Devotionals

By Means of Death

by John Puckett 
09/11/24
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‘By means of death’ –
No softened course,
No path of cushioned ease,
No passage smooth
In gentle calm
Could circumnavigate
That destiny of death.

No other route lay open
To that future scene
Whose riches lay imprisoned
In an ancient promise
Far beyond
The reach and grasp
Of mortal men.

Long years
And generations endless
Passed in fragile hope
And frail anticipation
Of the coming day.
No eager wish,
Or strong desire,
No pious prayer,
Could gain fulfilment
Of its certain pledge.

To ease impatience
For Messiah’s dawn,
Some would at times
Invent their own Immanuel
And blindly see
A prince of earthly style
And purpose bold
To vanquish
Israel’s enemies of state.

Presumption thus
Interprets ill
The treasured promise
Of the heavenly King.

‘By means of death’ –
A course repugnant
To the tutored intellect
Of Israel’s scribes –
No less to sacrificial priests,
A path impossible
For their imagined Prophet-King.

At last He comes
At odds with human mind
And notions fair,
The Lamb of God,
To tread
The purposed path
To death –
The only means
To loose for men
Those promised riches
Of the eternal King.

‘By means of death!’
No other way.
The Giver comes
To give himself!
His life must forfeit be
To legalise that gift of life
And all his vast inheritance
Display to man.

‘By means of death’!

“He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
        Hebrews 9:15
Written after being moved by the glory and mystery of God’s only way of saving sinners.