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Largely lost in our English translations of the scripture is that there is quite a bit of poetry in the Bible. This is obvious in reading the texts in the original languages but often the translation process obscures that information from us. For example, the entire book of Job and the book of Song of Solomon are written in a play format as if they were performed in front of an audience. The entire book of Psalms are the lyrics to songs that were sung in worship of Jehovah God and although the music and tune has been lost, the words are preserved for forever as the inspired Word of God. Most of you know that the book of Proverbs is a book of wise sayings, another form of poetry.

Interestingly, there are portions of poetry scattered throughout the New Testament as well, and Paul in particular often quotes Greek poets throughout his writings. In Luke chapter 7, Jesus quoted a common children's nursery rhyme when He rebuked the Pharisees and said:

Jesus used the nursery rhyme to teach about the hypocritical nature of the Jewish religious leaders of His day, and so the verse of poetry is preserved in scripture.

I learned something this week that I did not know in that 1 Timothy 3:16 which we have memorized as a church and which we often quote is actually the lyrics to a hymn of praise that the early Apostolic church sang often in their services. Here's the verse in the New King James Version, with everything after the colon being the song:

From "God was manifested in the flesh" on, this verse is the lines of a common and favorite song of the original church. It's easy to tell what they sang and preached about! There's some churches today where a song with such lyrics would not be welcomed to be sung because they do not believe that Jesus was "God manifest in the flesh" but I'm glad that we can sing that song here! That Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior is the beat of the drum that we dance to and ought to be the song in our heart and our minds continually! Of all the songs of scripture, 1 Timothy 3:16 has to be #1 on the play list of heaven and it ought to be on the play list of every church's messages and doctrines! I want that old song, more than any other, to be the song of my life!

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There is a new translation of the Bible that is underway and is not yet completed, although the New Testament is finished. I picked up a copy of the New Testament the other day in a book store and have been reading through it just for fun. The version is called "The International Standard Version" and to tell you the truth, I really don't like it that much. Much of the translation is a little too loose and tends to be somewhat liberal in interpretation. But one of the unique features of the ISV did catch my eye and is probably the reason that I purchased it for my library. And that is that the ISV tries to translate portions of scripture that are poetry in the original text, into poetry in English. Often this is in the familiar form of rhyming and meter. Now I know that in the original Greek and Hebrew, most of this poetry did not rhyme and so this is not an entirely accurate way to translate, but does make for some interesting renderings of verses. Let me give you some examples:

The nursery rhyme that Jesus quoted in Luke 7:32 reads in the ISV:

And then 1 Timothy 3:16, that scripture that I mentioned was a song of the original church reads thus in the ISV:

Not quite a literal translation, but perhaps a bit easier to memorize?! Another interesting form of poetry is part of the "love chapter" of 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in the International Standard Version reads like this:

And just for fun, here is a few more examples. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 in the ESV reads like this:

And the ISV puts 2 Timothy 2:11-13 this way:

Maybe we could call this version the "rapper's Bible" because that is sort of what it sounds like! Just two more examples, first in a more literal translation and then the poetic rendering:

Titus 3:4-7 in the ISV:

And then a familiar scripture in Philippians:

Philippians 2:6-11 in the ISV:

Catchy, isn't it? Or maybe not!? Since the original scriptures did not rhyme, perhaps the ISV is taking things a bit far. I don't want to sound like an old pastor of my brother's who used to try to end every sermon with a poem and who would often make the congregation very nervous as he searched about for a word that rhymed as he made up the poem in real time!

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There is, however, a very Biblical and common form of poetry found throughout the Old Testament that I want to bring to your attention. And that is the poetic form called an "acrostic." An "acrostic" is a big word for a very simple idea. In an acrostic, every line or verse of the poetry begins with a different letter of the alphabet and either spells a word or goes in the order of the alphabet. An acrostic poem in English, for example would have 26 lines and the first line would begin with an "A" and the second line would start with a "B" and the third line would start with a "C" and so on. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and it was a popular thing to write scripture or a poem in such a form with each line, section, or verse starting with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The reason that we read the 25th Psalm as a text was not necessarily because of the content, but rather because in the Hebrew, it is an acrostic with each verse beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are many others. Psalms 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145 are also acrostics. The 119th Psalm is, of course, the longest chapter in the Bible and has 22 sections each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet in order. The part of the last chapter of Proverbs about the godly woman is also an acrostic in the Hebrew. So is the entire book of Lamentations, with the middle chapter of the book repeating the Hebrew alphabet three times! It apparently was a favorite trick of Hebrew poetry writers to use the alphabet as they wrote their pieces, and it is probably to this common practice that Jesus alludes when He said in our other text:

"Alpha" as you mighty know is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and "Omega" is the last and so Jesus was in effect saying in modern English:

Jesus was saying that He is "every possible thing that you could need Him to be!" He is everything that you could possibly want, from A to Z! And so from this passage of scripture, many preachers -- including Bro. Dillon when he was here in revival -- have gone throughout the alphabet and named what Jesus is to them. They say things like "A is for Almighty; He is the Almighty God!, B is for the Best; He is the best God" etcetera, and let me say that you ought to be able to come up with your own list of praise of what God is to you!

In the Hebrew acrostics of the scriptures, there are a couple where the writer left out a letter or two or had to repeat a letter to make up the 22 of the alphabet, almost as if they could not figure out what to plug in and say for such and such letter, but hopefully when we begin to talk about Jesus, you do not have any such problems! Hopefully He has been so good and thoroughly merciful to you that you could fly through the alphabet in praise, such does it flow out of you and such has He been to you!

For the record, and since I've never done it myself in church, here is my list of praise of how Jesus Christ is "A to Z" to me:

A - Ancient of Days, as in He has always been from before time began.

B - Bridegroom, that is coming back for a church that has made herself ready.

C - Chief Cornerstone, our foundation upon which we are built.

D - Door, the only way to get to eternal life.

E - Emmanuel, God with us!

F- Friend, that sticks closer than any brother.

G - Gift of God; Glory of Israel, the greatest gift anyone could receive.

H - Horn of my salvation, where I go when I need help.

I - I AM, anything and everything that you need Him to be.

J - Judge, of the whole world and a righteous One He is.

K - King of Kings

L - Lord of Lords, or Light of the World

M - Morning Star; the better morning star as I once preached!

N - Need of Everyone, He's the missing piece!

O - Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent

P - Prophet like unto Moses, but greater!

Q - Quickening Spirit, the Spirit that will bring us back to life one day!

R - Redeemer; Resurrection; Rock.

S - Savior and Shepherd

T - Truth

U - Unique, or Uncompromising

V - Vine, the True Vine what we must abide within

W - Wonderful Counselor

X - Christ or Messiah, which in the Greek begins with the letter "x."

Or, if you think that is cheating, then how about "Xenogeneic," which means "to be derived from another species?" (Yes, I had to look in a dictionary) He became flesh, but He was not the product of Mary and Joseph, but rather the Son of the Holy Spirit!

Y - Yahweh, Jehovah God

Z - Zion's Salvation, the hope of Israel.

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I took the time in studying for this message, to go through the 119th Psalm in the original Hebrew and see what the writer of the scriptures chose as his first Hebrew word or phrase for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet in his poem. I'm going to give you the word as translated in English and what the writer was getting at as he prayed to the Lord. The phrases are a sermon unto themselves about prayer and the Word of God and after I say one of them, you -- if you agree or believe it -- then say "amen:"

Aleph - Blessed, as in "blessed are those who walk in the way of the Lord!"

Beth - How, as in "How can a young person live for God?" "By Your Word!"

Gimel - Deal bountifully, which means "to do good to" as in "God, deal bountifully with

me, so that I can bless You!"

Daleth - Cleaves to the dust, which is a figure of speech for "I am defeated," as in "I am

defeated if God does not revive me!"

He - Teach me, as in "Teach me, oh Lord, Your ways."

Vav - Let come to me, as in "let your mercies come to me!"

Zayin - Remember, as in "remember Your promises to me, Oh Lord!"

Heth - My portion, as in "the Lord is my portion." He is what I choose.

Teth - Well, as in "you have dealt well with me."

Yodh - Your hands, as in "Your hands have made me and keep me and protect me!"

Kaph - Longs, as in "I long for you Lord with everything in me."

Lamedh - Forever, as in "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven," and "forever,

your faithfulness continues!"

Mem - Oh How! An exclamation of praise and passion, as in "Oh How I love You and

Your Word!

Nun - A lamp, as in "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.

Samekh - Double-minded, as in "I hate those who are double-minded" and "let me not be

double-minded in my ways."

Ayin - "I have done," as in "I have done right, so deliver me Lord!"

Pe - Wonderful, as in "Your testimonies are wonderful!"

Tsadhe - Righteous, as in "Your judgments are righteous, oh Lord!"

Qoph - I cried out, as in "I cried out to the Lord with all my heart."

Resh - Look upon or consider, as in "Look upon my situation and rescue me, God!"

Shin - Princes, as in "Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of

Your words."

Tav - "Let come near," as in "Let my prayer come near to You Lord and help me!"

What's funny is that if you were counting, then you know that we only did 21 letters of the alphabet. The writer left one letter out, and -- I'm not making this up -- the one letter he omitted is called "sin!" Probably just a coincidence, but if you are to leave something out of your life, that's certainly what to leave out! (Somebody say "amen!")

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Unfortunately, it is not hard to include "sin" and create a similar list entirely made up of things that distract and keep people from faithfully serving God. There seems to be no end of things that the devil tries to use, but here is a sample acrostic:

A - adultery

B - bitterness

C - callousness

D - disobedience

E - envy

F - false witness

G - gossip

H - hatred

I - idolatry

J - jealously

K - killing

L - lust

M - murmuring

N - nosiness in everybody else's affairs

O - omission of what you know to do that is good

P - pride

Q - quenching the Spirit

R - revelings

S - sexual sins

T - thievery

U - unforgiveness

V - variance

W - witchcraft and the occult

X - xeroxing other people instead of becoming what God wants you to be

Y - yoked with unbelievers

Z - Zealous for the wrong things

Let us purge ourselves from these things!

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And so as we come to a close of our sermon of poetry, let me offer you one more acrostic, this one a poem of reminding and teaching. This final acrostic is one of key words and phrases that you need to remember and understand to make it living for God:

A - Apostolic, we must be it in every way!

B - Baptism, both of the water and of the Spirit.

C - Commitment, to the things and kingdom of God.

D - Deliverance, from the past and from the things of this world.

E - Encourage, others and yourself in the Lord

F - Faithfulness, to the things of God.

G - Giving, in both time, effort, and finance.

H - Holiness, living a separated lifestyle, without which no man shall see God.

I - Intercession, praying for others and not just yourself.

J - Joy, "the joy of the Lord is my strength."

K - Knowledge, of the word of God and the things of the Spirit.

L - Love, without which nothing else in this list matters.

M - Mind, we must exercise control over what we think and dwell upon.

N - Nevertheless, a useful word that means "regardless, I will do what is right."

O - Obedience, better than sacrifice and something that has no substitute.

P - Prayer, communication to God continually without ceasing.

Q - Quietly, waiting on God's Voice and spending time alone with Him beyond the

distractions of daily life.

R - Repentance, daily with a sincere heart.

S - Spirit of God, constantly moving and working in all things.

T - Truth, which sets us free and which we must always embrace even if it tells us what

we do not wish to hear.

U - Understand, hearing does no good unless you grasp the meaning of it.

V - Vigilance, being sober and alert for tricks and traps (1 Peter 5:8).

W - Worship, with praise, must be a continual part of our life.

X - Xenophobic, it means "fearful of strangers or things foreign. We need to be

xenophobic about the things of this world that would try to lure and distract us from

the things of God because we are in this world but not of this world!

Y - Yield, to God's will and Spirit and Word.

Z - Zealous, for the things of God!

And so we close this poem with a quote from THE MESSAGE:

May this poem of such key thoughts from the scripture be what pours out of our hearts and lives to the King above all Kings! May our day to day lives be the embodiment of all of these poems except the one about sin! And may we but living testimonies of His goodness and mercy and life-changing power!