The New Testament in Poetry

By Charles W. Gamble

The author takes major events described in the King James New Testament and restates them in poetic, rhyming verse. Each poemdealing with the life of Christ, his disciples, and his followersheightens the spiritual inspiration of each chosen passage. The primary thrust of the foundational verses, as well as the poetry based upon them, is mans personal encounters with Jesus, angels, and human messengers. Because salvation is the continual theme, the poems possess a distinctly evangelistic tone.

Pastors, teachers, and other speakers will find the verses useful to be cited as heart-piercing restatements of biblical passages or to illustrate famous pivotal incidents that occurred during New Testament times. Each poem is written to be recited and thereby serve to create a greater spiritual impact for sermons, lessons, and speeches.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512792867

Charles W. Gamble

Charles W. Gamble, who received his graduate education at Harvard Law School, is a lawyer and both Dean Emeritus and Henry Upson Sims Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law. He is published widely in the legal field, having authored many articles and books. Gamble is former faculty advisor to student chapters of the Christian Legal Society at the law schools of Samford University and The University of Alabama. He has taught church-sponsored Bible classes since 1965 and has ministered as chairman and vice-chairman of deacons at two churches. In addition to his career in law teaching and administration, Gamble has served as a lay preacher beginning with Christian youth revivals in the early 1950s. The author lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, near his beloved alma mater, where he and his twin grandsons fish and cheer for championship football played by the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.

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Copyright © 2017 Charles W. Gamble.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-9285-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-9284-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-9286-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017910542

WestBow Press rev. date: 8/1/2017

Dedicated

to

Andrew and

Jonathan,

my beloved grandsons.

Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.

John Irving, The Cider House Rules

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my deep appreciation to all those extraordinary Christians who have contributed to my spiritual journey. Much of my thinking about the Gospel has been formed at the feet of successive preachers such as Bain A. Lambert (deceased), John Norman (deceased), Charles T. Carter, Gaines S. Dobbins (deceased), Rick Lance, and Gil McKee. Last, I am indebted to my present Bible teacher, William Guerrard.

This volume would never have been completed without the ongoing support of my dear friend and assistant, Patty Lovelady Nelson. Her contributions to my life have gone far beyond manuscript production. Special appreciation also goes to my publisher, WestBow Press, and all of its staffers.

I thank the dean, faculty, and staff at the University of Alabama School of Law who created an environment conducive to religious expression. Additionally, I am indebted to my friends on the Christian campus at the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University where I taught for the first decade of my career.

Charles W. Gamble

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Series Title Page

Other published books authored by Charles W. Gamble are Alabama Evidentiary Foundations (1999) (with Imwinkelried and Butts); Character Evidence: A Comprehensive Approach (2d ed. 2000); Alabama Law of Damages (5th ed. 2004) (with Marsh); McElroy’s Alabama Evidence (6th ed. 2009) (with Goodwin and McCarthy); Gamble’s Alabama Rules of Evidence: A Trial Manual for Making and Answering Objections (3d ed. 2014) (with Goodwin and McCarthy).

Table of Contents

Poem

City of God

Voice in the Wilderness

Sand and Rock

Thou Art the Christ!

Of Camels and Needles

Hem of His Garment

Born Again

Living Waters

Legion

The Vine

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

The Prodigal Son

The Great Confession

Sleep Eternal

Zacchaeus

Thou Fool

The Resurrection and the Life

The Triumphant Entry

The House of Prayer

At the Foot of the Cross

The Empty Tomb

Paradise Gained

Blessed Eyes of Woman

Go Ye!

The Day of Pentecost

The Ransomed

Fishers of Men

Eyes Upon Jesus

Betrayal

Why Not Now?

Miracle on the Damascus Road

No Respecter of Persons

A Prayer and Song of Deliverance

God’s Hall of Fame

The Unknown God

Almost Persuaded

Table of Bible Passages

*Acts 2:1–8, 12–17, 37–41

*Acts 4:1–4, 7–8, 10–13, 18–20

*Acts 8:26–38

*Acts 9:1–18

*Acts 10:9–34

*Acts 16:16–26

*Acts 17:22–25, 28–29

*Acts 26:13–28

*Hebrews 11:1, 7–8, 13, 17, 24–26, 32–34

*John 3:1–16

*John 4:7–14

*John 11:1–7, 17, 21–26, 39, 43–44

*John 11:20–22, 38–43

*John 14:1–6

*John 15:1–8

*John 20:11–12

*Luke 2:1–7

*Luke 8:26–39

*Luke 8:43–48

*Luke 12:16–21

*Luke 15:12–24

*Luke 19:1–6

*Luke 23:32–33, 39–43

*Mark 5:22–24, 38–42

*Mark 14:55–65

*Mark 16:1–10

*Matthew 3:1–6

*Matthew 4:18–22

*Matthew 7:24–27

*Matthew 14:24–33

*Matthew 16:13–18

*Matthew 19:16–24

*Matthew 21:1–11

*Matthew 21:12–13

*Matthew 26:69–75

*Matthew 27:46

*Matthew 28:1–6

*Matthew 28:16–20

1 Corinthians 10:4

1 Corinthians 15:54–55

1 Corinthians 15:55

1 Thessalonians 4:13–14

2 Kings 19:35–36

Acts 4:11

Acts 4:12

Acts 17:6

Ephesians 2:19–22

Ephesians 2:20

Exodus 3:14

Isaiah 1:18

Isaiah 28:16

Isaiah 40:3–5

Isaiah 53:1–9

Isaiah 53:1–12

Isaiah 53:5–8

Isaiah 53:7

Isaiah 53:12

Jeremiah 9:19

John 1:1–3

John 1:14

John 8:58

John 11:11

John 12:3

John 19:19

John 19:34

Joshua 6:16, 20

Luke 1:39–42

Luke 1:76

Luke 1:78

Luke 4:9–12

Luke 24:5–7

Mark 1:17

Mark 5:39

Mark 6:3

Mark 9:31

Mark 10:32–34

Mark 15:28

Mark 15:34

Matthew 4:17

Matthew 4:18–19

Matthew 19:30

Matthew 20:17–19

Matthew 27:38

Matthew 27:63

Micah 5:2

Philippians 1:21

Revelation 3:20

*Asterisks indicate Bible verses which serve as the primary foundation for each poem. Other references are to verses contained in the footnotes.

Preface

The seed for writing the collection of poems entitled The New Testament in Poetry was sown when I made my first attempt at writing religious verse fifty–five years ago. Because poems commonly read in my small community rhymed, this served as the model for my own verses. Poems thus written for over five decades have now been collected with each representing an event occurring during the life of Jesus the Christ and his followers.

The language making up this collection of poetry did not come to me naturally, or else I would have completed and collected the poems decades ago despite a long and busy life in law teaching and administration. Rather, and with all due humility, I submit that the verses were written in response to the moving upon me of the Spirit of God. No poem was written except when I felt under this inspirational power of God and the words flowed as if written from above. Each time I read one of the underlying passages from the King James Bible, The Holy Spirit was the stimulus to write and, hopefully, each poem constitutes God’s words for which I served as the mere scrivener. Therefore, it is my hope and prayer that your reading of the poems, along with the underlying scriptural passages, will result similarly in God’s spirit moving upon you in a glorious way.

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