Sword of Death, Plough of Life

Behold the man, the Lamb of God.
Suffering, redeeming, saving us all.

The chain broken,
the garden restored,
the veil ripped in two.

The great gates of heart opened
to what was,
to what is,
to what is yet to come.

Sword of death
so bent on destruction
now transformed
by each blow on the anvil
of innocence
of life laid down, not taken
diving down to halt
the great gears of judgement.

In his life finding death
so we in our death could find life.
Facing the evil one's grin,
bearing the weight of our sin.

Plough of life
in hands of the Great Farmer
tilling ground
so dusty, so fruitless
but now transformed
now yielding a great harvest.

Ground made fertile
by water and blood
coming forth from his side.
Now deep asleep and pierced,
prepared to bring forth his bride.

Having rested on the seventh day
the darkness of the tomb gave way.
For the light of love was too strong
in death and darkness to belong.
Now the new week has begun
with the rising of the Righteous One.
The world would find itself anew,
if only hearing so it knew.

Ready your hearts,
for all has been prepared.
Behold, the wedding feast of the Lamb.

There is a lot of Biblical and meta-Biblical imagery (both on the surface and a bit below it) that I tried to pack into this one (perhaps even too much for some tastes). But I'd like to get at least the first reaction before explaining some of the less obvious imagery.

Wonderful!

Sword of Death, Plough of Life

(Review, what are the images in the poem)


Behold the man, the Lamb of God. Jesus the Sweet Lamb of God, our saviour, suffering for us to save us all
Suffering, redeeming, saving us all.







The chain broken, The chain of the death broken, we are restored to the garden of life with God that was lost
the garden restored,




the veil ripped in two. As the veil in the temple was ripped in two we come face to face with the living God

The great gates of heart opened His Spirit lives within us our hearts are completely melted



to what was, We know we were dead



to what is, We know we are alive, He is with us so heaven is in us



to what is yet to come. We are destined for heaven



Sword of death The curse of death from the fall, from the sin



so bent on destruction which would have destroyed us
now transformed


by each blow on the anvil Each blow our lord took, an act of love, innocent of any guilt He stopped the great judgement


of innocence Of us that He loves infinitely
of life laid down, not taken
diving down to halt
the great gears of judgement.




In his life finding death He died so we could live
so we in our death could find life.



Facing the evil one's grin, He spoiled the evil ones plan of dooming us because of our sin
bearing the weight of our sin.

Plough of life He trims us, causes us to be fruitful. For each one of us the gentle loving hand trims with the
in hands of the Great Farmer our unfruitful parts so we will yield a great harvest for the One we love
tilling ground
so dusty, so fruitless
but now transformed
now yielding a great harvest.

Ground made fertile The ground (our heart) that is to yield 100, 60, or 30 fold is has been nourished by grace
by water and blood by the blood he shed and the pierced side where water flowed
coming forth from his side.


Now deep asleep and pierced, Deep sleep, death, after being pierced
prepared to bring forth his bride. Now ready to bring His bride to Him

Having rested on the seventh day Saturday He rested in the tomb
the darkness of the tomb gave way. for death could not keep Him
For the light of love was too strong Death could not triumph because The Father loves the Son and raised Him from the dead
in death and darkness to belong.
Now the new week has begun Sunday the glorius resurection, everything became new, The King of Glory Triumphant! Yes!
with the rising of the Righteous One.
The world would find itself anew,
if only hearing so it knew.

Ready your hearts, Bow down, humble yourselves before the mighty Living God accept His pardon
for all has been prepared. The wedding feast of the lamb is prepared, go to the highways and byways invite all,
Behold, the wedding feast of the Lamb. those who were invited were found to be not worhty
Such great joy, drinking wine in the resurection, feasting and Loving everlastingly our Savior
that loves us so much.

The formating got a destroyed before I could save it.

I got carried away somewhat and started editorialize....ie went outside of the poems content.....

Thank you. I like the review. The details are largely in line with what I had in mind. I'll add some commentary about some overarching "big ideas" behind the poem.

The starting-points of the central ideas of this poem:

1. The Old Testament concept of swords being beaten into ploughshares.
2. Christ's redemptive/atoning work on the cross.
3. The agricultural metaphors that are present in the Bible, such as Jesus' parable of the sower and somewhat similar imagery in 1 Corinthians 15.
4. Christ as the new/second Adam.

The poem seeks to describe Christ's death on the cross as the ultimate case of a sword being beaten into a ploughshare. Christ laying down his life for us and being nailed to the cross is portrayed as the anvil on which death, here imaged as the sword of death, is beaten into a ploughshare so that death now becomes a tool to bring bring redemption and life. The Great Farmer uses it to bring about a great harvest from the ground that used to be fruitless and dusty (dust also referring back to the creation of man in Genesis).

Christ is the second Adam who came to reverse the predicament of the fallen humankind. The poem mentions the ground being made fertile by the water and blood coming from his side. This makes reference to John 19:34-37. There is also Biblical imagery of the church as the bride of Christ, so this poem alludes to the creation of Eve from Adam's side or rib. Christ's death is here described as "deep sleep" to make the connection to what happened to the first Adam in the account of the creation of Eve. Interesting connections seem to exist between the first chapters of Genesis and the Gospels (especially the Gospel of John). E.g. it was the sixth day of the week when Jesus was in front of Pilate when he (Pilate) said "behold the man", which is similar to the account in Genesis of man having been created on the sixth day of the week. When Jesus said "it is finished" before dying on the cross, I believe that the phrase can have many dimensions of meaning, but it would be interesting to think that one dimension of this is the end (completion) of his work (near the end of the the sixth day) and the beginning of his period of rest. Jesus is both God and man, so it's interesting that just like God rested from his creation on the seventh day, Christ "rests" in his tomb on the seventh day of the week. The discovery of the empty tomb was "on the first day of the week". Jesus risen on the first day of the week can be seen as beginning a kind of "new creation week".