OF
NAZARETH
Who is He?
Arthur
Wallis
as
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JESUS as
NAZAREDE
Who Is He?
By
ARTHUR WALLIS
“ Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty
in deed and word before God and all the people” Luke 24: 19.
Cte
FORT WASHINGTON, PENNSYLYANIA
jowed the custom in
capitals for the personal
Quotations are from the
otherwise stated) with Jehe
JESUS OF NAZARETH
Who Is He?
HE historical existence of “ jesus of Nazareth”
the commencement of the Christian era is beyond
dispute; it is witnessed to by those who did not be
eve in him as well as by those who did. What view are
we to take of this historical personage and the remarkable
claims that he made? In the first analysis the possibslines
are confined to three: either he was a deceiver who made —
claims for himself knowing them to be untrue; or he was
wclf-deceived, sincere but deluded, a man suffering from
,ome kind of hallucination; or he was a man whose words
and claims were sober truth. Some of the Jews of his
day said that he was a deceiver. Would you agree that
this describes the character of the author of the Sermon
on the Mount? Do you think that the influence be has
®
they were reduced to silence and durst not ask him any
more questions, and to parse pee to pert
iedge, “Never man so spake ”’? then we © ‘
these two possibilities, we are left with the third, and
find ourselves forced to conclude that he was a true man,
who spoke the sober es fact which is borne out by 4
the influence he has ex upon nd.
The New Testament provides the only original account
in existence of Christ and his teaching. It is not our
7
z SOS OF BILIEETA — weap is we F
DECSETE DUT YOE (0 Witte tats Ge Cams oh Gee Bitte
oe te Word A Ch — thee teas tee tally ub Alby
by many others — bc AIDE EB VES, sos z
ms 1, COMCATIRO esus A Marae Sic aging
that bis clans, aad Ge oes ae Scngome mdr
AG are true, how ate we we emterscnd em? Da q
reauy Clan to be Gol senites an Ge fete, 2s Gi aoe
dom n23 generally mainecinet? Or mighe it mee bes
i kexying with tne lacks ts tae tae warm Gat ee eas 4
Special ext one 8 Got, et men God RimeaelE2 Wee te 2
; nore sd pesos of ae cord Gotta
OF was be the supreme <remed tems met eed mitt
inienor ts God. thougs occupying as exuded
* Does it matter very muck?” some may alk. ~ Bowe
‘¢ Ume to bother wae taecloteal quibbles. or splitting
hairs over fine poms of Gomme Ow aiswer that
then we rawst —— et worip due wo Gut ap deny
God, then to worskep Ems 2s Gongs Se wee ap meaner
how clevaed or sapetor he may be os 2 ceed
would be bah blaspeemy and idoiery. EE es Cit
is Sood ke is 0 ee ee eee
we rey comccive Ini to ibe, siaee i Meueeen
the one Jehovah the same eee ool r
Look at it this way: the moma op Se summit
of Everest may be thowght to be wery for above che scier
tit in bis bethyspbere explorieg the deepest ean el
but in fact the @emee beewess thee Ss Eee we
one considers bow far both we from: pores sar, mille
A liget-years @eam fom the eet The meee peek
and the ocean bed belong to the spkesr of caccin. anil
G@ferent elevations may be mecswed aad compere:
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 9
star belongs to the sphere of the heavens, and therefore
no intelligent comparison with earthly things is possible.
To apply this to the question before us: are we to think
of Jesus Christ in terms of the star or the mountain peak?
Chis impassable gulf that divides deity from mere humani-
ty, the Creator from the creature, the infinite from the
finite — does it separate him from God, or him from man?
THE PROBLEM
An inquiry such as this is plainly called for, when we
find that people who assert their faith in the truth of
the Bible as God's word to man are fundamentally dis-
agreed on how it is to be understood in relation to its
central figure, Jesus of Nazareth. It is clear that Jesus
claimed to be the Son of God, and that the New Testament
Scriptures endorse that claim. But what does the expres-
sion mean? With some it is synonymous with a claim
to be God the Son, to belong to the Godhead, to be equal
with the Father, and that it affirms unquestionably his
deity. Others are emphatic that it is not so; they point
out that angels are also sons of God,! but they are not
divine; believers may be called sons of God,? but they have
no claim to deity. Some will refer us to that extra-
ordinary assertion of Jesus, “I and the Father are one’’;3
“ What is this,” they would say, “if not a claim to equali-
ty with God?” Others will reply that he was only assert-
ing his harmony with the Father, and will quote in support
John 17: 21, and remind us also of his words, “ the Father
is greater than I’’.4 Some say that he claimed to be eternal
and uncreated when he said, “Before Abraham was, 1
am.”5 Others assure us that he is but the first of God’s
created beings, for does he not describe himself as “ the
beginning of the creation of God’’?¢
1 Job 1: 6. 2 Romans 8: 14. 3 John 10: 30. 4 John 14: 28.
5 John 8: 58. 6 Revelation 3: 14.
10 JESUS OF NAZARETH —= WHO IS HE 7
Clearly these two views are mutually exclusive; they
cannot both be right. There cannot be degrees of deity;
either Jesus Christ was God or he was not God. Since both
parties cite the Bible for their support, how are we to
decide which is correct? The fact that views can exist
so diametrically opposed, may serve to teach us the falli-
bility of the unaided human mind in the interpreting of
the divine revelation, and to remind us of our utter
dependence upon the divine Author of the book to be its
Interpreter. As we appeal “to the law and to the testi-
mony " for an answer to this question — and we can turn
to no other authority — let us bear in mind three impor-
tant principles. The first, that a sincere and open mind
which is willing to be convinced by the truth is essential;
as Jesus himself said, “If any man willeth to do
[God's] will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be
of God.”! The second, that for right interpretation a pas-
sage must be considered strictly in the light of its context,
and in the light of other Scriptures dealing with the same
theme; ignoring this, we can make the Bible teach what
we please, Finally, that we approach our inquiry with a
humble prayer to Jehovah for his illumination: “Guide
me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the God of
my salvation.””?
THE OLD TESTAMENT
The New is in the Old concealed;
The Old is in the New revealed. (AUGUSTINE.)
The reading of the Old Testament is designed to prepare
us for the New. What we find in full bloom in the New
is but a seed in the Old. The seed may be small, it may
be hidden, it may be shrouded in mystery — but it is there.
This is particularly true concerning Jesus of Nazareth. It
1 John 7: 17. 2 Psalm 25: 5.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? a
was during that memorable walk to Emmaus that “ be-
ginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he [Jesus]
interpreted to them in all the [0.T.] Scriptures the things
concerning himself.”! As we set out to discover who he
really is, We must expect the Old Testament to point us
down the road that leads to the truth, and prepare our
minds for the fuller revelation to follow.
Every Jew knew from the sacred Hebrew Scriptures that
man was not permitted to look upon God. “Thou canst
not see my face: for man shall not see me and live.”?
The New Testament teaching is to the same effect: “ No
man hath seen God at any time”,} “ dwelling in light un-
approachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see”.4
In view of this it is necessary to inquire who was the one
who appeared to Abram as “the God of glory”?5 To
Hagar in the wilderness as “ the angel of Jehovah”, who
testified, “‘ Thou art a God that seeth. . . . Have I even seen
him who saw me?’’6 To Jacob at Peniel who said “I have
seen God face to face, and my life is preserved"?7 To
Moses at the burning bush as “I am” so that he “hid his
face; for he was afraid to look upon God" ?® To Joshua
near Jericho as “ captain of the host of Jehovah” so that
he “fell on his face to the earth, and did worship"?? To
Gideon under the oak in Ophrah, who is described now as
‘the angel of Jehovah” and now as “ Jehovah"? To
Manoah and his wife, parents of Samson, who “ fell on
their faces to the ground. . . . And Manoah said unto his
wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God"?
These incidents of Old Testament history must evoke
important questions in the minds of thinking people. — It
is clear that these godly people were overwhelmed with
fear because they were convinced that they had seen God.
- 27. 2 Exodus 33: 20. 3 John r: 18. 41 Tim-
one ae i - 5 i= 7: = Canale 16: 13 Lit. trans.
7 Genesis 32: 30. § Exodus3:6. 9 Joshua 5: 14. Judges
6: 11, 14 ll Judges 13: 20, 22.
12 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO 18 HE 7?
They testified to their conviction, and Seripture endorses
hut does not explain their testimony. Some believed that
they would die, and were surprised that they lived. Their
velicl when they were spared did not remove their con-
viction that they had seen God, nor did it remove their
perplexity as to how it was they could see Him and live.
It they did not truly see God why does Scripture imply
that they did? If they did see God why did they not die
according to Exodus 33: 20? Why is the one who ap-
peared to Gideon described one moment as the angel of |
Jehovah, and the next as Jehovah himself? Similarly, why
do we find the aged patriarch Jacob equating God, on the
one hand, with the angel that redeemed him, on the other, —
when he blessed the sons of Joseph: “The God before
whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God
which hath fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel
which hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads’?!
Why did this angel command Moses and Joshua to take
their shoes from off their feet? Why did he receive wor-
ship.? whereas, when the apostle John fell down before
an angel to worship him he was told, “ See thou do it not
. worship God ’’?3 :
The person of Jesus who is the Christ provides the only
solution to this enigma of the seeming appearances of God
in the Old Testament in the person of this mysterious
angel of the covenant. He it was who, being “ in the be-
ginning with God,‘ shared his glory before the universe
existed.5 If this angel of Jehovah (or angel of the cove-
nant) was God’s Son, then one thing is clear: the mani-
festation of the Son is presented in the Old Testament
Scriptures as a manifestation of God, and explains why in
the New Testament Jesus declared “ He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father”. That this angel of Jehovah is also
called Jehovah leads us to inquire whether the title Jehovah
1 Genesis 48: 15, 16. 2 Jesters’ 14. 2 Revelation 19: 10.
$ John 1: 2, S John 17: 5. John 14: 9.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 13
may not be applied to the Son as well as to the Father; this
would account for the numerous passages in the Old Testa-
ment which speak of Jehovah, but when quoted in the
New Testament are related directly to Christ (see appen-
dix); this would also explain such a verse as Malachi 3: 1,
‘The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his
temple; — who could this be but Jehovah? But the
prophet continues, “even the angel of the covenant,
whom ye delight in". We thus conclude that though no
mortal eye has gazed or can gaze on God the Father, yet
in the person of his Son, who is the very image of his
substance, men have truly seen God.
THE EXPRESSION OF GOD’S LOVE
The giving of the Son to redeem us is shown to be the
expression of God’s own love to mankind. “ God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.”! “God
ommendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”? Such passages leave
us with a deep impression of the immensity of God’s love
is expressed in him who is “ his unspeakable gift”? Here
is a love which passes knowledge — heights that we can
never scale and depths that we can never plumb. Is it
possible that this immeasurable gift was only the giving
by God of a creature he had made? When God said to
Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom
thou lovest, even Isaac . . . and offer him there for a
burnt offering ”,4 he was giving us a foreshadowing of an
infinitely greater sacrifice that he himself would make in
a coming day. '
God was not asking Abraham merely to yield up some-
thing he possessed or something he had made — an insig-
nificant sacrifice by comparison — but his only son whom
1 John 3: 16. 2 Romans 5: 8. 32 Corinthians 9: 15.
4 Genesis 22: 2.
14 JESUS OF NAZsRETH — WHO Is HE?
he had begottes. whom he dearly loved. who was
of himself Goc was asking of him the greatest =
possible in view of the promise, “In Iszac sizall thy sce
be called” and by his unquestioning obedience and
phat faits Abrzham commended his own love t
In “offerisg up bis only begotten son”? Abrakam
offered ead ee Bet if
ane le ‘cache’ heneany, ee
far more 2 tion for the sactiice efi
Moriah than thet of God on Golgotha, for Abraham wa
gn himself but God was only giving 2 creature be ha
ma How could this be God commendmg ~ kis c
love"? How could it be true that on the cross Cod
giving |! . that be “was in Christ recomciiing
Or if™ If God could create ome p
son, and then give him for man’s redemption. could
not in his omnipotence create a thousand others to repiz
him? How could this be “his great love wherewnh
loved us”.* of which the responding love of man
that of Abr2ham. is but a feeble, pale reflection?
THE WORD WAS
Only the eternal God is outside of time. AH created
beings belong to time since they have a begining.
moment God put forth his power to create, time beg
It is this commencement of time that is expressed by
phrase “In the beginning was the Word™> The :
shows that it is God’s Son who is “the Word ~
person's mind remains unknown and unknowable save 2S
he gives utterance to his thoughts, so the eternal, invis
God is only known through the Son who is his
1 Hebrews 11: 18 2 Hebrews 11: 17- 32
s: 1g + Ephesians 2: 4 5 John 1: &.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE? 1s
or Word. The verse tells us, “In the beginning the Word
was". It does not say, “In the beginning the Word
same to be", or “In the beginning the Word was
eated ". Nothing could be simpler than the use of such
expressions if they conveyed the truth. Since Genesis
ypens with the statement, “In the beginning God created
cne heaven and the earth”, why could not John’s gospel
pen with the statement, “In the beginning God created
the Word"? Why does it state instead that “In the be
ng the Weed was"? Why does it declare that when
egan the Word was already in existence? There
an be only one answer, that he existed eternally.
t is significant that the Son is not called a Word, but
the Word; Scripture gives no other means of the Father's
-xpression but the-Son. He, and he alone, is “the efful-
gence of his glory, and the very image of his substance "2
The expression of God's mind in the creating of the
world,? the upholding of the world, the redeeming of the
world,* has been effected through the activity of “the
\Vord"". As far as we can tell from Scripture God has
never expressed himself apart from the Word. Can we
en conceive of a time when the Word was not, when
the eternal God was without utterance or expression?
\re we to believe that he was obliged to create the Word
to express himself? Such a thought is surely incredible.
The statement with which Scripture opens, “In the be
ginning God " finds its counterpart in the opening of John’s
gospel, “In the beginning the Word” and prepares us to
accept the tremendous statement that follows — to accept
it without tampering with it to make it fit a theory —
“the Word was God”S
THE FATHER AND THE SON
In the cross-examination of a witness it is often the
l Hebrews 1: 3. 2 = Pa > Heeaes 5)
1: 17. 4 Colossians 1:
16 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO Is HE?
facts which emerge accidentally that provide the m a
convincing witess to the truth, Just because they are un
intentional, rather than calculated and
is with this theme in Scripture. Not only in the all
¥- Dut in the most casual allusions and seemingly
incidental statements scattered throughout Scripture, do
we Hine pointers to the truth. For there are.
passages in which the name of the Son is linked with
that of the Father in such a way, and im such connections
poe 2n honest inquirer in no doubt as to how the
person of the Son is to be viewed. Let us look at some
of them.
Jesus said, “ If a man love me, he will keep my word:
and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him
and make our abode with him.” And again, “But no v
have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.”?
Then in the epistles we read, “Grace to you and =
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."3 “Now
may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus
direct our way unto you.”* “Looking for the blessed
hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and
Saviour Jesus Christ.’”5 Finally in the book of Revelation,
“Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and
unto the Lamb.Ӣ
These are but a sample of the many that could be
quoted. Do they not leave the reader with the strong
impression that these persons belong to the same plane,
the same order of being? When we find created beings
innumerable, out of every nation under heaven, rendering
to the Lamb the same ascription of worship and homage
that they ascribe to the peg God, we Acs we ag
think that this t gulf that separates creatu
the Creator separates him from God, and not him from.
: 41 Thes-
1 2 2. 2 John 15: 24. 3 Romans 1: 7. h
PEE ‘ 11. $ Titus 2: 13. 6 Revelation 7: 10.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 17
man? How would it sound to us if Scripture was to read,
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
Michael his archangel’? Or if Scripture led us to ascribe
“ Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and
unto the angel Gabriel"? Then consider him who is seen
in the above Scriptures, in company with the Father, in-
dwelling those who believe and obey him, and who is, with
the Father, the joint source of grace and peace to believing
men, the joint director of the steps of his servants, the
joint object of their ascriptions of worship. Is he merely
1 supreme spirit-creature? Is he only a kind of super-
archangel who had a beginning in time, and might have an
end, if his Creator so desired?
CHRIST AND THE SPIRIT
“Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah?’ inquires
the prophet. Plainly implied in the question is the
answer, Only Jehovah himself, as the rest of the chapter
emphasizes, No one but God could have authority to
direct the Spirit of God. But if this is so, how do we
account for the words of Jesus when he speaks of the
Comforter, the Holy Spirit, as the one “ whom I will send
unto you from the Father”,? and again “If I go, I will
send him unto you’? It was also Jesus who breathed
on the apostles in the upper room, and said in anticipation
of Pentecost, “Take ye the Holy Spirit”;* this act of
breathing was perhaps symbolic, but it was also mislead-
ing and deceptive if Jesus had no authority to bestow the
Spirit of God.
It is significant that Isaiah 40: 13 may also be rendered,
“Who hath meted out the Spirit of Jehovah?” (R.v. mar-
gin). Christ has done so, according to Peter on the day
of Pentecost, for “being therefore by the right hand of
\ Isaiah go: 13. 2 John 15: 26. 3 John 16: 7. 4 John
20: 22 Lit. trans.
14 JESUS OF MAZAMETH — WHO 16 HE?
CoS exalted, and having received of the Father
promise of the Holy Spirit, he (fesus) hath poured fi
for meted out) this, which ye see and hear”’ To Pe
this was simply the fulfilment of the promise he had ne:
himsell from Jesus, “1 will vend him unto you”.
had John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, | os
witness to Jesus as the Bestower of the Spirit: “ ther
rte he that is mightier than L, the Jatchet of whos
+ | am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize
with the Holy Spirit and with fire”? But
‘an direct the Spirit of God, and yet Scripture so clearly
speaks of Christ directing the Spirit of God, how can
resist the conclusion that Christ is God? -
Jn further confirmation of this we find that the Spir
of God which inspired the prophets is doaxthed Et pick Pet
as “ the Spirit of Christ which was in them”? se
where the Spirit of God is described as “ the Spi ¢ of
Son”’A “the Spirit of Jesus Christ”? “the ‘
Jesus 6 Since the New Testament reveals so conclusive!
that the special activity of the Spirit of God is towz
Christ, that it is his peculiar task to bear witness
Christ,” to glorify Christ,? to take of the things of Chris
and declare them unto us,? how can he be less than
who not only bestows the divine Spirit, but is the
absorbing object of his activity?
CHRIST AND CREATION
Scripture has a characteristic expression for the who
universe, for all created things, animate or inanimate;
is the “all things”. “ All things were made es him [the
Son)” “For in him were all things created . and
3
LActs 2: 33. 2 Luke 3: 16. 1
4 Galatians 4: 6. 5 Philippians 1: 19. 16: 7
7 John 15: 2. John 16: 14 9 John 16: 1
© john 1: 3
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? Ig
is before all things." How could Christ exist before the
“all things”, the whole created universe, and create the
“all things”, while at the same time being part of them,
which would be the case if he had been created by God?
Notice how Scripture uses the timeless present that relates
to the eternal existence of deity when it says, “he is [not
was] before all [created] things ”.
We learn from the same passage in Colossians that the
“all things” were created “in him ”, “through him”,
and “unto him”. “Through him” suggests that he was
the agent of the Father in creation (cp. Hebrews 1: 2), but
lest we should think that this means that the Son was
“ an-inferior workman, creating simply for the glory of a
higher Master, for a God superior to himself”, it states:
“all things have been created through him and unto
him”, that is, for his possession, his pleasure, and his
glory. God is surely the end of all created beings, as the
apostle affirms, “ Of him, and through him, and unto him,
are all things ”,? but here in Colossians we see that Christ
is the end of all created things, that they have been created
“unto him ”; how then can we escape the conclusion that
Christ is God?
The Bible teaches us that creation is a work peculiar to
God, in which his character and glory are revealed to
men. “Tam Jehovah, and there is none else; beside me
there is no God . . . I form the light, and create darkness;
I make peace and create evil [i.e. adversity]; I am Jehovah
that doeth all these things.”3 “For the invisible things
of [God] since the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being perceived through the things that are made, even
his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be with-
out excuse.’4 “Fear God, and give him glory; . . . and
worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea
and fountains of waters.”5 If Jehovah created the world
1 Colossians 1: 16, 17. 2 Romans II: 36. 3 Isaiah 45:
5, 7. 4 Romans 1: 20. 5 Revelation 14: 7.
20 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE 7
through an inferior being, who w: himself created,
can creation be that @ivine work which
forth Jehovah as the ealy God, the only one to be
shipped and adored. and which reveals uniquely his ¢
lasting power and divinity, as these verses teach? # a
deed Christ be a creature, by bestowing upon him suck
wisdom and power necessary to create all things, has net
God subjected mankind to the grievous temptation of
worshipping as God him through whom all things we
created? If Jesus Christ be not God, then this very
of creation, designed to lead men to the knowledge of
true God, must of necessity invite them to worship
serve the creature, Christ, rather than the Creator,
CHRIST THE REDEEMER
Throughout the Old Testament we discover that it is
peculiarly and solely the work of Jehovah to be the Save
our and Redeemer of his people. How characteristic
such statements as these: “Beside me there is no
our ”;? “ Salvation belongeth unto Jehovah ”;s “I Jehovals
am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One
Jacob.”4 Heathen nations on the other hand are
proached for their folly in praying to gods that «
save.5 But in the New Testament the work of salve
and redemption is attributed to Christ, who came
ly to save his people from their sins, and who is
designated as “ the Saviour of the world”.® If then, there
is no Saviour but God, and Jesus is “the Saviour of the
world”, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that Jesas
is God; the Jehovah Saviour of the Old Testament is
Saviour Christ of the New. This is confirmed by ts
44: 6 which reads: “Thus saith Jehovah, the King
Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts: 1 am the &
1 Romans 1: 25. 7 Isaiah 4g: 11. 3 Psalm 4: & + ale
4g: 1. SlIsaiah 44: 17; 44: 20, § John 4: 42: 1 JOWR a: a
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 21
and I am the last”, for this description of Jehovah the
Redeemer, “the first and the last”, is three times attribu-
ted to Christ in the book of Revelation.t .
Job's wonderful prophecy concerning the Redeemer is
conclusive: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that
he shall stand up at the last upon the earth: and after
my skin hath been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh shall
| see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes
shall behold, and not another."2 Two vital facts emerge
from this wonderful statement: the one whom Job des-
cribes as “my Redeemer” must refer to Jesus Christ,
since he is to stand up at the last upon the earth, and Job
is to see him with his own eyes in the flesh; and secondly,
this Redeemer is God.
CHRIST THE JUDGE
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Most
men, however feeble their conception of God, have an
innate conviction that there is a God of justice superin-
tending the affairs of men. But when we learn that “ God
shall bring every work into judgment, with every hidden
thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil”,4 we are
staggered at the immensity of the task. “Jehovah is a
God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”>
There is no rough and ready calculation in the court of
heaven, for the divine judge weighs every act, and metes
out perfect justice. Every factor, mental, moral, and
physical, must be taken into consideration; every action
must be viewed in the light of heredity and environment,
light and understanding, good and evil influence, motive
and opportunity, deterrents and consequences. Who but
an omniscient God, all-wise and all-knowing, is competent
to judge accurately one life, or even one act of one life?
1 Revelation 1: 17; 2: 8; 22: 13. 2 Job 19: 25-27. 3 Gene-
sis 18: 26. 4 Ecclesiastes 12: 14. 5 1 Samuel 2: 3.
22 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO 18 Hil ?
But we learn that the Father has renounced all respon-
sibility in the matter of judgment, and caused it all to
devolve upon the Son, “ for neither doth the Father judge
any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son ie
he, and he alone, shall “judge the alive and the dead”?
“judge the secrets of men’”,3 and “ give unto each one of
you according to your works".4 Consider the myriads of
moral beings, both heavenly and human, that shall be
brought before him. Remember that in his hands will
rest the decision concerning their eternal destiny. Reflect
on the statement that “he hath given all judgment unto
the Son”. There will be no complex cases that he will
find himself incompetent to handle, or reserve for a—
higher authority. Ponder the spectacle of that supreme —
court of the universe over which he will preside, and re-—
member that the eternal destiny of those innumerable
beings, their endless bliss or endless woe, will rest in his
hands. No appeal will be possible; his decisions will be
final, irrevocable, and eternal. From the face of the Son—
of Man seated upon his august throne they “ shall go
away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into
eternal life’”’.5 If we believe the Scripture that the man,
Christ Jesus, is to perform such an office, that man must
be God.
THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST
That Scripture declares with one voice the absolute
perfection of Christ’s character cannot be gainsaid.
Were it otherwise he could never have been the out-
shining of God’s glory, and the very image of his
substance. As we contemplate this one who is “holy, —
guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners”,6 who is
1 John 5: 22. 22 Timothy 4: 1 Lit. trans. 3 Romans
2: 16, 4 Revelation 2: 23. S$ Matthew 25: 46.
6 Hebrews 7: 26.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 23
“without blemish and without spot”! “who did no
sin”? “ who knew no sin”,3 and “in [whom] is no sin”4
let us ask ourselves what moral and spiritual perfections
are attributed to Jehovah that are not also attributed to
Christ?
Behold him who quietly affirmed, “I am the light of
the world ”;5 it was he, who, with one trenchant question,
and one penetrating glance, caused his adversaries to slink
away convicted by their own consciences,$ or rendered
them speechless with the unanswerable challenge, “ which
of you convicteth me of sin?”? Jt was he who wrung
from the lips of a reluctant Pilate the admission, “I find
no fault in this man”,8 and moved a heathen centurion
to exclaim in astonishment, “ Certainly this was a
righteous man”;? it was he, who, in the depth of his
agony, could so convince the criminal dying by his side
that he declared, “this man hath done nothing out of
place".10 Does the Old Testament introduce us to
Jehovah as the Holy One?" Then with equal emphasis
is Jesus so called in the New.!2 How then can Jesus be
one with Jehovah in moral and spiritual perfection, as
Scripture presents him, if at the same time he is separated
from him by that infinite gulf that parts deity from every
other being? Furthermore, if Jehovah could create a
sinless Christ, how was it that he ever saw fit to create ;
Adam who could and did so quickly fall? Why did he
not start the race with the sinless “last Adam”, instead
of the sinful first Adam? é
The conversation of Jesus with the rich young ruler is
significant. “Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?” was the young man’s question. “ And
Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is
11 Peter r: 19. 21 Peter 2: 22. 32 Corinthians 5: 21.
‘1 John 3: 5. 5 John 8:12. 6 John 8:79. 7 John 8: 46.
§ Luke 23: 4. 9 Luke 23: 47. 10 Luke 23: 41 Lit. trans.
U Isaiah go: 25. 12 Acts 3: 14.
i4 JEG OV WALDO —~ WO We tbe 2
yn, wave ome, even COALS (ee it We etek Gea jos
Aid nin deny that he Was good, tox tod ts Fp
tioner calling him good; he merely aces pn Dn
addressed him, In the wording A te ers
question there Was a latent ComttaicGon, jon
was pointing out, The lorce A the Lends question
he expressed thus: "You address me by the memeas
‘twacher’ lop, Luke %: 12) and yet you cab me good
only God is good, and if | arm acknomietges as uty (
then | must be acknowledged as truly Gol”
not only sets forth the absolute goodness of Jeous Carat
but shows that abwlute goodness and dbwdlase Getty are
inseparable, It must be plainly understood teat toe dextal
of Christ’s deity involves, on the axthority of kis ows
words quoted here, the denial of his essenticl govtness,;
the two stand or fall together
THE CLAIMS OF CHRIST
In the fourth gospel there are recorded taree Gsinct
instances of Jesus claiming to be the Son of and
what is of the deepest significance, how that claim
understood, “For this cause therefore the jews
the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sab-
bath but also called God his own Father, making himself
equal with God.”? “ The Jews answered him. For
work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and becamse
that thou, being a man, makest thyself Cod“? ~The
Jews answered [Pilate], We have a law, and by that
he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of
God.’* <q
These quotations establish two points beyond doubt
The first, that the Jews took for granted that the special
claim of Jesus to be the Son of God, and his calimg ~ God
1 Luke 18: 18, 19. 2 John 5: & 3 John 10:
4 John 19: 7.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 25
his own Father” was nothing less than claiming divine
equality with God, or making himself God. Notice that
Jesus never made any attempt to deny their assertion,
or to show them that they had put the wrong construction
on his claim. The second, that this claim of divine son-
ship, which the Jews plainly understood as a claim to
deity, was the real issue in the trial before the Sanhedrin
which issued in his crucifixion. A celebrated Jew, M.
Salvador, has made it clear in his book Jésus Christ, that
in view of the claims of Jesus, a Jew had no logical al-
ternative to belief in his godhead, except the imperative
duty of putting him to death. It is inconceivable that the
Jews condemned him simply because they misunderstood
the true nature of his claims. It is plain from the records
that they put him to death because they saw clearly, yet
refused to accept, the claims he was making. Of this
Peter reminded them soon after, “ Ye denied the Holy and
Righteous One’’.!
Closely connected with his claim to be God’s Son was
his claim to be the Christ or the Messiah. What kind of
Messiah had the Jewish prophets led their people to
expect? Isaiah had described the coming one as “ Emman-
uel” — God with us,? as “the mighty God, the Father
of eternity ’;? Jeremiah called him “ Jehovah our right-
cousness";# Micah spoke of his eternal pre-existence;s
Daniel predicted his everlasting dominion through
Zechariah God refers to him as “the man that is my fel-
low";? while in Malachi his advent is described as the
Lord coming suddenly to his temple.8 That the Jews
looked upon his claim to be the Son of God as a claim
to deity we have already seen. Clearly they linked with
this his claim to be the Messiah, as we see from the
solemn adjuration of the High Priest, “I adjure thee by
1 Acts 3: 14. 2 Isaiah 7: 14. 3 Isaiah 9: 6. _4 Jeremiah
23: Se 5 Micah 5: 2. 6 Daniel 7: 14. 7 2chmiah
13: 7. 8 Malachi 3: 1.
26 JUSUS OF NAZARETH == WHO IS HE ?
the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the
Christ lor Messiah], the Son of God.” From the Jewish
standpoint the fate of Jesus was determined by his un-
hesitating reply, “Thou hast said [the truth].”"!
CHRIST AND MANKIND
We have been seeking to discover from Scripture
whether this impassable gulf that divides the Infinite from
the finite, the Uncreated from the created, is a gulf that
separates Christ together with all created beings, from
God; or whether it separates Christ and God from them.
The Scriptures considered thus far have shown beyond
question that no such gulf ever existed between him and
his Father, but that he possessed an identity of nature as
“the only begotten Son”. Therefore this impassable gulf
must lie between him and all created beings. Does Scrip-
ture bear this out? Does it show man standing in the
same relation to Christ as to God? Does it require that
man shall render the same homage (that due from the
creature to the Creator) to the Son as to the Father? One
sentence will suffice to answer, perhaps the most conclu-
sive on the subject to be found in Scripture, because it is
virtually impossible to make it mean anything other than
what it says. From the lips of Jesus himself we learn that
it is the express desire of the Father “ that all may honour
the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honour-
eth not the Son honoureth not the Father which sent
him ’’?
A zealous religious worker who denied the deity of —
Christ said to a Christian friend of the writer, “ The dif-
ference between us is this: you make much of Christ,
but we make much of Jehovah.” Had the speaker under-
stood the import of this verse he would have seen that
the honour he refused to give to the Son he was thereby
1 Matthew 26: 63, 64. 2 John 5: 23.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 27
denying to the Father. The apostle Peter would say to
such a_ one what he said to the deeply religious people
of his day, “‘ Ye denied the Holy and Righteous One” —
though no doubt he would be ready to add, “1 know
that in ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.”! That
the honour due to the Father is due to the Son does not
however hinge upon one proof text, but is the very warp
and woof of the New Testament revelation concerning
Christ. This may be established along four lines: knowing
Christ; trusting Christ; praying to Christ; worshipping
Christ.
KNOWING CHRIST
Spiritual life, eternal life depends upon spiritual know-
ledge; not knowledge of Scriptural facts, not knowledge
of a system of doctrine, but heart knowledge of the only
true God.? The vengeance of God will yet fall upon those
who know him not.5 But Scripture places the knowledge
of the Son on the same level as the knowledge of the
Father, and equally essential to the possession of eternal
life: “ And this is life eternal, that they should know
thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send,
even Jesus Christ.’”4 “If ye had known me, ye would
have known my Father also.”5 Furthermore, knowing the
Father depends upon the will of the Son to reveal him,
for “neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and
he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him’; hence
the bestowing of eternal life upon men is in the hands
of the Son.”
Paul shows us that his most intense desires and longings
are for a fuller knowledge of Christ: “ What things were
gain to. me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea
1 : 2 i 1: 34. 3 2 Thessalonians 1:
8 ae ise 5 yon ment peter 1: 2. 6 Matthew
11s 2a 7 John ro: 28; 17: 2.
28 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO Is HE?
verily, and I count all things to be Joss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom ]
suffered the Joss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may gain Christ... that I may know him,
and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
his sufferings.”t It is characteristic of all the apostle
teaching to emphasize that not only salvation, but full
spiritual maturity is bound up with the knowledge of
Christ: “till we all attain unto the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full gro
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness
Christ."? Since the knowledge of the Son is the key
the knowledge of the Father, and since there is at le
as much emphasis placed upon the. knowledge of the
as the other, how can we escape the conclusion that Ch:
is God?
TRUSTING CHRIST
The New Testament does not present salvation as b
available in the name of Jehovah, but in the name «
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, “for neither is there any o
name under heaven, that is given among men, whel
we must be saved”’3 It is faith in Christ alone that j
fies a man before God,‘ and saves him from his sin
this faith that saves is no intellectual assent to the tu
of Christ’s existence, or even the nature of his w
“Thou believest that God is One; thou doest well:
demons also believe, and shudder.”6 Such a faith doe
not deliver demons from their misery, nor does it sa
men from their sin. It must be “with the heart ma
believeth unto righteousness ”,? and the heart includes
only the mind, but also the affections and the will.
1 Philippians 3: 7-10. 2 Ephesians 4: 12, 13. 3 Acts 4:
10-12. 4 Romans 3: 22, 26. 5 Acts 16: 31. 6 James 25
7 Romans 10: 10.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 29
mind perceives him who is the object of faith; the affec-
tions embrace him; the will yields to him, The heart is
thus captivated — mind, affections and will — by the
object of its faith. In a sense the believer merges his per-
sonal existence with the one in whom he believes; he is
“joined” to Christ,! he is “ in ‘Christ ” (this and equivalent
expressions are found about roo times in Paul’s writings),
and can affirm “ Christ liveth in me”.?
If then Christ is truly the object of saving faith, as
Scripture declares, and if this saving faith is of such a
quality as to involve the voluntary submission of one’s
whole inner being — mind, affections, and will — to him,
so that one is transplanted into a new spiritual sphere,
“in Christ”, and so transformed as to become “a new
creature ’”’,3 can we really believe that this one who is to
be thus trusted, depended upon, submitted to, who thus
becomes the very sphere of our spiritual existence, is less
than God? What measure of trust is the believer to give
to the Almighty over and above what Scripture requires
him to give to the Son of God?
PRAYING TO CHRIST
All prayer, as we properly understand the word, is only
rightly addressed to God. In this, unitarians who deny
Christ’s deity, and trinitarians who affirm it, are agreed.
But according to the former, prayer should not be made
to Christ, for he is not God; according to the latter, prayer
may be made to Christ, for he is God. What saith the
Scripture? Do we find any examples of praying to Christ?
Are believers forbidden or encouraged to pray to him?
There are many in the gospel narratives who came and
‘besought ” Jesus,‘ but can we be sure that this was pray-
ing to him as God? He said to the woman at the well,
1 Romans 7: 4; 1 Corinthians 6: 17. 2 Galatians 2: 20.
32 Corinthians 5: 17. 4 Matthew 14: 36.
30 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ?
“I thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of
him, and he would have given thee living water.”! If we
believe that that gift is available today, on the same con-
ditions, how does praying to Christ to give us “ living
water” differ essentially from praying to God for his
blessing? How does the prayer of David, “ Have mercy
upon me, O God”? differ essentially from the cry of
Bartimaeus, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on
me’?3 Similar words addressed to Christ have surely
formed the saving prayer of multitudes who have passed
from death to life, Certainly Paul’s prayer to Christ,
“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ was the turning
point in his experience of conversion. Are we then per-
mitted to call on Christ at the first for salvation, but
thereafter never to call on him again? Let Stephen, the
first Christian martyr, answer it, when “ full of the Holy
Spirit ”, he finished his Christian course as Paul had com-
menced it, with a prayer to Christ, “Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit.”> Almost the same words that Jesus uttered
to the Father at the cross, Stephen prayed to Christ at
his martyrdom.
There is in fact abundant Scriptural evidence that pray-
ing to Christ was the rule, not the exception, amongst
the early Christians, for they are characteristically des-
cribed as those “ calling on the name of Christ’”.6 Then
there are those breathings of the sacred writers, which
are themselves prayers: “I hope in the Lord Jesus”;? “I
thank . . . Christ Jesus our Lord.”8 In fact the last
prayer of the Bible, expressing what has been the longing
of the church down the years, is a prayer addressed to
Christ, ‘Come, Lord Jesus.” Isaiah rightly reminds us:
“They have no knowledge that . . . pray unto a god that
1 John 4: 10. 2 Psalm 51: I. 3 Mark 10: 47. 4 Acts
AN. 5 Acts 7: 55, 59: 6 Acts 9: 14, 20, 21; 22: 16
* 16, 55, 59.
: Corinthians 1: 2. 7 Philippians 2: 19. 8 1 Timothy 1: 12-
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE? 3r
cannot save”’,! but those who call upon Christ are i
unto one who is “able to saye of the wishin tee
that draw near unto God through him”? Those who have
cried to him and received his gracious answer, cannot
doubt that they have truly communed with God.
WORSHIPPING CHRIST
The worship of created beings is due to Jehovah, and
to him alone, for the Scripture says, “Thou shalt worship
Jehovah thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”3 To
worship any other god, whether spirit-being, angel, or
man-made image is idolatry. If it can be shown from
Scripture that men are enjoined not to worship Christ,
and that he himself refused that worship which was due
to God, then there is strong evidence that he was not
truly divine. If on the other hand Scripture gives over-
whelming evidence that men did worship him as God,
and that he readily received it, and if we find that God
encourages men to worship him, then the proof of his
deity is conclusively established.
The word in the Greek Testament meaning to worship!
occurs about sixty times, and is used generally to refer
to that adoration which is due to God, but which men
in their ignorance sometimes give to other men, or in
their folly to gods, the work of their own hands. We find
godly men refusing such worship from their fellows, as
when Peter refused the worship of Cornelius,’ or as when
Paul and Barnabas in great consternation forbade the in-
habitants of Lystra from doing sacrifice to them So it
was with the angels: twice John, in the visions of Patmos,
would have worshipped the angel that showed him such
great revelations, and twice he was met with the same
firm refusal, “See thou do it not . . . worship
l Isaiah 45: 20. 2 Hebrews 7: 25. 3 Matthew 4: 9, 10.
proskuned. 5 Acts 10: 25, 26. 6 Acts 14: 14, 15.
;
i
i
i
men, “a multitede of the heavenly bast ~
the infant Jesus at his bith, amd thes ac Godt cope
What Jesus resolutely refused t0 do to Sees the wie
men did to the infant Som of God ~they fell down and
worshipped him" + The worship of jesus Cart by mes
— the gospel narratives: By the
leper.« the ruler of the Jews. the blind man’ the disciples
in the boat the Canaanitish woman! the mother of James
and John? the Gadareme dGemoniac®® ip bis resarrectiom
the two Marys:" at his ascension, the cleves Gecpien™
t
Are we to believe thet this worsiip of i
merely the payment of reverence dee w a pee
or of honour to 2 great benefactor, who under Gad Rad
blessed them greatly im bealiimg their bodies of saving ther
souls? Such a view is faced with Imseperable Gini
The man born blind gave mo Z
one who had healed bir. Gil Jeses told bie who he wae
Ged
|
fi
shipped him Clearly, then.
for what he had done. but
then take the view that this worship besowed on
the Messiah, was something less than the
ah
He
Vi
Hh
5
i
i
i!
f
ih
ad
and the Omega. the King of kimgs and Lord of
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
opening vision of this glorioes person that Jobe recom
“when I saw him, I fell at bis feet as ome
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 33
and ever". He shows us myriads of angels round the
- to receive the power, and riches, and Wisdom, and
might, and honour, and glory, and blessing”? Is this the
sort of praise we would expect created spirits to render
to a fellow created spirit, however exalted? Is this wor.
ship of an inferior quality to that which is rendered to
the Ahnighty? :
Notice how the vision continues: “And every created
thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under
earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them,
neard I saying, Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and
unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the
glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever.”3 Let it be
n that all created things in the universe are here
bing homage to their Creator. Is the Lamb found
among them ascribing homage to his Creator also? Or is
he found receiving from all created beings precisely the
same homage, the same ascription of worship that is
xddressed to the Almighty?‘ Earlier statements of Scrip-
ture should have prepared us for such scenes, Jesus had
revealed that it was the Father's express desire “ that all
men should honour the Son, even as they honour the
Father ’$ Paul reminds us that God has decreed “ that
in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [created]
things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
fat every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father”. How clearly these
verses teach that the glory of the Father is bound up for-
ever in the glory of the Son.
Has not God said, “I am Jehovah: that is my name;
and my glory will I not give to another”?? How then
do we find him sharing his glory with the Lamb in the
1 Revelation r: 5, 6. 2 Revelation 5: 11, 12. ‘3 Revelation
52x 4 cp. Revelation 7: 10. 5 John 5: 23. 6 Philip-
Pians 2: 10, II. 7 Isaiah 42: 8.
34 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE?
midst of the Throne? It can only be that he does not
view his Son as “another” of an inferior order, but as
“the man that is my fellow” or equal, and so entitled
to the honour and glory due to the Godhead. This is
clearly how Paul interprets it, for at one place he exhorts,
“He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord”) and at
another he shows. that it is one of the characteristics of
saints that they “glory in Christ Jesus a
Sir John Kennaway, Bart., of Escot, grandfather of the
present Sir John, and a fine Christian gentleman, was once
incorrectly addressed by a friend of the writer as “ My
Lord”. immediately he replied, “1 am not entitled to
that.” This was the reaction of an upright and honest
man, to refuse at once an honour to which he knew he
was not entitled. But when Jesus was worshipped by
Thomas with those remarkable words, “My Lord and my
God”,3 he not only received them, but gently rebuked
Thomas for taking so long to believe the truth. And have
you, my reader, ever worshipped him thus? Or are you
among the multitudes, some religious and some otherwise,
who honour not the Son, and therefore honour not the
Father who hath sent him?‘
CHRIST OUR RECONCILIATION
Whether or not Christ is worshipped is not the only mat-
ter affected by one’s verdict concerning his deity. It
vitally affects something even more basic, for the whole
question of man’s reconciliation to God hinges upon who
Jesus is. The reader's personal salvation is at stake, for
the Lord Jesus says today, as he said to religious people
long ago, “ Except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in
your sins”.5 Did not Jesus reveal that Peter's confession,
“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" is the
yery rock upon which the church is built?
1 Corinthians 1: st 2 Philippians’ 5:14 96:00 Mea
28. : Tok fies 5 John BP. 24. 6 Matthew 16: 16-18. .
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 35
Centuries before Jesus came, Job expressed his longing
for a mediator, one who would arbitrate on his behalf
with God. The Almighty seemed too exalted, too remote
to contemplate dealing directly with him, “For he is not
a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should
come together in judgment. There is no daysman
umpire] betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us
pboth.”! Job's longing for a daysman found fulfilment in
the “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus”.? He it is, and only he, who may lay his hand
upon them both, for being “in the form of God” he was
“made in the likeness of men”, and so “the Word
[which] was God . . . became flesh and dwelt among us”.
To lay his hand upon God and man, as Job expressed it,
required that he should be able to make personal contact
with God in the divine realm, and with man in the human
realm. So it was that in the fulness of time Jesus came
from ‘the bosom of the Father”S to be “born of
a woman”.6 As to his knowledge of God, he confessed,
“neither doth any know the Father, save the Son eas
to his knowledge of man, “he needed not that any one
should bear witness concerning man; for he himself knew
what was in man”. Only as the God-man could the Son
be an effective mediator, representing God to man no less
truly than man to God.
Some have asserted that only a man who was perfect,
not divine, was required to ransom man from the power
of sin, for the apostle states, “For as through the one
man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so
through the obedience of the one [Jesus] shall the many
be made righteous”. The view has been expressed thus
in Let God be True (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society) :
“That which was lost [by Adam’s transgression] was
1 Job 9: 32. 21 Timothy 2: 5, A.V. 3 Philippians 2: 6, 7.
4 John ES : 14. 5 John r: 18. © Galatians 4: 4. 7 Mat
thew 11: 27. 8 John 2: 25. 9 Romans 5: 19.
ecrifice] is whet was lost, mamely, perfect umn Gifle
with its rights and earthly prospects. Gods jut ew,
Denteroncmy 19: 21, was that Eke should o> for ke
hence 2 perfect eemen life saciGced for 2 periect oa
fe lost” (page 114). ~OF al God's foxhial ceo
heaven, it pleased him to use this One most dear ow kim
him to earth to become 2 perfect mam, ang
mong Sher things the remsoming work” Gage
: s 2 peries man, jeses stood im 2 posi Eee
. “2 perfect buman life~ was mecesmy for
to find perfection outside of deity? This has aiready berm
made dear by our study of the character of
own words, “none is good, save one, that is God”
perfect human life is 2 spiritual and moral impomtbaiay
unless deity puts on kumanity, and fies.
than 2n innocent of evem silicss
state, as that of Adem before the fall beta
after being tested im its snlessmess has
was with Christ, ~He suffered; and having beez
riect [through tial, he became unto that
him the author of eternal salvation “4 To speak
perfect man Adam in the garden” is to confuse
with perfection, and misunderstand
death
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 37
“like for like”, or “a perfect human life sacrificed for a
perfect human life lost”. See how it reads:
“ But not as the trespass, so also is the free gift. For if
by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did
the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one
man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many. And not as
through one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment
came of one unto condemnation, but the free gift came
of many trespasses unto justification. For if, by the tres-
pass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more
shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even
jesus Christ.”1 Had Romans 5: 19 been interpreted in
the light of its context, the view under consideration
would never have been expressed, for it is the negation
of what the apostle is saying; he is not comparing but
contrasting what was lost through Adam's transgression
with what is bestowed through Christ’s obedience. Notice
how he describes what we may have in Christ: “much
more”, “the abundance of grace”, “reigning in life”.
What did Adam know of these before he fell? Let the
apostle sum up the argument in his own words (verse 20):
“Where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceeding-
ly.” Here is warrant enough for the sentiments of the
hymn:
In Christ the sons of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.
If, as some affirm, the sacrifice of Christ only avails to
put the ransomed back where Adam was before he fell,
then there is all the dire possibility that they shall again
stumble as he did, and perish eternally. Is this then the
“so great salvation” that Christ procured at such a price,
which the apostle describes as “ much more”, “ the abun-
dance of grace”, “ reigning in life”? Surely no one who
has tasted it would ever be tempted to think so.
1 Romans §: 15-17.
JZ SIS OF WALARETH — wrap os we?
Furthermore, if it were true tac Nike auus go for Tike
and (hal the sacrifice of the Redeemer somst be at ies
equivalent in value to the being or betas he is t0
theri it is obvious that the sacrifice of ome perfect sn
finite bike (if such could exist) conld enby sufhce $0 ame
for the sin of one other finite fe Om tus hase :
may be considered to have atoned for = of
ut not of his posterity. Bat Scrigeme seaches thar
s “the Saviour of the world 72 was sent “ thar
wore ould be saved through hime "2 “he as the
tion for our sins; and not for exes exiy, but also for
wre world”? Further, it is deze tat angelic
demption, that 2 secrifice was meeded which would
embrace in its scope the millions upon mallons of created
beings, past, present, and future, aud witch would
the heavens and reconcile them
that the shed blood of 2 sinless Adazs cosiid have accom
plished it? Could 2 Michael or 2 Gabriel, thongh he
without blemish or without spot. take buman form. be
come obedient unto death, and thus effect sp preat
tion? Here was a work not merely of saving souls
death, but of “ bringing many soms mato glory ~* redeqe
ing his people from all imiguity. and presenting “the
church to himself a glorious church. mot haying spot or
wrinkle or any such thing”? Let the wonder of it dawn
tie
redemption requires an infinite Redeemer: “I Jehovah, am
thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer."* Ps
: 42; 1 John 4: 2 Jobm 5: 17. 35 John 2: 2 ee
shoot Tae ae page le 7 Tiems 2: 1: 2 Gaeaheae
4 Job 4: 18; 15: 35; 25: 5 J z :
PP re el 7 Ephesians 5: 27. §% Isaiah 49: 26
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 39
Examination must now be made of some of the argu-
ments used by those who deny that Christ is God.
THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD
Revelation 3: 14 is sometimes cited as proof that Jesus
Christ was created, and so is inferior to God. It reads:
“To the angel of the Church in Laodicea write; These
things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God”. This last descriptive
title is interpreted to mean that Jesus was the first being
that God created. Let us put this to the test. This word
“ beginning’! is only found twice elsewhere in Revelation.
In 21: 6 God says ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end”. No one who believes in God at
all would suggest that this means that God had a begin-
ning, or that he will one day have an end, but rather that
he is the beginning and the end of everything, the origina-
tor and terminator of all that exists.
The other mention of this word is in 22: 13 and is
almost identical, ‘‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
first and the last, the beginning and the end”; but this
time the speaker is the one who says in the preceding
verse, “‘ Behold I come quickly”, and to whom his people
respond in verse 20, ‘“‘ Amen: come, Lord Jesus”. So the
Son is also with the Father the originator and the termina- °
tor, the first cause, who will bring to its consummation
all that he has commenced. How then can he himself
be created? No, indeed; the word “beginning” in
Revelation 3: 14 carries its primary meaning of origin, as
in these other two instances of the word in the book of
Revelation; Christ Jesus is “the origin of the creation of
God”, the one who gave beginning to that creation, and
to this fact Scripture testifies with one voice.? He is also
“the firstborn of all creation”, which emphasizes his
1 Greek arché. 2 John 1: 3; Colossians 1: 16.
40 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE?
heirship, the one destined to inherit all that he created, so
the passage continues, ‘‘all things have been created
through him, and unto him”.*
CHRIST HIGHLY EXALTED ©
To some the statement, “ Wherefore also God highly
exalted him [Jesus]? creates a difficulty. If Christ were
God then he already held the place of absolute supremacy
in the universe; how then could he be exalted? We have
only to examine the passage in its context and the diffi-
culty is resolved. The question may be answered by ask-
ing another, suggested by the two preceding verses: How
could one who Scripture declares was “in the form of
God”, was ‘“‘ with God”, and “ was God”, empty himself
and humble himself?3. The answer: By “taking the form
of a bondservant, being made in the likeness of men .. .
becoming obedient unto death”. This involved the
greatest act of self-humbling the universe has ever seen,
or ever shall see; and it is this supreme example of divine
humility that the apostle is holding up to the Philippian
Christians. That “God highly exalted him” is but the
complementary truth, and only what we should have
expected. What should stagger us is not that he has been
highly exalted, but that he who was “in the form of
God” should ever have humbled himself for the salvation —
of sinful men. Is it not right and proper that we should
now “behold the Son of Man ascending where he was
before’’?4 It was for this that he had requested his Father
when he said, “ O Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was ”’.>
A number of years ago, after a meeting in the Chicago
Tabernacle, a servant of God had conversation with a
1 Colossians 1: 15, 16; Hebrews 1: 2. 2 Philippians 2: 9.
3 Philippians 2: 7, 8. 4 John 6: 62. S John 17: 5.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 41
cultured young German, son of a rationalistic theologian.
He found him to be a sincere seeker after the truth, but
one who met grave difficulties in the New Testament,
one of which was the seeming contradictions in Christ’s
own testimony concerning himself. “He says in one
place, ‘I and the Father are one”; and again, ‘He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father’. . . . But he says
on another occasion that his Father was greater than he.
Now he cannot be one with God and at the same time
inferior to God. And he says, ‘All authority hath been
given unto me’. Now that is an admission that he had
not power himself, but it was given to him; and surely
he that receives power is inferior to him that gives it.
Now are not these contradictions in his own testimony?”
Having read aloud the passages mentioned, the Christian
replied: “‘ Suppose you had been on earth when Jesus was
here and had heard him make these apparently contra-
dictory statements, and had asked him. . . . And suppose
he had said in reply, ‘My child, what if, for the purpose
of your redemption from sin and the curse of the law, I
voluntarily laid aside my eternal glory, and suffered my-
self to be born of a woman, and made under the law, thus
limiting my being to the condition of your nature, that I
might, in that nature, offer up to God a sacrifice for sin
as would enable him to proclaim forgiveness of sins to the
whole world? In such a case can you not conceive that
there is no contradiction in these sayings of mine? For
indeed I am one with the Father, and he that hath seen
me hath seen the Father; but for the purposes of the
atonement I have voluntarily assumed an inferior position,
that I might take your place and die, which I could not
have done unless I had taken a subordinate place, yea, and
your very nature. Thus I sometimes speak of my eternal
relation to God, and sometimes of my relation to him as
the messenger of the covenant sent forth to redeem,’”
He listened attentively to this, and then said as if speak-
42 JeSUS OF NAZARETH — WHO 1S HE 7
ing to himself: “ Yes, that might be; I can see how that
might be. But did Christ ever make such an explanation?
Is that the theory of Christ's subordination to the Father?”
Turning to Philippians chapter two the Christian re-
plied: “Certainly this is the explanation of it; for see,
Paul was trying to inculcate lessons of humility by ex-
horting the Philippians to take voluntarily a subordinate
place in relation to each other, though they might as a
matter of fact and right stand on an equality. He en-
forced his exhortation by this reference, ‘ Have this mind
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the
form of God, counted it not a prize [a treasure to be tightly
grasped] to be on an equality with God, but emptied him-
self, taking the form of a servant, being made in the
likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death,
yea, the death of the Cross.’ ”
The young man took the Bible in his hand, and read the
passage over and over to himself, and said: ‘‘ Wonderful!
wonderful!” And still holding the Book in his hand, with
quivering chin and moistened eyes he said: “ Yes, the Son
of God made himself of no reputation for me, and took
my nature and died on the cross for me!” And then
looking up into the Christian’s face, he said: “ What have
I got to do about it?e
“ Accept him; believe on him; and confess him as your
Saviour.”
“May 12”
God’s servant replied by opening his Bible to Romans
10: 9: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as
Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
“Let me see that!”
The book was handed to him, and he read it aloud,
and then said: “I do believe in my heart that God raised
1 Weymouth.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 43
him from the dead; and I do acknowledge him as my
Saviour.”
Together they dropped upon their knees while the ser-
vant of God gave thanks for his conversion, and committed
him to God’s keeping. (From Taking Men Alive by C. G.
Trumbull.)
CHRIST'S INTERCESSION
The intercessory work of Christ on behalf of his people
has been thought to imply an inferiority to God. How
can he make supplication to God, and yet be equal
with God? Since this work of intercession is a direct
result of his becoming man, the foregoing has already
answered the difficulty. We have not found anything
in Scripture to suggest that he thus interceded before
he was made flesh; but having been found in fashion as a
man, having suffered for sin, and risen again, he has en-
ered “into heaven itself, now to appear before the face
of God for us”.! Scripture is emphatic that we are repre-
sented in heaven, not by “a glorious spirit-creature”, but
by a glorified man, the man Christ Jesus. Scripture states
explicitly that it was “the Son of Man”? whom Stephen
saw standing at God’s right hand, and that it is “ the Son
of Man "3 whom men shall yet see “ coming on the clouds
of heaven”. Our present mediator is (not was) “ the man
Christ Jesus ’’.4 His intercession is part of his mediatorial
work, and in direct consequence of his suffering as man.
He could never intercede as our great high priest apart
from his humanity. “ For every high priest, being taken
from among men, is appointed for men in things pertain-
ing to God. . . . So Christ also... .”5 Only as man is
he touched “with the feeling of our infirmities "6
But it must be emphasized that it is by his very presence
that Christ intercedes for his own. “He does not bend as
1 Hebrews 9: 24. 2 Acts 7: 56. 3 Matthew 26: X
4 y Timothy 2: 5. A.V. 5 Hebrews 5: 1, 5. © Hebrews 4: 15.
44 JESUS OF NAZARETH == WHO 18 HE 7
a suppliant before the sanctity of God; he is a priest upon
his throne.’ Christ's perpetual presentation of himself
before the Father is that which constitutes his interces-
sion” (Liddon), “He ever liveth to make intercession ”
means that his very existence in the presence of God in
all the worthiness of his person, and in all the sufficiency
of his finished work, constitutes a perpetual plea on behalf
of his people. His very appearing before the face of God
is “for us’.2 We have seen the nature of his intercession,
and have observed that it hinges upon his humanity, which
in turn depends upon that gigantic step which exchanged
“the form of God” for “the form of a bondservant ”;
instead of viewing all this as a reason for belittling his
person and position, it should only serve to magnify the
greatness of his grace. ‘For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might
be rich.’
THE SON SUBORDINATE TO THE FATHER
There are other Scriptures which some have thought
implied that the Son is inferior to the Father. Christ said
himself, ‘ the Father is greater than 1”.4 It is also said of |
Christ, ‘he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even
the Father .. . then shall the Son also himself be subjected
to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may
be all in all.”> Can we give full weight to these important
passages without contradicting what has been asserted
concerning the deity of Christ? The answer is, un-
doubtedly, yes.
Scripture helps us to understand the mystery of the
divine order by pointing us to the human order: “the
head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ
1 Zechariah 6: 13. 2 Hebrews 9: 24. 3 2 Corinthians 8: 9.
4 John 14: 28. 5 1 Corinthians 15: 24, 28.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 45
is God”! In other words, God is the head of Christ in
the same way as the man is the head of the woman. AL
though in the human realm headship is invested in the man
and not the woman, surely no one would think that
the woman was thereby an inferior being to the man.
rhe man is no more a human being than the woman be-
cause he is the head; the woman js no less a human being
than the man because she is subordinate. The question of
subordination does not touch the question of essential be-
ing. Just so in the realm of the Godhead. Here too there
is equality of being, but a difference of order. Because the
Son is and ever shall be subordinate to the Father, he is
not one whit less God than the Father is. In his essential
being the Son is equal to the Father, but in respect to
order within the Godhead he would say, “the Father is
greater than I.”
Scripture presents Christ as coming forth from God.2
We might express it thus: the Father is the source of
deity, the Son deity in its outflow; but as in the stream
is all the fulness of the spring, so in Christ “ dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily ’.3 “God is a sun’4
but Christ is “‘ the effulgence [or outshining] of his glory ">
The full glory of the sun is concentrated in its rays. What
should we know of the light and heat of the sun apart
from its rays? Similarly, what would mankind have ever
known of the glory of God apart from him who is the
shining forth of that glory? Just as the sun’s rays are
part of the sun, so is Christ of the essence of the Godhead.
\s there could never have been a time when the sun ex-
isted without its rays, so could there never have been a
time when God existed without Christ. They are co-
eternal. We could never say that the sun proceeds from
its rays, but rather that the rays proceed from the sun.
yet they are in essence one; even so it would be erroneous
1 y Corinthians 11: 3. 2 John 8: 42; 13: 3. 3 Colossians
275g 4 Psalm 84: 11. 5 Hebrews 1: 3.
46 JESUS OF NAZARETH —— WHO IS HE ?
to put Christ in the place of God the Father, for he comes
forth from the Father, yet can he truly say, “I and the
Father are one."!
ONE GOD
To some there may still be a grave difficulty in accept-
ing the deity of Christ. How can the acknowledging of
another beside the Father within the Godhead be recon-
ciled with the essential unity of God as taught in Scripture :
“ Jehovah our God is one Jehovah "?? This verse Jesus him-
self quoted, notwithstanding his own clear and unequivocal
claim to deity. Evidently he saw nothing inconsistent or
incompatible in the two truths; neither shall we when we
rightly understand the nature of the unity of the God-
head.
Those who believe in the deity of Jesus Christ are not
polytheistic; they believe in one God, one Jehovah, and
that the unity of the Godhead is absolute, but they have
not found anything in Scripture to suggest that Jehovah
our God is one person. Such an assertion would be con-
trary to the whole Biblical revelation concerning the
nature of the Godhead. Jesus said, “I and my Father are
one”, but not one person. When Scripture says “ one
Jehovah”, it is not the “one” of simple unity, but of
compound unity, in the same way as it says of the mar-
riage union, “ the twain shall become one flesh ’;3 no one
would take this to mean that the man and the woman
are not two distinct persons.
The Bible commences with the statement, “In the be-
ginning Elohim . . .” which is a plural word for God,
and prepares us for that mysterious verse in which we
find God soliloquizing in the plural, “Let us make man
in our image”. Why the “us” and the “our”? How
1 John 10: 30. 2 Deuteronomy 6: 4; cp. James 2: 19.
3 Matthew 19: 5. 4 Genesis 1: 26.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 47
do we reconcile “ our image" with the statement of the
next verse, “ God created man in his own image"? The
serpent said of the forbidden tree, “In the day ye eat
thereof . . . ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil”;
and when they had eaten “ Jehovah said, Behold, the man
is become as one of us, to know good and evil”! Such
passages are inexplicable according to the unitarian con-
cept that insists-on God being a single Person. ‘God is
love” is one of the profoundest statements of the Bible
relative to the nature of God, and was true of him before
the beginning of time, or the first creature was created.
But how can love exist in isolation? Let the reader pon-
der Augustine’s thought-provoking dictum: “If God is
love, then there must be in him a Lover, a Beloved, and a
Spirit of love.”
A Moslem law student who had been given a gospel of
John brought it back with the request that the opening
statement might be explained. Said he, “This book
speaks of one called the Word of God, and says he was
both with God and was God. How can a person be with
himself?”" The Christian replied, “ If there was a problem
in mathematics that you could not solve, and you took it
to your tutor and he could not solve it, it would at least be
clear that neither you nor the tutor had inyented the prob-
lem, Now here is a problem, not in mathematics but in
theology, that is, the being and nature of God as a trinity.
Thousands of the ablest minds of the centuries have pon-
dered this problem, and no one has been able to explain
it; who then invented it? What man can invent man
can explain; what man cannot explain man cannot have
invented. It must be a revelation.” Needless to say he
found no answer to this.
Some pour scorn on the doctrine of the Trinity simply
because it is a mystery. This would imply that to them
there are no mysteries in the Godhead: all is simplicity.
1 Genesis 3: 5, 22; cp. 11: 7; Isaiah 6: 8.
cig [ESUS OF SAZTABETR — WHO ts HE?
it would appear that they worship a God that they can
comprehend within the marrow confines of them imme
understanding. “~ Canst thou find out the Alasighty ump
perfection? it is high as heaven; what camst thow do?
Deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?7! Preset ap
us “a god” whom we can comprebend and expiam who
has ceased to be in his infinite being shrouded im myscezy,
and we will refuse to worship this creation of your imme
mind, and from his holy habitation the God of keavem
will thunder: “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such an one as thyself: but 1 will reprove thee
CONCLUSION
when in the fulness of time “God sent forth lms Sam.
born of a woman”, then the invisible became visible, and
the intangible became fiesh that men could handle? of
mishandle if they chose: God, who is spirit, had become
incarnate in the person of his Son, who was ~ the very
image of his substance, the exact representation of God's
very being. Now there stood one in the midst of them,
whom they knew not, but who was ready to declare, ~ He
that hath seen me hath seen the Father”* No longer
lieving in him. God had forced man’s hand, and thence-
forth his attitude to God was to be revealed unmistakably
of John the apostle. If you know Christ, you know the
1 Job 11: 7, & 2 Psalm so: 21. 31 John tr: © 4 John
14: 9.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 49
rather also;! if you believe on Christ; you are in fact be-
lieving on the one who sent him;? if you confess the Son,
you have the Father also. On the other hand, if you
honour not the Son, you honour not the Father;* if you
deny the Son, you have not the Father; if you hate the Son,
you hate the Father also.S It is therefore a moral and
spiritual impossibility to have one attitude to God, and
quite a different attitude to Christ. You cannot acknow-
ledge the deity of the Father and deny the deity of the
Son, for a denial of the Son constitutes a denial of the
Father. Whether or not you understand it, whether or
not you believe it, your attitude to Christ is your attitude
to God. ‘‘ What think ye of Christ?” is now the acid
test of your relationship to God, and your answer will
determine the destiny of your soul. Listen to his own
solemn words, “Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die
in your sins "6
What think ye of Christ? is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest
Unless you think rightly of him.
As Jesus appears to your view,
And he is beloved or not,
So God is disposed to you —
And mercy or wrath is your lot.
Some take him a creature to be —
A man, or an angel at most,
But they have not feelings like me,
Nor know themselves wretched and lost;
So guilty, so helpless am I,
I durst not confide in his blood,
Nor on his protection rely —
Unless I were sure he is God. (JoHN NEWTON.)
1 John 8: 19; 14: 7. 2 John 12: 44. 3x John 2: 23.
4 John 5: 23. 5 John 15: 23. 6 John 8: 24 marg.
oe
40 JELUS OF NAZARETH — wHo ws me? — ¢
Any doctrinal scheme which denies the fell desy ov
true humanity of the Son of God, is 2 tah without
foundations, and aj) its accompanying tenets are suspect.
* * * * ‘ -
«
Johann Dannecker (1756-1841), the great scaiptor,
yearned to give the world a masterpiece that would be
treasured for ever. “He gave himself to prayer and com
templation. One evening as he read his New Tesament
he came across these words, “ without comtroversy great
is the mystery of godliness” Overawed by these lmmes,
he read them again and again. “If only I could catch
their spirit and express it in marble,” he said to bimseift
He prayed for grace and guidance. His whole personalty
and genius were consecrated to the task 7
He completed at length the first cast of his statue of
the divine Christ. He invited a group of children to visit
his studio to inspect his work. They gazed aduaiximgly at
the stately figure, and then one boy exclaimed, ~ He must
be a very great man!” Dannecker was bitterly disap
pointed. The impression of greatness was mot the one he
had wished to convey. He thanked the children and
dismissed them. Having set to work and completed his
second cast, he sent for a fresh group of children to visit
him. Smiling appreciatively, they were 7
drawn to the lovely figure on the pedestal It was a girl
who broke the silence: “ He must have been a very good
man!” she exclaimed. Dannecker, encouraged,
was by no means satisfied. He decided to make a2 third
1 y Timothy 3: 16.
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? st
her knees. Dannecker felt that at last he had expressed
the adoration that was in his heart.
In these pages there has been presented to you, not
with the art of a sculptor or the brush of an artist, but
with the pen of a disciple, a portrait of Christ. Let the
reader bear witness that the lines and features of this
portrait do not consist of a few proof texts, or a few
isolated passages wrested from their context, but are
drawn from the whole manifestation of Jesus Christ as
the Bible presents him. “ What think ye of Christ?”
Pause and view him yet again. He is called the Alpha
ind the Omega, the First and the Last, the King of kings
ind Lord of lords, the mighty God, the Father of Eternity,
the Lord of Glory, the Prince or Author of life, and Lord
of all. See him existing beside the Father before time
began, the outshining of his glory, and the very image of
his substance, in whom dwells all the fulness of the God-
head bodily. Behold him who is the Creator of the
universe, without whom nothing was made that was
made; the upholder of all things; the searcher of hearts;
the pardoner of sins; the Saviour and Redeemer of men;
the bestower of eternal life; the pourer out of the divine
Spirit; the quickener of the dead, having the keys of Death
ind of Hades; and the judge of the universe. Remember
that he claims to have exclusive knowledge of the Father,
ind exclusive power to reveal him to men; to share equally
the honour due to the Father, and with the Father to be
trusted, implored, and worshipped by creature man. Will
you dare to say that he is only a creature, separated from
his own Creator by a measureless gulf? Will you
merely acknowledge him as a great man? Will you only
applaud him as a good man? Or will you adore him as
the God-man?
It may be you have recognized who he is for the first
time. ‘Or perhaps it has never occurred to you to doubt
that he is the divine Christ. Whichever it be, will you
§2 JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ?
now examine yourself whether you be in the faith? It
is possible that your faith in who he is, may be no more
than a mental assent to a doctrinal fact, rather than a
believing in the heart, a faith that saves and transforms,
that unites you to the one in whom you believe, and ‘so
brings you to God. The new sphere of the one who be-
lieves is “in Christ’; are you in Christ? “If any man
is in Christ, he is a new creature’’;! are you a new crea-
ture? “The old things have passed away; behold, they
are become new ";! has that happened in your experience?
You cannot afferd to be other than crystal clear on this
vital issue. Your heart attitude to Christ determines the
destiny of your soul.
There stands before you, as there stood long ago in the
upper room, the crucified, yet risen Christ. He is no
phantom, no illusion, no spirit. He says, “See my hands
and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for
a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me haying.”
Yes, he is real, and he comes to us bearing in his resur-
rection body the proof of his passion. This divine Re-
deemer was wounded for your transgressions, bruised for
your iniquities, the punishment—the price of your peace—
was laid upon him, and with his stripes you may be healed.’
The love that for your sake’ brought him from the throne
of glory to the cross of shame has not diminished with
the passing of the centuries. He says, “ Come unto me”.
Will you fall at his pierced feet in true repentance, in
living faith, in glad submission, and say with Thomas,
“ My Lord and my God "’?#
12 Corinthians 5: 17. 2 Luke 24: 39. 3 Isaiah 53: 5.
4 John 20: 28.
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2 Ome of numblng and « rock of ofiemce”
JESUS OF NAZARETH — WHO IS HE ? 55
Isaiah 45: 22, 23. “I am God, and there is none else. By
myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my
mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”
Philippians 2: 10, 11. “ That in the name of Jesus every
knee should bow . . . and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Zechariah 12: 10. “I [Jehovah] will pour upon the house
of David . . . the spirit of grace and of supplication; and
they shall look unto me whom they have pierced.”
john 19: 34-37. ‘‘ One of the soldiers with a spear pierced
his side .. . for these things came to pass that the Scripture
might be fulfilled. . . . They shall look on him whom they
pierced.”
Malachi 3: 1. “Behold, I send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple.”
Matthew 11: 10. “ This is he [John the Baptist], of whom
it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
who shall prepare thy way before thee.”
Genesis 14: 19. “God Most High, possessor of heaven
and earth.”
Deuteronomy 10: 14. “ Unto Jehovah thy God belongeth
the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with
all that therein is.” :
John 3: 35. “ The Father loveth the Son, and hath given
all things into his hand.”
Acts 10: 36. “ Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all).”
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