Now Captives of Jesus, Who Reigns From Above

After spending several weeks reading, "Spiritual Affections" by Jonathan Edwards with Dianna, and interspersed with the writings of other men; after hearing the passionate exhortations of John Piper, Paul Washer, Conrad Mbewe, and Michael Karns; along with the persistent, consistent exposition of the scriptures of Gregory N. Barkman; and then, culminating with the reading of the last chapter of John Flavel's, "God Willing", and our daily passages from the MacArthur Daily Bible,with my beloved Dianna, and she asking the question, "What were those books that Paul asked for (2nd Tim 4:13)"; I went to sleep and awoke with these thoughts which began to stream forth at 5:32 a.m. 11/02/09 and by 1:09 p.m., this poem and this song came about as the result.

It is our desire that God would use these offerings of praise to move men and women to avail themselves of these gifts of His grace FOR HIS GLORY, (the members of our body that has gone before us, AS THEY BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH and have left us the heritage of the things of which they left in writing), just AS HE HAS, and we know HE WILL!

This is the Poem

Words of expression and chords of strong love,
That knit us together with those gone above.
Oh, what a vision our eyes do behold,
Reflections of mercy--Yea, treasures of gold.

O' Wondrous condescension, that God would use men,
That once were so haughty, in pride and in sin.
Works of our LORD, coruscations delight,
Given by grace, through faith in His sight.

Arrows of silver which strike to our hearts,
To make us like Jesus, in our hidden parts.
Shafts that were polished, made straight and made true,
Directed by Sovereignty, our wills to subdue.

Gifts of His glory with which we're made sure,
And quickens devotion with souls that are pure.
The voice as of one, who fled and escaped,
Declares now in Zion, our minds to reshape.

Rise up, O' remnant, and partake of His joy,
This honey from Jesus, our songs to employ,
And praise Him amidst your present estate,
And give Him the glory, all else now forsake.

What were those books that Paul did ask for,
To bring with the parchments, was Timothy's chore.
Were they that he wrote or books he was given,
By men like himself, who now are in heaven?

These secrets, we know not, and yet we know this,
That God uses men to inculcate with bliss.
The mind of our Saviour, is what we should know,
And trust in His Word, and His Spirit to grow.

Thank You Oh Father, for Flavel and Baxter,
Winslow and Bonar, and Boston and Luther,
Calvin, and Owen, and Augustine too,
Whitfield, Bunyan, Spurgeon, all now with You.

For Jones and for Edwards and all I've left out,
Who surely will rise when You call with a shout!
And all will be glory when we see Your face,
All hidden in Jesus, the new Adam's race.

A multitude so numerous You use to effect,
The grace of our Saviour, in us to perfect.
And Jesus we'll be like because of the cross,
And through sovereign mercy we'll count all else loss.

O' Father of mercies, our time is so short,
O' help us to use it, and to men exhort,
To look to the great men, made faithful in You,
And strengthen to give You the praise that is due.

Oh, wonder of wonders, we're made to behold,
With joy that's unspeakable, and glory untold.
You transcend our minds, and You cause us to see,
Partakers of holiness, and grace us to be,

Transformed to the fullness of Your sovereign Love,
Now, captives of Jesus, Who reigns from above.
Oh, one day He's coming, on this you can count.
All faith will be sight, when we're taken out.


Footnotes:
· Jones refers to D. Martin Lloyd-Jones;
· cor·us·cate: Latin coruscatus, past participle of coruscare to flash Date: 1705 1 : to give off or reflect light in bright beams or flashes : sparkle 2 : to be brilliant
· in·cul·cate Latin inculcatus, past participle of inculcare, literally, to tread on, from in- + calcare to trample, from calc-, calx heel Date: 1539 : to teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions.
************

Personal Note: In the song, all of those who are named specifically in the poem are left out for two purposes: 1) To make the song more conducive for public praise because of its length; and, 2) Most importantly, there are so many more that are not named specifically, who undoubtedly are noteworthy and praise worthy for the work of grace that was wrought in their hearts unto the glory of God, which have had, or shall have either a direct or indirect bearing upon that which has been wrought in our hearts as well, of which the writers of the scriptures themselves are not even mentioned in the poem. I have considered a title of which I think would be fitting.

Now Captives of Jesus, Who Reigns From Above

Words of expression, and chords of strong love,
That knit us together with those gone above.
Oh, what a vision, our eyes do behold,
Reflections of mercy--yea, treasures of gold.
O' wondrous condescension, that God would use men,
That once were so haughty, in pride and in sin.
Works of our Lord, coruscations delight,
Given by grace, through faith and His sight.

(Chorus)
Oh, wonder of wonders, we're made to behold,
With joy that's unspeakable, glory untold.
You transcend our minds, and You cause us to see,
Partakers of holiness, grace us to be,
Transported to the fullness of Your sovereign love,
Now captives of Jesus, Who reigns from above.

Arrows of silver which strike to our hearts,
To make us like Jesus, in our hidden parts.
Shafts that were polished, made straight, and made true,
Directed by sovereignty, wills to subdue.
Gifts of His glory with which we're made sure,
And quickens devotion with souls that are pure.
The voice as of one who has fled and escaped,
Declares now in Zion, our minds to reshape.

(Chorus)

A multitude so numerous You use to effect,
The grace of our Saviour, in us to perfect.
And Jesus we’ll be like because of the cross,
And through sovereign mercy we'll count all else loss.
Rise up, O' remnant, partake of His joy,
This honey from Jesus, our songs to employ,
And praise Him amidst your now present estate,
And give Him the glory, all else now forsake.

(Chorus)

Though secrets we know not, and yet we know this,
That God uses men to inculcate with bliss.
The mind of our Saviour, is what we should know,
And trust in His Word, and His Spirit to grow.
Oh Father of mercies our time is so short,
O' help us to use it, and to men exhort,
To look to the great men made faithful in You,
And strengthen to give You the praise that is due.

(Chorus)

Oh, wonder of wonders, we're made to behold,
With joy that's unspeakable, glory untold.
You transcend our minds, and You cause us to see,
Partakers of holiness, grace us to be,
Transported to the fullness of Your sovereign love,
Now captives of Jesus, Who reigns from above.


Note: You may notice that a few of the words were changed, and verses rearranged for the purpose of flow with the music, and because of the aforementioned proceedings. Praise be to our Father, that we are engraved on the palm of His hand, and our names are written in heaven unto His glory!!!!!