The Death of Calvary

I tried to find eternity, to taste the sweet serenity.

What kind of world should I forsee? What kind of kingdom should it be?

 To be both light and full of hope, to span across the widest scope? 

So full of life beyond compare, with peace and beauty everywhere?

Would not this kingdom speak the truth? Would not it overflow with youth?

I peer beyond my faintest glance, and when I see the entrance,  

It looks not as I would have thought, nor is it quite what I had sought. 

I saw no gate, nor door to find, nothing to open or unwind.

I saw a tree, so frail and plain, as I approach it with disdain. 

“Should not there be much more than this? Surely something is amiss! 

There is no soldier here to guard; to bypass this would not be hard!”

But as I look upon the tree, there’s someone looking back at me. 

A crippled lamb, beaten, torn; it had a crown made of a thorn.

“Why would this guard the afterlife?” my thoughts now tainted more with strife. 

But then an angel flew to me, his voice much deeper than the sea.

“Behold, the King of what you seek!” my startled cry became a shriek.

“There must be some mistake” I said, “for I seek life beyond the dead!”

“Yes, I know” he said to me, “But you must enter through the tree.”

How absurd! To think this sight would lead me to the land of light! 

“Why do you scoff at this?” he said. “Because this ‘King’ is clearly dead!”

“And why does that surprise you still?” “Because what ruler could you kill?”

“Oh, this King might not seem strong, but you could not be further wrong.

 For it is one thing to be weak; it is another to be meek.

In fact, His strength lies in His death, for when He took His final breath

 He opened up a way to life, by going underneath the knife

 And then His blood became a door, the way to enter something more.”

“This seems a joke, the talk of fools; or closer to a trick of ghouls!”

“What many claim is foolishness could never measure up to this.

For this poor lamb who once was slain, was welcomed back to life again

 And now you enter through His blood, your hope within a crimson flood

 The other side of this despair, becomes a river red and fair

 And when you drink this water’s tide, you are remade, from deep inside

 To see anew what life could be, eternity beyond this tree

“How can I drink what I can’t see?” “You must surrender at the tree!

 For when you kneel before the King is when you end your suffering.

 But if you cannot trust this way, there is no more that I can say

 For only after Calvary did this true King claim victory.

And if you seek His kingdom, too, then dying is the path for you,

 For in your death, you find His life, and then you will become His wife,

 Because the King has died for love, a rescue plan from up above.

And what He offers free to you, is to discover what is true:

 To see that death has died in Him, its power ever growing dim,

 And someday soon, this lamb will rule, without a need for sword or dual.

 But by His royal wounds He claims the name that is above all names

 And if you enter through this tree, you find the life prepared for thee.” 

 “What possibly could warrant this? Why would the Victor wait for this?”

“Because His heart is mercy, too, and He has offered life to you.

 And when you get to where He is, your song will echo only this: 

Behold, the Lamb, who died for me, who reigns for all eternity.”