TWO men stood looking in at a print-shop window. They were total strangers to each other One of them suddenly put a question, “Where did they get that face?”
Before replying, the other quickly scanned the array of various representations in painting, engraving, and photographs, in order to know to which the speaker referred. Without hesitation he judged the remark applied to a picture of Christ and the rich young ruler, who was depicted turning sorrowfully away from the rightful claims of the Lord over himself and his substance He then replied, “I suppose it is an imaginary face; it is a good one notwithstanding.”
“Yes, it is all imagination,” was the rejoinder of the first speaker.
The tone in which it was uttered caused the one addressed to look the speaker full in the face, while making the emphatic remark, “Though that face be imaginary, the Christ of God is no imagination, He is a reality.”
The eyes of the querist flashed, as he hissed out, “It’s all stuff, there is no such person.”
“If there be no Christ of God, my friend, then you and I are damned forever.”
“Go back to the School Board and learn better; it’s all imagination.”
“Not all the School Boards in the world could teach you or me our need of Christ. The Spirit of God alone can teach us that.”
By this time they had moved along the street. Again the scoffer cried, “Nonsense! What about the Jew; will he be saved?”
“Never you mind the Jew, get your own soul saved. The question for you to answer before God is, What think ye of Christ?”
And thus they parted, the unbeliever turning off impatiently to follow his own way, and the Christian, with a sad heart, praying God to use the testimony for His still rejected Son. Scripture abounds in momentous questions, many of them still unanswered. The last time Jesus taught in the Temple, when the Pharisees or rulers were gathered together, He asked them the duplex question, “What think ye concerning the Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, David’s. He saith to them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I put thine enemies under thy feet? If therefore David call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, nor did any one dare from that day to question him any more” (Matt. 22:41-46). Full well they felt that He spake as never man spake, with an authority which, while convincing the gainsayers, carried with it all the force of truth, causing the hearers either to bow or resist.
Reader, let me ask how is it with you? Have you owned that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have you life through His name? (John 20:31.) The Scriptures declare that Christ is David’s Son and David’s Lord He is the seed of David according to the flesh, being born into time as the Son of Mary, of the house and family of David. He is David’s Lord, because out of Bethlehem came the Ruler of Israel, whose goings forth were of old from everlasting (Micah 5:2; Rom. 9:4), “over all God blessed forever.” Become man, so holy, so lowly, He was unknown and rejected both by His own people and the world (John 1:10, 11), wee “cut off,” as Messiah (Dan. 9:21) and His life taken from the earth (Acts 8:33). Yet He came to die: not for that nation only, but that He might gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. His was the blood of atonement Christ’s death is the basis of righteousness and peace, so that God is just and the justifier of him that believeth. But His cross and grave are empty, and He-exalted by the right hand of God, and to the right hand of God, the place of honor and distinction—sits at that right hand waiting till His foes be made His footstool. He is waiting, too, His revelation in glory. “For who may abide the day of his coming; and who shall stand when he appeareth, for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.” Who will be able to stand? Again, a grave question is asked (Psa. 130:3), “If thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? “Could you? Could I? Alas! no. God says, “Not one” (Psa. 14:3). An awakened conscience utters “Not one.” The host of the redeemed cry, “Not one.” The lost in torments will re-echo, “Not one.” God speaks in His holiness, “There is none righteous, no, not one.”
But stay! who is He who, coming up out of the river of Jordan, has the heavens opened upon Him, the dove of peace and purity abiding on Him, and the voice of the Eternal Father saluting Him with these memorable words, “Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” He could stand in God’s sight. He could enter the holy place without blood, for He did no iniquity, neither was guile found in His mouth. “He knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). “He did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22). “He was without sin” (Heb. 4:15). “In him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). This is the Man Christ Jesus, the One Mediator, the One Ransom. Your salvation can only be in virtue of His blood and sacrificed life. Oh! believe Him, confess Him, and you will be saved.
God’s glad tidings concerning His Son are for you. His work is perfect, His love infinite, His power illimitable, His word immutable, His wisdom infallible, and His claims indisputable. Oh! trust Him now. He died to save you, He lives to save you; His will is salvation, His mission was salvation; to trust Him will be your salvation, salvation from eternal flames salvation from Satan’s present power; salvation to have part in Christ, for Christ, and with Christ “For the grace of God, which carries salvation for all men, has appeared, teaching us that, having denied impiety and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and justly, and piously, in the present course of things, awaiting the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem ne from all lawlessness, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works.”
Reader, “what think ye of Christ”?
T. R. D.