Upon a Stormy Rainbow

A day is coming rainbow never knew,
The which the stars of heav’n have never heard,
With noonday light diminished by a third
And sanguinary sky instead of blue;
The sea, fenced still by bound’ry untransgressed,
Is serpent-churned, a boiling, livid wound;
The mountains all have fled into the ground,
Save transfixed Zion, fractured and distressed—
The cloudless heights furl back. Heav’n’s symphony
Ceases full half an hour. The weary sun
Yields mirror-glory back to blazing eye
And sev’nstrength-shining visage. It is done!
The trembling earth herself submits to die:
Thus may her resurrection be begun.

—5/27/26

Resurrection Triumph

…he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit… Rom. viii. 11.

Hail, O resurrection morning!
When the Lord his saints recalls,
Mold’ring tents with life adorning
Till they stand, Jerus’lem’s walls;
Now they sleep, but future borning
Never fades and never falls.

(1 Thess 4:16-17; 2 Cor 5:1-2; Rev 21:2;
1 Thess 4:13-15; Isa 26:19)

If within us dwells his Spirit,
Then the death of Christ we share,
His our righteousness and merit,
His our life and peace fore’er,
And when we the earth inherit,
His the body we have there.

(Rom 6:3-4; 8:10-11)

What is dead must keep on dying
For undyingness to grow,
Till, in death’s dishonor lying,
Corpse at last in earth we sow,
Only boast left for our crying
Then, that we Jehovah know.

(1 Cor 15:50, 35-37; 1:30-31; Jer 9:24)

All thy prophets looked with longing
For thy fullness to appear,
And thy church, in patience thronging,
Waits thy second advent here,
When, with life eternal dawning,
Thou shalt dwell thy people near.

(Dan 12:1-3; Isa 26:19; Job 19:25-26;
Jam 5:7-8; Prov 4:18; Rev 20:4-6; 21:3)

Expiating our transgression,
Thou didst taste the altar’s knife
And, imputing thy perfection,
Reconciled our ev’ry strife;
Consummate O now election—
Raise our mortal flesh to life!

(2 Cor 5:21; Rom 5:10-11; 8:30, 23)

—3/10/26. To “Regent Square” (“Angels from the realms of glory”).

Resurrection

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, 1 Cor. xv. 20.

Christ is raised for our salvation!
For our sins he bled and died,
(Perfect, pure propitiation!
Justice he has satisfied!)
Then he rose the third-day morning
As the firstfruits of his kin
Whom he gave himself to win,
All their wretchedness unscorning.
Now by faith his life they see,
E’en the lowest— even me.

(1 Cor 15:1-9, 20)

As in Adam we must perish,
So in Christ we shall revive:
Great appearing that we cherish!
He who versus death doth strive
Will fulfill all resurrection,
Then in heav’n assume his seat,
All creation at his feet
Placed in firm, complete subjection
By the Father, in whose praise
He shall lead the saints always.

(1 Cor 15:21-28; 2 Tim 4:8; Heb 2:12-13)

Never kernel grew nor flourished
Save it fell into the ground,
Yet when God the seed hath nourished,
Lo, what fruit doth then abound!
Just as man excels creation,
As the sun all stars outshines,
So the frame our Lord designs
Passeth earthly expectation—
As we have been born of dust,
Likewise soon of heav’n we must.

(1 Cor 15:35-49; John 12:24; 1 John 3:2)

Therefore I will fear no terror,
Not another’s death, nor mine,
For I know the Mercy-Bearer
Brings consuming life divine
Unto death’s envenomed power:
Where, O grave, is victory?
Ill in us he cannot see,
Having sated Sinai’s glower.
Nothing can our souls distress,
Since the Savior deigns to bless.

(1 Cor 15:54-57; Hab 1:13)

Though against us stand betaken
Either sin, or hell, or foes,
Grace doth keep us yet unshaken
As thy gospel in us grows;
Always in thy work abounding,
Knowing labor is not vain,
Sure and steadfast we remain,
E’er in praise to thee resounding
And in patience waiting here
Till thy glory shall appear.

(1 Cor 15:57-58; James 5:7-8)

—11/4/25. From 1 Corinthians 15. To “Sollt’ ich meinem Gott nicht singen” (Johann Schop).