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April 1976 · Vol. 5 No. 2 · pp. 31–32 

Ballad of the Lamb

Faith Nickel Adams

  1. Now Cain and Abel came before the Lord

    to sacrifice an offering from their yield.
    And Abel brought the whitest
    perfect lambs and brightest

    but Cain—he brought an offering from the field.
    Behold the lambs of God,
    a sacrifice of blood

    upon the stones where Cain and Abel kneeled.

  2. Now Yahweh came to Abraham one day

    to prove him if in faith he would obey.
    “Where are you, Abraham?”
    And he said, “Here I am!”

    “Now sacrifice your only son to Me.”
    Upon a mountain bare
    he found when they got there

    that Yahweh would Himself provide a lamb.

  3. Now Israel in Egypt’s land must die

    as slaves lift desperate hands up to the sky.
    “Your best lamb,” said the Lord.
    “Splash its blood upon your door,

    a signal when Death’s angel passes by.”
    Behold the sons of Cain
    in sorrow’s morning slain

    as Israel beholds the lamb of God.

  4. And Heaven in its tears beheld one day

    all we like sheep were stubborn, gone astray.
    The Shepherd gave His whitest
    perfect Lamb and brightest

    Whose blood dripped to the earth without a sound.
    Behold the sins of men,
    the sins of Cain again.

    Behold the Saviour’s blood upon the ground. {32}

  5. And in our greed the earth is ripped and red

    and left alone to swallow up its dead.
    On war and famine’s sod
    we slay the lambs of God,

    refusing to behold where they have bled.
    As if the Father’s Grace
    had never taken place,

    we bring their blood, His blood, upon our head.

  6. And on the ancient altar made of stone—

    there Death is murdered by One Man alone.
    And from the grave appear
    those who lie waiting there

    while Death is smashed and swallowed where they lay.
    And rising, risen, they
    will join us as we say,

    “Behold the Lamb of God upon His throne!”

Faith Nickel Adams, a graduate of Tabor College and Yale Divinity School, is a teacher and homemaker at Frankfort, Kansas.

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