Bible In Poetry: Gospel Of St. Matthew (Chapter 24) Poem by Dr John Celes

While Jesus left the temple place,
His disciples approached Him soon,
And told Him point the buildings out.
Then Jesus told them in reply,
‘All structures that you can now see,
Amen, amen, I say to you,
Not a stone upon another
Shall ev’r remain but down be thrown! ’

And as He sat on Mount Olives,
His disciples then asked of Him,
‘O tell us when this will happen?
What sign will herald your coming?
What clue will tell us end of age? ’

Then Jesus answered their questions,
‘Just see that no one deceives you.
Many will come in my name then,
Saying, ‘I’m Messiah from God! ’
‘And thus deceive the multitude;
You’ll hear of wars and wars will come;
Don’t be alarmed for they must come;
And yet, it will not be the end;
Nation will rise against nation;
Kingdom will rise against kingdom;
There will be famines and earthquakes,
Those occur everywhere on earth;
But these are just the beginnings.’

‘They’ll persecute you and kill you;
They’ll hate you as you spread my name;
And many will be led into sin;
They’ll hate and betray each other;
False prophets will arise galore;
The increased evil will cause love
Of many to become so cold;
The ones who persevere until
The end, alone will be then saved.’

‘The Kingdom’s Gospel will be preached,
To nations of the entire world,
And only then, the end will come.’

‘When Daniel spoke of this same thing-
Desolate abomination
Then, those in Judea must flee
To the mountains immediately.
Don’t go down to get things from house;
Don’t return from the field for cloak;
Woe to pregnant women those days;
Pray that this doesn’t come in winter;
Let it not happen on Sabbath day.’

‘Such tribulation that occurs.
Has never occurred anytime,
Since the beginning of the world,
Nor will it happen thereafter.
And if those days are not shortened,
None can be saved and hence shortened
It will be, for the elect’s sake! ’

If one says, ‘Here’s the Messiah!
Or there He is, don’t believe it!
False prophets, messiahs shall come,
And perform signs and wonders too
So great, as to deceive common
People and even the elect! ’

Behold, I‘ve told it beforehand;
They may say, He’s in the desert,
Or He’s in the inner rooms;
Do not believe the things all say! ’

‘Like lightning that is seen afar,
So will be, Son of Man‘s coming!
Vultures are found where corpses lie! ’

Following the tribulation:
‘The mighty sun will dark become,
The moon cannot bestow its light;
The stars will shoot down from the sky;
The powers of heavens will be shaken.’

‘The Son of Man’s sign will appear,
In heaven while the earth’s tribes mourn;
The world will see Him come ’midst clouds,
In pow’r and glory unheard of;
His angels will all blow trumpets;
And gather all the elect then,
On earth from four winds that do blow
Across the heavens, end to end.’

‘You learn a lesson from fig-tree:
When branches tender turn, sprouts come,
It means that summer is quite near.’

‘In like manner, when signs you see,
The Son of Man is near at gates;
Amen, I say to you, amen,
‘This generation shall not pass
Away, until these things conclude.’

‘Heaven and earth shall pass away
But words of mine shall never pass.
That day and hour, no one knows yet;
Neither the angels in heaven,
Nor the Son, except the Father! ’

‘In the days before the great Flood,
There was just eating, drinking much,
And marrying, remarrying until
The day, Noah entered the Ark! ’
‘No one guessed the flood would come;
It carried them away so fast;
So shall be when comes Son of Man! ’

‘Of the two men out in the field,
One will be taken, other left;
Of two women, grinding at mill,
One will be taken, other left, ’

‘Therefore you stay awake, alert;
You never know when comes the Lord;
If only house-lord knew the hour,
Then he will stay awake, not let,
The house to be burgled at night;
So, too, you all must be prepared,
For the Son of Man shall arrive
At an unexpected hour then.’

‘The prudent, faithful servant then,
Who distributes food in right time,
And master finding him do so,
Blessed and lucky is that one:
Master puts his wealth in his charge.’

‘The wicked lazy servant who
His master has not expected
But beats his fellow servants, eats,
And drinks with drunkards while he’s gone! ’

‘His master comes by surprise then,
At unknown hour to punish him,
Rather severely in a place,
Where exist wailing and teeth-grinding! ’

Copyright by Dr John Celes 6-12-2007