown, will ebb and flow
Hades bayed for blood. The olive branch now obsolete. Love tested thus, his word to be obeyed
Eager son to play his part, a sacrifice to make. The father’s hand was raised - not slack, nor slow
Grabbed, held back. A black backed goat - a garnish of grace. A trade made. The word belayed.
Arrested love was wrought with wrong, he wrestled. Wrenched in pain; his gain, a family name.
Victory he grasps and gains. Face to face from royal mace, a blessing, a heritage, a name to save.
Exported to Egypt, the coveted, coloured coat - crushed and blood soaked. His son, sold for shame
Heavenly blessings brought to bare much grain to share. Bones of faith - gathered to grace the grave.
Israel increased and filled the land. Far greater than Abraham had counted the stars and the sand
Sons of worthy family name, the claim to fame now long since dead. Instead, spread mortal dread
Oppressed, opposed, the dread addressed with whips and building bricks, limping labour on the land
No ear could hear, nor eye or mind perceive, the means by which they gained reprieve. Left for dead.
Embraced by love, expatriate, a bruised and broken reed. Friend forever - he learned to lead and feed.
Another bud drawn from the foreign mud, became a song and sign, to lift the heart and draw the mind.
Nebulous and needless, the nomadic navigations; necessary, that love might find true and sound seeds.
Delivered and drawn the mulish mutineers, converge to call like doves, longing for love like a lost hind
Obedience, tendered in a tent – repentance, then restoration. Open opportunity for love to tabernacle.
Notwithstanding previous sin, love was waiting there within; behest behind the curtain and cherubim
Law locked love, looked to the lanced lamb - borrowed blood, the price paid to shake off the shackles
Yahweh led, his family followed. Scorched sin silenced; then rising up from harp and bowl – a hymn
The middle interval
Soft the sound of footsteps in sand, Israel entered the land.
Omnipotence and omnipresent love held them in his hand
Nimrod nailed; against the stain of sin they took their stand
To obey or not to obey; obnoxious or obedient - the words of life or death, given as air to breathe.
Halted, halved - hydrostatic. Twelve tribes of stones, selected each their own; homeland locomotion.
Altars attended; attention and attendance asked for. Living stones walked the walls - a final wreathe.
Turning tides move fast or slow, hands shown - judged. Waxing and waning – demotion or promotiion.
Whined and whinged for - a king. Weakness and want; ill-founded faith kindled in human spires.
Half hearted and hopeless. Divided and double minded. Reproved the royal rule and residence
Outward appearances appeal, but love looks at the heart. Failing and forsaken love, the arrow fired
Easy n light amour’s armour. Six small stones in the hand well fitted; found - faith and confidence
Victorious the view that few ever knew. Hidden in the heart, a vision of the vast virtues of God.
Esteemed tokens of treasure will tarnish with time. A greater glory resides n rules over all the Earth.
Royal blood, newly attested, approved; loyal in love, lingered to watch an arrow fall to the sod.
Battles within and without. Neighbours, fathers, brothers - bathed in blood. Peace brought to birth.
Eager and earnest subjects, sealed their fidelities and favours at Hebron. One of heart and mind.
Lifelong liberation, wrought by wading in the water shaft. The joy of Jerusalem held in the heart
Impotent, the inanimate idols ejected. Purged all pagan practice. Blessings given; grain to grind.
Easy on the ears to hear – the angelical army above. Waves of water caused the enemy to depart
Venerated, the valuable vessel – the ark is attended. Bemoaned and atoned the violated stones
Ecstatic enthusiasm, the mark of the man. Six steps, the seventh bathed in blood, a turning tide
Spiritual stones cannot stand alone. Peace postponed; blood on the hands and upon the throne.
Infused with inspired inspiration – to be sealed in seamless stones, the tired tent tossed aside.
Never needy, nor naïve. Affirmed, approved throne. A warehouse of wisdom rolled out like waves
His heritage pre-paid – Peace and prosperity. Blood debts decisively dealt with. Richly reassured
Inbuilt inclinations - buildings and crenellation. Lavishly laid, stone on stone. A vision made to save.
Magnificent, majestic; a mother materialises. An open door, sunlit set apart – love and light insured
Shiekinah glory shown for all to own and know. The liquid love of God remained yet freely flowed.
Halleluiahs in hallowed halls; his heart and eyes ever fixed, never to depart. His observances obeyed.
Allowed the best, all at rest. Settled trust and falling dust. Foreign fellowship – the flow began to slow
Like fleeting flowers, wisdom wilted, faded and fell. No sound shoots showing - a blessing belayed.
Look the lion in the lair, Judah claimed his mother’s domain; his brother took the family name.
Nothing new under the sun – some sons shone, others undone. A grave evil; only grace to save.
Objections orated by prophets proclaiming the word. Logged logos - the hall of fame to shame
Those few who knew – Judah’s pride in parade, gave as given, a grace to save from the grave.
Passing prophet, a parting presence, mantle maintained. Twice would be nice! Doubly done dry sand
Ebbing, flowing the flotsam of folly - the turning tide. First light, a fight - lost. A fearsome dread
Re-called, re-read, a recital. Then the tatty, tarnished temple is tended. Released peace lies on the land
Internal inspection revealing infection, to be cauterised and cut off. High blown cold ash; left for dead.
Singular, secular, a state of sin. Manacled mother, led to foreign lands – hands tied, unable to feed.
Hardened hearts hauled away. Exile executed; a vine eviscerated. Deadened and devastated minds.
Brought back from the brink – released to restore and rebuild. Reproved, reformed – stored seeds.
Unadorned and scorned, the stones are uplifted. Likewise hearts and minds of thirsty does and hinds
The tapestry of time weaves the word washed with wisdom. Time tested, attested to tabernacle.
Happy day the word held sway. Re-read, re-pledged, renewed. Costly corolla above the cherubim.
Adonai allocution to give illumination; driving down in drawing darkness and shattering the shackles
“
Verily the vine, the vessel of the sacred wine, will send forth a new shoot. So sing and make hymn”.
The conclusion
Elected then collected, a nation named and claimed.
Exposed in exploitation. Gifts of grace or shamed
Tested in tribute. In-dwelling daily deliverer named
Eden embodied; heart and mind and soul inflamed.
Radically rearranged positions and priorities
Newborn to necrotic, gain God given authority
Atoned altar stones – intended for the majority
Life of love and grace - lived by the minority.
The end of the old ……(John 3:16)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart; never from your mind let this thought depart.
Infallible, intimate infusion. Incredible love laid out. Hidden hearts, hand held. Set apart.
Favoured fortress. Visible, a love indivisible. Incoming and parting targets of love’s darts
Emmanuel enveloped from door to veil encoded. A pattern portrayed from the very start.
