20 years ago, I began a tradition of writing a poem to Jesus for Christmas. It seemed the least I could do for Him, who gave His life for me.
Here is poem #9, which I wrote in December, 2019!
Rescue on Christmas Mountain
“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28
¹Have you ever noticed
That the stories we love best,
Are of heroes who climb mountains
When God puts them to the test?
²A rockface frowns — forbidding,
For the quest exceeds their skill,
There’s more terror in their terra
And less firma in their will.
³Yet climb the daunting summit,
Upon God they heave their trust;
He spoke — and so they follow,
They mount — because they must.
⁴The best of Bible stories
Shows this pattern playing out;
But when the climb turns hopeless,
Rescue comes, without a doubt.
⁵So Abram takes his Isaac
Up Moriah, knife in hand,
But before the blade is driven
God swaps Isaac for a Ram.¹
⁶And Moses climbs Mt. Sinai
To receive the Law of God,
That no man can fully follow,
But the One who took the rod.²
⁷And homeward he ascended
Up Mt. Nebo for one glance;
Moses saw the land God promised
From a distance, in advance.³
⁸Up Mt. Carmel scaled Elijah
To confront the priests of Baal;
Though outnumbered by the hundreds,
God sent fire and travail.⁴
⁹Yet, not every Bible Mountain
Is a monolith of stone;
Some peaks are metaphoric,
Insurmountable alone.
¹⁰So David ‘goes Goliath’
On a mountain-of-a-man;
Trusting God with just a slingshot,
To the battle-line, he ran.⁵
¹¹And Shadrach and his brothers
Will not bow to idol gold,
But a fourth One in the furnace
Is their rescuing foothold.⁶
¹²While Daniel climbs by kneeling,
Then is thrown down to a den;
Where God muzzles hungry lions,
Then lifts Daniel up again.⁷
¹³And what have they in common,
These great heroes of the Book?
They point us to the Savior,
Won’t you take a second look?
¹⁴Mt. Zion hosts the mountains
That will usher in our King,
From a peak beset with olives
To Mt. Calvary’s wellspring.
¹⁵Yes, Jesus is the Climber
who scaled our mountains of disgrace,
who was born to die for sinners
and was sentenced in our place.
¹⁶From little town of Bethlehem,
To Calv’ry’s blood-soaked peak,
The Father sent His Son for us,
The lost, he came to seek.⁸
¹⁷And so this Christmas, please look up!
The Mountain Man has come!
Who’ll carry us to yonder peak,
To our eternal home.
“… I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” — Psalm 2:6
The King has come. And He'll return.
Bible References:
This Christmas, in your ascent up the Mountain of Life, stop your climb for a moment and look up. Look up at our Triumphant Savior, who labored up Mt. Calvary, to achieve for us what we could never secure for ourselves: forgiveness for sin, acceptance despite our shame, and His record transferred to our account. The little one in Bethlehem came to rescue us, who cannot rescue ourselves.
Happy Birthday, Savior. All Yours.