By The Editor July
“Heaven and earth seem close together in the embraces of the sun; so we, with feet on earth, should reach to heaven, and bathe our earth-tied souls in the glories of the better land.”― “LOOKING UNTO JESUS.”
Why do I Believe in Christ?
LET me commence with a question: Why is a man an infidel? Because he believes in Himself and not in God. Why is a man a Christian? Because he believes in Christ and not in himself. Many today would agree with the unbeliever Goethe, who said, “To the able man this world is not dumb; why should he ramble off into eternity? Such incomprehensible subjects lie too far off, and only disturb our thoughts if made the subject of daily meditation.”
Many also are like the ancient Greeks—they hated the thought of death and eternity. They tried by every means to banish it from their thoughts. They surrounded themselves with statues almost breathing out buoyant life; and with beautiful pictures glowing with the glorious colors of their skies and seas. Thus environed with life in its highest intellectualism, they sought to hide the portals of the grave with the wreaths of pleasure, and banish gloomy death with the sunshine of radiant endeavor. “Serious things tomorrow,” was the cry.
And yet eternal processes of change and decay go on-there is a skeleton at every godless feast. The wild riot of pleasure, and drinking the waters of Lethe, will not arrest death, or alter the changeless purposes of God. There is evermore, beside us, and around us, an omnipotent power at work, an omniscient eye that sees, and an omnipresence that controls―outside man there is this mighty unseen power. Face to face with the vast eternal problems of the universe, men, without faith, are seeking to solve by human reasoning what only a Divine Interpreter can make us understand.
Even the knowledge of God is not enough to make us realize the purpose of our being, and the future of our soul. The world would be a chaotic wilderness of endless doubt and surmising were it not that God had revealed Himself in two wondrous revelations, namely, by His Word and by His Son.
A Book and a Person. And the Book is the divine record of the Person of the Christ, the Son of God. He who came to earth to reveal the Father, and who could say, “I and My Father are one.”
The great principle of faith must come into my life, if I am to know anything beyond it, and my faith must rest upon a Person, and upon One who can satisfy every longing of my soul and every aspiration of my heart. One who can give finality to every doubt and fear that may oppress my life. One in whom I can trust absolutely, and love perfectly, and in whose truth I can have the most complete dependence. One who can never be judged by human standards, and whose glory can never be shadowed by mortal limitations. One that the world cannot contain, and yet who pervades everything. One who is mightier than the mightiest, holier than the holiest, more lovely than the loveliest, higher than the highest. I need such a one, infinite in everything, whose glorious prerogative it is to save and bless. I need Him to come into my life and to bless me with His all-satisfying grace and goodness if I am to be blessed at all.
Is there such a one? There is, and He is the Christ, the Son of God. He has been on earth— “Emmanuel, God with us.” He is in heaven now, for us, upon the throne of God.
Why do I believe in Christ?
Because I have internal and external evidence of His power to save.
I solemnly declare, I rest my soul for all eternity upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for me. I rest my hopes of heaven upon the fact of His being there, having put away my sins by the sacrifice of Himself. I want no other way to heaven than Christ, the Way. I want no other door of salvation than Christ, the Door. I want no other light to shine upon me than Christ, the Light. I want no higher wisdom than Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. I want no other name than the name of Jesus. I want no other work for salvation than His finished work. I am content, yes, my God, well content, with what Christ has done for me. He has made a wilderness world blossom as the rose. He has answered every doubt, and taken from me every fear.
I have the witness within that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. I recognize the power of His salvation in the changed lives of millions.
I believe in Christ because He is the Christ of the Bible. Only the Christ of the New Testament, says an unbeliever. Pardon me, of the Old Testament as well. I see Christ in Abel’s offering, the Lamb offered up in earth’s earliest sacrifice. I see Christ in Isaac bound a victim on the altar on Mount Moriah―in the Ark floating over dark waters of judgment, the only place of safety in a drowning world―Christ the only place for men and women now in a world doomed to destruction—in the Cities of Refuge provided for the man-slayer; Christ the refuge for the sinner who is fleeing from the wrath of God against his sins―in Jewish sacrifices and offerings―in the Pentateuch—in the Psalms and the Prophets-all through the Bible. Abraham saw the coming day of Christ, he saw it and was glad. Job cried when the world was young, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” Enoch saw down through the ages the Lord coming with ten thousand of His saints. David said, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” Isaiah sang, with deepest pathos, the dirge of Calvary, in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” He saw in prophetic vision―the cross, the grave, and the resurrection glory of the Christ of God.
Yes, He is the Christ of the Bible, and I believe in Him. The infidel today sneers and scoffs, and the men and women of pleasure deride, but what of that? The faith of centuries will not be swept away by an atheist’s doubts, by a drunkard’s jest, a blasphemer’s oath, or a harlot’s laugh.
The frothy waves of man’s philosophy beat vainly against the Rock of Ages. Not one of these proud boasters, inflated by a little human learning, can argue like Paul, or love like John, or preach like Peter, or pray like Elijah, or sing like David, or endure like Daniel, or die like Stephen. No, the Christ of the Bible was the life of the saints of the Bible. He is the life of every Christian in the world today. “He is the Word made flesh that dwelt among us.” “He is before all things and by Him all things consist.” “He is Alpha and Omega—the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
Yes, the light of recognition of Jesus Christ as Saviour has glorified human lives. It has re-tuned the discordant strings of life and made them thrill with the harmonies of heaven. It has given speech to the dumb, and hearing to the deaf; it has shone on darkened eyes the radiance of heaven. It has made the weak strong, and the despairing hopeful; it has changed the sepulchers of human life into shrines for the Most High; it has made for wandering feet, tired amid desert sands of loneliness and sorrow, sweet oases of rest and peace, a garden of the Lord. The barrenness of natural life has been made fruitful, and the rainbow of everlasting hope has shone on skies late dark with tears. It has crowned the brow of sorrow with the diadem of peace, and poured into the chalices of life the wine of perfect joy.