Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org
JESUS - THE CHRIST OF GOD: HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY
By Leslie Armstrong
THE CHRIST OF GOD
He is altogether lovely
He was born more than nineteen hundred years ago
He was born of a virgin
He lived before He was born
He was rich before He was born
He became poor after He was born
The Scriptures foretold His birth hundreds of years before He was born
Where He would be born
When He would be born
How He would be born
Why He would be born
The Infinite became the Infant
He who put the stars in space put Himself into the arms of a young Jewish maiden
He was formed in her womb
He came out of eternity into time
Out of Heaven into Earth
Out of the Ivory Palaces
Into a stable
Out of a sinless world
Into a world of sin
Out of a tearless world
Into a world of tears
The Great Creator became the Saviour
The Son of God became the Son of man.
He became on Earth what He had never been in Heaven,
He took upon Himself flesh and blood
When He was born midnight darkness became midday light
When He died midday light became midday night
He was born in poverty and raised in obscurity
He humbled Himself in His birth
He humbled Himself in His life
He humbled Himself in His death
He lived to enrich others
In His birth He was an exception
In His life He was an example
In His death He was a sacrifice
In His resurrection He was a Conqueror
In His ascension He was a King
In His intercession He is the High Priest
In infancy He startled a king
In boyhood He puzzled doctors
In manhood He healed without medicine
He never walked on carpet, but He walked on the sea
The winds and the waves obeyed Him
He was despised and rejected of men
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief
He bore the scorn of men who said
"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
He had nowhere to lay His head
He was in the wilderness without food
At Sychar's well without water
In life without a penny
In Pilate's Hall without a friend
He was born in another man's stable
He rode on another man's donkey
He crossed the lake in another man's boat
He was buried in another man's tomb
He was sold for thirty pieces of silver
The price of a slave
At the close of the day the people went to their own homes
He went up into a mountain to pray
He slept under the open sky
The birds and beasts were His companions
They heard Him speak in Holy conversation
To His Heavenly Father
He came down early in the morning
To begin a new day in the service of others
He never had to apologise
He never spoke an unkind word
He loved the children and took them in His arms
He went about doing good
He wept yet He healed many a broken heart
He fed a multitude with a boy's lunch
He touched the leper and made him whole
He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb
He stopped a funeral procession, raised a young man to life, and gave him back to his widowed mother
He lived a busy life, yet He was never too busy to help someone in need
He was God's only Son, yet He was a missionary
He chose twelve men to be with Him,
and after His resurrection He told them to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature
They were to begin at Jerusalem
The place where they crucified Him
What grace, what mercy, what love divine
Because of Him Pilate and Herod were made friends
Before He died
He gave His widowed mother over to John
He gave His pardon to a thief
He gave His body to the Cross
He gave His peace to His own
He gave His spirit to God
When He willed to die He died
As He willed He said: "I lay down my life that I might take it again"
"I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again."
He died in crucifixion. He did not die of crucifixion.
He was the worshipped Christ of Bethlehem
Then wearied Christ of Sychar's well
The weeping Christ of Bethany
The willing Christ of Gethsemane
The wounded Christ of Calvary
He will forever be, the worthy Christ of Eternity
Never man spake like this Man
Never man stooped like this Man
Never man suffered like this Man
Never man saved like this Man
Never man satisfied like this Man
He is
Approved by God
Acknowledged by angels
Adored by saints
Feared by demons
He is
A living Saviour
A loving Saviour
An everlasting Saviour
A life-giving Saviour
Two Testaments are needed to explain Him
Two natures are needed to express Him
Two worlds are needed to enjoy Him
He is the theme of innumerable sermons
By innumerable preachers
In innumerable places
And the half has never yet been told
He is the theme of innumerable books,
in innumerable libraries,
And the half has never yet been written
He is the loveliest, purest, holiest Man who ever lived
Hear Heaven's testimony of Him
"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased"
Hear Hell's testimony of Him
"He is the Holy One of God"
Hear humanity's testimony of Him
Men from all walks of life have spoken well of Him
Pilate said
"I find no fault in Him"
Pilate's wife said
"He is a just man"
The Roman Centurion said
"Truly this Man was the Son of God"
The thief on the Cross said
"This Man hath done nothing amiss"
Judas said
"I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood"
Paul said
"He knew no sin"
Peter said
"He did no sin"
John said
"In Him is no sin"
The writer to the Hebrews said
"He is holy, harmless, undefiled"
Holy God-ward
Harmless man-ward
Undefiled sin-ward
He was born to die
With the Cross always before Him He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and from the track He turned not back
Somewhere about the centre of the earth
The centre person of the Godhead
Died on a centre cross, giving His blood a ransom for many.
Because of Him heaven will never be empty
Because of Him hell will never be full
His virgin birth
His virtuous life
His vicarious death
His victorious resurrection
His visible return
All are staggering surprises
He never wrote a book
He never built a church
Yet after more than nineteen hundred
years books are still be written about Him, and churches are still
being built for His worship and praise and glory
Sin couldn't touch Him
Corruption couldn't get His body
He is light for my darkness
Bread for my hunger
Water for my thirst
Strength for my weakness
Life for my death
He never gives me up
He never lets me down
He never forsakes me
He is all that He said He was
He never ceased to be what He had always been before He became man
He is ever living
Ever loving
Ever lasting
Language will never exaggerate Him
He restored that which He took not away
Because of who He is
Men fell down and worshipped Him at Bethlehem
Bowed at His feet at Calvary
Stood on their feet at Pentecost
And will sit with Him on His throne in Glory
In His sacrifice for us He became all that God must judge, so that in Him we become all that God cannot judge
Sinful men thought evil against Him but God meant it unto good
He is the eye of God guiding
He is the ear of God hearing
He is the hand of God guiding
He is the feet of God walking
He is the mind of God thinking
He is the heart of God throbbing
He is God
Heaven will ring with His praises for ever and ever
The song of the redeemed is an eternal song and will be sung eternally
The saints shall ever behold the lovely face of the altogether lovely One
He was the Man of Galilee
He was the Man of Sychar's Well
He was the Man of Gethsemane
He was the Man of Calvary
The One who climbed the skull-shaped
hill outside the city wall of Jerusalem and on an old rugged cross bled
and died for Adam's fallen sinful race, and yet passed by fallen angels
Well might the rocks end
God forsaken by God
" 'Tis mystery all the immortal dies"
Has Satan won the prize - Never!
Will Hell forever rejoice - Never!
The crucified Christ rose again the third day, as He said He would
He who hung between two foulmouthed murderers, died and was buried, and rose again never more to die
Death hath no more dominion over Him
The Victim of Good Friday became the Victor of Easter Sunday
The best news of this old world ever heard shouted out from a graveyard
"He is not here, He is risen"
His resurrection assures us that
from every burial ground throughout the ages and throughout the world,
"the dead in Christ shall rise"
The shout of victory shall sound forth, "O grave where is thy victory?"
You got us but you couldn't keep us
As steel is drawn to the magnet so we with our dear departed shall rise to meet our dear Saviour in the air
What a reunion! I wouldn't miss it for anything
What a moment! When the saints go marching in
What a sight! To behold Him whom our souls love
For those in Christ it will be a day without a sunset
For those out of Christ it will be a night without a dawn
He shall reign triumphant King of Kings and Lord of lords and of His kingdom there shall be no end
He will reign from the New
Jerusalem, whose streets are paved with pure gold. That sinless,
tearless, deathless city. That land of endless delight, with no
doctor's surgeries, no health clinics, no old people's homes, no
funeral parlours, no cemeteries, no goodnight's and no good byes
The Lamb
Typified in the Old Testament
Identified at the River Jordan
Crucified on Golgotha's Hill
Gloried in Heaven
Came into a world declared to be a
disaster area, dealt with that God-hating, soul damning thing called
"sin" and destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the Devil
He stung death to death with His death
What a wonder -
That He could die
That He should die
That He would die
That He did die
Must we not pour contempt on all our pride?
Greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends
He cannot love me more
He will never love me less
Heaven's highest place is His
He must reign
He will reign
He is precious said the Apostle Peter
Just how precious cannot be fully explained
Precious in life
Precious in death
Precious when the stars have passed away
The God appointed Saviour
The only Saviour is my Saviour
I'll never stop loving Him
Had I ten thousand hearts I'd give them all to Him
He and I in that fair mansion,
One great joy shall share
Mine to be forever with Him,
His that I am there
The life that I have
And the love that I have
Are His
Forever
This is my Beloved and this is my Friend
THE END
The Word of God - Written in similar style by Colin Maxwell.