Sonnets for Messiah

About the Book

Throughout the centuries, writers have penned volumes in prose on the subject of Messianic prophecy, but only a handful have written books on this fascinating subject entirely in poetry.  Since most of the prophets and scribes of Israel wrote their divine revelation concerning Messianic prophecy in Hebrew poetry, a modern-day collection of poems that concentrate on how Jesus fulfilled some of these prophecies would be a valuable resource for any twenty-first-century school, church, or bookstore.  Charles Spurgeon, the famous nineteenth-century British preacher, once asserted that “The Bible is like a lion, it needs no defense; let it out of its cage, and it will defend itself.”  The cage door is now ajar!  Sonnets for Messiah consists of one hundred sonnets that show how God’s Son, Jesus Christ, fulfilled one hundred Messianic prophecies from Old-Testament Scripture.  A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem that means “little song.”  Sonnets for Messiah uses three distinct sonnet forms to mold its themes: the Shakespearean, Spenserian, and Petrarchan.  Each style displays its own unique rhyming pattern, and they are structured in such a way as to express ideas concisely.  It is exactly this conciseness that many readers find most appealing about the sonnet.  A well-crafted sonnet can say as much on a subject in fourteen lines as a book of prose can say in fourteen pages!   

About the Author

Poems On Some Parables Of Christ was Matt Harris’ first book of poetry, published in 2007.  In his spare time, he recites his work at different venues, participates in book signings, and conducts poetry workshops.  Sonnets for Messiah is Matt’s second book of poems.  Besides writing poetry, Matt is a licensed vendor with the Maryland Business Enterprise Program for the Blind.  He lives in Maryland with his wife, Pam, and their two daughters, Julia and Abigail.  Retinitis Pigmentosa, an incurable eye disease, has caused Matt to lose 99% of his eyesight.  While conquering blindness daily through Christ, Scripture is the muse that inspires Matt’s life as well as his poetry.  2 Corinthians 4:17-18, for instance, are two of his favorite verses.  This passage has taught him how to think and live outside that dark box of blindness:  “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”