As Moses Raised the Serpent Up

Versifier: Marie J. Post

Marie was educated at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. She taught at the Muskegon Christian Junior High School from 1940 to 1942). She contributed poetry to the Grand Rapids Press and church periodicals for three decades, and served on the 1987 Revision Committee for the Christian Reformed Church’s Psalter Hymnal, which contained a number of her original texts and paraphrases. © The Cyber Hymnal™ (www.hymntime.com/tch) Go to person page >

Scripture References: st. 1 = John 3:14-15 st. 2 =John 3:16 st. 3 = John 3:17 st. 4 = John 3:16 John 3:14-17, part of Jesus' nighttime discourse with Nicodemus, forms the basis of this song and includes that famous profession of faith "God so loved the world. . . ," one of the best-known and most frequently memorized verses in the entire Bible. In this setting that profession is used virtually as a refrain but is numbered as stanzas 2 and 4 for emphasis. Marie J. Post (PHH 5) prepared the versification in 1985 for use with the tune O WALY WALY in the Psalter Hymnal. She said this versification was one of her easiest assignments: “The lines simply fell into the music!” Liturgical Use: During the Lord's Supper; as a response to the preached Word; as a communal confession of faith, possibly in an evangelistic setting. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook