The Work

Long ago when time was not,
The world and we, but God's good thought,
By love and joy His work begun,
By three, the frame of time was hung.
By Father, Son and Spirit too,
Each one in three, it one so true.

Then Live gave live in love and toil.
Yes, we began from dust and soil.
The image of God on us did rest.
His mighty hand in joy did bless.
For light and life and Adam came.
Then came Eve, her frame the same.

Now Adam chose to trust God's foe,
And eat the fruit that God said no,
And we were cast in death so strong,
Enticed by sin, we followed the throng.
But God is love, in love came He.
The Son in babe in flesh to be,
The lamb of God, His blood to shed,
To cover my sin, my life to web.

With scourge of flesh, oh down to bone.
Nails in hands and feet - no groan.
A crown of thorns upon His brow;
In grief and shame and death is how -
New work He did, yet greater still
That brings us home by His good will.

He rose from death that could not hold,
And lifted up that gruesome load,
And cast our sins from east to west,
And stripped that devil, that awesome pest,
All power he held, the 'ticing sway,
All power, all rule, yes, on that day.

So, see Him there, He, on that cross?
Without His death, my soul was lost!
And now it's up to use to choose
His death for ours or we shall lose.
For He's the way, the truth, the life
That ends our sinful, daily strife.
He did it all, no one but He.
God, the Son, the servant be.

In love He broke across all time
To set our lives and His in rhyme.