(Matt. 22:42.)
IN answer to the Lord’s question to the Pharisees in Matt. 22:42, “What think ye of Christ?” we find that they reply, “The Son of David.” When questioned further, “no man was able to answer Him a word.” They had not acknowledged the One to whom they were listening as the Son of God.
In Matt. 12:24, we find what their real thoughts were about that blessed One. They accused Him of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Here they were blaspheming against the Holy Ghost, and rejecting God’s beloved Son. They would not accept Him as the Christ, therefore they must forever be shut out of God’s presence. What a solemn thought! And even now there are thousands who reject this same Jesus — the Saviour of sinners.
In Matt. 27:4 we find what Judas thought of Christ. He acknowledged his guilt, and then says, “I have betrayed the innocent blood.” Yes, this One was the only one of whom these words could be said, for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and yet, all may be justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (vs. 24). Though Judas acknowledged what he had done, “he departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matt. 27:5). Pilate’s wife expresses her opinion of Christ in this same chapter (vs. 19). She speaks of Him as “a just man,” and tells her husband to have nothing to do with Him. She knew that He was not worthy of death, but little she knew that He was the One who was from the beginning, and by whom worlds were made.
What a contrast we get in turning to the leper’s case! (Matt. 8:5). He says, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” His faith was blest to him, and he was cleansed immediately. Thus it is always with the simple trusting soul that takes God at His word, and believes that the Lord Jesus has finished the work, and that the sinner has nothing whatever to do.
“Only trust Him,
He will save you now.”
You will then be able to reply to this question — “What think ye of Christ?”— in the words of Peter: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), and the Lord’s answer to him will be yours too: “Blessed art thou... for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father which is in heaven.”
God grant that any unsaved soul who reads these lines may find this blessing, and thus glory will be brought to the name of the Lord Jesus, who in His prayer to His Father said, “Father, glorify Thou Me, with Thine own Self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (John 17:5).
A.