{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_12809/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_12809","id":"gutenberg_12809","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12809","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Jesus Christ -- Person and offices"],"text":"Quiet Talks about Jesus\n\nby\n\nS. D. Gordon\n\nAuthor of \"Quiet Talks on Power,\" and \"Quiet Talks on Prayer\"\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n\nA Bit Ahead\n\n  I. The Purpose of Jesus.\n     1. The Purpose in Jesus' Coming\n     2. The Plan for Jesus' Coming\n     3. The Tragic Break in the Plan\n     4. Some Surprising Results of the Tragic Break\n\n II. The Person of Jesus.\n     1. The Human Jesus\n     2. The Divine Jesus\n     3. The Winsome Jesus\n\nIII. The Great Experiences or Jesus' Life.\n     1. The Jordan: The Decisive Start\n     2. The Wilderness: Temptation\n     3. The Transfiguration: An Emergency Measure\n     4. Gethsemane: The Strange, Lone Struggle\n     5. Calvary: Victory\n     6. The Resurrection: Gravity Upward\n     7. The Ascension: Back Home Again Until----\n\n IV. Study Notes\n\n\n\n\n\"Show me, I pray thee, Thy glory.\"--_Moses_.\n\n\"When I could not see for the glory of that light.\"--_Paul_.\n\n\"But we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord\nare transformed into the same image from glory to glory.\"--_Paul_.\n\n\"The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus\nChrist.\"--_Paul_.\n\n    \"Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus,\n      I've lost sight of all beside,\n    So enchained my spirit's vision,\n      Looking at the Crucified.\"\n          --From _Winnowed Hymns_.\n\n\n\n\nA Bit Ahead\n\n\n\nSo far as I can find out, I have no theory about Jesus to make these talks\nfit into. I have tried to find out for myself what the old Book of God\ntells about Him. And here I am trying to tell to others, as simply as I\ncan, what I found. It was by the tedious, twisting path of doubt that I\nclimbed the hill of truth up to some of its summits of certainty. I am\nfree to confess that I am ignorant of the subject treated here save for\nthe statements of that Book, and for the assent within my own spirit to\nthese statements, which has greatly deepened the impression they made, and\nmake. There is no question raised here about that Book itself, but simply\na taking and grouping up together of what it says.\n\nMost persons simply _read_ a book. A few _study_ it, also. It is good to\nread. It is yet better to go back over it and _study_, and meditate. Since\nlearning that the two books on power and prayer have been used in Bible\nclasses I have regretted not including study notes in them. For those who\nmay want to study about Jesus there has been added at the close a simple\nanalysis with references. The reading pages have been kept free of\nfoot-notes to make the reading smooth and easier. The analysis is so\narranged that one can quickly turn in reading to the corresponding\nparagraph or page in the study notes.\n\nA great musician strikes the key-note of a great piece of music, and can\nskilfully keep it ever sounding its melody through all the changes clear\nto the end. It has been in my heart to wish that I could do something like\nthat here. If what has come to me has gotten out of me into these pages,\nthere will be found a dominant note of sweetest music--the winsomeness of\nGod in Jesus.\n\nIt is in my heart, too, to add this, that I have a friend whose constant\npresence and prayer have been the atmosphere of this little book in its\nmaking.\n\n\n\n\nI. The Purpose of Jesus\n\n\n\n  1. The Purpose in Jesus' Coming.\n  2. The Plan for Jesus' Coming.\n  3. The Tragic Break In The Plan.\n  4. Some Surprising Results of the Break.\n\n\n\n\nThe Purpose in Jesus' Coming\n\n\n\n<u>God Spelling Himself out in Jesus.</u>\n\n\nJesus is God spelling Himself out in language that man can understand. God\nand man used to talk together freely. But one day man went away from God.\nAnd then he went farther away. He left home. He left his native land,\nEden, where he lived with God. He emigrated from God. And through going\naway he lost his mother-tongue.\n\nA language always changes away from its native land. Through going away\nfrom his native land man lost his native speech. Through not _hearing_ God\nspeak he forgot the sounds of the words. His ears grew dull and then deaf.\nThrough lack of use he lost the power of _speaking_ the old words. His\ntongue grew thick. It lost its cunning. And so gradually almost all the\nold meanings were lost.\n\nGod has always been eager to get to talking with man again. The silence is\nhard on Him. He is hungry to be on intimate terms again with his old\nfriend. Of course he had to use a language that man could understand.\nJesus is God spelling Himself out so man can understand. He is the A and\nthe Z, and all between, of the Old Eden language of love.\n\nNaturally enough man had a good bit of bother in spelling Jesus out. This\nJesus was something quite new. When His life spoke the simple language of\nEden again, the human heart with selfishness ingrained said, \"That sounds\ngood, but of course He has some selfish scheme behind it all. This purity\nand simplicity and gentleness can't be genuine.\" Nobody yet seems to have\nspelled Him out fully, though they're all trying: All on the spelling\nbench. That is, all that have heard. Great numbers haven't heard about Him\nyet. But many, ah! _many_ could get enough, yes, _can_ get enough to bring\nHis purity into their lives and sweet peace into their hearts.\n\nBut there were in His days upon earth some sticklers for the old spelling\nforms. Not the oldest, mind you. Jesus alone stands for that. This Jesus\ndidn't observe the idioms that had grown up outside of Eden. These people\nhad decided that these old forms were the only ones acceptable. And so\nthey disliked Him from the beginning, and quarrelled with Him. These\nidioms were dearer to them than life--that is, than _His_ life. So having\nquarrelled, they did _worse_, and then--softly--_worst_. But even in their\nworst, Jesus was God spelling Himself out in the old simple language of\nEden. His best came out in their worst.\n\nSome of the great nouns of the Eden tongue--the _God_ tongue--He spelled\nout big. He spelled out _purity_, the natural life of Eden; and\n_obedience_, the rhythmic harmony of Eden; and _peace_, the sweet music of\nEden; and _power_, the mastery and dominion of Eden; and _love_, the\nthrobbing heart of Eden. It was in biggest, brightest letters that _love_\nwas spelled out. He used the biggest capitals ever known, and traced each\nin a deep dripping red, with a new spelling--s-a-c-r-i-f-i-c-e.\n\n\n\n<u>Jesus is God, following us up.</u>\n\n\nYou see, the heart of God had been breaking--_is_ breaking over the ways\nthings have been going down on this planet. Folk fail to understand Him.\nWorse yet, they misunderstand Him, and feel free to criticize Him. Nobody\nhas been so much slandered as God. Many are utterly ignorant of Him. Many\nothers who are not ignorant yet ignore Him. They turn their faces and\nbacks. Some give Him the cut direct. The great crowd in every part of the\nworld is yearning after Him: piteously, pathetically, most often\nspeechlessly yearning, blindly groping along, with an intense inner tug\nafter Him. They know the yearning. They feel the inner, upward tug. They\ndon't understand what it is for which they yearn, nor what will satisfy.\n\nFor man was made to live in closest touch with God. That is his native\nair. Out of that air his lungs are badly affected. This other air is too\nheavy. It's malarial, and full of gases and germy dust. In it he chokes\nand gasps. Yet he knows not why. He gropes about in the night made by his\nown shut eyes. He doesn't seem to know enough to open them. And sometimes\nhe _will_ not open them. For the hinge of the eyelid is in the will. And\nhaving shut the light out, he gets tangled up in his ideas as to what _is_\nlight. He puts darkness for light, and light for darkness.\n\nOnce man knew God well; close up. And that means _loved_, gladly, freely.\nFor here to know is to love. But one day a bad choice was made. And the\nchoice made an ugly kink in his will. The whole trouble began there. A man\nsees through his will. That is his medium for the transmission of light.\nIf it be twisted, his seeing, his understanding, is twisted. The twist in\nthe will regulates the twist in the eye. Both ways, too, for a good change\nin the will in turn changes the eyes back to seeing straight. He that is\nwilling to do the right shall clearly see the light.\n\nBut that first kink seems to have been getting worse kinked ever since.\nAnd so man does not see God as He is. Man is cross-eyed Godward, but\ndoesn't know it. Man is color-blind toward God. The blue of God's truth is\nto him an arousing, angering red. The soft, soothing green of His love\nbecomes a noisy, irritating yellow. Nobody has been so much misunderstood\nas God. He has suffered misrepresentation from two quarters: His enemies\nand His friends. More from--which? Hard to tell. Jesus is God trying to\ntell men plainly what He is really like.\n\nThe world turned down the wrong lane, and has been going that way\npell-mell ever since. Yet so close is the wrong lane to the right that a\nsingle step will change lanes. Though many results of being in the wrong\nlane will not be changed by the change of lanes. It takes time to rest up\nthe feet made sore by the roughness of the wrong lane. And some of the\nscars, where men have measured their length, seem to stay.\n\nThe result of that wrong turning has been pitiable. _Separation from God_,\nso far as _man_ could make separation. There is no separation on God's\npart. He has never changed. He remains in the world, but because of man's\nturning his face away, He remains as a stranger, unrecognized. He remains\njust where man left Him. And any one going back to that point in the road\nwill find Him standing waiting with an eager light glistening in His eyes.\n_No_! That's not accurate. He is _a bit nearer_ than ever He was. He is\nfollowing us up. He is only a step off. Jesus is God eagerly following us\nup.\n\n\n\n<u>The Early Eden Picture.</u>\n\n\nBut one will never get to understand this Jesus until he gets a good look\nat man as he was once, and as he is now. The key to understanding Jesus is\nman, even as Jesus is the key to God. One must use both keys to get into\nthe inner heart of God. To get hold of that first key one must go back to\nthe start of things. The old Book of God opens with a picture that is\nfascinating in its simplicity and strength. There is an unfallen man. He\nis fresh from the hand of God, free of scar and stain and shrivelling\ninfluence. He is in a garden. He is walking hand in hand with God, and\nworking side by side with God: friendship and partnership. Friends in\nspirit: partners in service.\n\nThe distinctive thing about the man is that he is _like God_. He and God\nare alike. In this he differs from all creation. He is God's link between\nHimself and His Creation. Particular pains is taken by repetition and\nchange of phrase to make clear and emphatic that it was in the very image\nof God that man was made. Just what does it mean that we men were made in\nGod's likeness? Well, the thing has been discussed back and forth a good\nbit. Probably we will not know fully till we know as we are known. In the\nmorning when we see Him we shall be like Him fully again. Then we'll know.\n_That_ morning's sun will clear up a lot of fog. But a few things can be\nsaid about it now with a positiveness that may clear the air a bit, and\nhelp us recognize the dignity of our being, and behave accordingly.\n\nMan came into being by the breath of God. God breathed Himself into man.\nThe breath that God breathed out came into man as life. The very life of\nman is a bit of God. Man is of the essence of God. Every man is the\npresence-chamber of God.\n\nGod is a _Spirit. Man_ is a spirit. He lives in a body. He thinks through\na mind. He _is_ a spirit, using the body as a dwelling-place, and the\nmind as his keenest instrument. All the immeasurable possibilities and\ncapacities of spirit being are in man.\n\nGod is an _infinite_ spirit. That is, we cannot understand Him fully. He\nis very close to us. The relationship is most intimate, and tender, yet\nHis fulness is ever beyond our grasp and our ken. _Man_ is infinite in\nthat he knows that God is infinite. Only like can appreciate like. He can\nappreciate that he cannot appreciate God, except in part. He understands\nthat he does not understand God save in smaller part. He knows enough to\nlove passionately. And through loving as well as through knowing he knows\nthat there is infinitely more that he does not know. Only man of all\nearth's creation knows this. In this he is like God. The difference\nbetween God and man here is in the degree of infinity. That degree of\ndifference is an infinite degree. Yet this is the truth. But more yet: man\nhas this same quality _man_ward. He is infinite in that he cannot be fully\nunderstood in his mental processes and motives. He is beyond grasp fully\nby his fellow. Even one's most intimate friend who knows most and best\nmust leave unknown more than is known.\n\nGod is an _eternal_ spirit. He has always lived. He will live always. He\nknows no end, at either end. All time before there was time, and after the\ntime-book is shut, is to Him a passing present. _Man_ is an eternal\nspirit, because of God. He will know no end. He will live always because\nthe breath of God is his very being.\n\nGod is _love_. He yearns for love. He loves. And more, He _is_ love. Man\nis like God in his yearning for love, in his capacity for love, and in his\nlovableness. Man must love. He lives only as he loves. True love, and only\nthat, is the real life. He will give up everything for love. He is\nsatisfied only as he loves and finds love. To love is greater than to be\nloved. One cannot always have both. God does not. But every one may love.\nEvery one does love. And only as there is love, pure and true--however\noverlaid with what is not so--only so is there life.\n\nGod is _holy_. That word seems to include purity and righteousness. There\nis utter absence of all that should not be. There is in Him all that\nshould be, and that in fulness beyond our thinking. Man was made holy.\nThere is in the Genesis picture of Eden a touch that for simplicity and\nyet for revealing the whole swing of moral action is most vivid. In the\npresence of conditions where man commonly, universally, the world around,\nand time through, has been and is _most sensitive to suggestion of evil_\nthere is with this first man the utter absence of any thought of evil.[1]\nIn the light of after history there could be no subtler, stronger\nstatement than this of his holiness, his purity, at this stage.\n\nAnd in his _capacity for holiness_, in that intensest longing for purity,\nand loathing of all else, that comes as the Spirit of God is allowed\nsway, is revealed again the capacity for God-likeness. It is the prophetic\ndawn within of that coming Eden when again we shall _see His face_, and\nhave the original likeness fully restored.\n\nGod is _wise_, all-wise. Among the finest passages of the' Christian's\nclassic are those that represent God as personified wisdom. And here\nwisdom includes all knowledge and justice. That the Spirit of God breathed\ninto man His own mental life is stated most keenly by the man who\nproverbially embodied in himself this quality of wisdom. \"The spirit of\nman is the lamp of the Lord searching out the innermost parts.\" The\nallusion is clearly to intellectual powers. There is in man the same\nquality of mental keenness that searches into things as is in God. It is\noften dulled, gripped by a sort of stupor, so overlaid you would hardly\nguess it was there. But, too, as we all know, it often shines out with a\nstartling brilliance. It is less in degree than with God, but it is the\nsame thing, a bit of God in man. This explains man's marvellous\nachievements in literature, in invention, in science, and in organization.\n\nTwo light master-strokes of the etching point in the Eden picture reveal\nthe whole mental equipment of the man. The only sayings of Adam's\npreserved for us are when God brought to him the woman. She is the\noccasion for sayings that reveal the mental powers of this first man.\nFittingly it is so. Woman, when true to herself, has ever been the\noccasion for bringing out the best in man. \"And the man said, _this time_\nit is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; _this_ shall be called\nwoman, because out of man was this one taken. Therefore doth a man leave\nhis father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, and they become one\nflesh.\" ... \"And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the\nmother of all living.\" Here is revealed at a glance the keen mental powers\nat work. Here is the simplicity of statement that marks the speech of\nstrong men. The whole forest is in a single acorn. The whole of a human\nlife is in the primal cell. The chemist knows the whole body by looking\ninto one drop of blood. Here is revealed in one glance the whole man. Mark\nthe keen sense of fitness in the naming of woman--the last and highest\ncreation. Adam was a philologist. His mind was analytical. Inferentially\nthe same keen sense of fitness guided in all the names he had chosen. Here\nis recognition of the plan for the whole race, a simple unlabored\nforesight into its growth. A man's relation to his wife, his God-chosen\nfriend, as being the closest of life, and above all others is recognized,\ntogether with the consequent obligation upon him. She comes first of all.\nShe becomes the first of all his relationships. The man and the woman--one\nman and one woman--united, make the true unit of society. Any disturbance\nof that strikes at the very vitals of society.\n\nAnd God is a _Sovereign_--_the_ sovereign of the vast swing of worlds.\n_Man_ likewise is a sovereign in the realm of nature, and over all the\nlower creation. He was given dominion, kingship, over all the\nearth-creation. Man is a king. He is of the blood royal. He was made to\ncommand, to administrate, to reign. He is the judge of last appeals on the\nbench of earth.\n\nBut there is more here. The chief characteristic of an absolute sovereign\nis the imperial power to choose, to decide. Man was made an absolute\nsovereign in his own will. God is the absolute sovereign. He has made man\nan absolute sovereign in one realm, that of his will, his power of choice.\nThere is one place where man reigns alone, an absolute autocrat, where not\neven God _can_ come save as the autocrat desires it, that is in his will.\nAnd if that \"_can_\" bother you, remember that it was God's sovereign act\nthat made it so. So that God remains sovereign in making man a sovereign\nin the realm of his will. There every man sits in imperial solitude.\n\nHere then is the picture of man fresh from the hand of God. A spirit, in a\nbody, with an unending life, partly infinite, like God in his capacity for\nlove, for holiness, and wisdom, with the gift of sovereignty over the\nlower creation, and in his own will. Like Him too in his capacity for\n_fellowship_ with God. For only like can have fellowship with like. It is\nonly in that in which we are alike that we can have fellowship. These two,\nGod and man, walking side by side, working together, friendship in spirit;\npartnership in service.\n\nThis man is in a _garden_ of trees and bushes, with fruit and flowers and\nsinging birds, roses with no pricking thorns, soft green with no weeds,\nand no poison ivy, for there is no hate. And he is walking with God,\ntalking familiarly as chosen friend with choicest friend. Together they\nwork in the completion of creation. God brings His created beings one by\none to man to be catalogued and named, and accepts his decisions. What a\nwinsome picture. These two, God and a man in His likeness, walking and\nworking side by side; likeness in being; friendship, fellowship in spirit;\npartnership, comradeship in service. And this is God's thought for man!\n\n\n\n<u>Man's Bad Break.</u>\n\n\nThen come the climax and the crisis. A climax is the climbing to the top\nrung of the ladder. A crisis is the meeting place of possible victory and\npossible disaster. A single step divides between the two--the\nprecipice-height, and the canon's yawning gulf.\n\nIt was a climax of opportunity; and a crisis of action. _God's_ climax of\nopportunity to man. _Man's_ crisis of action. God made man sovereign in\nhis power of choice. Now He would go the last step and give him the\nopportunity of using that power and so reaching the topmost levels. God\nled man to the hill of choice. The man must _climb_ the hill if he would\nreach its top.\n\nOnly the use of power gives actual possession of the power. What we do not\nuse we lose. The pressure of the foot is always necessary to a clear\ntitle. To him that hath possible power shall be given actual power through\nuse.\n\nThis opportunity was the last love-touch of God in opening up the way into\nthe fulness of His image. With His ideal for man God went to His limit in\n_giving_ the power. He could give the power of choice. Man must _use_ the\npower given. Only so could he own what had been given. God could open the\ndoor. Man must step over the door-sill. Action realizes power.\n\nThe tree of knowledge of good and evil was the tree of choice. Obedience\nto God was the one thing involved. That simply meant, as it always means,\nkeeping in warm touch with God. All good absolutely is bound up in\nthis--_obeying God_, keeping in warm touch. To obey Him is the very heart\nof good. All evil is included in disobeying Him. To disobey, to fail to\nobey is the seeded core of all evil.\n\nWhichever way he chose he would exercise his God-like power of choice.\nWhichever way he chose, the knowledge would come. If he chose to obey he\nwould know good by choosing it, and evil by rejecting it. He knew neither\ngood nor evil, for he had not yet had the contact of choice. Knowledge\ncomes only through experience. In choosing not to obey, choosing to\ndisobey, he would know evil with a bitter intimacy by choosing it. He\nwould become acquainted with the good which he had shoved ruthlessly away.\n\nWith the opportunity came the temptation: God's opportunity; Satan's\ntemptation. Satan is ever on the heels of God. Two inclined planes lead\nout of every man's path. Two doors open into them side by side. God's door\nup, the tempter's door down, and only a door-jamb between. Here the split\nhoof can be seen sticking from under the cloak's edge at the very start.\nSatan hates the truth. He is afraid of it. Yet he sneaks around the\nsheltering corner of what he fears and hates. The sugar coating of his\ngall pills he steals from God. The devil bare-faced, standing only on his\nown feet, would be instantly booted out at first approach. And right well\nhe knows it.\n\nA cunning half lie opens the way to a full-fledged lie, but still coupled\nwith a half-truth. The suggestion that God was harshly prohibiting\nsomething that was needful leads to the further suggestion that He was\narbitrarily, selfishly holding back the highest thing, the very thing He\nwas supposed to be giving, that is, likeness to Himself. Eve was getting a\ncourse in suggestion. This was the first lesson. The school seems to be in\nsession still. The whole purpose is to slander God, to misrepresent Him.\nThat has been Satan's favorite method ever since. God is not good. He\nmakes cruel prohibitions. He keeps from us what we should have. It is\npassing strange how every one of us has had that dust in his eyes. Some of\nus might leave the \"had\" out of that sentence.\n\nSee how cunningly the truth and the lie are interwoven by this old\npast-master in the sooty art of lying. \"Your eyes shall be opened, and ye\nshall be as God knowing good and evil.\" It was true because by the use of\nthis highest power of choice he would become like God, and through\nchoosing he would know. It is cunningly implied with a sticky, slimy\ncunning that, by not eating, that likeness and knowledge would not come.\nThat was the lie. The choice either way would bring both this element of\nlikeness to God in the sovereign power of choice, and the knowledge.\n\nThen came the choice. The step up was a step down: up into the use of his\nhighest power; down by the use of that power. In that wherein he was most\nlike God in power, man became most unlike God in character. First the\nwoman chose: then the man. Satan subtly begins his attack upon the woman.\nBecause she was the weaker? Certainly not. Because she was the stronger.\nNot the leader in action, but the stronger in influence. He is the leader\nin action: she in influence. The greater includes the less. Satan is a\nmaster strategist, bold in his cunning. If the citadel can be gotten, all\nis won. If he _could_ get the woman he _would_ get the man. She includes\nhim. She who was included in him now includes him. The last has become\nfirst.\n\nShe was deceived. He was not deceived. The woman chose unwarily for the\nsupposed good. The man chose with open eyes for the woman's sake. Could\nthe word gallantry be used? Was it supposed friendship? He would not\nabandon her? Yet he proved _not her friend_ that day, in stepping down to\nthis new low level. Man's habit of giving smoothly spoken words to woman,\nwhile shying sharp-edged stones at her, should in all honesty be stopped.\nMan can throw no stones at woman. If the woman failed God that day, the\nman failed both God and the woman. If it be true that through her came the\nbeginning of the world's sin, through her, too, be it gratefully and\nreverently remembered, came that which was far greater--the world's\nSaviour.\n\nThe choice was made. The act was done. Tremendous act! Bring your\nmicroscope and peer with awe into that single act. No fathoming line can\nsound its depth. No measuring rod its height nor breadth. No thought can\npierce its intensity. That reaching arm went around a world. Millenniums\nin a moment. A million miles in a step. An ocean in a drop. Volumes in a\nword. A race in a woman. A hell of suffering in an act. The depths of woe\nin a glance. The first chapter of Romans in Genesis three, six. Sharpest\npain in softest touch. God mistrusted--distrusted. Satan embraced. Sin's\ndoor open. Eden's gate shut.\n\nMark keenly the immediate result that came with that intense rapidity\npossible only to mental powers. At once they were both conscious of\nsomething that had not entered their thoughts before. To the pure all\nthings are pure. To the imagination hurt by breaking away from God, the\npurest things can bring up suggestions directly opposite. Through the open\ndoor of disobedience came with lightning swiftness the suggestion of\nusing a pure, holy function of the body in a way and for a purpose not\nintended. Making an end of that which was meant to be only a means to a\nhighest end. Degrading to an animal pleasure that which held in its pure\nhallowed power the whole future of the race. There is absolutely no change\nsave in the inner thought. But what a horrid heredity in that one flash of\nthe imagination! Every sin lives first in the imagination. The imagination\nis sin's brooding and birth-place. An inner picture, a lingering glance, a\nwrong desire, an act--that is the story of every sin. The first step was\ndisobedience. That opened the door. The first suggestion of wrong-doing\nthat followed hot on the heels of that first step, through that open door,\nstruck at the very vitals of the race--both its existence and its\ncharacter. That first suggested unnatural action, with its whole brood,\nhas become the commonest and slimiest sin of the race.\n\nHere, in the beginning, the very thought _shocked_ them. In that lay their\nsafety. Shame is the recoil of God's image from the touch of sin. Shame is\nsin's first checkmate. It is man's vantage for a fresh pull up. There are\nonly two places where there is no shame: where there is no sin; where sin\nis steeped deepest in. The extremes are always jostling elbows. Instantly\nthe sense of shame suggested a help. A simple bit of clothing was\nprovided. It was so adjusted as to help most. Clothing is man's badge of\nshame. The first clothing was not for the body, but for the mind. Not for\nprotection, but for concealment, that so the mind might be helped to\nforget its evil suggestions. It is one of sin's odd perversions that draws\nattention by color and cut to the race's badge of shame. It would seem\nstrongly suggestive of moral degeneracy, or of bad taste, or, let us say\nin charity, of a lapse of historical memory.\n\nMark the sad soliloquy of God: \"Behold the man has become as one of us: He\nhas exercised his power of choice.\" He tenderly refrains from saying, \"and\nhas chosen wrong! so pitiably wrong!\" That was plain enough. He would not\nrub in the acid truth. He would not make the scar more hideous by pointing\nit out. \"And now _lest_ he put forth his hand and take of the tree of\nlife.\" \"_Lest!_\" There is a further danger threatening. In his present\ncondition he needs guarding for his own sake in the future.\n\"_Lest_\"--wrong choice limits future action. Sin narrows.\n\nWith man's act of sin came God's act of saving. Satan is ever on the heels\nof God to hurt man. But God is ever on the heels of Satan to cushion the\nhurt and save the man. It is a nip-and-tuck race with God a head and a\nheart in the lead. Something had to be done. Man had started sin in\nhimself by his choice. The taint of disobedience, rebellion, had been\nbreathed out into the air. He had gotten out of sorts with his\nsurroundings. His presence would spoil his own heaven. The stain of his\nsin would have been upon his eternal life. The zero of selfishness would\nhave been the atmosphere of his home. The touch of his unhallowed hand\nmust be taken away for his own sake. That unhallowed touch _has_ been upon\nevery function and relationship of life outside those gates. Nothing has\nescaped the slimy contact.\n\nSin _could_ not be allowed to stay _there_. Its presence stole heaven away\nfrom heaven. Yet sin had become a part of the man. The man and the wrong\nwere interwoven. They were inseparable. Sin has such a tenacious, gluey,\nsticky touch! Each included the other. _It_ could not be put out without\n_his_ being put out. So man had to be driven out for his own sake to rid\nhis home-spot of sin. The man was driven out that he might come\nback--_changed_. Love drove him out that later it might let him in. The\ntree of life was kept _from_ him for a time that it might be kept _for_\nhim for an eternity.\n\nWhen he had _changed his spirit_, and _changed sides_ in the fight with\nevil started that day, and gotten victory over the spirit now dominant\nwithin himself, those gates would swing again. When the stain of his\nchoice would be taken out of his fibre it would be his right eagerly to\nretrace these forced steps, and the coming back would find more than had\nbeen left. Love has been busy planning the home-coming. The tree of life\nhas been grown in his absence to a grove of trees. The life has become\nlife more abundant.\n\n\n\n<u>Outside the Eden Gate.</u>\n\n\nThe story of what took place outside that guarded gate makes clear the\nlove, the wise farsighted love that showed the man the way out that day.\nTo tell the story one must use a pen made of the iron that has entered his\nown soul, and though the pen be eased with ball point, it scratches and\nsticks in the paper for sheer reluctance. And only the tears of the heart\nwill do for ink.\n\nThat was a costly meal. That first bite must have been a big one. Its\ntaste is still in the mouth of the race. If that fruit were an apple it\nmust have been a crab. There has been a bad case of indigestion ever\nsince. If you think there were no crab-apples in Eden, then the touch of\nthose thickening lips must have soured it in the eating--man's teeth are\nstill on edge. The fruit became tough in the chewing. It's not digested\nyet. That Garden of Eden must have been on a hill, with lowlands below,\nand high hills above, and roads both ways. The man seems to have gotten\ninto the lowland road, and after a bit, struck some marshes and swamps,\nwith a good bit of thick gray fog.\n\nThe first result of the break with God was _in the man himself_. Man has\ntwo doors opening into himself from God--the eye and the ear. Through\nthese God comes into the man and makes Himself known. Through these comes\nall man knows of God. Both have their hinges in the will, the heart. Man\ngave both doors a slam shut that day in Eden. Yet they went shut\n_gradually_. That was the God-side of their shutting. He quickly slipped\nin an air cushion so the shutting might be softened and delayed, and\nmeanwhile His presence be appealing to the man.\n\nRefusing to obey God was equal to hearing without being willing to listen.\nIt was the same thing as looking with that reluctance that won't see, and\nthen doesn't see. Hearing and seeing lie deeper than ears and eyes, down\nin the purpose, the will, the desire of the heart. Unwillingness dulls,\nand then deafens the ears. It blurs, and then blinds the eye. An earnest,\nloving purpose gives peculiar keenness to the ears, and opens the eye of\nthe eye. Ears and eyes are very sensitive organs. If their messages be not\nfaithfully attended to they sulk and pout and refuse to transmit messages.\nIt is a remarkable fact that habitual inattention to a sound or sight\nmakes one practically deaf or blind to it; and that close attention\npersisted in makes one's ears and eyes almost abnormally keen and quick.\nLove's ears and eyes are proverbially acute.\n\nOne may be so wholly absorbed in something that he absolutely does not see\nthe thing on which his eyes are turned. He does not hear the sounds that\nare plainly coming to his ear because his thought, back of that his heart,\nis elsewhere. Hearing, seeing is with the heart back of ears and eyes. God\nis spoken of as silent. Yet His silence may be simply our deafness. The\ntruth is He is speaking all the time, but we are so absorbed that we do\nnot hear. He is ever looking into our faces with His great, tender, deep\neyes, but we are so wrapped up in something else that the gaze out of our\neyes is vacant to that Face, and with keenest disappointment, so often\nrepeated, He gets no answering glance.\n\nLet anybody in doubt about the strict accuracy of this do some\nexperimenting on himself, either with outer things or regarding God. Let\nhim obey the inner voice in some particular that may perhaps cut straight\nacross some fixed habit, and then watch very quietly for the result. It\nwill come with surprising sureness and quickness. And the reason why is\nsimple. The man is simply moving back into his native air, and of course\nall the powers work better.\n\nThis truth about the nerves of the ears and eyes running down into the\nheart is constantly being sounded out in the old Book. A famous bit in\nIsaiah puts it very clearly, and becomes a sort of pivot passage of all\nothers of this sort. That fine-grained, intense-spirited young Hebrew was\ncaught in the temple one day by a sight of God. That wondrous sight held\nhim with unyielding grip through all the after years. With the sight came\nthe voice, and the message for the nation: \"Tell these people--you are\ncontinually hearing, but you do not listen, nor take in what you hear.\nYour eyes are open, they look, but they do not see.\" Then the voice said,\n\"Make their heart _fat_, and their ears _heavy_, and their eyes _shut_.\"\n\nThat is to say, by continually telling them what they will continually\nrefuse to hear because it does not suit the habit of their lives, he would\nbe setting in motion the action that would bring these results. The ears\nthat won't hear by and by _can't_ hear. The heart that will not love and\nobey gets into a state of fatty degeneration. The valves that refuse to\nmove in loving obedience will get too heavy with fat to move at all. The\nfat clogs the hinges. There is the touch of a soft irony in the _form_ of\nthe message. As though Isaiah's talking would affect their ears, whereas\nit is their refusal to hear that stupefies the hearing organ. In\nfaithfulness God insists on telling them the truth even though He knows\nthat their refusal to do will make things worse. But then God is never\nheld back from good by the possible bad that may work out of it.\n\nWhen Jesus came, the Jews, to whom His messages to the world were directly\nspoken, were in almost the last stages of that sort of thing. So Jesus,\nwith the fine faithfulness of love blending with the keenest tact, spoke\nin language veiled by parable to overcome the intense prejudice against\nplainly spoken truth. They were so set against what He had to tell that\nthe only way to get anything into them at all was so to veil its _form_ as\nto befool them into _thinking it truer_. Toward the close, His keenness,\nfor which they were no match, joining with the growing keenness of their\nhate, made them see at once that the sharp edge of some of those last\nparables was turned toward themselves.\n\nIn explaining to His puzzled disciples about this form of teaching, with\na sad irony that reveals both His heart's yearning and His mental\nkeenness, He uses more than once with variations this famous bit from\nIsaiah. He makes the truth stand out more sharply by stating the opposite\nof what He desires, making the contrast between His words and His known\ndesires so strong as not only to make plain the meaning intended, but to\ngive it a sharper emphasis.\n\nThe result that began with ears and eyes quickly affected the _tongue_.\nThat is nature's path. The inner road from ear and eye is straight to the\ntongue. The tongue is the index of man's whole being. While through ear\nand eye he receives all that ever gets in, through the tongue his whole\nbeing is revealed. Of course his personality reveals itself very much\notherwise. In the carriage of the body. Strikingly so in the look of the\neye. The body itself, especially the face, becomes in time the mould of\nthe spirit within. Yet the tongue--what is said, how it is said, what is\n_not_ said, the tone of voice--the tongue is the index of the spirit.\n\nThere is no stronger indication of mastery over one's powers than in\ncontrol of the tongue. When God would break up man's first great ambitious\nscheme of a self-centred monopoly on the Shinar plains, He simply touched\nhis tongue. The first evidence of God's touch in the re-making of man on\nthat memorable Pentecost day was upon his tongue.\n\nThe effect upon his tongue of the break with God has been radical and\nstrange. Dumbness, and slowness or thickness of speech alternate with an\nunnatural sharpness. Sometimes the spittle has a peculiar oiliness that\nresults in a certain slipperiness of statement. Sometimes it has a bitter,\npoisonous, acid quality that eats its way into the words. There is a queer\nbackward movement in biting sometimes. Withal a strange looseness of\nspeech regarding the holiest things, and the most awesome truths, and the\nHoly One Himself.\n\nThe moment a man gets a vision of God he is instantly conscious of\nsomething the matter with his tongue. The sight that comes to his eyes,\nthe sound to his ears makes him painfully self-conscious regarding the\ndefect in his tongue. Moses found himself slow-tongued. Isaiah felt the\nneed of the cleansing coal for his tongue.\n\nBut man's whole inner mental process was affected. A peculiar sense of\nfear, of dread, is woven inextricably into the very fibre of man's being.\nHis first reported word after that break was, \"I was afraid.\" That sense of\nfear--a horrid, haunting, nightmare thing--has affected all his thinking\nand planning and every-day speech. No phrase is oftener on man's tongue\nthan \"I'm afraid.\" Isaiah's classic utterance about ears and eyes has a\ncounterpart equally classic from Paul's pen, about the effect of sin upon\nman's mental processes. A few lines in the letter to the Ephesian circle\nof churches give a sort of bill of details of the mental steps down that\nslope from the Eden gate.\n\nPaul is urging these friends to live _no longer_ as they, in common with\nall the races, had been living, in \"the vanity of their mind, being\ndarkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because\nof the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their\nhearts; who, being past feeling, gave themselves up to lasciviousness to\nmake a greedy trade of all uncleanness.\" Here are seven steps down. The\nfirst five are put in reverse order. Beginning where they have been, he\ntraces the five steps back to the starting point, and then adds the two\nlikely to follow with any who persist past this point.\n\nThe start of all sin is in the setting of one's self against God. Choosing\nsome other way than His. It is called here \"hardening of the heart.\" The\nnative juices of the heart are drawn away from God and dry up. In this\nBook the heart is the seat of both affection and will. It is the pivotal\norgan of life. Any trouble there quickly and surely affects the whole\nbeing. Then follows \"ignorance.\" Of course. The heart controls both ear\nand eye, the two great channels inward of knowledge. The hardening of the\nheart locks both doors. And hard on the heels of that comes \"_Alienated_\nfrom the life of God.\" That is, _cut off,_ shut out of fellowship and\nintimacy. Life is _union with God_. Through union God's life flows into\nus. Union is rooted in knowledge _and_ in sympathy, fellow-feeling, a\ncommon desire and purpose. The man snapping that tying cord cuts himself\noff.\n\nThe next step is peculiarly pathetic--\"darkened in their understanding.\"\nThe man has shut the shutters close, and pulled the shades down tight. Of\ncourse it's dark inside. He is unable to see. First unwilling, now unable.\nIf the only thing that can be gotten for use as light be _darkness_, how\nintense is that darkness! Then comes the pitiable result of acting as if\ndarkness were man's native air--\"the vanity of the mind.\" That word vanity\nmeans aimlessness. The mind is still keen, even brilliant, but the guiding\nstar is shut out, and that keen mind goes whirring aimlessly around.\nSometimes a very earnest aimlessness. The man's on a foggy sea without sun\nor star. The compass on board is useless.\n\nBut more pitiable and pathetic yet; indeed utterly laughable if it were\nnot so terribly serious and pathetic:--this man in the dark proceeds\ngravely to decide that this darkness of his own making is a superior sort\nof light, and bows low in worship of its maker. He has even been known to\nwrite brilliant essays on the light-giving power of blinding darkness,\nwith earnest protests at the evil of this thing commonly called light.\nSometimes having carefully cottoned up the shutters that no scrap of sun\nlight or sun warmth may get in, he strikes a friction match, and sits\nwarming himself, and eloquently sets forth his own greatness as shown by\nthe match, _friction_ match. Most of this sort of light and heat is of the\nfriction sort.\n\nThen with reluctant hand, one who knows Paul's tender heart can well\nbelieve, the curtain is drawn aside for the last two stages; the grosser,\ngutter, animal stages, which, not always by any means, but all too\ncommonly follow. \"Past feeling!\" The delicate sense of feeling about right\nand purity dulls and goes. The fine inner judgment blunts and leaves. The\nshrinking sensitiveness toward the dishonorable and impure loses its edge\nand departs. _Then_--pell mell, like a pack of dogs down a steep hill,\nfollows the last--\"lasciviousness,\" the purest, holiest things in the\ngutter-slime, and then, cold-blooded, greedy trading in these things.\nThat's the picture painted in shadows of Rembrandt blackness, newly\nblackened, of the effect in man himself of turning away from God.\n\nNow Jesus is the music of God's heart sounding in man's ears anew, that he\nmay be wooed back the old road to the Eden life. Jesus is the face of God,\nclose up, looking tenderly, yearningly, into man's face, that his eye may\nbe caught and held, and his heart be enchained.\n\n\n\n<u>Sin's Brood.</u>\n\n\nThe second great result of that Eden break has been in _the growth of\nsin_. In the seventeenth century after that it was said that man's heart\nwas a breeding place of thoughts whose pictured forms were bad, only bad,\nwith no spots of good, nor spurts of good. A thousand years later, Moses\ngiving the Hebrew tribes the ten commandments, adds a crowd of\nparticulars, some of them very grewsome, which serve as mirrors to reveal\nthe common practice of his age. The slant down of those first centuries\nhas evidently been increasing in its downward pitch.\n\nMore than a thousand years later yet, there is a summary made by Paul that\nreveals the stage reached by sin in his day. Probably no one knew the\nworld of his time, which has proved to be the world's crisis time, as did\nPaul the scholar and philosopher of Tarsus. Himself a city man, well bred\nand well schooled, a world traveller, with acute, disciplined powers of\nobservation, and a calm scholarly judgment, he had studied every phase of\nlife cultured and lowly.\n\nHe pitched upon the great city centres in his active campaigning, and\nworked out into the country districts. He was a world-bred man. He knew\nthe three over-lapping worlds of his time: the Hebrew, with its ideals of\npurity and religion; the Greek, with its ideals of culture; and the Roman,\nwith its ideals of organization and conquest. He is writing from Corinth,\nthen the centre of Greek life, to Rome, the centre of the world's life.\nHis letter is the most elaborate of any of his writings preserved to us.\nIn its beginning he speaks of man, universally, morally, as he had come to\nknow him. His arraignment is simply terrific in its sweep and detail.\n\nLet me pause and be measuring the words cautiously and then put this\ndown:--the description of the latter half of the first chapter of Romans\nis a true description of man to-day. At first flush that sounds shocking,\nas indeed it is. It seems as if this description can apply only to\ndegraded savages and to earth's darkest corners. But the history of Paul's\nday, and before, and since, and an under view of the social fabric to-day,\nonly serve to make clear that Paul's description is true for all time, and\naround the world.\n\nThere is a cloak of conventionality thrown over the blacker tints of the\npicture to-day in advanced Christian lands. It is considered proper to\navoid speaking of certain excesses, or, if speech must be used, modestly\nto say \"unnamable.\" And it is a distinct gain for morality that it is so.\nBetter a standard recognized, even though broken. But commonly the\nconditions are not changed. The differences found in different\ncivilizations to-day are differences only of _degree_. In the most\nadvanced cities of Christendom to-day may be found every bit of this\nchapter's awful details, _but properly cloaked_. In European lands the\ncloaks are sewed with the legal-stitch, which is considered the proper\nfinish. In lands where our Christian standards are not recognized the\nthing is as open as in this chapter.\n\nIn four short paragraphs containing sixty-six lines in the American\nRevision, Paul packs in his terrific philippic. He swings over the ground\nfour times. Nowhere does he reveal better his own fidelity to truth, with\nthe fineness of his own spirit. Here, delicacy of expression is rarely\nblended with great plainness. No one can fail to understand, and yet that\nsense of modesty native to both man and woman is not improperly disturbed,\neven though the recital be shocking.\n\nHere is paragraph one: Man knew God both through nature and by the direct\ninner light. But he did not want Him as God. It bothered the way he wanted\nto live. The core of all sin is there. All its fruitage grows about that\ncore. He became vain in his reasonings. He gave himself up to keen,\nbrilliant speculation. Having cut the cord that bound him to God,\nunanchored, uncompassed, on a shoreless, starless sea, he drifts\nbrilliantly about in the dense gray fog.\n\nThen he befooled himself further by thinking himself wise. He preferred\nsomebody else to God. Whom? Himself! Then--birds; then-beasts on all fours\nwith backbone on a line with the earth, nose and mouth close to the\nground; then--gray-black, slimy, crawling, creeping things. He traded off\nthe truth of God for a lie; the sweet purity of God for rank impurity. He\ndethroned God, and took the seat himself. He bartered God for beasts and\ngrew like that he preferred. God's gracious restraint is withdrawn when he\ngets down to the animal stage. Only here man out-animalled the animals.\nThe beasts are given points on beastliness. The life he chose to live held\ndown by the throat the truth he knew so well. That's the first summary.\n\nThe next two paragraphs are devoted to that particular sort of unnatural\nsin first suggested to man after his disobedience, and which in all time\nand all lands has been and is the worst, the most unnatural, the most\ndegrading, and the most common. It came first in the imagination. It came\nearly in the history of actual sin. It is put first by Paul in his\narraignment here. He gives it chief place by position and by particularity\nof description. First was the using of a pure, natural function to gratify\nunnatural desires. Then with strange cunning and lustful ingenuity\nchanging the natural functions to uses not in the plan of nature. Let it\nall be said in lowest, softest voice, so sadly awful is the recital. Yet\nlet that soft voice be very distinct, that the truth may be known. Then\nlower down yet the commercializing of such things. Unconcerned barter and\ntrade in man's holy, most potent function. Putting highest price on most\ningenious impurity.\n\nThen follows the longest of these paragraphs running up and down the grimy\ngamut of sin. Beginning with _all_ unrighteousness, he goes on to specify\ndepravity, greedy covetousness, maliciousness. Oozing out of every pore\nthere are envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity. Men are whisperers,\nbackbiters, God-haters, and self-lovers, in that they are insolent,\nhaughty, boastful. They are inventors of evil things, without\nunderstanding, breakers of faith, without natural affection, ruthlessly\nmerciless.\n\nThe climax is reached in this, that though they _know_ God, and what He\nhas set as the right rule of life, they not only _do_ these things named,\nbut they delight in the fellowship of those who habitually practise them.\nThe stage of impulsiveness is wholly gone. They have settled down to this\nas the deliberate choice and habit of life. Man is still a _king_, but all\nbemired. He is the image and glory of God, but how shrivelled and\nwithered; obscured, all overgrown with ugly poison vines.\n\nLet it be remembered at once that this is a _composite_ picture of the\nrace. Many different sorts of men must be put together to get such a view.\nSin works out differently in different persons. A man's activities take on\nthe tinge of his personality. So sin in a man takes on the color and tone\nof his individuality.\n\nOne man has the inner disposition against God, accompanied by no excesses\nat all. These things disgust him. He is refined in his tastes, perhaps\nscholarly and intellectual in his thinking. That inner disposition may be\na sort of refined ignoring of God either defiant or indifferent. In\nanother, the animal nature swings to the front, stronger perhaps by\nheredity, and, yielded to, it runs to the excess of riot. Then there is\nthe man with the strange yellow fever, whose love for the bright-colored\nprecious metal burns in his blood and controls every impulse and purpose.\nAnd the man with intense love of power, of controlling men and things for\nthe sake of the immense power involved, with himself as the centre of all.\n\nThere is every imaginable degree of each of these, and every sort of\ncombination among them. The lines cross and re-cross at every possible\nangle in various persons. A man is apt to get money-drunk then\nsociety-drunk (with a special definition for the word society in this\nconnection), then lust-drunk. Or, he may swing direct from\nmoney-intoxication into power-intoxication. Please notice keenly that each\nof these four grows up out of a perfectly normal, natural desire. Sin\nalways follows nature's grooves. There is nothing wrong in itself. The sin\nis in the wrong motive underneath, or the wrong relationship round about\nan act. Or, it is in excess, exaggeration, pushing an act out of its true\nproportion. Exaggeration floods the stream out of its channel. Wrong\nmotive or wrong relationship sends a bad stream into a good channel.\n\nBut sift down under the surface and always is found the same thing. The\nupper growth is varied by what it finds on the surface to mingle with, but\nthe sub-stuff is ever the same. The root always is self. The whole seed of\nsin is in preferring one's own way to God's way; one's self to God. The\nstream of life is turned the wrong way. It is turned in. Its true\ndirection is up. The true centre of gravity for man is not downward, nor\ninward, but upward and outward.\n\n\n\n<u>God's Treatment of Sin.</u>\n\n\nGod's treatment of sin lets in a flood of light on the sort of thing it\nis. Three times over in this summary Paul says that God \"_gave them up._\"\nAs they cast out all acknowledgment of God, He gave them up to an\n_outcast_ mind. When they turned God out-of-doors, God left them indoors\nto themselves. It was the worst thing He could do, and the best. Worst--to\nbe left alone with sin. Best, because the sin would get so vile that the\nman in God's image would want to turn it out, and get God back. Man never\nturns from sin until he feels its vileness to the sickening point. When\nthings get to the acute stage, and a sharp crisis is on, then as a rule\nthere will be an eager turning to the One who can cleanse and make over\nnew; but usually not until then.\n\nSin has a terrific gait. Give it a loose rein and man will get winded and\nready to drop. Only then is he ready to drop it. Sin can't be patched up\nor mended. Nursing only helps it to its feet for a fresh start. The whole\ntrouble is in the nature of the thing. The heart pumps the hot blood of\nrebellion. Its lungs can breathe only self-willed air. The worst\npunishment of sin is that left alone it breeds more sin, and worse sin.\nThe worst of sin is in its brood. It is very prolific. Every sin is a\nseed-sin. The breeding process gets the sort more refined in its\ncoarseness.\n\n    \"This is the very curse of evil deed,\n    That of new sin it becomes the seed.\"[2]\n\nAnd the plain statements of the Book, and the inevitable working of man's\nnature, reveal all the bad results of sin intensifying indefinitely in\nthe after-life. Jesus is God letting sin do its worst, upon Himself, that\nman might see its utter, stubborn damnableness, and eagerly turn from it,\nand back to Him.\n\n\n\n<u>A Bright Gleam of Light.</u>\n\n\nYet be it keenly marked, there is a very bright gleam of light across this\ndark picture. In going over the story of sin with its terrific results now\nand afterward, one needs to be very tender, for he is talking about\n_men_--his _brothers_. And to be very careful not to say things that are\nnot so. Some good, earnest people have been thinking that the whole race\nexcept a small minority were given over to eternal misery. The vast\nmajority of men has never heard the name of Jesus. And some very godly\npeople have seemed to think that these are lost forever.\n\nYet the old Book of God speaks very plainly here. Its meaning can be\ngotten without any twisting of words. Neither the Jewish nation nor the\nChristian Church can be regarded as favorites of God. God has no favorites\nfor salvation. The Jewish nation was chosen for _service_' sake. Through\nit there came a special after-revelation of God. Through it came the\nworld's new Man. The Church is the repository of God's truth to-day, with\nits window panes not always quite clear. Its great mission is to tell the\nwhole race of Jesus. Both were chosen for service.\n\nEvery nation knew God directly at the first. And be it said thoughtfully,\nevery man has enough of revelation and of inner light to lead him back to\nGod. A man's choice in this life is his choice always. Any student of the\nordinary working of man's mind can certify that. Whatever sort of being a\nman deliberately, persistently chooses to be here and now, he will be\nalways. The only change possible in the after-life will be in the degree.\nNever in the sort.\n\nThe Gospels speak of _believing on Jesus_, and of the bad results for\nthose who decline or refuse to have anything to do with Him. Of course it\nis speaking of those who have heard of Him. There can be no believing on\nJesus without hearing, and of course in simple fairness no condemning on\nany such grounds. The gospel message is wholly concerned with those who\nhear.\n\nBut there is clear and plain teaching about the great outside majority of\npast generations and of our own who have never heard. It was a member of\nboth Jewish nation and Christian Church, whose tongue, touched by the\nSpirit of God, said, \"God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation\nhe that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to Him.\" That\nis a simple standard, yet a searching one. Anybody, anywhere, with a truly\nreverential thought upward, and a controlling purpose to be right in his\nlife, will find the door swinging wide. No other badges or tickets\nrequired. This would include that remarkable woman of India, Chundra\nLelah,[3] all those weary years before the simple story of Jesus brought\nits flood of light and peace, and all of her innumerable class.\n\nPaul puts it as simply and a little more fully in the letter to the\nRomans, that careful treatise which sums up with marvellous fulness and\nbrevity the gospel he preached to the world. In chapter two, he says, \"to\nthem who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and\nincorruption (He will give) eternal life.\" Note that in his review thus\nfar he has not yet gotten to Jesus the Saviour.\n\nThese people of whom he is now speaking have never heard of Jesus. They\nare the great majority. Mark keenly the simple description of them. It is\na description, not of an achievement, but of a purpose. The absorbing aim\nin their lives is _seeking upward_. The seeking controls the life. The\nmastering spirit of these seekers is _patience, steadfastness_. They are\nseeking for the highest thing. They are doing what seems to them to be\nright, while seeking. They are doing right _patiently_.\n\nPatience! What a world of conflicting experiences in a word!\nMisunderstandings, breaks, slips, stumblings, failures, falls; but in all,\nthrough all, _patience_, steadfastness. Taking a fresh hold at every turn.\nAnd the gripping fingers ever learning a new tenacity. Pulling steadily up\na steep mountain side, in a blazing hot sun, blinded by dust, struck by\nloosened rocks above rolling down, but--patiently, steadily, with\ndust-blinded eyes, tugging _up_. To such is given the heart's\ndesire--eternal life. Ah! God judges a man by his _direction_, by the set\nof his face. He may not be far up, but his face is turned up. His heels\nshow their backs. His toes point toward the top. That reveals the purpose,\nthe desire of the man inside. His choice is to be _up_. And it is choice\nthat makes character as well as revealing it. And the one thing that\nconcerns God is the character as revealed in the purpose.\n\nThere is a simple, pathetic story from mission lands, variously told, and\nwell vouched for, of a missionary pausing long enough in a village to tell\nthe story of Jesus to the crowd that gathered, and then pushing on. This\nwas the first visit of a missionary to this place and so the first news of\nJesus. The crowd listened eagerly with various results. There was one\nlistener, an old man, held in repute for his wisdom, who at once accepted\nthe missionary's story, and announced his acceptance of Jesus. His\nneighbors expressed their surprise at his prompt acceptance of such a new\nthing. The old man's quiet answer in effect was this: \"Oh, I have long\ntrusted this Jesus, but I never knew His name before.\" There was no change\nof purpose with this man, but, in the story of Jesus, the burst of light\nthat brought unspeakable peace as he kept on in his upward tug.\n\nYet all this will not hold back from glad sacrifice, from free giving,\nfrom eager going to foreign mission lands a single man or woman who has\nbeen caught by Jesus' Spirit. _The Master said, \"Go ye_.\" That's enough.\nFor the largest wealth that may be given, for the keenest sacrifice that\nmay be endured, for the strongest life that may be devoted--that is quite\nenough. And if more were needed--then to go, to give, to sacrifice for the\nsake of helping our struggling brothers yonder know Jesus, and His\nwondrous sacrifice and His _great peace_. To make them conscious of the\ndisgustingness of sin, to bring to them _a vision of Jesus' face_ to\nallure, and enchain, to give a man's will an earnest boost, when he\n_-would_ choose, but cannot seem to for the suction of sin, inherited and\never growing upon his choosing powers. God sent _His_ best. Jesus\nsacrificed His all in going. We'll gladly follow in such a train. Jesus is\nGod sending His best, sacrificing His dearest, giving His most, _going\nHimself_ to get men started up the hill out of the bog.\n\n\n\n<u>The Broken Tryst.</u>\n\n\nMan's break back in Eden was very hard on God. That evening early, in the\ntwilight, God came walking in the garden to have the usual talk with His\nfriend. He came to keep tryst. It was the usual trysting place and\ntrysting hour, and God had the trysting spirit. We may think He came early\nfor this bit of fellowship. He was prompt. Nothing would be allowed to\ndisturb this appointment. But God was disappointed. It was His first\ndisappointment. The first one to be disappointed on this earth was God.\nAdam had always met Him before. We may easily think met Him eagerly,\njubilantly, with glad, free, open face and clinging hands.\n\nBut the man was not there this time. He failed God. He broke tryst. He\nstayed away. Indeed he had gone away. God didn't fail. He was there. The\nman failed. They had a long distance talk. God called Adam. He was not\ncontent to come to the trysting place. He must find the missing tryster.\nSome folk would make God a sort of hard and dry keeper of His word: A sort\nof trim syllogism, dry as punk. Some seem to think Him to be as they seem\nto be. How our poor God has been slandered by His supposed defenders! God\nwas not satisfied to keep the appointment. _He wanted the man._ He\nhungered for His friend, upon whom He had imprinted His own image. His\nheart was hungry for fellowship. He wanted the comfort of a bit of talk.\nSo He starts at once eagerly, insistently to find the man.\n\nThat voice of God spoke out, tender, gentle, plaintive, pleading. You can\njust hear the soft, very soft woodsman's cry, \"Hello-alo, hello, Adam,\nA-a-dam--here I am--waiting for you--I've kept my tryst--where are\n_you_?--hello-o--hello--_where_--are--you?\" The voice that spoke worlds\ninto being, that brought life and beauty to all creation, that brought\ninstant reverence and adoration from myriads of the upper world, that\nvoice now speaks to one, two: two who were one. All the heart of God, all\nthe power of God, in the soft voice talking to one man. God has always\nbeen after the one man, and still is.\n\nAnd the breezes hushed to hear that voice with its new pleading tone. The\nbirds stilled their song for this new music in minor mellowing tone.\nSilence for a moment, the breezes hushed, the birds stilled, the creation\nnear by held its breath, God held _His heart still_, that He might catch\nthe first response to its cry. The twilight of that day had a pathetic\nsight. It saw a broken tryst; a lonely God; words of fellowship unspoken.\nA man and woman hiding. Skulking behind trees. Trees served a new purpose\nthat evening, not a good purpose. They never were meant to hide behind.\nSin perverts the use of all things.\n\nAll these weary years God has been standing wherever men are: standing,\nwaiting, calling man back to his tryst. Among the trees, in the crowded\ncity of man's making, He is ever calling, and eagerly, wondrously, helping\nevery one who answers. He is so near that a reaching hand always touches\nHim. The voice of the heart never misses His ear. But His love and grief\nshine out most on that bit of a hill, outside a city wall, on the east\ncoast of the middle-of-the-earth sea. That is earth's tallest hill. It can\nbe seen farthest away of any. Jesus up on that hill is God calling man\nback to his broken tryst.\n\n\n\n<u>God's Wooing.</u>\n\n\nGod seems to have fairly outdone Himself to get man to turn toward the old\ntrysting place. For when a man will turn around enough to get even a\nglimpse of that God-Face, and a whisper of that God-Voice, he can\nwithstand no longer.\n\nGod has taxed all the ingenuity of His love to let man know about Himself.\nHe revealed Himself directly to the whole race at the start. He has in\nevery generation, and in every clime, on every hilltop and valley, in\nevery village and crowded city, been revealing Himself to the heart of\nevery man. There cannot be found one anywhere who has not heard the quiet\ninner voice drawing up, and away from wrong.\n\nIn this world of wondrous beauty God is speaking. The glory-telling\nheavens, the winsome coloring of trees and all growing things, the soft\nround hills, the sublime mountains, the sea with its ever-changing mood\nbut never-changing beneficence upon the life of the whole earth, the great\nblue and gray above, the soothing green below, the brighter colors in\ntheir artistic proportion, the wondrous blendings--surely every bush and\nother green thing, every bright twinkler in the blue, everything is aflame\nwith the presence that burns but in great love consumes not. His eyes are\nindeed badly bothered that cannot see; his ears in queer fix that do not\nhear. Yet sometimes the empty shoes seem few enough. But they are ever\nincreasing, and will yet more and more, by retail method, with wholesale\nresult.\n\nBut God comes closer yet in His wooing. The web of life's daily run, with\nits strange mixing and blending, shadings and tints, is of His weaving.\nHe sits at life's loom ever watching and weaving. Were He but recognized\noftener and His hand allowed to guide the skein, how different the\nweaving!\n\n    \"Children of yesterday,\n      Heirs of to-morrow,\n    What are you weaving--\n      Labor and sorrow?\n    Look to your looms again;\n      Faster and faster\n    Fly the great shuttles\n      Prepared by the Master.\n    _Life's in the loom,\n      Room for it_--_room_!\n\n    \"Children of yesterday,\n      Heirs of to-morrow,\n    Lighten the labor\n      And sweeten the sorrow:\n    Now--while the shuttles fly\n      Faster and faster,\n    Up and be at it--\n      At work _with_ the Master.\n    _He stands at your loom_,\n      _Room for Him_--_room_!\n\n    \"Children of yesterday,\n      Heirs of to-morrow,\n    Look at your fabric\n      Of labor and sorrow.\n    Seamy and dark\n      With despair and disaster,\n    Turn it--and lo,\n      The design of the Master.\n    _The Lord's at the loom_,\n      _Room for Him--room_.\"[4]\n\nWhen men's eyes seemed unable to see clearly these revelations of\nHimself, God picked out a small tribe, and through long, patient,\npainstaking discipline, gave to it, for the whole world, a special\nrevelation of Himself. In it, in the Book which preserves its records, in\nthe Man who came through it, God came nearer yet.\n\nIn Jesus, God told out His greatness most, and His love most tenderly. Man\nis the fairest flower of earth's creation. It was love's fine touch that\nto him God should reveal Himself best and most in the fairest flower of\nthe eternal creation. Only man could fully appreciate Jesus, God's Man,\nand man's Brother.\n\nBut Jesus was known only to one generation--His own generation--to one\nnarrow strip of country, one peculiarly exclusive tribe, the very small\nmajority of all to whom He had come. So there came to be a Book that all\nafter-generations might know Him too. We of later generations know _of_\nJesus through the Book, in some shape or other, before we can come to know\nHimself direct. And so we prize the Book above all others. Not for the\nBook's sake, at all, of course, but because through it we come to know\nJesus. With loving reverence we handle it, for it tells of Him, our\nGod-brother.\n\nSome learned folk have been much taken up with the make-up of the Book,\nits paper and type, and punctuation, and binding. And they have done good\nservice in clearing away a lot of dust and cobwebs that had been gathering\non it for a long time. But we plain folk, absorbed in getting things\ndone, do not need to wait on their conclusions. If in those pages we have\nfound Jesus, and God in Jesus, the Book has fulfilled its mission to us.\n\nTo all directly, in nature's voice, and in our common daily life; to a\nnation chosen for the special purpose, and through that nation and its\nbooks; through Jesus to those who knew Him, and, by a Book telling of Him,\nto all following, God came, _comes_ in His wooing, and looked, _looks_\ntenderly into man's face. Each of these paths leads straight to God, and\neach comes to include the others.\n\nBut chiefly in Jesus God came. Jesus is God going out in the cold black\nnight, over the mountains, down the ravines and gullies, eagerly hunting\nfor His lost man, getting hands, and face, and more, torn on the brambly\nthorn bushes, and losing His life, in the darkness, on a tree thrust in\nHis path, but saving the man.\n\n\n\n\nThe Plan for Jesus' Coming\n\n\n\n<u>The Image of God.</u>\n\n\nMan is God's darling--the king and crown of creation. The whole creation\nwas made for him to develop and rule over and enjoy. He is in a class by\nhimself. When he made his bad break there was just one thing left to do.\nGod must get a new leader for His man to lead him back into all the\noriginal plan for himself. Of the whole earth man stood next to God\nHimself. God could not find that leader lower down. So He went higher.\nJesus is God giving the race a new Leader who would withstand the lure of\ntemptation and realize the ambition of God's heart for His darling.\n\nThe man was made in the image of God, for self-mastery, and through\nself-mastery for dominion over all of God's creation. That was the plan\nfor the man. That, too, is the plan for the new Man. There is only one\nplace to go to find God's plan for the coming One. That is in the Hebrew\nhalf of the Bible. One can hardly believe, unless he has been through the\nthing, how hard it is to get out of the Old Testament its vision of the\ncoming One without any coloring from the New getting into his eyes.\n\nWe have been reading the Old Testament _through_ the events of the New\nfor so long that it gives a severe mental wrench to try to do anything\nelse. Yet only so, be it sharply marked, can the plan for the coming of\nJesus be gotten, and, further, only so can Jesus be understood. One must\nattempt to do just that to understand at all fairly what a reverent Hebrew\nin prophetic times expected; what such earnest Hebrews as Simeon and Anna\nwere looking for.\n\nI have tried to make a faithful effort to shut severely out of view the\nfamiliar facts of the gospel story for my own sake, to try to understand\nGod's plan as it stood before there was a gospel story.\n\nThis old Hebrew picture is so full of details that are found in the\nreality that one who has not actually gone studiously over the Old\nseparately will be very likely to think that the New Testament details are\nbeing _read into_ the Old. If that be so, it is urgently requested that\nsuch an opinion be held off until the old Hebrew pages have been carefully\nexamined as outlined in the study notes, that you may get the refreshment\nof a great surprise.\n\nIt must be kept keenly in mind that there is a difference between God's\nplan and that which He knows ahead will occur. Sovereignty does not mean\nthat everything God plans comes to pass. Nor that everything that comes to\npass is God's plan. Clearly it has not been so. It _does_ mean that\nthrough very much that is utterly contrary to His plan He works out, in\nthe long run, His great purpose. He works His own purpose out of a tough\ntangled network of contrary purposes; but in doing it never infringes upon\nman's liberty of action. He yields and bends, and, with a patience beyond\nour comprehension, waits, that in the end He may win _through_ our\nconsent. And so not only is His purpose saved, but man is saved and\ncharacter is made in the process.\n\nThe plan is a detail of the purpose. There is one unfailing purpose\nthrough continual breakings of the plan. God's purpose remains unchanging\nthrough all changes. Yet here not only is His purpose unbroken, but His\nplan is to work out in the end unbroken too, though suffering a very\nserious break midway.\n\nThe plan goes back to the first broken plan. There was dominion or\nkingship of the earth by a masterful man bearing the image and imprint of\nGod. All this was lost. Through loss of contact with God came the blurring\nof the image and the loss of self-mastery. Through loss of these came loss\nof dominion. These are to be restored--all three. This is the key to the\nplan for the coming of Jesus. A universal dominion, under the lead of a\nMaster-Man, in God's image, and through these a restoration of blessing to\nall the earth of men. This is the one continuous theme of the old Hebrew\nwritings. The emphasis swings now to one aspect, now to another, but\nthrough all the one thought is a king, a world-wide kingdom bringing\nblessing to all creation.\n\nBut if Jesus was to lead man back He must first get alongside, close up,\non the same level. This was the toughest part of the whole thing. The\nhardest part in saving a man is getting the man's consent to be saved.\nThere is no task tougher than trying to help a man who thinks he doesn't\nneed help, even though his need may be extreme. You may throw a blanket\nover a horse's head and get it out of a burning stable or barn; or a lasso\nover a bull's head to get it where you want, but man cannot be handled\nthat way. He must be _led_. The tether that draws must be fastened inside,\nhis _will_. He must be lifted from inside. That is a bit of the God-image\nin him. And so God's most difficult task was getting _inside the man_ that\nhad shut Him out.\n\n\n\n<u>Fastening a Tether Inside.</u>\n\n\nAnd a long time it took. That it took so long, measured by the calendar,\nsuggests how great was the resistance to be overcome. A long round-about\nroad it does seem that God took. Yet it was the shortest. The circle route\nis always the shortest. It is nature's way. Nature always follows the line\nof least resistance. The eagle, descending, comes in circles, the line of\nleast resistance. Water running out of a bowl through the hole in the\nbottom follows the circuitous route--the easiest.\n\nGod's longest way around was the shortest way into man's heart. Standards\nhad to be changed. New standards made. Yet in making a standard there must\nbe a starting point. God's bother was to get a starting point. When man\nwas too impure in his ingrained ideas to receive any idea of what purity\nmeant, things were in bad shape. When he was grubbing content in the\ngutter, how was he ever to be gotten up to the highlands, when you\ncouldn't even lift his eyes over the curbstone? All the prohibitions of\nthe Mosaic code are but faithful mirrors of man's condition. A wholly new\nstandard had to be set up. That was God's task. It must be set up\n_through_ men if they were to be attracted to it. So God started on His\nlongest-way-around-shortest road into man's heart.\n\nA man is chosen. Through this man, by the slow processes of generations, a\nnation is grown. Yet a nation only in numbers at first; in no other sense;\na mob of men. Then this mob is worked upon. They are led through\nexperiences that will make them soft to new impressions. Then slowly,\nlaboriously, by child-training methods, the new standard is brought to\nthem. Yet after centuries the best attained is only that their tenacious\nfingers have hold of a _form_, not yet the spirit. Yet this is an immense\ngain.\n\nBy and by this is the pedigree: A man, a family, tribes, a nation, a\nstrong nation, a broken nation, a literature, ragged remnants of a nation,\nan ideal the like of which could not be found anywhere on earth, and a\n_book_ embodying that ideal written as with acid-point in metal, as with\nsharpest chisel in hardest stone.\n\nAt last a start was made. God had gotten a hook inside man's will to\nwhich He could tie His tether, and _draw_, lovingly, tenderly,\ntenaciously, persistently, _draw_ up out of the mire, toward the\nhighlands, toward Himself.\n\n\n\n<u>The First Touches on the Canvas.</u>\n\n\nThis old Hebrew picture is found to be a mosaic made up of bits gathered\nhere and there, scattered throughout the Book. Some of the bits are of\nvery quiet sober colors found in obscure corners. Others are bright. When\nbrought together all blend into one with wondrous, fine beauty. The first\nbit is of grave hue. It comes at the very beginning. There is to be sharp\nenmity, then a crisis, resulting in a fatal wound for the head of evil,\nwith scars for the victor.\n\nAfter this earliest general statement there are three distinct groups or\nperiods of prediction regarding the coming One. During the making of the\nnation, during its high tide of strength and glory under David and his\nson, during the time of its going to pieces. As the national glory is\ndeparting, the vision takes on its most glorious coloring. The first of\nthese is during the making of the nation. As the man who is to be father\nof the chosen family is called away from his kinfolk to a preparatory\nisolation, he is cheered with the promise that his relationship is to be a\nrelationship of leadership and of great blessing _to the whole earth_.\nThis is repeated to his son and to his grandson, as each in turn becomes\nhead of the family. As his grandson, the father of the twelve men whose\nnames become the tribe names, is passing away he prophetically sees the\ncoming leadership narrowed to Judah, through whom the great Leader is to\ncome.\n\nLater yet, in a story of divination and superstition characteristic of the\ntime, a strange prophet is hired by an enemy to pronounce a curse upon the\nnew nation. This diviner is taken possession of by the Spirit of God, and\nforced to utter what is clearly against his own mercenary desires. He sees\na coming One, in the future, who is to smite Israel's enemies and rule\nvictoriously.\n\nDuring the last days of Moses that man, great to the whole race, speaks a\nword that sinks in deep. In his good-bye message he says there is some One\ncoming after him, who will be to them as he had been, one of their own\nkin, a deliverer, king, lawgiver, a wise, patient, tender judge and\nteacher. The nation never forgot that word. When John the Baptist came,\nthey asked, \"Art thou _the_ prophet?\"\n\nThe second group of predictions is found during the nation's strength and\nglory. To David comes the promise that the royal house he has founded is\nto be _forever_, in contrast with Saul's, even though his successors may\nfail to keep faith with God. It is most striking to note how much this\nmeant to David. He accepts it as meaning that the nation's Messiah and the\nworld's King is to be of his own blood. \"Thou hast spoken also of thy\nservant's house for a great while to come.\" Then follows this very\nsignificant sentence: \"And this is (or, must be) the law of _the man_\n(or, _the_ Adam).\" This promise must refer to the plan of God concerning\nthe woman's seed, _the_ man, _the Adam._\n\nAt the close, when the tether of life is slipping its hold, this vision of\nthe coming greater Heir promised by God evidently fills his eye. He says:\n\n    \"_There shall lie One_ that ruleth over men;\n    A righteous One, that ruleth in the fear of God.\n    And it shall be then as the light of the morning,\n    When the sun ariseth,\n    A morning without clouds,\n    The tender grass springing out of the earth through\n        clear shining after rain.\"\n\n    \"Verily, my own house has not been so with God;\n    Yet hath He made with me an everlasting covenant,\n    Ordered in all things and sure.\n    For this covenant is now all my comfort and all my desire,\n    Although he has not yet brought it to pass.\"\n\nThis seems to be the setting of those psalms of his referring to the\ncoming One. It was to be expected that his poetical fire would burn with\nsuch a promise and conception. In the Second Psalm he sees this coming\nHeir enthroned as God's own Son, and reigning supremely over the whole\nearth despite the united opposition of enemies. In the One Hundred and\nTenth Psalm this Heir is sharing rule at God's right hand while waiting\nthe subduing of all enemies. He is to be divine, a king, and more, a\n_priest_-king. Surrounded by a nation of volunteers full of youthful vigor\nHe will gain a decisive victory over the head of the allied enemies, and\nyet be Himself undisturbed in the continual freshness of His vigor. And\nall this rests upon the unchanging oath of Jehovah.\n\nDavid's immediate heir found his father's pen, and in the Seventy-second\nPsalm repeats, with his own variations, his father's vision of the coming\ngreater Heir. While there is repetition of the kingdom being world-wide\nand unending, with all nations in subjection, the chief emphasis is put\nupon the blessing to that great majority--the poor. They are to be freed\nfrom all oppression, to have full justice done them, with plenty of food\nto eat, and increased length of life.\n\nThat David's expectation had thoroughly permeated his circle is shown in\nthe joyous Forty-fifth Psalm, written by one of the court musicians. It\naddresses the coming One as more than human, having great beauty and\ngraciousness, reigning in righteousness, victoriously, with a queen of\ngreat beauty, and a princely posterity for unending generations.\n\n\n\n<u>A Full-length Picture in Colors.</u>\n\n\nThese are but the beginnings. It is in the prophetic books, the third of\nthe groups, that the full picture with its brightest coloring is found.\nThe picture is not only winsome beyond all comparison and glorious, but\nstupendous in its conception and its sweep. It is most notable that, as\nthe flood-tide of the nation's prosperity ebbs from its highest mark, the\nvision to the prophetic eye of a coming glory grows steadily in\nbrightness and in distinctness. As the great kings go, the great prophets\ncome. It is to them we must turn for the full-length picture.\n\nThe one _continuous_ subject of the prophets is the coming King and\nkingdom and attendant events. Immediate historical events furnish the\nsetting, but with a continual swinging to the coming future greatness. The\nyellow glory light of the coming day is never out of the prophetic sky.\nIts reflection is never out of the prophetic eye. Jeremiah is the one most\nabsorbed in the boiling of the political pot of his own strenuous time,\nbut even he at times lifts his head and gets such glimpses of the coming\nglory as make him mix some rose tincture with the jet black ink he uses.\n\nThe common thread running through the fabric of the prophetic books clear\nfrom Isaiah to Malachi is the phrase \"in that day.\" Sometimes it thickens\ninto \"the day of the Lord,\" \"the great day of the Lord,\" \"Jehovah hath a\ngreat day,\" \"at that time.\" About this thread is woven in turn the whole\nseries of stirring scenes and events that are to mark the coming time.\nSometimes it is of local application; most times of the future time, and a\nfew times the meaning slides from one to the other, touching both.\n\nOver all of these pages is the shadow of _Somebody_ coming down the aisle\nof the ages, who is to be the world's Master. The figure of a man, large\nto gigantic size, majestic, yet kindly as well as kingly, looms out\nthrough these lines before the reader's face. The old idea of God Himself\ndwelling in the midst of the people, sharing their life, made familiar by\nEden, by the flame-tipped mount and the glory-filled tent, comes out\nagain. For this coming One is said to be God Himself. But more than that\nHe is to be a man, and a _son_ of man; man bred of man. The blending of\nthe two, God and man, is pointed to in the unprecedented thing of a pure\nvirgin birth for this one. God and a pure maiden join themselves in His\ncoming. He is to be of native Hebrew stock, in direct descent from the\ngreat David, and born in David's native village. Of course He is to be a\nking as was David, but unlike that ancestor, to be not only a king, but a\npriest, and a preacher and teacher.\n\nThe _kingdom_ he will set up will be like Himself in its blending of the\nhuman and divine. Its origin is not human, but divine. The _capital_ is to\nbe Zion or Jerusalem. It will be marked by the glorious presence of God\nHimself visibly present to all eyes. The _characteristics_ of the kingdom\nare of peculiar attractiveness, at any time, to any people of this poor\nold blood-stained, gun-ploughed battle-field of an earth. The stronger\ntraits that men commonly think of as desirable are combined with traits\nthat have been reckoned by men of all generations as absurdly,\nunpractically idealistic.\n\nThere will be vengeance upon all enemies, who have been using Israel as a\ncommon football, and great victory. Yet, strangely, these will be gotten\n_without the use of violent force_, and will be followed by great peace.\nThe kingdom is to be established in loving-kindness and marked to an\nunparalleled degree by a sense of right and justice to all. This feature\nis emphasized over and over again, with refreshing frequency to those so\neager for such a revolutionary change in their affairs. Absolute gentle\nfairness and impartiality will decide all difficulties arising. Even the\nmost friendless and the most obnoxious thing will be fairly judged.\n\nThat great universal majority, _the poor_, will be especially guarded and\ncared for. There will be no hungry people, nor cold, nor poorly clad; no\nunemployed, begging for a chance to earn a dry crust, and no workers\nfighting for a fair share of the fruit of their sweat-wet toil. But there\nare tenderer touches yet upon this canvas. Broken hearts will be healed\nup, prison doors unhung, broken family circles complete again. It is to be\na time of great rejoicing by the common people. Yet all this will be\nbrought about, not immediately, but gradually, following the natural law\nof growth; though the beginning will be marked by a great crisis, coming\nsuddenly.\n\nThe effect upon Israel _nationally_ is to be tremendous, sweepingly\nreversing the conditions under which most of these predictions are made.\nIsrael is to become a Spirit-baptized nation, wholly swayed by the Spirit\nof God, and that gracious sway never to be withdrawn. All judgments for\nher sins are removed and all impurity thoroughly cleansed away. Possession\nof their own land is assured. And the capital city is to become a _holy_\nplace from which, in common with the whole land, all impurity has been\ncleansed away. All weakness and disability are gone, and full freedom from\nthe exactions of her former enemies to be enjoyed. Not only is Israel to\nbe at peace with all nations, but, far more, is to have the _leadership_\nof the nations of the earth, and leadership of the highest sort--in a\nworld-wide spiritual movement, in the day when the Spirit of God is to be\npoured out upon all flesh.\n\nThis leadership is to be a glorious and absolute supremacy among all the\nnations of the earth. And yet this is not to be by man's method of\nconquest, but of their own earnest accord all nations will come a-running\neagerly, voluntarily, with all their wealth and resources for the\nupbuilding and service of Israel. In that time the Hebrew capital\nJerusalem will likewise be the capital of the earth.\n\nNo less radical and sweeping will be the changes in Israel _personally_,\nindividually. The people are to be _made over new within_. The modern word\nfor this sort of thing is regeneration. The old-fashioned word is a _new\nheart--a new spirit_. The change is to be at the _core_; a change of the\nsort. With this will come a marked spirit of devotion to God, and a\npeculiar open-mindedness to the truth. There will be an absence of all\nsickness and a decided increase in length of life and great increase in\nnumbers. There will be no longer any disappointment in plans, and the\n_sense_ of _slavish fear_, which is universal, not only with all the\nrace, but through all time, will be utterly absent. Israel is to be a\nnation of persons with thrilled hearts and radiant faces.\n\n\n\n<u>Back to Eden.</u>\n\n\nThe effect upon _all the nations_ of the earth is a large part of the\nbackground of the picture. Through Israel's advancement under the new\norder, every other nation is to come back to God. The outpouring of the\nSpirit upon Israel is to be followed by an outpouring upon _all_ flesh.\nThere are the two outpourings of God's Spirit in these old prophetic\npages. This will be followed by a universal, voluntary coming to Israel\nfor religious instruction. She becomes the teacher of the nations\nregarding God, until by and by the whole earth shall be filled with the\nknowledge of the only God. Her influence upon them for good will be as the\nheavy fertilizing eastern dews and the life-giving showers are to\nvegetation.\n\nBut further yet, Israel is to be the _only_ medium of God's blessing upon\nthe nations--the only channel. Those refusing her leadership will, for\nlack of vital sap, die of dry rot. The wondrous blessing enjoyed by this\ncentral nation, the unhingeing of dungeon doors, the opening of blind\neyes, the mellowing of all the hard conditions of life, the reign of\nsimple, full justice to all, is to be shared with all the nations.\nIsrael's peace with all nations is to become a universal peace between and\namong all nations.\n\nBut there's still more. There are to follow certain radical changes in\nthe realm of _nature_. Splendid rivers of water are to flow through\nJerusalem, necessitating changes in the formation of the land there. The\nfortress capital of the Jews strongly entrenched among the Judean hills is\nto become, as the world's metropolis, a mighty city, with rivers to float\nthe earth's commerce. The light of the sun and moon will be greatly\nincreased, and yet this greatly intensified light will become at Jerusalem\na shadow cast by the greater light of the presence of God. A devout Hebrew\nwould associate this back with the light of the Presence-cloud in the\nArabian barrens. While the devout Christian will likely, quickly think\nforward from that to the light that was one time as the sun, and, again,\nabove the sun's brightness. Naturally, with this comes a renewed fertility\nof the earth's soil, and the removal of the curse upon vegetation. Before\nthe healing light and heat the poisonous growth, the blight of drought and\nof untempered heat disappear. There is to be a new earth and above it a\nnew heaven.\n\nTo complete the picture, the _animal_ creation is to undergo changes as\nradical as these. Beasts dangerous because of ferocity and because of\ntreachery and poisonous qualities will be wholly changed. Meat-eating\nbeasts will change their habit of diet, and eat grain and herbs. There\nwill be a mutual cessation of cruelty to animals by man and of danger to\nman from animals, for all violence will have ceased.\n\nAnd then the climax is capped by repeated assurances that this marvellous\nkingdom will be as extensive as the earth and absolutely unending.\n\nThe whole thing, be it keenly noticed, is simply a return to the original\ncondition. In the Eden garden was the presence of God, a masterful man in\nthe likeness of God, with full dominion over all creation. There was full\naccord in all nature, and perfect fellowship between man and nature.\n\nAll this is to come to pass through the coming One. He is the key that\nunlocks this wondrous future. Through all, above all, growing ever bigger,\nis the shadowy majestic figure of _a Man coming._ His personal\ncharacteristics make Him very attractive and winsome. He will be of\nunusual mental keenness both in understanding and in wisdom, combined with\ncourage of a high order, and, above all, dominated by a deep reverential,\na keenly alert, love for God. He will be beautiful in person and, in sharp\ncontrast with earth's kings, while marked personally with that fine\ndignity and majesty unconscious of itself, will be gentle and\nunpretentious in His bearing. His relations with God are direct and very\nintimate, being personally trained and taught by Him. Backed by all of His\nomnipotence, He will be charged with the carrying out of His great plans\nfor the chosen people and through them for the world.\n\nIn a fine touch it is specially said that \"He will judge the _poor_.\" Poor\nfolk, who haven't money to employ lawyers to guard their interests, and\nhaven't time for much education to know better how to protect themselves\nagainst those who would take advantage of them--the _poor_, that's the\noverwhelming majority of the whole world--He will be _their_ judge. They\nwill have a friend on the bench. But He will have this enormous advantage\nin judging all men, poor and otherwise, that He will not need to decide by\nwhat folk tell Him, nor by outside things. He will be able to read down\ninto the motives and back into the life.\n\nSuch is the plan for the coming One outlined in these old pages. To many a\nmodern all this must seem like the wildest dream of an utterly unpractical\nenthusiast. Yet, mark it keenly, this is the conception of this old Hebrew\nbook that has been, and is, the world's standard of morals and of wisdom.\nThe book revered above all others by the most thoughtful men, of all\nshades of belief. It is striking how the parts of this stupendous\nconception fit and hold together. There is a mature symmetry about the\nwhole scheme. For instance, the changes in the light of sun and moon run\nparallel with the changes in growth and in the healthfulness and longer\nlives of man. Increased light removes both disease and its cause, and\ngives new life and lengthened life.\n\nSurely these Hebrews are a great people _in their visions_. And a vision\nis an essential of greatness. Yet this sublime conception of their future\nis not regarded as a visionary dream, but calmly declared to be the\nrevealed plan of God for them, and through them for the earth. And that,\ntoo, not by any one man, but successively through many generations of\nmen. The prophetic spirit of the nation in the midst of terrible disaster\nand of moral degradation never loses faith in its ultimate greatness,\nthrough the fulfilling of its mission to the nations of the earth.\n\nIs it to be wondered at that the devout Israelite, who believed in his\nbook and its vision, pitched his tent on the hilltop, with his eye ever\nscanning the eastern horizon, for the figure of the coming One? And when\neyes grown dim for the long looking believed that at last that figure was\nseen, the heart breathed out its grateful relief in \"Now lettest thou thy\nservant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen.\"\n\n\n\n<u>Strange Dark Shadowings.</u>\n\n\nBut, too, there is in this vision of glory something very different, so\nmixed in that it won't come out. There are dark shadows from the first\ntouch upon the canvas. Always there is a bitter, malignant enemy. There is\ndecisive victory, but it comes only after sharp, hard, long-continued\nfighting. But in the latter parts, that is, in David's time, and\nintensifying in the later pages, there is something darker yet. Through\nthese lines run forebodings, strange, weird, sad forebodings of evil.\nThere are dark gray threads, inky black threads, that do not harmonize\nwith the pattern being woven. And the weavers notice it, and wonder, and\nyet are under a strange impulse to weave on without understanding.\n\nTheir coming One is to be a king, but there is the distinct consciousness\nthat there would be for Him terrible experiences through which He must\npass, and to which He would yield on His way to the throne. The very\nconception seems to involve a contradiction which puzzles these men who\nwrite them down. Like a lower minor strain running through some great\npiece of music are the few indications of what God fore_knew_, though He\ndid not foreplan, would happen to Jesus. A sharp line must always be drawn\nbetween what God plans and what He knows will happen. The soft sobbing of\nwhat God could see ahead runs as a minor sad cadence through the story of\nHis plans.\n\nSometimes these forebodings are _acted out_. In the light of the Gospels\nwe can easily see very striking likenesses between the experiences in\nwhich keen suffering precedes great victory, of such _national leaders_ as\nJoseph and David, and the experiences of Jesus. Here is _God's_ plan of\natonement by blood, involving suffering, but with no such accompaniments\nof hatred and cruelty as Jesus went through. Read backward, Jesus'\nexperience on the cross is seen to bear striking resemblances, in part, to\nthis old scheme of atonement; yet only in part: the parts concerning His\ncharacter and the results; but not the _manner_ of his death, nor the\n_spirit_ of the actors.\n\nThen there are the few direct specific passages predicting a stormy trip\nfor the king before the haven is reached. There is a vividness of detail\nin the very language here, that catches us, familiar with after events,\nas it could not those who first heard. There is the Twenty-second Psalm,\nwith its broken sentences, as though blurted out between heart-breaking\nsobs; and then the wondrous change, in the latter part, to victory\n_through_ this terrible experience. And the scanty but vivid lines in the\nSixty-ninth Psalm. There is that great throbbing fifty-third of Isaiah,\nwith its beginning back in the close of the fifty-second, and the striking\nahead of its key-note in the fiftieth chapter.\n\nDaniel listens with awe deepening ever more as Gabriel tells him that the\ncoming Prince is to be \"_cut off_.\" To the returned exiles rebuilding the\ntemple Zechariah acts out a parable in which Jehovah is priced at thirty\npieces of silver, the cost of a common slave. And a bit later God speaks\nof a time when \"they shall look upon Me (or Him) whom they _have\npierced_.\" And later yet, a still more significant phrase is used, as\nidentifying the divine character of the sufferer, where God speaks of a\nsword being used \"against the man that is _My Fellow_,\" adding, \"Strike\nthe shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.\" It is God's Fellow--one\non a par with Himself--against whom the opposition is directed.\n\nSuch is the great vision in these Hebrew pages of the plan for the coming\nOne. There is a throne on a high mountain peak bathed in wondrous sublime\nglory, but the writers are puzzled at a dark valley of the shadow of\ndeath through which the king seems to be obliged to pick His way up to the\nthrone.\n\nJesus is to be God's new Man leading man back on the road into the divine\nimage again, with full mastery of his masterly powers, and through mastery\ninto full dominion again; but the road back seems to be _contested_, and\nthe new Man gets badly scarred as He fights through and up to victory.\n\n\n\n\nThe Tragic Break in the Plan\n\n\n\n<u>The Jerusalem Climate.</u>\n\n\nThen _Jesus_ came. His coming was greeted with great gladness above, and\ngreat silence below. Above, the stars sent a special messenger to bid Him\nwelcome to the earth they lightened and brightened. Below, the rusty\nhinges of earth's inn refused to swing for Him. So man failing, the lower\ncreation shared room with Him.\n\nAbove, was the sweetest music, the music of heaven. Three times the music\nof heaven is mentioned: at the creation, at this coming of Jesus, at the\ncoming crowning of Jesus in John's Revelation. Below, the only music was\nthat of the babe's holy young mother, God's chosen one to mother His Son,\ncrooning to her babe; and the gentle lowing in minor key of the oxen whose\nstall He shared. Above, the great glory shining, the messenger of God\nspeaking a message of peace and love. Below, only darkness and silence.\n\nAmong the cultured leaders of the city of David, and of Solomon, and of\nGod's once glorified temple, there were no ears for the message, nor eyes\nfor the glory. They had gone deaf and blind Godward long before. To them\ncame no message, for no door was open. To simple men of nature who lived\nwith the stars and the hills and the sheep, came the new shining of the\nglory, and the wondrous messenger and message. Their doors were open. They\npractised looking up. Of course neither city nor country mattered, nor\nmatters. God always speaks into the upturned ear and looks into the\nupturned face.\n\nAnd so Jesus came. With all of its contrasts it was a winsome coming. A\npure young mother nursing her babe; the babe with its sweet wondrous face,\na fresh act of God indeed; the simple unselfish cattle; the bright stars;\nthe Glory shining; the sudden flood of music; the Lord's messenger; the\nmessage--a very winsome coming.\n\nHe came into the peculiar climate of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is Judea. Out of\nthe Babylonian remnant of Israel had come great men, true leaders, with\ngreat zeal for the city, and the temple, and the temple service, and for\nthe law. They made the mould in which this later Jerusalem was cast. But\nthat mould retaining its old form, had now become filled with the baser\nmetals. The high ideals of the new makers of the city had shrunk into mere\nideas. The small, strongly entrenched ruling circle were tenacious\nsticklers for traditions as interpreted by themselves. That fine old word\nconservative (with an underneath meaning of \"what we prefer\") was one of\ntheir sweetest morsels. Underneath their great pride as Moses' successors,\nthe favored custodians of the nation's most sacred treasures, was a\npassionate love for gold. The temple service was secretly organized on\nthe profit-sharing plan, with the larger share, as usual, for the\norganizers.\n\nThat hardest thing in the whole range of human action to overcome, either\nby God or man or the devil--prejudice--they had, in the Simon-pure form,\nsuperlatively refined. The original treasure of God's Word was about as\nmuch overlaid and hidden away by writings about it as--it has been in some\nother times. Of course they were looking for a Messiah, the one hope of\ntheir sacredly guarded literature. But He must be the sort that they\nwanted, and--could use.\n\nHerod the King was a man of great ability, great ambition, great passion,\nand great absence of anything akin to conscience. But the virtual ruler\nwas the high priest. His office was bargained for, bought and sold for the\nmoney and power it controlled in the way all too familiar to corrupt\npolitical life in all times, and not wholly unknown in our own. The old\nspiritual ideals of Moses, and Samuel, preached amid degeneracy by Elijah\nand Isaiah, were buried away clear out of sight by mere formalism, though\nstill burning warm and tender in the hearts of a few. This was the\natmosphere of the old national capital into which Jesus came.\n\n\n\n<u>The Bethlehem Fog.</u>\n\n\nThen it was that Jesus came. Strange to say, there is a shadow over His\ncoming from the beginning. A gray chilling shadow of the sort of gray that\na stormy sky sometimes shows, gray tingeing into slaty black. Yet it was\nthe coming that made the shadow. It takes light, and some thick thing like\na block, and some distance for perspective, to make a shadow. The nearer\nthe light to the block thing the blacker the shadow. Here the light came\nclose to some thick blocks; of stupid thickness; human blocks grown more\ntoughly thick by the persistent resisting of any such transparent thing as\nlight.\n\nThis was a foggy shadow. A fog is always made by influences from below. A\nlowering temperature chills the air, and brings down its moisture in the\nshape of a gray subtle pervasive mist, that blurs the outlook, and often\ngathers and holds black smoke, and mean poisonous odors and gases from bog\nand swamp. Such a fog endangers both health and life. This was just such a\nshadowing fog. There was a decided drop in the temperature, a sudden\nchill, a fog formed that sucked up the poison of the marshes, and\nthreatened to stifle the baby breath of the new-born King.\n\nA subtle, intangible, but terribly sure something haunts and hunts the\nKing from the first. His virgin mother is suspected by the one nearest her\nof the most serious offense that can be charged against a woman. The\nshadow that later grew to inky blackness came ahead of the man, and, under\nthe stable eaves, waited grimly His arrival. The feverish green of Herod's\neyes will be content with nothing but a new, bright, running red, and\nplenty of it. Satan's plan of killing was started early. He was not\nparticular about the way it was done. The first attempt was at Bethlehem.\nThe venomous spittle oozed out there first. But he must move along natural\nchannels: just now, a murderous king's jealous dread of a possible rival.\n\nThe first hint of the actual coming of the long expected One is from the\nstar-students of the east. Their long journey and eager questioning bring\nthe birth of Jesus before the official circle of the nation. It is most\nsignificant that His birth causes at once a special meeting of the\nnation's ruling body. Herod was troubled, of course. But--all Jerusalem\nwas troubled _with_ him. Here is a surprising sympathy. It reflects at\nonce vividly the situation. It was strangely suggestive that news of their\nKing coning should trouble these national leaders. These devout\nstar-watchers are wise in the source of information they came to. These\nleaders knew. They quickly pointed out the spot where the coming One\n_should_ be born.\n\nA pure virgin under cruel suspicion, a roomless inn, a village filled with\nheart-broken mothers, a quick flight on a dark night to a foreign land by\na young mother and her babe, the stealthy retirement into a secluded spot\naway from his native province, a fellow feeling between a red-handed king\nand the nation's leaders--ugh! an ugly, deadly fog.\n\n\n\n<u>The Man Sent Ahead.</u>\n\n\nA high fence of silence shuts out from view the after years. Just one\nchink of a crack appears in the fence, peering through which, one gets a\nsuggestion of beautiful simplicity, of the true, natural human growing\ngoing on beyond the fence.\n\nWhen mature years are reached, the royal procession is formed. A man is\nsent ahead to tell of the King's coming. John was Jesus' diplomatic\nrepresentative, His plenipotentiary extraordinary; that is, the one man\nspecifically sent to represent Him to the nation whose King He was.\nTreatment of John was treatment of Jesus. A slight done him was slighting\nhis sovereign Master. If Sir Henry Mortimer Durand were to be slighted or\ntreated discourteously by the American authorities, it would be felt at\nLondon as a slight upon the King, the government, and the nation they\nrepresent. Any indignity permitted to be done on American soil to von\nStuckenburg would be instantly resented by Kaiser William as personal to\nhimself. John was Jesus' Durand, His von Stuckenburg, His Whitelaw Reid.\nAnd no diplomat ever used more tactful language than this John when\nquestioned about his Master. In Jesus' own simile, John was His _best\nman_. Jesus was a bridegroom. John stood by His side as His most intimate\nfriend.\n\nJesus and John are constantly interwoven in the events of Jesus' career.\nWe moderns, who do everything by the calendar, have been puzzled in the\nattempt to piece together these events into an exact calendar arrangement.\nAnd the beautiful mosaic of the Gospels has been cut up to make a new,\nmodern, calendar mosaic. But these writers see things by _events_, not by\n_dates_. They have in mind four great events, and about these their story\nclusters. And in these Jesus and John are inextricably interwoven. First\nis John's wilderness ministry, heading up in his presenting Jesus to the\nnation. Then John's violent seizure, and Jesus' withdrawal from the danger\nzone. Then John's death, and Jesus' increased caution in His movements.\nThen Jesus' death. John comes, points to Jesus, and goes. Jesus comes,\nwalks a bit with John, reaches beyond him and then goes, too.\n\nJohn baptized. That is, he used a purifying rite in connection with his\npreaching. It helps to remember the distinction between baptism as\npractised in the Christian Church, and as practised by John, and by Jesus\nin His early ministry. In the church, baptism has come to be regarded as a\ndedicatory rite by some, and by others an initial and confessional rite.\nBut in the first use of it, by John and Jesus, it was a purifying rite. It\nwas a confession too, but of sin, and the need of cleansing, not, as\nlater, of faith in a person, or a creed, although it did imply acceptance\nof a man's leadership. To a Hebrew mind it was preaching by symbol as well\nas by word. The official deputation sent from Jerusalem to look John up\nasked why he should be using a purifying rite if he were neither the\nChrist, nor Elijah, nor the prophet. They could understand the\nappropriateness of either of these three persons using such a rite in\nconnection with his preaching as indicating the national need of\ncleansing. And in the beginning Jesus for a time, through His disciples,\njoined in John's plan of baptizing those who confessed sorrow for sin.\n\nJesus acknowledged John as His own representative, and honored him as\nsuch, from first to last. He gives him the strongest approval and backing.\nThe national treatment of John always affects Jesus' movements. When,\ntoward the close, His authority is challenged, He at once calls attention\nto the evident authority of His forerunner and refuses to go farther.\n\nA trace of that ominous, puzzling foreboding noticed in the Old Testament\nvision of the coming One creeps in here. Pointing to Jesus, John says,\n\"Behold the lamb of God, who beareth (away) the sin of the world.\" Why did\nJohn say that? _We_ read his words backward in the light of Calvary. But\n_he_ could not do that, and did not. He knew only a _King_ coming. Why?\nEven as Isaiah fifty-third, and Psalm twenty-second were written, the\nwriters there, the speaker here, impelled to an utterance, the meaning of\nwhich, was not clear to themselves.\n\nThis relation and intimacy between these two, John and Jesus, must be\nsteadily kept in mind.\n\n\n\n<u>The Contemptuous Rejection.</u>\n\n\nFrom the very first, though Jesus was _accepted by individuals_ of every\nclass, _He was rejected by the nation_. This is the twin-fact standing out\nin boldest outline through the Gospel stories. The nation's rejection\nbegan with the formal presentation of Him to it by John. First was the\nsimple refusal to accept, then the decision to reject, then the\ndetermination that everybody else should reject too. First, that He should\nnot be admitted to their circle, then that He should be kept out of their\ncircle, and then that He should be kept out of every circle. There are\nthese three distinct stages in the rejection from the Jordan waters to the\nCalvary Hill.\n\nFirst came _the contemptuous rejection_. John was a great man. Made of the\nsame rugged stuff as the old prophets, he was more than they in being the\nKing's own messenger and herald. In his character he was great as the\ngreatest, though not as great in privilege as those living in the kingdom.\nHe preached and baptized. With glowing eyes of fire, deep-set under shaggy\nbrows, and plain vigorous speech which, if pricked, would ooze out red\nlife, he told of the sin that must be cleaned out as a preparation for the\ncoming One. And to all who would, he applied the cleansing rite.\n\nHe had great drawing power. Away from cultured Jerusalem on the hilltops\ndown to the river bottoms, and the stony barrens of the Jordan; from the\nJudean hill country, away from the stately temple service with its music\nand impressive ritual, to his simple open-air, plain, fervid preaching, he\ndrew men. All sorts came, the proud Pharisee, the cynical Sadducee, the\nsoldiers, the publicans, farmers, shepherds, tradespeople--all came. His\ndaily gatherings represented the whole people. The nation came to his\ncall. It was the unconscious testimony of the nation to his rugged\ngreatness and to his divine mission. They were impelled to come, and\nlisten, and do, and questioningly wonder if this can be the promised\nnational leader.\n\nOne day a committee came from the Jewish Senate to make official inquiry\nas to who he claimed to be. With critical, captious questions they demand\nhis authority. True to his mission and his Master, he said, \"I am not\n_the_ One, but sent to tell you that He's coming, and so near that it's\ntime to get ready.\" Then the next day, as Jesus walks quietly through the\ncrowd, probably just back from the wilderness, he finishes his reply to\nthe deputation. With glowing eyes intently riveted upon Jesus, and finger\npointing, before the alert eyes of his hundreds of hearers--Pharisees,\nSadducees, official committee, Roman soldiers, and common folk--he said in\nclear, ringing tones, \"_That is He: the coming One!_\"\n\nNo more dramatic, impressive presentation could have been made of Jesus to\nthe nation. To their Oriental minds it would be peculiarly significant,\nMark keenly the result. On the part of the leaders _utter silence_ There\ncould be no more cutting expression of their contempt. With eyebrows\nuplifted, eyes coldly questioning, their lips slightly curling, or held\nclose together and pursed out, and shoulders shrugging, their contempt,\nutter disgusted contempt, could not be more loudly expressed. If they had\nhad the least disposition to believe John's words about Jesus, even so far\nas to _investigate_ patiently and thoroughly, how different would their\nconduct have been! But--only silence. And silence long continued. Jesus\ngave them plenty of time before the next step was taken. No silence ever\nspoke in louder voice. That same day five thoughtful men of that same\nthrong _did_ investigate, and were satisfied, and gave at once loyal,\nloving allegiance.\n\nA few months later, the Passover Feast drew crowds from everywhere to\nJerusalem. Jesus coming into the temple areas, with the crowds, one day,\nis struck at once with the strange scene. Instead of reverent, holy quiet,\nas worshippers approached the dwelling-place of God, with their offerings\nof penitence and worship, the busy bustle of a market-place greets His\nears. The noise of cattle and sheep being driven here and there, the\npavement like an unkempt barnyard, loud, discordant voices of men handling\nthe beasts and bargaining over exchange rates at the brokers'\ntables--strange scene. Is it surprising that His ear and eye and heart,\nperhaps fresh from a bit of quiet morning talk with His Father, were\nshocked? Here, where everything should have called to devotion, everything\n_jarred_.\n\nQuietly and quickly putting some bits of knotted string together, He\nstarted the stock out, doubtless against the protests of the keepers. With\nflashing light out of those keen eyes, He tipped over the tables, spilling\nout their precious greedy coins, and ordered the crates of pigeons\nremoved. But all with no suggestion of any violence used toward anybody.\nReluctantly, perhaps angrily, wholly against their plans and wishes, the\ncrowd, impelled by _something_ in this unknown Man, with no outer evidence\nof authority, goes. It is a remarkable tribute, both to the power of His\npersonal presence and to His executive faculty.\n\nOf course the thing made trouble. It was the talk of the town, and of all\nthe foreigners for days after. The leaders were aroused and angered,\ndeeply angered. This stranger had kicked up a pretty muss with His\ninconvenient earnestness and inconsiderate quoting of Scripture. It was a\npractical assumption of superior authority over them. It was an assumption\nof the truth of John's ignored claim that He was the promised King.\n\nWas not this arrangement in the temple area a great convenience for the\nmany strangers, who were their brothers and guests; a real kindly act of\nhospitality? Yes--and was it not, too, a finely organized bit of business\nfor profiting by these strangers, a using of their proper authority over\nthe temple territory to transfer their brothers' foreign coins safely over\nto their own purses? Aye, it was a transmuting of their holy offices into\ngold by the alchemy of their coarse, greedy touch.\n\nJesus' conduct was the keenest sort of criticism of these rulers, before\nthe eyes of the nation and of the thousands of pilgrims present. These\nleaders never forgave this humiliating rebuke of themselves. It made their\nnerves raw to His touch ever after. Here is the real reason of all their\nafter bitter dislike. They had a sensitive pocket-nerve. It was a sort of\npneumogastric nerve so close did it come to their lives. Jesus touched it\nroughly. It never quit aching. Scratch all their later charges against Him\nand under all is this sore spot. The tree of the cross began growing its\nwood that day. Their hot, captious demand for authority, meant as much for\nthe ears of the crowd as for His, brought from Jesus, who read His future\nin their hearts, a reply which they could not understand. They asked their\nquestion for the crowd to hear, He replied for His disciples to remember\nin the after years. There could be no evidence of authority more\nsignificant than this temple incident.\n\nHis first public work was done at this time. The great throng of pilgrims\nfrom around the world, attracted to Him by this simple daring act of\nleadership, witnessed a group of mighty acts during these Passover days.\nThe angry leaders had critically asked for \"signs\" of His authority. He\ngave them in abundance, not in response to their captious demand, but\ndoubtless, as always, in response to pressing human needs. The result was\nthat many persons accepted Him, but the nation in its rulers, maintained\ntheir attitude of angered, contemptuous silence. But underneath that\nsurface the pot is beginning to boil.\n\nOf all the members of the national Senate, one, _just one_, comes to make\npersonal inquiry, and sift this man's claim sincerely and candidly. And\nhe, be it marked, chooses a darkened hour for that visit. That night hour\nspeaks volumes of the smouldering passion under their contempt. That Jesus\nrecognized fully their attitude and just what it meant comes out in that\nquiet evening talk. To that sincere inquirer, He frankly Jays, \"You people\nwon't receive the witness that John and I have brought you.\" He was\npleading before a court that stubbornly refuses testimony of fact. And to\nthis honest seeker, whom we must all love for his sincerity, He reveals\nHis inner consciousness of a tragic break coming, with a pleading word for\npersonal trust, and a saddened \"men love darkness.\"\n\nWith the going away of the Passover crowds, Jesus leaves the national\ncapital, and assists in the sort of work John was doing. His power to draw\nmen, and men's eagerness for Him, stand out sharply at once. John had\ndrawn great crowds of all classes. Jesus drew greater crowds. Multitudes\neagerly accepted John's teaching and accepted baptism from him. As it\nturned out, greater multitudes of people, under the very eyes of these\nignoring, contemptuous leaders, accepted Jesus' leadership. John baptized.\nJesus baptized through His disciples. These leaders in their questioning\nof John had tacitly acknowledged the propriety of \"the Christ\" using such\na rite. Jesus follows the line of least resistance, and fitted into the\none phase of His work which they had recognized as proper.\n\nThe pitiable fact stands out that the only result with _them_ is a wordy\nstrife about the relative success of these two, Jesus and John. The most\nthat their minds, steeped in jealousies and rivalries, ever watching with\nbadger eyes to undercut some one else, could see, was a rivalry between\nthese two men. John's instant open-hearted disclaimer made no impression\nupon them. They seemed not impressionable to such disinterested loyalty.\n\nA little later, probably not much, John's ruggedly honest preaching\nagainst sin came too close home to suit Herod. He promptly shuts up the\npreacher in prison, with no protest from the nation's leaders. These\nleaders had developed peculiar power in influencing their civil rulers by\nthe strenuousness of their protests. That they permitted the imprisonment\nof John with no word of protest, was a tacit throwing overboard of John's\nown claims, of John's claims for Jesus, and of Jesus' own claim.\n\nHere is the first sharp crisis. From the first, the circle of national\nleaders characterized by John, the writer of the Gospel, as \"the Jews,\"\nincluding the inner clique of chief priests and the Pharisees, ignored\nJesus; with silent contempt, coldly, severely ignored. This was before the\ntemple-cleansing affair. That intensified their attitude toward the next\nstage. They had to proceed cautiously, because the crowd was with Jesus.\nAnd full well these keen leaders knew the ticklishness of handling a\nfanatical Oriental mob, as subsequent events showed. Now John is\nimprisoned, with the consent of these leaders, possibly through their\nconnivance.\n\nJesus keenly and quickly grasps the situation. First ignored, then made\nthe subject of evil gossip, the temple clash, and now His closest friend\nsubjected to violence, His own rejection is painfully evident. He makes a\nnumber of radical changes. His _place_ of activity is changed to a\nneighboring province under different civil rule; His _method_, to\npreaching from place to place; His _purpose_, to working with\n_individuals_. There's a peculiar word used here by Matthew to tell of\nJesus' departure from Judea to a province under a different civil ruler;\n\"He _withdrew_.\" The word used implies going away because of danger\nthreatening. We will run across it again and each time at a crisis point.\n\nThe leaders refused Jesus because He was not duly labelled. It seems to be\na prevailing characteristic to want men labelled, especially a\ncharacteristic of those who make the labels. There is always an eager\ndesire regarding a stranger to learn whom he represents, who have put\ntheir stamp upon him and accepted him. And if the label is satisfactory,\nhe is acccepted in the degree in which the label is accepted. Others are\nmarked with a large interrogation point. Inherent worth has a slow time.\nBut sure? Yes, but slow. Jesus bore no label whose words they could spell\nout or wanted to. They were a bit rusty in the language of worth. How\nknoweth this man letters, having never learned! He seems to know, to know\nsurprisingly well. He seems keenly versed in the law, able quickly to turn\nthe tables upon their catch questions. But then it can't be the real\narticle of learning, because He hasn't been in our established schools. He\nhas no sheepskin in a dead language with our learned doctors' names\nlearnedly inscribed. How indeed! An upstart!!\n\nYet always to the earnest, sincere inquirer there was authority enough. In\nHis acts, an open-minded doctor of the law could read the stamp of God's\napproval. The ear open to learn, not waxed up by self-seeking plans, or\nfilled with gold dust, heard the voice of divine approval out of the\nclouds, or in His presence and acts.\n\n\n\n<u>The Aggressive Rejection.</u>\n\n\nThen came the second stage, _the aggressive rejection._ This is the\nplotting stage. Their hot passion is cooling now into a hardening purpose.\nThis has been shaping itself under the surface for months. Now it is open.\nThis was a crowded year for Jesus, and a year of crowds. The Galileans\nhad been in His southern audiences many a time and seen His miracles. The\nnews of His coming up north to their country swiftly spread everywhere.\nThe throngs are so great that the towns and villages are blockaded, and\nJesus has recourse to the fields, where the people gather in untold\nthousands.\n\nAn ominous incident occurs at the very beginning of this Galilean work. It\nis a fine touch of character that Jesus at once pays a visit to His home\nvillage. One always thinks more of Him for that. He never forgot the home\nfolk. The synagogue service on the Sabbath day gathers the villagers\ntogether. Jesus takes the teacher's place, and reads, from Isaiah, a bit\nof the prophecy of the coming One. Then with a rare graciousness and\nwinsomeness that wins all hearts, and fastens every eye upon Himself, He\nbegins talking of the fulfilment of that word in Himself.\n\nThen there comes a strange, quick revulsion of feeling. Had some\nJerusalem spy gotten in and begun his poisoning work already? Eyes begin\nto harden and jaws become set. \"Why, that is the man that made our\ncattle-yoke.\"--\"Yes, and fixed our kitchen table.\"--\"He--the Messiah!\"\nThen words of rebuke gently spoken, but with truth's razor edge. Then a\nhot burst of passion, and He is hustled out to the jagged edge of the hill\nto be thrown over. Then that wondrous presence awing them back, as their\nhooked hands lose hold, and their eyes again fasten with wonder, and He\npassed quietly on His way undisturbed. Surely that was the best evidence\nof the truth of His despised word.\n\nSeven outstanding incidents here reveal the ever-hardening purpose of the\nleaders against Jesus. First comes another clash in the temple. Their\nideas of what was proper on the Sabbath day receive a shock because a man\nenslaved by disease for years was healed with a word from Jesus' lips.\nCould there be a finer use of a Sabbath day! We can either think them\nreally shocked, or hunting for a religious chance to fight Him. Jesus'\nreply seems so to enrage that a passion to kill Him grips them. It is\nnotable that they had no doubt of the extent of Jesus' claim; \"He called\nGod His own Father, making Himself equal with God.\" On these two things,\nHis use of the Sabbath, and His claim of divinity, is based the aggressive\ncampaign begun that day.\n\nThe incident draws from Him the marvellous words preserved by John in his\nfifth chapter. In support of His claim He quietly brings forward five\nwitnesses, John His herald, His own miraculous acts, His Father, the\nScriptures entrusted to their care, and Moses, the founder of the nation.\nThat was a great line of testimony. This first thought of killing Him\nseems to have been a burst of hot, passionate rage, but gradually we shall\nfind it cooled into a hardened, deliberate purpose.\n\nAt once Jesus returns to the northern province. And now they begin to\nfollow Him up, and spy upon His movements and words. In Capernaum, His\nnorthern headquarters, a man apparently at unrest in soul about his sins,\nand palsied in body, is first assured of forgiveness, and then made bodily\nwhole. Their criticism of His forgiving sins is silenced by the power\nevidenced in the bodily healing. But their plan of campaign is now begun\nin earnest, and is evident at once. Later criticism of His personal\nconduct and habits with the despised classes is mingled with an attempt to\nwork upon His disciples and undermine their loyalty. The Sabbath question\ncomes up again through the disciples satisfying their hunger in the grain\nfields, and brings from Jesus the keen comment that man wasn't made for\nthe Sabbath, but to be helped through that day, and then the statement\nthat must have angered them further that He was \"Lord of the Sabbath.\"\n\nAnother Sabbath day in the synagogue they were on hand to see if He would\nheal a certain man with a whithered hand whom they had gotten track of,\n\"that they might accuse Him.\" They were spying out evidence for the use of\nthe Jerusalem leaders. To His grief they harden their hearts against His\nplea for saving a _man_, a _life_, as against a tradition. And as the man\nwith full heart and full eyes finds his chance of earning a living\nrestored, they rush out, and with the fire spitting from their eyes, and\nteeth gritting, they plan to get their political enemies, the Herodians,\nto help them kill Jesus. A number of these incidents give rise to these\npassionate outbursts to kill, which seem to cool off, but to leave the\nremnants that hardened into the cool purpose most to be dreaded.\n\nA second time occurs that significant word, \"withdrew.\" Jesus withdrew to\nthe sea, followed by a remarkable multitude of Galileans, and others from\nsuch distant points as Tyre and Sidon on the north, Idumea on the extreme\nsouth, beyond the Jordan on the east, and from Jerusalem. He was safe with\nthis sympathizing crowd.\n\nThe crowds were so great, and the days so crowded, that Jesus' very eating\nwas interfered with. His friends remonstrate, and even think Him unduly\nswayed by holy enthusiasm. But it is a man come down from Jerusalem who\nspread freely among the crowds the ugly charge that He was in league with\nthe devil, possessed by an _unclean_ spirit, and that that explained His\nstrange power. No uglier charge could be made. It reveals keenly the\ndesperate purpose of the Jerusalem leaders. Clearly it was made to\ninfluence the crowds. They were panic-stricken over these crowds. What\ncould He not do with such a backing, if He chose! Such a rumor would\nSpread like wildfire. Jesus shows His leadership. He at once calls the\ncrowds about Him, speaks openly of the charge, and refutes it, showing the\nevident absurdity of it.\n\nThen a strange occurrence takes place. While He is teaching a great crowd\none day, there is an interruption in the midst of His speaking Oddly, it\ncomes from His mother and her other sons. They send in a message asking\nto see Him at once. This seems very strange. It would seem probable from\nthe narrative that they had access to Him constantly. Why this sudden\ndesire by the one closest to Him by natural ties to break into His very\nspeaking for a special interview? Had these Jerusalem men been working\nupon the fears of her mother heart for the safety of her Son? She would\nuse her influence to save Him from possible danger threatening? There is\nmuch in the incident to give color to such a supposition. Perhaps a man of\nsuch fineness as He could be checked back by consideration for His\nmother's feelings. They were quite capable of pulling any wire to shut Him\nup, however ignorant they showed themselves of the simple sturdiness of\ntrue character. But the same man who so tenderly provides for His mother\nin the awful pain of hanging on a cross reminds her now that a divine\nerrand is not to be hindered by nature's ties; that clear vision of duty\nmust ever hold the reins of the heart.\n\nThen comes the most terrible, and most significant event, up to this time,\nin the whole gospel narrative--the murder of John. This marks the sharpest\ncrisis yet reached. For a year or so John had been kept shut up in a\nprison dungeon, evidence of his own faithfulness, and of the low moral\ntone, or absence of moral tone, of the time. Then one night there is a\nprolonged, debased debauchery in a magnificent palace; the cunning, cruel\nscheme of the woman whose wrong relation to Herod John had honestly\ncondemned. The dancing young princess, the drunken oath, the terrible\nrequest, the glowing-coal eyes closed, the tongue that held crowds with\nits message of sin, and of the coming One stilled, the King's herald\nheadless--the whole horrible, nightmare story comes with the swiftness of\naroused passion, the suddenness of a lightning flash, the cold cruelty of\nindulged lust.\n\nInstantly on getting the news Jesus \"_withdrew_\"--for the third time\nwithdrew to a retired desert place. This had tremendous personal meaning\nfor Him. Nothing has occurred thus far that spells out for Him the coming\ntragic close so large, so terribly large, as does this. He stays away from\nthe Passover Feast occurring at this time, the only one of the four of His\npublic career He failed to attend.\n\n\n\n<u>The Murderous Rejection.</u>\n\n\nThis crisis leads at once into the final stage, _the murderous rejection_.\nJesus is now a fugitive from the province of Judea, because the death plot\nhas been deliberately settled upon. The southern leaders begin a more\nvigorous campaign of harrying Him up in Galilee. A fresh deputation of\nPharisees come up from Jerusalem to press the fighting. They at once bring\na charge against Jesus' disciples of being untrue to the time-honored\ntraditions of the national religion. Yet it is found to be regarding such\ntrivial things as washing their hands and arms clear up to the elbows each\ntime before eating, and of washing of cups and pots and the like. Jesus\nsharply calls attention to their hypocrisy and cant, by speaking of their\ndishonoring teachings and practices in matters of serious moment. Then He\ncalls the crowd together and talks on the importance of being clean\n_inside_, in the heart and thought. Before all the crowds He calls them\nhypocrites. It's a sharp clash and break. Jesus at once \"withdrew.\" It is\nthe fourth time that significant danger word is used. This time His\nwithdrawal is clear out of the Jewish territory, far up north to the\nvicinity of Tyre and Sidon, on the seacoast, and there He attempts to\nremain unknown.\n\nAfter a bit He returns again, this time by a round-about way, to the Sea\nof Galilee. Quickly the crowds find out His presence and come; and again\nmany a life and many a home are utterly changed by His touch. With the\ncrowd come the Pharisees, this time in partnership with another group, the\nSadducees, whom they did not love especially. They hypocritically beg a\nsign from heaven, as though eager to follow a divinely sent messenger. But\nHe quickly discerns their purpose to _tempt_ Him into something that can\nbe used against Him. The sign is refused. Jesus never used His power to\nshow that He could, but only to help somebody.\n\nThe fall of that year found Him boldly returning to the danger zone of\nJerusalem for attendance on the harvest-home festival called by them the\nFeast of Tabernacles. It was the most largely attended of the three annual\ngatherings, attracting thousands of faithful Jews from all parts of the\nworld. The one topic of talk among the crowds was Jesus, with varying\nopinions expressed; but those favorable to Him were awed by the keen\npurpose of the leaders to kill Him. When the festival was in full swing,\none morning, Jesus quietly appears among the temple crowds, and begins\nteaching. The leaders tried to arrest Him, but are held back by some\nhidden influence, nobody seeming willing to take the lead. Then the clique\nof chief priests send officers to arrest Him. But they are so impressed by\nHis presence and His words, that they come back empty-handed, to the\ndisgust of their superiors. Great numbers listening believe on Him, but\nsome of the leaders, mingling in the crowd, stir up discussion so sharp\nthat with hot passion, and eyes splashing green light, they stoop down and\npick up stones to hurl at Him and end His life at once. It is the first\nattempt at personal violence in Jerusalem. But again that strange\nrestraining power, and Jesus passes out untouched.\n\nAs he quietly passes through and out, He stops to give sight to a blind\nman. Interestingly enough it occurs on a Sabbath day. Instantly the\nleaders seize on this, and have a time of it with the man and his parents\nin turn, with this upshot, that the man for his bold confession of faith\nin Jesus is shut out from all synagogue privileges, in accordance with a\ndecision already given out. He becomes an outcast, with all that that\nmeans. It's a fine touch that Jesus hunts up this outcast and gives him a\nfree entrance into His own circle.\n\nAfter this feast-visit to Jerusalem, Jesus probably returns to Galilee, as\nafter previous visits there, and then one day leads His band of disciples\nup to the neighborhood of snow-capped Hermon. Here probably occurs the\ntransfiguration, the purpose of which was to tie up these future leaders\nof His, against the events now hurrying on with such swift pace. From this\ntime begins the preparation of this inner circle for the coming tragedy so\nplain to His eyes.\n\nThen begins that memorable last journey from Galilee toward Jerusalem\nthrough the country on the east of the Jordan. With marvellous boldness\nand courage He steadfastly set His face toward Jerusalem. The\never-tightening grip of His purpose is in the set of His face. The fire\nburning so intensely within is in His eye as He tramps along the road\nalone, with the disciples following, awestruck and filled with wondering\nfear. Thirty-five deputations of two each are sent ahead into all the\nvillages to be visited by Him. What an intense campaigner was Jesus! He\nwas thoroughly, systematically stumping the whole country for God.\n\nAs He approaches nearer to the Jerusalem section the air gets tenser and\nhotter. The leaders are constantly harrying His steps, tempting with catch\nquestions, seeking signs, poisoning the crowds--mosquito warfare! He moves\nsteadily, calmly on. Some of the keenest things He said flashed out\nthrough the friction of contact with them. A tempting lawyer's question\nbrings out the beautiful Samaritan parable. The old Sabbath question\nprovokes a fresh tilt with a synagogue ruler. There is a cunning attempt\nby the Pharisees to get Him out of Herod's territory into their own. How\nintense the situation grew is graphically told in Luke's words, they\n\"began to set themselves vehemently against Him, and to provoke Him to\nspeak many things; laying wait for Him to catch something out of His\nmouth.\"\n\nThough unmoved by the cunning effort of the Pharisees to get Him over from\nHerod's jurisdiction into Judea, despite their threatening attitude, the\nwinter Feast of Dedication finds Him again in Jerusalem walking in one of\nthe temple areas. Instantly He is surrounded by a group of these Jerusalem\nJews who, with an air of apparent earnest inquiry, keep prodding Him with\nthe request to be told plainly if He is really the Christ. His patient\nreply brings a storm of stones--almost. Held in check for a while by an\ninvisible power, or by the power of His presence shown under such\ncircumstances so often, again they attempt to seize His person, and again\nHe seems invisibly to hold their hands back, as He quietly passes on His\nway out of their midst.\n\nThen comes the stupendous raising of Lazarus, which brings faith in Him to\ngreat numbers, and results in the formal official decision of the national\ncouncil to secure His death. He is declared a fugitive with a price set\nupon His head. Anybody knowing of His whereabouts must report the fact to\nthe authorities. This decides Him not to show Himself openly among them.\nIn a few weeks the pilgrims are crowding Jerusalem for the Passover.\nJesus' name is on every tongue. The rumor that He was over the hills in\nBethany takes a crowd over there, not simply to see Him, but to see the\nresurrected Lazarus. Then it was determined to kill Lazarus off, too.\n\nThat tremendous last week now begins. Jesus is seen to be the one masterly\nfigure in the week's events. In comparison with His calm steady movements,\nthese leaders run scurrying around, here and there, like headless hens.\nThe week begins with the most public, formal presentation of Himself in a\nkingly fashion to the nation. It is their last chance. How wondrously\npatient and considerate is this Jesus! And how sublimely heroic! Into the\nmidst of those men ravenous for His blood He comes. Seated with fine,\nunconscious majesty on a kingly beast, surrounded by ever-increasing\nmultitudes loudly singing and speaking praises to God, over paths\nbestrewed with garments and branches of living green, slowly He mounts the\nhill road toward the city. At a turn in the road all of a sudden the city\nlies spread out before Him. \"He saw the city and wept over it.\"\n\n    \"He sat upon the ass's colt and rode\n    Toward Jerusalem. Beside Him walked\n    Closely and silently the faithful twelve,\n    And on before Him went a multitude\n    Shouting hosannas, and with eager hands\n    Strewing their garments thickly in the way.\n    Th' unbroken foal beneath Him gently stepped,\n    Tame as its patient dam; and as the song\n    Of 'Welcome to the Son of David' burst\n    Forth from a thousand children, and the leaves\n    Of the waving branches touched its silken ears,\n    It turned its wild eye for a moment back,\n    And then, subdued by an invisible hand,\n    Meekly trod onward with its slender feet.\n\n    \"The dew's last sparkle from the grass had gone\n    As He rode up Mount Olivet. The woods\n    Threw their cool shadows directly to the west;\n    And the light foal, with quick and toiling step,\n    And head bent low, kept up its unslackened way\n    Till its soft mane was lifted by the wind\n    Sent o'er the mount from Jordan. As He reached\n    The summit's breezy pitch, the Saviour raised\n    His calm blue eye--there stood Jerusalem!\n    Eagerly He bent forward, and beneath\n    His mantle's passive folds a bolder line\n    Than the wont slightness of His perfect limbs\n    Betrayed the swelling fulness of His heart.\n    There stood Jerusalem! How fair she looked--\n    The silver sun on all her palaces,\n    And her fair daughters 'mid the golden spires\n    Tending their terrace flowers; and Kedron's stream\n    Lacing the meadows with its silver band\n    And wreathing its mist-mantle on the sky\n    With the morn's exhalation. There she stood,\n    Jerusalem, the city of His love,\n    Chosen from all the earth: Jerusalem,\n    That knew Him not, and had rejected Him;\n    Jerusalem for whom He came to die!\n\n    \"The shouts redoubled from a thousand lips\n    At the fair sight; the children leaped and sang\n    Louder hosannas; the clear air was filled\n    With odor from the trampled olive leaves\n    But 'Jesus wept!' The loved disciple saw\n    His Master's tear, and closer to His side\n    He came with yearning looks, and on his neck\n    The Saviour leaned with heavenly tenderness,\n    And mourned, 'How oft, Jerusalem! would I\n    Have gathered you, as gathereth a hen\n    Her brood beneath her wings--but ye would not!'\n\n    \"He thought not of the death that He should die--\n    He thought not of the thorns He knew must pierce\n    His forehead--of the buffet on the cheek--\n    The scourge, the mocking homage, the foul scorn!\n\n    \"Gethsemane stood out beneath His eye\n    Clear in the morning sun; and there, He knew,\n    While they who 'could not watch with Him one hour'\n    Were sleeping, He should sweat great drops of blood,\n    Praying the cup might pass! And Golgotha\n    Stood bare and desert by the city wall;\n    And in its midst, to His prophetic eye\n    Rose the rough cross, and its keen agonies\n    Were numbered all--the nails were in His feet--\n    Th' insulting sponge was pressing on His lips--\n    The blood and water gushed from His side--\n    The dizzy faintness swimming in His brain--\n    And, while His own disciples fled in fear,\n    A world's death agonies all mixed in His!\n    Ah!--He forgot all this. He only saw\n    Jerusalem--the chosen--the loved--the lost!\n    He only felt that for her sake His life\n    Was vainly given, and in His pitying love\n    The sufferings that would clothe the heavens in black\n    Were quite forgotten.\n\n              \"Was there ever love,\n    In earth or heaven, equal to this?\"[5]\n\nAnd so the King entered His capital. It was a royal procession. Mark\nkeenly the result. Again that utter, ominous, loud silence, that greeted\nHis ears first, more than three years before. He had come to His own home.\nHis own kinsfolk received Him not!\n\nThen each day He came to the city, and each night, homeless, slept out in\nthe open, under the trees of Olivet, and the blue. Now, He rudely shocks\nthem by clearing the temple areas of the market-place rabble and babble,\nand now He is healing the lame and maimed in the temple itself, amid the\nreverent praise of the multitude, the songs of the children, and the\nscowling, muttered protests of the chief priests. Calmly, day by day, He\nmoves among them, while their itching fingers vainly clutch for a hold\nupon Him, and as surely are held back by some invisible force. By every\nsubtle device known to cunning, crafty men, they lay question-traps, and\nlie in wait to catch His word. He foils them with His marvellous, simple\nanswers, lashes them with His keen, cutting parables and finally Himself\nproposes a question about their own scriptures which they admit themselves\nunable to answer, and, utterly defeated, ask no more questions. Then\nfollows that most terrific arraignment of these leaders, with its\ninfinitely tender, sad, closing lament over Jerusalem. That is the final\nbreak.\n\nThen occurs that pathetic Greek incident that seems to agitate Jesus so.\nThis group of earnest seekers, from the outside, non-Jewish world brings\nto Jesus a vision of the great hungry heart of the world, and of an\nopen-mindedness to truth such as was to Him these days as a cool,\nrefreshing drink to a dusty mouth on a dry hot day. But--no--the Father's\nwill--simple obedience--only that was right. The harvest can come only\nthrough the grain giving out its life in the cold ground.\n\nBefore the final act in the tragedy Jesus retires from sight, probably for\nprayer. Some dear friends of Bethany in whose home He had rested many a\ntime, where He ever found sweet-sympathy, arranged a little home-feast for\nHim where a few congenial friends might gather. While seated there in the\nquiet atmosphere of love and fellowship so grateful to Him after those\nJerusalem days, one of the friends present, a woman, Mary, takes a box of\nexceeding costly ointment, and anoints His head. To the strange protests\nmade, Jesus quietly explains her thought in the act. She alone understood\nwhat was coming. Alone of all others it was a woman, the simple-hearted\nBethany Mary, who _understood_ Jesus. As none other did she perceive with\nher keen love-eyes the coming death, and--more--its meaning.\n\nIt is one of the disciples, Judas, who protests indignantly against such\n_waste_. This ointment would have brought at least seventy-five dollars,\nand how much such a sum would have done for the _poor_! Thoughtless,\nimprovident woman! Strange the word didn't blister on his canting lips.\nJohn keenly sees that his fingers are clutching the treasure bag as he\nspeaks the word, and that his thoughts are far from the poor. Jesus gently\nrebukes Judas. But Judas is hot tempered, and sullenly watches for the\nfirst chance to withdraw and carry out the damnable purpose that has been\nforming within. He hurries over the hill, through the city gate, up to the\npalace of the chief priest.\n\nWithin there was a company of the inner clique of the leaders, discussing\nhow to get hold of Jesus most easily. They sit heavily in their seats,\nwith shut fists, set jaws, and that peculiar yellow-green light spitting\nout from under their lowering, knit brows. These bothersome crowds had to\nbe considered. The feast-day wouldn't do. The crowd would be greatest\nthen, and hardest to handle. Back and forth they brew their scheme. Then a\nknock at the door. Startled, they look alertly up to know who this\nintruder may be. The door is opened. In steps a man with a hangdog,\nguilty, but determined look. It is one of the men they have seen with\nJesus! What can this mean? He glances furtively from one to another.\n\nThen he speaks: \"How much'll you give if I get Jesus into your hands?\" Of\nall things this was probably the last they had thought might happen. Their\neyes gleam. How much indeed--a good snug sum to get their fingers securely\non his person. But they're shrewd bargainers. That's one of their\nspecialties. How much did he _want_? Poor Judas! He made a bad bargain\nthat day. Thirty pieces of silver! He could easily have gotten a thousand.\nJudas did love money greedily, and doubtless was a good bargainer too, but\nanger was in the saddle now, and drove him hard. Without doubt it was in a\nhot fit of temper that he made this proposal. His descendants have been\ncoining money out of Jesus right along: exchanging Him for gold.\n\nOnly a little later, and the Master is closeted with His inner circle in\nthe upper room of a faithful friend's house in one of the Jerusalem\nstreets, for the Passover supper. A word from Him and Judas withdraws for\nhis dark errand. Then those great heart-talks of Jesus, in the upper room,\nalong the roadway, under the full moon, maybe passing by the massive\ntemple structure, then under the olive trees. Then the hour grows late,\nthe disciples are drowsy, the Master is off alone among those trees, then\nweird uncertain lights of torches, a rabble of soldiers and priests, a man\nusing friendship's cloak, and friendship's greeting--then the King is in\nthe hands of His enemies. An awful night, followed by a yet more awful\nday, and the plan of the kingdom is broken by the tragic killing of the\nKing.\n\n\n\n<u>Suffering the Birth-pains of a New Life.</u>\n\n\nWhy did Jesus die? It's a pretty old question. It's been threshed out no\nend of times. Yet every time one thinks of the gospel, or opens the Book,\nit looks out earnestly into his face. And nothing is better worth while\nthan to have another serious prayerful go at it. The whole nub of the\ngospel is here. It clears the ground greatly not to have any theory about\nJesus' death, but simply to try thoughtfully to gather up all the\nstatements and group them, regardless of where it may lead, or how it may\nknock out previous ideas.\n\nIt can be said at once that His dying was not God's own plan. It was a\nplan conceived somewhere else, and yielded to by God. God had a plan of\natonement by which men who were willing could be saved from sin and its\neffects. That plan is given in the old Hebrew code. To the tabernacle, or\ntemple, under prescribed regulations, a man could bring some live animal\nwhich he owned. The man brought that which was his own. It represented\nhim. Through his labor the beast or bird was his. He had transferred some\nof his life and strength into it. He identified himself with it further by\nclose touch at the time of its being offered. He offered up its life. In\nhis act he acknowledged that his own life was forfeited. In continuing to\nlive he acknowledged the continued life as belonging to God. He was to\nlive as belonging to another. He made, in effect, the statement made long\nafter by Paul: \"I am offering up my life on this altar for my sin;\nnevertheless I am living: yet the life I live is no longer mine, but\nanother's. Mine has been taken away by sin.\" There was no malice or evil\nfeeling in the man's act, but only penitence, and an earnest, noble\npurpose.\n\nThe act revealed the man's inner spirit. It acknowledged his sin, that\nlife is forfeited by sin, his desire to have the sin difficulty\nstraightened out, and to be at one again with God. He expressed his hatred\nof sin and his earnest desire to be free of it. I am not saying at all\nthat this was true of every Hebrew coming with his sacrifice. I may not\nsay it of all who approach God to day through Jesus. But clearly enough,\nall of this is in the old Hebrew _plan_ devised by God. It was the new\nchoice that brought the man back to God, even as the first choice had\nseparated him from God. And the explicit statement made over and over is\nthis, \"and it shall make atonement.\"\n\nClearly Jesus' dying does not in any way fit into the old Hebrew _form_ of\nsacrifice, nor into the spirit of the man who caused the death of the\nsacrifice, though in spirit, in requirement it far more than fills it out.\nThe Old Testament scheme is Jewish. The manner of Jesus' death is not\nJewish, but Roman. As a priest He was not of the Jewish order, but of an\norder non-Jewish and antedating the other by hundreds of years. In no\nfeature does He fit into the old custom. But every truth taught by the old\nis brilliantly exemplified and embodied in Him.\n\nThe epistle to the Hebrews was written to Jews who had become Christians,\nbut through persecution and great suffering were sorely tempted to go back\nto the old Jewish faith. They seemed to be saying that Jesus filled out\nneither the kingdom plan, nor the Mosaic scheme of sacrifice. The writer\nof the epistle is showing with a masterly sweep and detail the immense\nsuperiority of what Jesus did over the old Mosaic plan. Read backward,\nthese provisions are seen to be vivid illustrations of what Jesus did do,\nnot in form, not actually, but in fact, in spirit, in a way vastly ahead\nof the Hebrew ritual. The truth underneath the old was fully fulfilled in\nJesus, though the form was not.\n\nOne needs always to keep sharply in mind the difference between God's\n_plan_ and that which He clearly saw ahead, and into which He determined\nto fit in carrying out His purpose. There is no clearer, stronger\nstatement of this than that found in Peter's Pentecost sermon: \"Him being\ndelivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by\nthe hands of men without law did crucify and slay.\" God knew ahead what\nwould come. There was a conference held. The whole matter talked over.\nWith full knowledge of the situation, the obstinate hatred of men, the\nterrific suffering involved, it was calmly, resolutely advised and decided\nupon that when the time came Jesus should yield Himself up pliantly into\ntheir hands. That is Peter's statement.\n\nThis in no way affects the fact that Jesus dying as He did is the one\nmeans of salvation. It does not at all disturb any of Paul's statements,\nin their plainest, first-flush meaning. It does explain the kingdom plan,\nand the necessity for Jesus finishing up the kingdom plan some day. For\nthough God's plan may be broken, and retarded, it always is carried\nthrough in the end. It explains too that evil is never necessary to good.\nHatred, evil never helps God's plans. The good that God brought out of the\ncross is not through the bad, but in spite of the bad.\n\nThe preaching of the Acts is absorbed with the astounding, overshadowing,\nappalling fact of the killing of the nation's King. But through it all\nruns this strain of reasoning: the kingdom plan has been broken by the\nmurder of the King. He has been raised from the dead in vindication of His\nclaim. This marvellous power that is so evident to all eyes and ears is\nthe Holy Spirit whom the killed King has sent down. It proves that He is\nnow enthroned in glory at God's right hand. He is coming back to carry out\nthe kingdom plan. Now the thing to do is to repent, and so there will come\nblessing now, and by and by the King again.\n\nWhen the first church council is held to discuss the matter of letting\nnon-Jewish outsiders into their circle, the clear-headed,\njudicial-tempered James, in the presiding chair, puts the thing straight.\nHe says: \"Peter has fully told us how God _first_ visited the outside\nnations to take out of them a people for Himself. And this fits into the\nprophetic plan as outlined by Amos, that _after_ that the kingdom will be\nset up and then _all_ men will come.\"\n\nThis brings out in bold relief the fact that the _horrible_ features of\nJesus' dying, the hatred and cruelty, were no part of the plan of\nsalvation, and not necessary to the plan. The cross was the invention of\nhate. There is no cross in God's plan of atonement. It is the superlative\ndegree of hate, brooded and born, and grown lusty in hell. It was God's\nmaster touch that, through yielding, it _becomes_ to all men for all time\nthe superlative degree of love. The ages have softened all its sharp\njagged edges with a halo of glory.\n\nIt is perfectly clear, too, that Jesus died of His own accord. He chose\nthe _time_ of His death and the _manner_ of it. He had said it was purely\nvoluntary on His part, and the record plainly shows that it was. All\nattempts to kill Him failed until He chose to yield. There are ten\nseparate mentions of their effort, either to get hold of His person or to\nkill Him at once before they finally succeeded. He was killed _in intent_\nat least three times, once by being dashed over a precipice, and twice by\nstoning, before He was actually killed by crucifixion. Each time\nsurrounded by a hostile crowd, apparently quite capable of doing as they\npleased, yet each time He passes through their midst, and their hooked\nfingers are restrained against their will, and their gnashing teeth bite\nonly upon the spittle of their hate.\n\nThis makes Jesus' _motive_ in yielding explain His death. The cross means\njust what His purpose in dying puts into it. If we read the facts of the\ngospel stories apart from Jesus' words, the cross spells out just one\nword--in large, pot-black capitals--HATE.\n\nWhat was Jesus' motive or purpose in dying? His own words give the best\nanswer. The earlier remarks are obscure to those who heard, not\nunderstood. And we can understand that they could not. At the first\nPassover He speaks of their destroying \"this temple,\" and His raising it\nin three days. Naturally they think of the building of stone, but He is\nthinking of His body. To Nicodemus He says that the Son of Man must \"be\n_lifted up_\": and to some critics that when the \"bridegroom\" is \"taken\naway\" there will be fasting among His followers.\n\nLater, He speaks much more plainly. After John has gone home by way of\nHerod's red road, at the time of the feeding of the 5,000 there is the\ndiscussion about bread, and the true bread. Jesus speaks a word that\nperplexes the crowd much, and yet He goes on to explain just what He\nmeans. It is in John, sixth chapter, verses fifty-three to fifty-seven\ninclusive, He says that if a man eat His flesh and drink His blood he\nshall have eternal life. The listening crowd takes the words literally and\nof course is perplexed. Clearly enough it is not meant to be taken\nliterally. Read in the light of the after events it is seen to be an\nallusion to His coming death. Such a thing as actually eating His flesh\nand drinking His blood would necessitate His death.\n\nWe men are under doom of death written in our very bodies, assured to us\nby the unchangeable fact of bodily death. Now if a man take Jesus into his\nvery being so that they become one in effect, then clearly if Jesus die\nthe man is freed from the necessity of dying. Through Jesus dying there is\nfor such a man _life_. That is the statement Jesus makes.\n\nIn five distinct sentences He attempts to make His meaning simple and\nclear. The first sentence puts the _negative_ side: there is no life\nwithout Jesus being taken into one's being. Then the positive side:\nthrough this sort of eating there is _life_. And with this is coupled the\ninferential statement that they are not to be spared _bodily_ death,\nbecause they are to be _raised up_. The third sentence, that Jesus is the\none true food of real life. The fourth sentence gives a parallel or\ninterchangeable phrase for eating and drinking, _i.e._, \"_abideth_ in me\nand I in Him.\" A mutual abiding in each other. The food abides in the man\neating it. The man abides in the strength of the food He has taken in.\nEating My flesh means abiding in Me. The last sentence gives an\nillustration. This living in Jesus, having Him live in us as closely as\nthough actually eaten, is the same as Jesus' own life on earth being lived\nin His Father, dependent upon the Father. And when the crowds take His\nwords literally and complain that none can understand such statements, He\nat once explains that, of course, He does not mean literal eating--\"The\nflesh profiteth nothing\" (even if you did eat it): \"it is the _Spirit_\nthat gives life:\" \"the _words_ ... are _Spirit_ and _life_.\" The taking\nof Jesus through His words into one's life to dominate--that is the\nmeaning.\n\nA few months later, in Jerusalem, He speaks again of His purpose, in\nJohn's tenth chapter, \"The good shepherd layeth down His life for the\nsheep.\" \"I lay down my life for the sheep.\" The death was for others\nbecause of threatening danger. \"Other sheep I have which are not of this\nfold: them also I must lead.\" Here is clear foresight of the wide sweep of\ninfluence through His death. \"I lay down my life that I may take it\nagain.\" The death was _one step_ in a plan. There is something beyond. \"I\nlay it down of myself. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the\nright to take it again. This commandment I received from my Father.\" The\ndying was voluntary and was agreed to between the Father and Himself. To\nthe disciples He speaks of the need of taking up a \"cross\" in order to be\nfollowers, and to the critical Pharisee asking a sign, He alludes to\nJonah's three days and nights in the belly of the sea monster. Neither of\nthese allusions conveyed any definite idea to those listening.\n\nThen the last week when the Greeks came; \"Except a grain of wheat fall\ninto the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it\nbeareth much fruit.\" The dying was to have great influence upon others.\n\"And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto myself.\"\nThe dying was to be _for others_, and to exert tremendous influence upon\nthe whole race.\n\nIn that last long talk with the eleven, \"that the world may know that I\nlove the Father and as the Father gave me commandment even so I do.\" The\ndying was in obedience to His Father's wish, and was to let men know of\nthe great love between Father and Son. \"Greater love hath no man than\nthis, that a man lay down his life for his friends.\" This dying was for\nthese friends. And in that great prayer that lays His heart bare, \"for\ntheir sakes I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified in truth.\"\nThe dying is _for others_, and is for the securing in these others of a\ncertain spirit or character. The reference to the dying being in accord\nwith the Father's wish comes out again at the arrest, \"The cup that the\nFather hath given me, shall I not drink it?\"\n\nTo these quotations from Jesus' lips may be added a significant one from\nthe man who stood closest to Jesus. Referring to a statement about Jesus\nmade by Caiaphas, John adds: \"being high priest that year he prophesied\nthat Jesus should die for the nation; and not for the nation only, but\nthat He might gather together into one the children of God that are\nscattered abroad.\" As John understood the matter, the death was not simply\nfor others, but for the _Jewish nation_ as a nation, and beyond that for a\ngathering into one of _all_ of God's children. Jesus was to be God's\nmagnet for attracting together all that belong to Him. The death was to be\na roadway through to something beyond.\n\nFrom His own words, then, Jesus saw a _necessity_ for His dying. He\n\"must\" be lifted up. That \"must\" spells out the desperateness of the need\nand the strength of His love. Sin contains in itself death for man as a\nlogical result. And by death is not meant the passing of life out of the\nbody. That is a mere incident of death. Death is separation from God. It\nis gradual until finally complete. Love would plan nothing less radical\nthan a death that would be for man the death of death. His death was to be\n_for others_, it was purely _voluntary_, it was by agreement with His\nFather, in obedience to His wishes, and an evidence of His filial love.\nThe death is a step in a plan. There is something beyond, growing out of\nthe death.\n\nJesus plans not merely a transfer of the death item, but a _new_ life, a\nnew _sort_ of life, in its place. The dying is but a step. It is a great\nstep, tremendously great, indispensable, the step that sets the pace. Yet\nbut one step of a number. Beyond the dying is the _living_, living a _new_\nlife. He works out in Himself the plan for them--a dying, and after that a\nnew life, and a new sort of life. Then according to His other teaching\nthere is the sending of some One else to men to work out in His name in\neach of them this plan. That plan is to be worked out in each man choosing\nto receive Him into his life. He will send down His other self, the Holy\nSpirit, to work this out in each one. Jesus' death released His life to be\nre-lived in us. Jesus plans to get rid of the sin in a man, and put in\nsomething else in its place. The sin must be gotten out, first washed\nout, then burned out. Then a new seed put in that will bear life. What a\nchemist and artist in one is this Jesus! He uses bright red, to get a pure\nwhite out of a dead black.\n\nIn addition to the plan for man individually, the dying is to produce the\nsame result in the Jewish nation. There is to be a national new-birth. A\nnew Jewish people. And then the dying is to have a tremendous influence\nupon all men. On the cross Jesus would suffer the birth-pains of a new\nlife for man and for the world. Such, in brief, seems to be the grouping\nof Jesus' own thought about His dying. Its whole influence is manward.\n\nThe value of Jesus' dying lies wholly in its being _voluntary_. Of\ndeliberate purpose He _allowed_ them to put Him to death. Otherwise they\ncould not, as is fully proven by their repeated failures. And the purpose\nas well as the value of the death lies entirely in His _motive_ in\nyielding. If they could have taken His life without His consent, then that\ndeath would have been an expression of their hate, and only that. But as\nit is, it forever stands an expression of two things. On their part of the\nintensest, hottest hate; on His part of the finest, strongest love. It\nmakes new records for both hate and love. Sin put Jesus to death. In\nyielding to these men Jesus was yielding to sin, for they personified sin.\nAnd sin yielded to quickly brought death, its logical outcome.\n\nJesus' dying being His own act, controlled entirely by His own intention,\nmakes it _sacrificial_. There are certain necessary elements in such a\nsacrifice. It must be voluntary. It must involve pain or suffering of some\nsort. The suffering must be _undeserved_, that is, in no way or degree a\nresult of one's own act, else it is not sacrifice, but logical result. It\nmust be for others. And the suffering must be of a sort that would not\ncome save for this voluntary act. It must be supposed to bring benefit to\nthe others. Each of these elements must be in to make up fully a\nsacrifice. There are elements of sacrifice in much noble suffering by man.\nBut in no one do all of these elements perfectly combine and blend, save\nin Jesus.\n\nTo this agree the words of the philosopher of the New Testament writers.\nIt would be so, of course, for the Spirit of Jesus swayed Paul. The\nepistle to the Romans contains a brief packed summary of his understanding\nof the gospel plan. There is in it one remarkable statement of the\n_Father's_, purpose in Jesus' death. In the third chapter, verse\ntwenty-six, freely translated, \"that He might be reckoned righteous in\nreckoning righteous the man who has faith.\" \"That He might be reckoned\nrighteous\"--that is, in His attitude toward sin. That in allowing things\nto go on as they were, in holding back sin's logical judgment, He was not\ncareless or indifferent about sin or making light of it. He was controlled\nby a great purpose.\n\nGod's great difficulty was to make clear at once both His love and His\nhate: His love for man: His hate for the sin that man had grained in so\ndeep that they were as one. For the man's sake He must show His love to\nwin and change him. For man's sake He must show His hate of sin that man,\ntoo, might know its hatefulness and learn to hate it with intensest hate.\nHis love for man is to be the measure of man's hate for sin. The death of\nJesus was God's master-stroke. At one stroke He told man His estimate of\nman and His estimate of man's sin; His love and His hate. It was the\nmeasureless measure of His hate for sin, and His love for man. It was a\nmaster-stroke too, in that He took sin's worst--the cross--and in it\nrevealed His own best. Out of what was meant for God's defeat, came sin's\ndefeat, and God's greatest victory.\n\nAnd the one simple thing that transfers to a man all that Jesus has worked\nout for him is what is commonly called \"faith.\" That is, trusting God,\nturning the heart Godward, yielding to the inward upward tug, letting the\npleasing of God dominate the life. This, be it keenly marked, has ever\nbeen the one simple condition in every age and in every part of the earth.\n\nAbraham _believed_ God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. The\ndevout Hebrew, reverently, penitently standing with his hand on the head\nof his sacrifice, at the tabernacle door, _believed_ God and it was\nreckoned to _him_ for righteousness. The devout heathen with face turned\nup to the hill top, and feet persistently toiling up, patiently seeking\nglory and honor and incorruption _believes_ God, though he may not know\nHis name, and it is reckoned to _him_ for righteousness. The devout\nChristian, with his hand in Christ's, _believes_ God, and it is counted to\n_him_ for righteousness.\n\nThe devout Hebrew, the earnest heathen, and the more enlightened believer\nin Jesus group themselves here by the common purpose that grips them\nalike. The Hebrew with his sacrifice, the heathen with his patient\ncontinuance, and the Christian who _knows_ more in knowing Jesus, stand\ntogether under the mother wing of God.\n\n\n\n\nSome Surprising Results of the Tragic Break\n\n\n\n<u>The Surprised Jew.</u>\n\n\nGod proposes. Man disposes. God proposed a king, and a world-wide kingdom\nwith great prosperity and peace. Man disposed of that plan for the bit of\ntime and space controlled by his will, and in its place interposed for the\nking, a cross. Out of such a radical clashing of two great wills have come\nsome most surprising results.\n\nThe first surprise was for the Jew. Within a few weeks after Jesus' final\ndeparture, Jerusalem, and afterward Palestine, was filled with thousands\nof people believing in Him. A remarkable campaign of preaching starts up\nand sweeps everything before it. Jesus' name was on every tongue as never\nbefore. But there were earnest Jews who could not understand how Jesus\ncould be the promised Messiah. He had not set up a kingdom. Their\nScriptures were full of a kingdom.\n\nThe Jew, whether in their largest colony in Babylon, or in Jerusalem, or\nin Rome, or Alexandria, or the smaller colonies everywhere, was full of\nthe idea, the hope, of a kingdom. He was absorbed with more or less\nconfused and materialized, unspiritual ideas of a coming glory for his\nnation through a coming king. But among the followers of this Jesus there\nis something else coming into being, a new organization never even hinted\nat in their Scriptures. It is called the church. It is given a name that\nindicates that it is to be made up of persons taken out from among all\nnations.\n\nThere comes to be now a three-fold division of all men. There had been\nwith the Jews, always, a two-fold division, the Jew and the Gentiles, or\noutside nations. Now three, the Jew, the outsiders, and the church. The\nchurch is an eclectic society, a chosen out body. Its principle of\norganization is radically different from that of the Hebrew nation. There\nmembership was by birthright. Here it is by individual choice and belief.\n\nForeigners coming in were not required to become Jews, as under the old,\nbut remained essentially as they have been in all regards, except the one\nthing of relationship to Jesus in a wholly spiritual sense. There is\nconstant talk about \"the _gospel_ of the kingdom,\" but the kingdom itself\n_seems_ to have quite slipped away, and the church is in its place. Such a\nsituation must have been very puzzling to any Jew. His horizon was full of\na kingdom--a _Jew_ kingdom. Anything else was unthinkable. These intense\nOrientals could not conceive of anything else. It had taken a set of\nvisions to swing Peter and the other church leaders into line even on\nletting outsiders into the church.\n\nThis Jesus does not fill out this old Hebrew picture of a king and a\nkingdom. How _can_ He be the promised Messiah? This was to thousands a\nmost puzzling question, and a real hinderance to their acceptance of\nJesus, even by those profoundly impressed with the divine power being\nseen.\n\nThis was the very question that had puzzled John the Baptist those weary\nmonths, till finally he sends to Jesus for some light on his puzzle. Jesus\nfills out part of the plan, and splendidly, but only part, and may be what\nseems to some the smaller part. Can it be, John asks, that there is to be\nanother one coming to complete the picture? To him Jesus does not give an\nanswer, except that he must wait and trust. He would not in words\nanticipate the nation's final rejection, though so well He knew what was\ncoming. Their chance was not yet run out for the acceptance of Jesus that\nwould fill out John's picture. God never lets His foreknowledge influence\none whit man's choice. It was a most natural and perplexing difficulty,\nboth for John and later for these thousands.\n\nThe answer to all this has its roots down in that tragic break. In the old\npicture of the Messiah there are two distinct groups of characteristics of\nthe coming king, _personal_ and _official_. He was to have a direct\npersonal relation to men and an official relation to the nation, and\nthrough it to the world. The personal had in it such matters as healing\nthe sick, relieving the distressed, raising the dead, feeding the hungry,\neasing heart strains, teaching and preaching. It was wholly a personal\nservice. The official had, of course, to do with establishing the great\nkingdom and bringing all other nations into subjection. Now, it was a bit\nof the degeneracy of the people and of the times, that when Jesus came the\nblessings to the individual had slipped from view, and that the national\nconception, grown gross and coarse, had seized upon the popular\nimagination, and was to the fore.\n\nJesus filled in perfectly with marvellous fulness the individual details\nof the prophetic picture. Of course filling in the national depended upon\nnational acceptance, and failure there meant failure for that side. And,\nof course, He could not fill out the national part except through the\nnation's acceptance of Him as its king. Rejection there meant a breaking,\na hindering of that part. And so Jesus _does not_ fill out the old Hebrew\npicture of the Messiah. He could not without the nation's consent. Man\nwould have used force to seize the national reins. But, of course, God's\nman could not do that. It would be against God's plan for man. Everything\nmust be through man's consent.\n\nOut of this perplexity there came to be the four Gospels. They grew up out\nof the needs of the people. Mark seems to have written his first. He makes\na very simple recital, setting down the group of facts and sayings as He\nhad heard Peter telling them in many a series of talks. It is the\nsimplest of the four, aiming to tell what he had gotten from another. But\nit offers no answer to these puzzling questions.\n\nMatthew writes his account of the gospel for these great numbers of\nperplexed, earnest Jewish questioners. They are Palestinian Jews,\nthoroughly familiar with Jewish customs and places. Sitting backward on\nthe edge of the Hebrew past, thoroughly immersed in its literature and\natmosphere, but with his face fastened on Jesus, he composes out of the\nfacts about Jesus and the old prophetic scriptures a perfect bit of\nmosaic. There is the fascination of a serpent's eye in turning from the\nprophetic writings to the Gospel of Matthew. Let a man become immersed and\nabsorbed in the vision of the Hebrew prophetic books and then turn to\nMatthew to get the intense impression that this promised One _has_ come,\nat last has actually come, _and_--tragedy of tragedies--_is being\nrejected_.\n\nThis is the gap gospel. It bridges the gap between the prophetic books and\nthe book of Acts, between the kingdom which has slipped out and the church\nwhich has come in. It explains the adjournment of the kingdom for a\nspecified time, the church filling a sort of interregnum in the kingdom.\nThe kingdom is to come later when the church mission is complete. It tells\nwith great care and with convincing power that Jesus filled perfectly the\nprophecy of the Messiah in every detail _personally_, and did not fill out\nthe _national_ features because of the nation's unwillingness. That is\nthe Matthew Gospel.\n\nPaul was the apostle to the outside nations. His great work was outside of\nPalestine. He dealt with three classes, Jews, outsiders who in religious\nmatters had allied themselves with the Jews, but without changing their\nnationality, and then the great outside majority, chiefly the great crowds\nof other nationalities. These people needed a gospel of their own. Their\nstandpoint is so wholly different from the Jews' that Matthew's gospel\ndoes not suit, nor Mark's. Paul, through Peter and Barnabas and others,\nhas absorbed the leading facts and teachings of those three years, and\nworks them over for his non-Jewish crowds. He omits much that would appeal\npeculiarly to Jews, and gives the setting and coloring that would be most\nnatural to his audiences.\n\nHis studious companion, Doctor Luke, undertakes to write down this account\nof Jesus' life as Paul tells it, and for Paul's audience and territory,\nespecially these great outside non-Jewish crowds of people. He goes to\nPalestine, and carefully studies and gathers up all the details and facts\navailable. He adds much that the two previous writers had not included.\nOne can easily understand his spending several days with Mary, the now\naged mother of Jesus, in John's home in Jerusalem, and from her lips\ngleaning the exquisite account of the nativity of her divinely conceived\nSon. He largely omits names of places, for they would be unknown and not\nof value or interest. When needed, he gives explanation about places.\n\nThese three gospels follow one main line; they tell the story of the\n_rejection_ of Jesus. Then there arose a generation that did not know\nJesus, the Jesus that had tramped Jerusalem's streets and Galilee's roads.\nSome were wondering, possibly, how it was that these gospels are absorbed\nin telling of Jesus' _rejection_. There surely was a reason for it if He\nwas so sweepingly rejected. So John in his old age writes. His chief\nthought is to show that from the first Jesus was _accepted by individuals_\nas well as _rejected by the nation_. These two things run neck and neck\nthrough his twenty-one chapters, along the pathway he makes of witnessed,\nestablished facts regarding Jesus. The nation--the small, powerfully\nentrenched group of men who held the nation's leadership in their\ntenacious fingers--the nation rejects. It's true. But the ugly reason is\nplain to all, even the Roman who gave final sentence. From the first,\nJesus was accepted by men of all classes, including the most thoughtful\nand scholarly.\n\nHe is writing to the generation that has grown up since Jesus has gone,\nand so to all after generations that knew of Him first by _hearing_ of\nHim. He is writing after the Jewish capital has been leveled to the\nground, and the nation utterly destroyed as a nation, and to people away\nfrom Palestine. So he explains Jewish usages and words as well as places\nin Palestine, to make the story plain and vivid to all. And the one point\nat which he drives constantly is to make it clear to all after\ngenerations that men of every sort of Jesus' own generation believed;\nquestioned, doubted, examined, weighed, _believed_, with whole-hearted\nloving loyalty followed this Jesus.\n\nThis decides the order in which, with such rare wisdom, the churchmen\nlater arranged the four gospels in grouping the New Testament books. The\norder is that of the growth of the new faith of the church from the Jewish\noutward. Next to the Hebrew pages lies the gap gospel, then the earliest,\nsimplest telling, then the outsiders' gospel, and then the gospel for\nafter generations.\n\n\n\n<u>The Surprised Church.</u>\n\n\nMan proposes. God disposes. Man may for a time set aside God's plan, but\nthrough any series of contrary events God holds steadily to His own plan.\nTemporary defeat is only adjournment, paving the way for later and greater\nvictory. Another surprise is for the church, that is, the church of later\ngenerations, including our own. The old Jew saw only a triumphant king,\nnot a suffering king. He saw only a kingdom. There was no hint of any such\nthing as a church. The church to-day, and since the day of Constantine,\nsees only a church. The kingdom has merged into the church or slipped out\nof view.\n\nThere seems to be a confused mixing of church and kingdom, but always with\nthe church the big thing, and the kingdom a sort of vague,\nindefinite--folks don't seem to know just what--an ideal, a spiritual\nconception, or something like that. The church is supposed to have taken\nthe place of the kingdom. Its mission seems to be supposed to be the doing\nfor the world what the kingdom was to do, but, being set aside, failed to\ndo.\n\nIn reading the old Book there is a handy sort of explanation largely in\nuse that applies all that can be fitted into the theory in hand, and\ncalmly ignores or conveniently adjusts the rest. The Old Testament\nblessings for the Jewish kingdom are appropriated and applied to the\nchurch. The curses there are handed over to the Jews or ignored. There\nseems to be a plan of interpreting one part of the Bible one way and\nanother part in a different way. This part is to be taken literally. This\nother not literally, spiritually, the only guiding principle being the\nman's preconceived idea of what should be. The air seems quite a bit foggy\nsometimes. A man has to go off for a bit of fresh air and get straightened\nout with himself inside.\n\nA whiff of keen, sharp air seems needed to clear the fog and bring out the\nold outlines--a whiff?--a gale! Yet it must needs blow, like God's wind of\ngrace always blows, as a soft gentle breeze. The common law among folk in\nall other matters for understanding any book or document is that some one\nrule of interpretation be applied consistently to all its parts. If we\nattempt to apply here the rule of first-flush, common sense meaning, as\nwould be done to a house lease or an insurance policy, it brings out this\nsurprising thing. The church is distinct from the kingdom. It came\nthrough the kingdom failing to come. It fits into a gap in the kingdom\nplan. It has a mission quite distinct from that of the kingdom.\n\nThe church is to complete its mission and go. The kingdom, in the plain\nmeaning of the word kingdom, is to come, and be the dominant thing before\nthe eyes of all men. The church goes up and out. The kingdom comes in and\ndown. Later the church is to be a part of the executive of the kingdom.\nThis seems to be the simple standpoint of the Book.\n\nThe tragic break does not hinder the working of the plan. It simply\n_retards_ it awhile. A _long_ while? Yes--to man, who counts time by the\nbulky measurement of years, and can't seem to shake off the _time_ idea;\nwho gets absorbed in moments and hours and loses the broad swing of\nthings. To God?--No. He lives in eternities, and reckons things by events.\nHis eye never loses the whole, nor a single detail of the whole.\n\nBut yet more. That break leads to an _enriching_ of the plan. Out of hate\nGod reveals love. Not a greater love, but a greater opportunity for\ngreatly revealing love. Man's unwillingness and opposition may _delay_\nGod's plan, but cannot hinder it. A man can hinder it for his own self if\nhe so insist. But for others he can only delay, not hinder. Though God may\npatiently yield His own plan, for a time, to something else, through which\nmeanwhile His main purpose is being served, yet He never loses sight of\nHis own plan--the highest expression of His love. And when He does so\nyield, it is that _through_ the interruption He may in the long run work\nout the higher and the highest.\n\nAnd so in the fulfilment of God's plan as given by His Hebrew spokesmen,\nthere is a sort of sliding scale. A partial fulfilment takes place,\nleaving the full fulfilment for the full working out of the plan. The\nfulfilment takes place in two stages, the first being only less full than\nthe final. Thus Elijah is to come. But first comes John, a man with most\nstriking resemblance to Elijah. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit\nprophesied in Joel is to be upon _all_ flesh. But before that takes place,\ncomes the Pentecost outpouring, filling out the Joel prophecy in spirit,\nbut not in the full measure.\n\nAs a matter of good faith the King must come back and carry out the\nkingdom plan in full. And judging simply by the character of God and of\nJesus, I haven't a bit of doubt that He will do it. No amount of\ndisturbance ever alters the love of God, nor His love-plan in the long\nrun, however patiently He may bear with breaks.\n\nEven this phase is in the minor strain of the old Hebrew. \"They shall look\nupon Him whom they have _pierced;_ and they shall _mourn_ for Him, as one\nmourneth for his only son.\" _There_ is a future meeting of the rejected\nKing and His rejecting people, and this time with sorrow for their former\nconduct, which implies different conduct at this meeting time. And to this\nagrees the whole swing of the New Testament teaching. Peter says the\ngoing away of Jesus is to be \"_until_ the restitution of all things.\" He\nis to return and carry out the old plan.\n\nIt's a bit unfortunate that some earnest, lovable people have pushed this\nphase of truth so much to the front as to get it out of its proportion in\nthe whole circle of truth. Truth must always be kept in its place in the\ncircle of truth. Truth is fact in right proportion. Out of that it begins\nto breed misstatement and error. Jesus' coming back is not to wind things\nup. It is to begin things anew. There will be certain phases of judgment,\ndoubtless, a clearing of the deck for action, but no general judgment till\nlong after. The kingdom is to swing to the front, and bring a new life to\nthe earth for a very long time. Then after that the wind-up.\n\nThe gospel preached in the Acts is the \"gospel of the _kingdom_.\" They are\nalways expecting it to come. Paul constantly alludes to the Master's\nreturn as the great thing to look forward to, as distinctly at the close\nas at the beginning of his ministry. The book of Revelation is distinctly\na kingdom book, and however it may, with the versatility of Scripture to\nserve a double purpose, foreshadow the characteristics of history for the\ncenturies since its writing, plainly its first meaning has to do with the\ntime when \"the kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord and\nof His Christ.\" The King is coming back to straighten matters out, and\norganize a new running of things. This is the church's surprise, and a\ngreat surprise it will apparently be to a great many folks, though not to\nall.\n\n\n\n<u>The Surprising Jew.</u>\n\n\nThere is a third surprise growing out of this tragic break, the greatest\nof all--_the Jew_. The first surprises were for the Jew, the later\nsurprise for the church; this surprise has been and is for all the world.\nThe Jew has been the running puzzle of history. A strange, elusive,\nsurprising puzzle he has been to historians and all others. Not a nation,\nonly a people, flagless, countryless, without any semblance of\norganization, they have been mixed in with all the peoples of the earth,\nyet always distinctly separate.\n\nThey have been persecuted, bitterly, cruelly, persistently persecuted, as\nno other people has ever been, yet with a power of recovery of none other\ntoo. With an astonishing vitality, resourcefulness, and leadership, they\nhave taken front rank in every circle of life and every phase of activity,\nin art, music, science, commerce, philanthropy, statesmanship; holding the\nkeys of government for great nations, of treasure boxes, and of exclusive\nsocial circles; making their own standards regardless of others, and with\nthe peculiarity of strongest leadership, pushing on, whether followed or\nnot.\n\nAnd now the past few years comes a new thing. This surprising Jew is\nsurprising us anew. From all corners of the earth they are gathering as\nnot since the scattering to the Assyrian plains, gathering to discuss and\nplan for the getting into shape as a nation again on the old home soil.\nJews of every sort, utterly diverse in every other imaginable way, except\nthis of being Jews, men who hate each other intensely because of divergent\nbeliefs in other matters, yet brushing elbows in annual gatherings to plan\nwith all their old time intensity a new Jewish nation. Along the highways\nof earth, made and controlled by Christian peoples, they come. What does\nit mean? They continue to be, as they have been, the puzzle of history.\n\nThis tragic break of the kingdom and the persistency of the King's plan\nregardless of the break hold the key to the puzzle. The Jew has been\npreserved, divinely preserved, against every attempt at his destruction.\nFor he is the keystone in the arch of the King's plan for a coming\nworld-wide dominion.\n\nJesus is God's spirit-magnet for the Jew and for all men. Around Him they\nwill yet gather, with the new Jewish nation in the lead, the church\nclosest to the person of the king, and all men drawn. Jesus is God's\norganizer of the social fabric of the world. In response to His presence\nand touch, each in his own place will swing into line and make up a\nperfect social fabric.\n\nWith the new zeal for pure, holy living now in the church, the clearer\nvision coming to her of the Lord's purpose of evangelizing the world, the\nevidence in all parts of the world of men turning their thought anew to\nGod, this remarkable Jewish movement toward national life, it is a time\nfor earnest men to get off alone on bent knees, and with new, quietly deep\nfervor, to pray \"Thy kingdom come.\" \"Even so come, Lord Jesus.\"\n\n\n\n\nII. The Person of Jesus\n\n\n\n  1. The Human Jesus.\n  2. The Divine Jesus.\n  3. The Winsome Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nThe Human Jesus\n\n\n\n<u>God's Meaning of \"Human.\"</u>\n\n\nJesus is God becoming man's fellow. He comes down by his side and says,\n\"Let's pull up together.\" Jesus was a man. He was as truly human as though\nonly human. We are apt to go at a thing from the outside. God always\nreaches _within_, and fastens His hook there. He finds the solution of\nevery problem within itself. When He would lead man back the Eden road to\nthe old trysting place under the tree of life He sent a man. Jesus takes\nHis place as a man and refuses to be budged from the human level with His\nbrothers.\n\nThat word human has come to have two meanings. The first true meaning, and\na second, that has grown up through sin, and sin's taint and trail. The\nsecond has become the common popular meaning; the first, the forgotten\nmeaning. It will help us live up to our true possible selves to mark\nkeenly the distinction. The first is God's meaning, the true. The second\nis sin's, the hurt meaning. Constantly we read the effect and result of\nsin into God's thought as though that were the real thing. This is grained\nin deep, woven into the adages of the race. For instance, \"To err is\nhuman, to forgive divine.\" Yet this catchy statement is not true, save in\npart. To forgive is human--God's human--as well as divine. Not to forgive\nis devilish. It is not human to err. It is possible to the human being to\nerr, as it is with angels, but, in erring, man is leaving the human level\nand going lower down.\n\nTo understand what it means to say that Jesus is human we must recall what\nhuman meant originally, and has properly come to mean. Man as made by God\nbefore the hurt of sin came had certain powers and limitations. His\npowers, briefly, were, mastery of his body, of his mental faculties, and\npowers in the spirit realm so lost to us now that we cannot even say\ndefinitely what they are. And mastery means poised, mature control, not\nmisuse, nor abuse, nor lack of use, but full proper use. Possibly there\nwere powers of communication between men in addition to speech unknown to\nus. Then, too, he had dominion over nature, over all the animal creation,\nover all the forces of nature, and not only dominion, but fellowship with\nthe animal creation and with the forces of nature: dominion _through_\nfellowship.\n\nHe had certain limitations. Having a body was a limitation. The necessity\nfor food, sleep, rest, and for exertion in order to move through space\nacted as a constant check upon his movements and achievements. He could\nnot go into a building except through some opening. The law of growth, of\nsuch infinite value to man under his conditions, was likewise a check.\nOnly by slow laborious effort and application would there come the\ndiscipline of mental powers and the knowledge necessary to life's work.\n\n\n\n<u>The Hurt of Sin.</u>\n\n\nNow, in addition to these natural limitations sin has made other changes.\nIt has lessened the powers and increased the limitations. There has been\nimmense loss in the power over the forces of nature, though now, by slow\nand very laborious efforts, after centuries, much is being regained.\nInstead of fellowship there has been an estrangement between man and the\nlower animals and between man and the forces of nature. All of this has\nimmensely added to man's limitations, though it is true that most men do\nnot know of what has been lost, so complete has the loss been.\n\nThe natural limitations have been added to. Sin affects the judgment. It\nbrings ignorance and passion, and they affect the judgment. There results\nlack of care of the body, improper use of the strength, and ignorant and\nimproper use of the bodily functions. Then come weakness and disease and\nshortened life, not to speak of the misery included in these and the\nenjoyment missed. In the chain of results comes the toil that is drudgery.\nNot work, but excessive work, more than one should do, with less strength\nthan one should have. Work itself under natural conditions is always a\ndelight. But through sin has come strain, tugging, friction, unequal\ndivision. The changes wrought in nature by sin call for greater effort\nwith less return. Toil becomes slavish and grinding. Then poverty adds its\ntug. And sorrow comes to sap the strength and take away the buoyancy. And\nthen man's inhumanity to his brothers and sisters. These are some of the\nlimitations added by sin and ever increasing.\n\n\n\n<u>Our Fellow.</u>\n\n\nNow, Jesus was human; truly naturally human, God's human, and then more\nbecause of the conditions He found. The love act of creation brought with\nit self-imposed limitations to God. And now the love act of saving brings\nstill more. God made man in His own image. In His humanity Jesus was in\nthe image of God, even as we are. Adam was an unfallen man. Jesus was that\nand more, a tested and now matured unfallen man, and by the law of growth\never growing more. Adam was an innocent, unfallen man up to the\ntemptation. Jesus was a virtuous unfallen man. The test with Him changed\ninnocence to virtue.\n\nIn His experiences, His works, His temptations, His struggles, His\nvictories, Jesus was clearly human. In His ability to read men's thoughts\nand know their lives without finding out by ordinary means, His knowledge\nahead of coming events, His knowledge of and control over nature, He\nclearly was more than the human _we_ know. Yet until we know more than we\nseem to now of the proper powers of an unfallen man matured and growing\nin the use and control of those powers we cannot draw here any line\nbetween human and divine. But the whole presumption is in favor of\nbelieving that in all of this Jesus was simply exercising the proper human\npowers which with Him were not hurt by sin but ever increasing in use.\n\nJesus insisted on living a simple true human life, dependent upon God and\nupon others. He struck the key-note of this at the start in the\nwilderness. Everything He taught He put through the test of use. He _was_\nwhat He taught. As a man He has gone through all He calls us to. He blazed\nthe way into every thicket and woods, and then stands ahead, softly,\nclearly calling, \"Come along _after_ Me.\"\n\nHe was a normal man, God's pattern unchanged. All the powers of body and\nmind and spirit were developed naturally and _held in poise_, no lack of\ndevelopment, no over development of some part, no misuse of any power, nor\nabuse, but each part perfectly fitting in and working naturally with each\nother part.\n\nHe experienced all the proper limitations of human life. He needed food\nand sleep and rest and needed to give His body proper thought and care. He\nwas under the human limitations regarding space and material construction.\nHe got from one place to another by the slow process of using His strength\nor joining it with nature or that of a beast. He entered a building\nthrough an opening as we do. Both of these are in sharp contrast with the\nconditions after the resurrection. His stock of knowledge came by the law\nof increase, the natural way; some, and then more, and the more gaining\nmore yet.\n\nBut there's more than this. There's a bit of a pull inside as one thinks\nof this, as though Jesus in His _humanity_ after all is on a level above\nus, hardly alongside giving us a hand. Ah! there is more. He had\nfellowship with us in the limitation that sin has brought. He shared the\nexperiences that men were actually having. He knew the bitterness of\nhaving one's life plan utterly broken and something else--a rude jagged\nsomething else--thrust in its place. But the bitterness of the experience\nnever got into His spirit or affected His conduct. The emergency He found\ndown here wrought by sin affected Him.\n\nHe was _hungry_ sometimes without food at hand to satisfy His hunger. He\nalways showed a peculiar tender sympathy with hungry people. He couldn't\nbear the sight of the hungry crowds without food. He would go out of His\nway any time to feed a man. He makes the caring for hungry folks a test\nquestion for the judgment time. There's a great note of sympathy here with\nthe race. Every night hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters go\nhungry to bed. It was said at one time that the death rate of London rises\nand falls with the price of bread. If true when said it probably is more\nintensely true to-day. Jesus ate the bread of the poor, the coarsest,\nplainest bread. But then, that may have been simply His good common\nsense.\n\nJesus got _tired_. Could there be a closer touch! He fell asleep on a\npillow in the stern of the boat one day crossing the lake. And the sleep\nwas like that of a very tired man, so sound that the wild storm did not\nwake Him up. It was His tiredness that made Him wait at Jacob's well while\nthe disciples push on to the village to get food. He wouldn't have asked\nthem to go if they were too tired, too. Was He ever _too_\ntired--over-tired--like we get? I wonder. There was the temptation to be\nso ever tugging. Probably not, for He was wise, and had good self-control,\n_and_ then He trusted His Father. Yet He probably went to the full limit\nof what was wise. Certainly He lived a strenuous life those three and a\nhalf years.\n\nJesus knew _the pinch of poverty_. He was the eldest in a large family,\nwith the father probably dead, and so likely was the chief breadwinner,\nearning for Himself and for the others a living by His trade. He was the\nvillage carpenter up in Nazareth, an obscure country village. I do not\nmean abject grinding poverty, of course. That cannot exist with frugality\nand honest toil. But the pinch of constant management, rigid economy,\ncounting the coins carefully, studying to make both ends meet, and needing\nto stretch a bit to get them together. It is not unlikely that house rent\nwas one of the items.\n\nThe ceaselessness of His labors those public years suggests habits of\nindustry acquired during those long Nazareth years. He was used to working\nhard and being kept busy. It would seem that He had the care of His mother\nafter the home was broken up. At the very end He makes provision for her.\nJohn understands the allusion and takes her to his own home. He must have\nthought a great deal of John to trust His mother to his care. Could there\nbe finer evidence of friendship than giving His friend John such a trust?\n\nJesus was _a homeless man_. Forced from the home village by His fellow\ntownsmen, for those busy years he had no quiet home spot of His own to\nrest in. And He felt it. How He would have enjoyed a home of His own, with\nHis mother in it with him! No more pathetic word comes from His lips than\nthat touching His homelessness--foxes have holes, and the birds of the air\nnests, but the Son of Man hath neither hole nor nest, burrowed or built,\nin ground or tree.\n\nAnd Jesus knew the sharp discipline of _waiting_. He knew what it meant to\nbe going a commonplace, humdrum, tread-mill round while the fires are\nburning within for something else. He knew, and forever cast a sweet soft\nhalo over all such labor as men call drudgery, which never was such to Him\nbecause of the fine spirit breathed into it. Drudgery, commonplaceness is\nin the _spirit_, not the work. Nothing could be commonplace or humdrum\nwhen done by One with such an uncommon spirit.\n\n\n\n<u>There's More of God Since Jesus Went Back.</u>\n\n\nI have tried to think of Him coming into young manhood in that Nazareth\nhome. He is twenty now, with a daily round something like this: up at dawn\nlikely--He was ever an early riser--chores about the place, the cow,\nmaybe, and the kindling and fuel for the day, helping to care for the\nyounger children, then off down the narrow street, with a cheery word to\npassers-by, to the little low-ceilinged carpenter shop, for--eight\nhours?--more likely ten or twelve. Then back in the twilight; chores\nagain, the evening meal, helping the children of the home in difficulties\nthat have arisen to fill their day's small horizon, a bit of quiet talk\nwith His mother about family matters, maybe, then likely off to the\nhilltop to look out at the stars and talk with the Father; then back\nagain, slipping quietly into the bedroom, sharing sleeping space in the\nbed with a brother. And then the sweet rest of a laboring man until the\ngray dawn broke again.\n\nAnd that not for one day, _every_ day, a year of days--_years_. He's\ntwenty-five now, feeling the thews of his strength; twenty-seven,\ntwenty-nine, still the old daily round. Did no temptation come those years\nto chafe a bit and fret and wonder and yearn after the great outside\nworld? Who that knows such a life, and knows the tempter, thinks _he_\nmissed those years, and their subtle opportunity? Who that knows Jesus\nthinks that _He_ missed such an opportunity to hallow forever, fragantly\nhallow, home, with its unceasing round of detail, and to cushion, too, its\nevery detail with a sweet strong spirit? Who thinks _He_ missed _that\nchance_ of fellowship with the great crowd of His race of brothers?\n\n    \"In the shop of Nazareth\n    Pungent cedar haunts the breath.\n    'Tis a low Eastern room,\n    Windowless, touched with gloom.\n    Workman's bench and simple tools\n    Line the walls. Chests and stools,\n    Yoke of ox, and shaft of plow,\n    Finished by the Carpenter\n    Lie about the pavement now.\n\n    \"In the room the Craftsman stands,\n    Stands and reaches out His hands.\n\n    \"Let the shadows veil His face\n    If you must, and dimly trace\n    His workman's tunic, girt with bands\n    At His waist. But His _hands_--\n    Let the light play on them;\n    Marks of toil lay on them.\n    Paint with passion and with care\n    Every old scar showing there\n    Where a tool slipped and hurt;\n    Show each callous; be alert\n    For each deep line of toil.\n                Show the soil\n    Of the pitch; and the strength\n    Grip of helve gives at length.\n\n    \"When night comes, and I turn\n    From my shop where I earn\n    Daily bread, let me see\n    Those hard hands; know that He\n    Shared my lot, every bit:\n    Was a man, every whit.\n\n    \"Could I fear such a hand\n    Stretched toward me? Misunderstand\n    Or mistrust? Doubt that He\n    Meets me full in sympathy?\n\n    \"Carpenter' hard like Thine\n    Is this hand--this of mine;\n    I reach out, gripping Thee,\n    Son of Man, close to me,\n    Close and fast, fearlessly.\"[6]\n\nTo-day up yonder on the throne _there's a Man_--kin to us, bone of our\nbone, heart of our heart, toil of our toil. _He_--knows. If you'll listen\nvery quietly, you'll hear His voice reaching clear down to you saying,\nwith a softness that thrills, \"Steady--steady--_I_ know it all. I'm\nwatching and _feeling_ and _helping_. Up yonder is the hill top and the\nglory sun and the wondrous air. Steady a bit. Stay up with _Me_ on the\nglory side of your cloud, though your feet scratch the clay.\" Surely\nthere's more of God since Jesus went back!\n\n\n\n\nThe Divine Jesus\n\n\n\n<u>Jehovah--Jesus.</u>\n\n\nOf all the men who knew Jesus intimately John stands first and highest. He\nmisunderstood for a time. He failed to understand, as did the others. He\ndid not approach the keen insight into Jesus' being and purpose that Mary\nof Bethany did. But, then, she was a woman. He was a man. Other things\nbeing equal (though they almost never are), woman has keener insight into\nthe spirit and motives than has man. But John stood closer to Jesus than\nany other. Jesus drew him closer. And that speaks volumes for John's\nfineness of spirit. He alone of the inner twelve did not forsake in the\nhardest hour that Thursday night, but went in \"_with_ Jesus.\" How grateful\nmust Jesus have been for the presence of His sympathetic friend that black\nnight, with its long intense shadows!\n\nNow John writes about Jesus. And what this closest friend says will be of\nintensest interest to all lovers of Jesus. But it is of even intenser\ninterest to note keenly _when_ John writes. He waits until the end. He\ngets the longest range on Jesus that his lengthening years will permit.\nDistance is essential to perspective. You must get far away from a big\nthing to see it. The bigger the thing to be seen, the longer the distance\nneeded for good perspective. John shows his early appreciation of the size\nof Jesus by waiting so long. When all his mental faculties are most\nmatured, when any heat of mere youthful attachment has cooled off, when\nthe eye of the spirit is clearest and keenest, when the facts through long\nsifting have fallen into right place and relation in the whole circle of\ntruth, then the old man settles to his loving task.\n\nHe had been _looking_ long. His perspective has steadily lengthened with\nthe looking years. The object has been getting bigger and bigger to his\neyes. He is getting off as far as possible within his earthly span. At\nlast he feels that he has approximately gotten the range. And with the\ndeep glow of his heart gleaming up out of his eyes, he picks up a\nfreshly-sharpened quill _to tell folk about Jesus_.\n\nAs he starts in he takes a fresh, long, earnest look. And so he writes,\nlike a portrait artist working, with his eyes ever gazing at the vision of\nthat glorified Face. He seems to say to himself, \"How _shall_ I--how _can_\nI ever _begin_ to tell them--about _Him_!\" Then with a master's skill he\nsets out to find the simplest words he can find, put together in the\nsimplest sentences he can make, so simple folk everywhere may read and get\nsomething of a glimpse of this Jesus, whose glory is filling his eyes and\nflooding his face and spilling out all over the pages as he writes.\n\nHe is seeing back so far that he is getting beyond human reach. So he\nfastens his line into the farthest of the far-reaches of human knowledge,\nthe creation, and then flings the line a bit farther back yet. He must use\na human word, if human folk are to understand. So he says \"_beginning_.\"\n\"In the beginning,\" the beginningless beginning, away back of the Genesis\nbeginning, the earliest known to man.\n\nThen he recalls the tremendous fact that when, in the later beginning man\nknew about, the worlds came into existence, it was by a _word_ being\nspoken, a _creative, outspoken word_. The power that created things\nrevealed itself in a few simple words. Then he searches into the depths of\nlanguage for the richest word he knew to express thought outspoken. And\ntaking that word he uses it as a _name_ for this One of whom he is trying\nto tell. The scholars seem unable to sound the depths of the word that\nJohn in his own language uses. It means this, and beyond that, it means\n_this_, deeper yet, and then _this_. And then all of these together, and\nmore. That is John's word. \"In the beginning was _the Word_.\"\n\nThen with a few swift touches of his pen he says, \"This was Jesus before\nHe came among men, the man Jesus whom we know.\" In the earliest beginning\nthe whole heart and thought of God toward man was outspoken in a person.\nThis person, this outspeaking God, it was He who later became known to us\nas Jesus. Jesus, away back before the farthest reach of our human\nknowledge, was God speaking out of His inner heart to us. This Jesus _is_\nGod speaking out His innermost heart to man. Did you ever long to hear God\nspeak? Look at Jesus. He's God's speech. This One was _with_ God. He _was_\nGod. It was _He_ who spoke things into being, that creative span of time.\nOnly through Him _could_ anything come into being. All life was in Him,\nand this life was man's light. It is He who came into our midst, shining\nin the darkness that could neither take Him in nor hold Him down from\nshining out.\n\nEvery now and then as he writes John's heart seems near the breaking\npoint, and a sob shakes his pen a bit, as it comes over him all anew, and\nalmost overcomes him, how this wondrous Jesus, this throbbing heart of\nGod, was treated. Listen: \"He came to His _own possessions_, and they who\nwere His--own--kinsfolk--and the quiver of John's heart-sob seems to make\nthe type move on the page--_His own kinsfolk_ received him not into their\nhomes, but left Him outside in the cold night; _but_--a glimpse of that\nglorious Face steadies him again--as many as _did_ receive Him, whether\nHis own kinsfolk or not, to them He gave the right to become _kinsfolk of\nGod_, the oldest family of all.\"\n\n\n\n<u>God's Spokesman.</u>\n\n\nJohn has a way of reaching away back, and then by a swift use of pen\ncoming quickly to his own time, and then he keeps swinging back over the\nground he has been over, but each time with some added touch, like the\ntrue artist he is.\n\nJohn's statement, \"the world was made by Him,\" takes one back at once to\nthe early Genesis chapters. There the creating One, who, by a word, brings\nthings into existence is called God. And then, that we may identify Him,\nis called by a _name_, Jehovah. The creator is God named Jehovah. And this\nJehovah, John says, was the One who afterward became a Man, and pitched\nHis tent among men. And as one reads the old chapters through, this is the\nGod, the Jehovah, who appears in varying ways to these Old Testament men,\none after another. He talked and walked and worked with Adam in completing\nthe work of creation, and then broken-hearted led him out of the forfeited\ngarden.\n\nThen to make his standpoint unmistakably plain to every one, before\nstarting in on the witness borne by the herald, he makes a summary. All\nthat he has been saying he now sums up in these tremendous words,\n\"_God_--no one ever yet has seen; the only begotten God,[7] in the bosom\nof the Father, this One has been the spokesman.\" In what He _was_, and in\nwhat He _did_ as well as in what He _said_, He hath been the spokesman.\nHere is a difference made between the Father God, whom no one has seen,\nand the only begotten God, who has been telling the Father out.\n\nNow God revealed Himself to men in the Old Testament times. Repeatedly in\nthe Old Testament it distinctly speaks of men seeing God in varying ways\nand talking with Him. Adam walked with Him, and Enoch, and Noah. Abraham\nhad a _vision_, and talked with the three men whose spokesman speaks as\nGod. Isaac has a night-vision and Jacob a dream and a night meeting with a\nmysterious wrestler. Moses _spoke_ with Him \"face to face\" and \"mouth to\nmouth,\" and is said to have seen His \"form.\" Yet after that first forty\ndays on the mount when Moses hungrily asks for more, He is told that no\nman could endure the sight of that great glory of God's face. And he is\nput in to a cleft of the rock, and God's hand put over the opening (in the\nsimple language of the record), and then only the _hinder_ part of God\npassing is seen, while the wondrous voice speaks. Yet the impression so\nmade upon Moses far exceeds anything previous and completely overawes and\nmelts him down. The elders of Israel \"saw God,\" yet the most _distinct_\nimpression of anything seen is of the beautiful _pavement under His feet_.\nIsaiah's most definite impression, when the great vision came to him, was\nof a train of glory, seraphim and smoke and a voice. Ezekiel has rare\npower in detailed description. He has overpowering visions of the \"glory of\nJehovah.\" Yet the most definite that he can make the description is a\nstorm gathering, a cloud, a fire, a centre spot of brightness, a clearness\nas of amber, and four very unusual living creatures.\n\nThese men \"saw\" God. He \"appeared\" to them. Evidently that means many\ndifferent things, yet the word is always honestly used. It never means as\nwe gaze into another man's face. But always there is that profound\nimpression of having been in God's own presence. They _met_ Him. They\n_saw_ Him. They heard His voice.\n\nYet John says here, \"_God_--no one ever yet at any time has seen; the only\nbegotten God, in the bosom of the Father--this One has been the\nspokesman.\" Clearly John, sweeping the whole range of past time, means\nthis: they saw Him whom we call Jesus. Jesus is Jehovah, the only\n_begotten_ God. To all these men the only begotten God was the spokesman\nof the Father.\n\nSometimes it was a voice that came with softness but unmistakable\nclearness to the inner spirit of man, a soundless voice. Sometimes in a\ndream, a more realistic vision of the night or of the day time; again, in\nthe form of a man, thus foreshadowing the future great coming. This One\nwho _came_ to them in various ways, this Jehovah has _come_ to men as\nJesus. This is John's statement. This is the setting of His gospel. The\nsetting becomes a part of the interpretation of what the gospel contains.\nIt explains what this that follows _meant to John_.\n\nIs it surprising that John's Gospel has been pitched upon as the critics'\nchief battle-field of the New Testament? Battle-field is a good word. The\nfire has been thick and fast, needle-guns--sharp needles--and\nmachine-guns--Gatling guns and rattling--but no smokeless powder. The\ncloud of smoke of a beautiful scholarly gray tinge has quite filled the\nair. Men have been swinging away from a man, the Man to a book. But no\ncritic's delicately shaded and shadowing cloud of either dust or smoke, or\nboth, can hide away the Man. He's too tall and big. The simple hearted man\nwho will step aside from the smoke and noise to the shade of a quiet tree,\nor the quiet of some corner, with this marvellous bit of manuscript from\nJohn's pen for his keen, Spirit-cleared eye, will be enraptured to find a\n_Man, the_ Man, the _God_-Man.\n\n\n\n<u>Whom Moses Saw.</u>\n\n\nWhat did Jesus say about Himself? The critics of the world, including the\nskeptical, infidel critics, seem to agree fully and easily on a few things\nabout this Jesus on whose dissection they have expended so much time and\nstrength. They agree that in the purity of His life, the moral power of\nHis character, the wisdom of His teachings, the rare poise of His conduct\nand judgment, the influence exerted upon men, He clear over-tops the whole\nrace. Surely His own opinion of Himself is well worth having. And it is\neasy to get, and tremendous when gotten. It fits into John's conception\nwith unlabored simplicity and naturalness.\n\nAccording, then, to Jesus' own words, He had come down out of heaven, and,\nby and by, would go back again to where He was before. He had come on an\nerrand for the Father down into the world, and when the errand was\nfinished He would go back home to the Father again. He had seen the\nFather, and He was the only one who _had_ ever seen Him. He was the Son of\nGod in a sense that nobody else was, a begotten Son, and the only Son who\nhad been begotten. Therefore He naturally called God His Father, and not\nonly that, but His _own_ Father, making Himself _equal_ with the Father.\n\nThis statement it was that swung the leaders over from silent contempt to\naggression in their treatment of Him. The Jews understood this perfectly\nand instantly. They refused to accept it. Reckoning it blasphemous, they\nattempted to stone Him. They were partly right. If it were not true, it\n_was_ blasphemous, and their law required stoning. Yet they were fools in\ntheir thought, and not even keen fools. For no blasphemous man could have\nrevealed the character and moral glory that Jesus constantly revealed\nbefore their eyes.\n\nThen follows one of John's exquisite reports of Jesus' words in reply. In\nit run side by side the essential unity of spirit between Father and Son,\nwith the absolute life-giving or creative power invested in the Son. A\nsweet, loving, loyal unity of spirit is between the two. It is love unity.\nThere can be none closer. In this unity the Son has full control of life\nfor all the race of men, and final adjustment of the character wrought out\nby each. At His word all who have gone down under death's touch will come\ninto life again, and each by the character he has developed will go by a\nmoral gravitation to his natural place.\n\nAnd then follows the bringing forward of witnesses, John, the Father, the\nworks, the Scriptures, and the climax is reached in the one whose name was\never on their lips--Moses. And this is the significant reference to Moses,\n\"He wrote of _Me_.\" Sift into that phrase a bit. It cannot mean, he wrote\nof me in the sacrifices provided for with such minute care. For Moses\nclearly had had no such thought. It might be supposed to mean that\nunconsciously to himself there was, in his writings about the sacrifices,\nthat which would be seen later to refer to Jesus in His dying. And there\nis the resemblance in purity between Moses' sacrifices and the great\nSacrifice. Yet where there is so much plain meaning lying out on the face\nof the thing, this obscure meaning may be dropped or checked in as an\nincidental. There is a single allusion in Moses' writing to a prophet\ncoming like himself.\n\nBut Moses is ever absorbed in writing about a wondrous One who revealed\nHimself to him in the burning bush, the pillar of cloud and fire, the\nlittle peaked tent off by itself on the outskirts of the camp, and the\nsoft distinct voice. There was the One with whom He had twice spent forty\ndays in the mount, and whose great glory left its traces in his face. Ever\nMoses is writing of this wondrous Jehovah. Jesus quietly says, \"He wrote\nof _Me_.\"\n\nAnother time He said, \"I and the Father are one,\" provoking another\nstoning. Invisibly holding back their hands He said, \"The Father is in Me,\nand I in the Father,\" and again they are aroused. In connection with this\nword \"Father,\" it may be noted that the Old Testament has been called the\n\"dispensation of the Father.\" But this seems scarcely accurate. God\nspeaking, appearing there is spoken of as Father very rarely, and then\nchiefly in the great promises of the future glory. The common name for Him\nis _Jehovah_. Jesus practically gives us the name Father for God. He\nconstantly refers to God as _His_ Father. It was He who taught us to call\nGod Father. He never speaks of Jehovah, but of the Father. His language in\nthis always fits in perfectly, as of course it would, with John's\nstandpoint, that Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament times. A little\nlater Jesus says, \"Moses gave you not the manna from heaven, but--my\nFather giveth (note the change in the time element of the word)--giv_eth_\nyou the true bread.\" It is a sort of broken, readjusted sentence, as\nthough He was going to say who it was that gave the manna, and then\nchanges to speaking of the Father and the present. He does not say who it\nwas that _did_ give that manna. It is plain enough from John's standpoint\nwhat _he_ understands Jesus to mean as he puts the incident into his\nstory.\n\n\n\n\n<u>Jesus is God Wooing Man.</u>\n\n\nDuring the autumn before His death, while in attendance on one of the\nJerusalem feasts, the leaders are boasting of their direct descent from\nAbraham, and attacking Jesus. On their part the quarrel of words gets very\nbitter. They ask sharply, \"Who do you pretend to be? Nobody can be as\ngreat as Abraham; yet your words suggest that you think you are.\" Then\ncame from Jesus' lips the words, spoken in all probability very quietly,\n\"Your father Abraham exulted that he might see my day, and he saw it, and\nwas glad.\" It is a tremendous statement, staggering to one who has not yet\ngrasped it.\n\nIn attempting to find its meaning, some of our writing friends have\nsupposed it means that, after Abraham's death, when he was in the other\nworld, at the time of Jesus being on the earth, he was conscious of Jesus\nhaving come and was glad. But this hardly seems likely, else it would\nread, \"He _sees_, and _is_ glad.\" The seeing and gladness were both in a\nday gone by. Others have supposed that it refers to the scene on Moriah's\ntop, when the ram used as a sacrifice instead of Isaac enabled Abraham to\nsee ahead _by faith_, not actually, the coming One. But this, too, seems a\nbit far-fetched, because Abraham was surprised by the occurrences of that\nday. He fully expected to sacrifice his son, apparently, so there could be\nno exultant looking forward to _that_ day for him. And deeper yet, the\ncoming One was not expected to be a sacrifice, but a king.\n\nThe natural meaning seems to lie back in Abraham's own life. Abraham was\nIsrael's link with the idolatrous heathen, as well as the beginning of the\nnew life away from idolatry. He grew up among an idolatrous people, yet in\nhis heart there was a yearning for the true God. Back in his old home\nthere came to him one day the definite inner voice to cut loose from these\npeople, his own dear kinsfolk, and go out to a strange unknown land, with\nwhat seemed an indefinite goal, and there would come to him a vision of\nthe true God.\n\nIt was a radical step for a man of seventy-five years to take. He was\nliving among his own kinsfolk. His nest was feathered. It meant leaving a\ncertainty for an uncertainty. It meant breaking his habit of life, a very\nhard thing to do, and starting out on a wandering roaming life. Not\nunlikely his neighbors thought it a queer thing, a wild goose chase, this\ngoing off to a strange land in response to a call of God that he might see\na vision of the true God. Decidedly visionary. But the old man was clear\nabout the voice. The fire burned within to know God, the real true God.\nAll else counted as nothing against that. He would _see God_. And a\nwarming glow filled his heart and shone in his eyes and kept him steady\nduring the break, the good-byes, the start away, the journeying among\nstrangers. Into the strange land he came, and pitched his tent. And--one\nnight--in his tent--among these strange Canaanites, there came the\npromised vision. \"Jehovah appeared unto Abraham,\" and tied up there anew\nwith him the promise made back in his native land. This seems to be the\nsimple explanation of these words about Abraham. \"He exulted that he might\nsee my day. He _saw_ ... and was glad.\"\n\nWith a contemptuous curl of the lip instantly they come back with: \"Thou\nart not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?\" More quietly\nthan ever, with the calmness of conscious truth, come those tremendous\nwords, emphasized with the strongest phrase He ever used, \"Verily, verily,\nI say unto you, before Abraham was born, I am.\" The common version omits\n\"born,\" and so the sharp contrast is not made clear. Abraham was _born_.\nHe came into existence. Jesus says \"I _am_.\" That \"I am\" is meant to mean\nabsolute existence. An eternal now without beginning or ending. Their\nJewish ears are instantly caught by that short sentence. Jesus was\nidentifying Himself with the One who uttered that sentence out of the\nburning bush! Again stones for speech. Again the invisible power holds\ntheir feverish impotent hands. That \"I am\" explains the meaning of the\nexpression \"my day.\" It stretches it out backward beyond Abraham's day. It\nlengthens it infinitely at both ends.\n\nThis is Jesus' point of view, this marvellous Jesus. He is the Jehovah in\nGenesis' first chapters. It is with Him that Adam broke tryst that day,\nand with Him that Enoch renewed the tryst after such a long wait, and took\nthose long walks. It is His voice and presence in the black topped,\nflaming mount that awed the Israel crowd so. His voice it was that won and\nimpressed so winsomely the man waiting in the hand-covered cleft of the\nrock that early morning, and long after, that other rugged, footsore man,\nstanding with face covered in the mouth of a cave. Isaiah saw _His_ glory\nthat memorable day in the temple. It was He who rode upon the storm before\nEzekiel's wondering eyes and who walks with His faithful ones on the seven\ntimes heated coals, and reveals to Daniel's opened ears the vision of his\npeople's future. Jehovah--He comes as Jesus. Jesus--He is Jehovah. No\nsending of messengers for this great work of winning His darling back to\nthe original image and mastery and dominion will do for our God. He comes\nHimself. Jesus is God coming down to woo man up to Himself again.\n\n\n\n\nThe Winsome Jesus\n\n\n\n<u>The Face of Jesus</u>\n\n\nJesus was God letting man see the beauty of His face and listen to the\nmusic of His voice, and feel the irresistibly gentle drawing power of His\npresence. Jesus was very winsome. He _drew_ men. He said that if He were\nlifted up He _would_ draw men. They who heard that could believe it, for\nHe drew them before He was lifted up. He drew the _crowds_. Yet many a\nleader that has drawn the crowds has led them astray. He drew _men_--men\nof strongest mentality, scholarly, cultured, thoughtful men, and every\nother sort. Yet men have often been befooled in their leaders. He drew\n_women_. Here is a great test. Men may be deceived in a man. But woman,\ntrue strong woman, pure womanly woman, because of her keen discernment\ninto spirit and motive, cannot be deceived, when true to her inner\nconviction.\n\nHe drew _children_. This was the highest test. The child, fresh from the\nhand of God, before it is appreciably hurt by parents or surroundings, is\ndrawn to the pure and good. They are repelled by selfishness and badness.\nThey draw out the best. They are drawn only by the true and beautiful and\ngood. That is, in the early years, before the warping of a selfish, sinful\natmosphere has hurt them. This is an infallible test. This told most His\nwinsomeness.\n\n_Bad people_ were drawn to Him. That is, bad in their lives. Rarely indeed\nis a human so wholly bad as to be untouched by true goodness, by sincere\nlove. Here is the touchstone of service. He touched that spot in the\nlowest, and by His presence increased the hunger of their hearts for\npurity and for sympathy up toward purity.\n\nHis _enemies_--a very small group, but in a position of great power,\nholding the national reins--His enemies were drawn to Him, by a drawing\nthey fought, but could not resist. They admired Him while hating Him. His\npresence disturbed because it accused the opposite in them. They\nrecognized the purity, the love, the rugged honesty, the keen insight, the\npoised wisdom, and they hated Him the more intensely, so committed were\nthey in the practice of their lives to the opposite of these. Jesus was\nvery winsome. It was to be expected of Him, for He was a _man_ unstained\nand unhurt by sin. Man, God's sort of man, is winsome, for he is in the\nimage of God. It was to be expected of Him, for He was God. And God is\nwinsome. Did men but _know_ God they would throw themselves at His feet in\nthe utter abandon of strong love.\n\nJesus' _personality_ must have been very attractive, because of the man\nliving within. He found expression in it. The spirit of a man finds\nexpression in his presence. He goes out to others through his presence.\nFrom what we know of Jesus His presence must have had something distinctly\nimpressive about it. He would have a gently majestic bearing. He walked\nupright like the king He was. He had the true dignity that is not\nconscious of its dignity.\n\nJesus must have had a remarkable _face_. One's presence centers peculiarly\nin the face. It comes to bear the imprint of the man inside. A man cannot\nkeep out of his face the dominant spirit of his life. The sin of the life,\nthe purity of the heart, is always stamped on the face. The finer the\nnature the plainer is the facial index. That is the reason women's faces\nreveal the inner spirit more than men's. Quite apart from His features,\nthe inner spirit of Jesus must have made His face beautiful with a manly\nfascinating beauty. Yet in all likelihood those features were finely\nchiselled and the skin clear, and with the transfiguring power of the\nspirit within, that face must have been a great face in its beauty.\n\nJesus' face must have borne the impress of His experiences. The early home\nexperience would bring out patience and simplicity and sympathy. Those\nforty days in the wilderness would intensify the purity and strength, and\nbring evidence of struggle and of victory. The Jordan waters, with the\nvoice of approval, would deepen the mark of peace. Constant contact with\nthe sick and suffering would bring out yet more the tenderness and\ngentleness. Constant teaching of undisciplined folk would intensify the\npatience. Constant contact with sin would intensify the unflinching\nsternness of purity. The Transfiguration would deepen the spirituality,\nwith possibly an added glory-touch. Gethsemane wrote in the deep lines of\nintense suffering, with the intangible spirituality of victory and great\npeace. And, at the last, Calvary with its scars marked in a beauty of\nsuffering and of spirituality refined beyond description. A marvellous\nface that human face of Jesus.\n\n_Indeed_, the glory of God was in the face of Jesus as He walked quietly\namong men. Looking into that face men saw God. That simple, gentle,\npatient, pure face, with its deep peace and victory and yet its\nyearning--that was God looking out into men's faces.\n\n\n\n<u>The Music of God in the Voice of Jesus.</u>\n\n\nThe face of that face was the _eye_. The eye is the soul of the face.\nThrough it the man looks out and shows himself. Through it we look in and\nsee him. Where the fires of self-ambition burn the flame is always in the\neye. Only where those fires are out or never lit does the real\nbeauty-light of God come into the eye. Great leaders have ever been noted\nfor their eyes, before whose glance strong men have cowed and quailed, or\neagerly coveted the privilege of service.\n\nThose must have been matchless eyes of Jesus, keen, kindly, flashing out\nblinding lightning, sending out softest subdued light. The Nazareth mob\ncouldn't stand the look of those eyes, nor the bolder Jerusalem mob\nreaching down for the stones, nor the deputation sent to arrest, nor even\nthe reckless Roman soldiers at the garden gate. The disciples who were\nclosest sometimes followed him afraid and amazed because of the look of\nthose eyes. And yet the little children put their arms around His neck,\nand looked up fearlessly and lovingly. And the crowd listened by the hour\nwith their eyes fastened upon His.\n\nThe _voice_ of Jesus must have been music itself. It speaks once of His\nsinging a hymn. How we would all have loved to hear Him sing! But that\nvoice was music at all times, whether in song or speech. Low, modulated,\nrhythmic, gentle, rich, resonant--wondrous music. Those who have heard\nSpurgeon and Gladstone almost always speak of the rare musical quality in\ntheir voices. So, and more would it be with this Jesus. It has been said\nthat the personality reveals itself in the speech. It reveals itself yet\nmore, and more subtly, in the sound of the voice. The power or weakness of\na man is felt in the sound of his voice. The blind have unusual skill in\nreading character in the voice. Were we wiser we could read men's\ncharacter much more quickly in the voice. Children and animals do. The\nvoice that stilled the waves and spoke forgiveness of sins, that drew the\nbabes, and talked out to thousands at once, must have been full of\nsweetest music and thrilling with richest power.\n\nJesus made much of the personal _touch_, another means whereby a man's\npower goes out to his fellow. He believed in close personal touch. He drew\nmen into close contact with Himself. He promised that when gone Himself,\nSomebody else was to come, and live as He had done right with us in close\ntouch. He touched those whom He helped, regardless of conditions. There\nwas power in His touch. Some of Himself went out through that touch of\nHis. The fever, the weakness, the disease fled before His touch.\n\nIs it to be wondered at that everywhere, in the temple yards, on Judean\nhills or Galilean, by the blue waters of Galilee or the brown waters of\nthe Jordan, men crowded to Jesus? They couldn't help it. He was\nirresistible in His presence, His face, His eye, and voice and touch. It\ncould not be otherwise. He was God on a wooing errand after man. Moses'\nrequest of Jehovah, \"Show me ... Thy glory,\" was being granted now to the\nwhole nation. In Jesus they were gazing on the glory of God. A veiled\nglory? Yes, much veiled, doubtless, yet not as much as when Moses looked\nand listened.\n\nJesus _draws_ men. All classes, all nations, all peoples are drawn to Him.\nIt is remarkable how all classes in Christendom quote Jesus, and claim Him\nas the leader of their own particular views. They will selfishly claim Him\nwho will not follow Him.\n\nJesus draws _us_. Let us each yield to His drawing. That is the sincerest\nhomage and honor we can give Him. That will draw out in us to fullest\nmeasure the original God-likeness obscured by sin.\n\nLet us lift this drawing Jesus _up_ by our lives of loyalty to Him, by our\nmodest, earnest testimony for Him, by our unselfish love for the men He\nloved so. _Up_ let us lift Him before men's eyes; _up_ on the cross,\ntransfigured by His love; _up_ on the Olives' Mount, Victor over all the\nforces of sin and death; _up_ at the Father's right hand in glory, waiting\nthe fullness of time for the completion of His plan for man.\n\nThou great winsome God, we have seen Thy beauty in this Jesus. We have\nheard Thy music in His voice. We feel the strong pull upon our hearts and\nwills of Thy presence in Him. We cannot resist Thee if we would. We would\nnot if we could. We are coming a-running to keep tryst with Thee under the\ntree of life thou art planting down in our midst. We will throw ourselves\nat Thy feet in the utter abandon of our strongest love, Thy volunteer\nslaves.\n\n\n\n\nIII. The Great Experiences of Jesus' Life\n\n\n\n  1. The Jordan: The Decisive Start.\n  2. The Wilderness: Temptation.\n  3. The Transfiguration: An Emergency Measure.\n  4. Gethsemane: The Strange, Lone Struggle.\n  5. Calvary: Victory.\n  6. The Resurrection: Gravity Upward.\n  7. The Ascension: Back Home Again Until----\n\n\n\n\nThe Jordan: The Decisive Start\n\n\n\n<u>The Anvil of Experience.</u>\n\n\nExperience is going through a thing _yourself_, and having it go _through_\nyou. And \"through\" here means not as a spear is thrust through a man's\nbody, piercing it, but as fire goes through that which it takes hold of,\npermeating; as an odor goes through a house, pervading it.\n\nA man _knows_ only what he experiences; what he goes through; what goes\nthrough him. He knows only what he is _certain_ of. And he is certain of\nonly that which he _experiences_.\n\nIt is one of the natural limitations of our humanity that it is so. Even\nthe primary knowledge of space, and time, and so on comes in this way. A\nman knows space only by seeing or thinking through space. He knows time\nonly by living consciously through some moments of time. Such knowledge is\nprimary only in point of time.\n\nExperience is weaving fact into the fabric of your life. The swift drive\nof the double-pointed shuttle, the hard push of the loom back and forth\n_goes through you_.\n\nExperience is sowing truth in actual personal occurrences. The cutting,\nupturning edge of the plow, the tearing teeth of the harrow, go on inside\nyour very being, while perhaps the moments drag themselves by, slow as\nsnails.\n\nExperience is hammering truth into shape upon the anvil of your life,\nwhile the pounding of the lightning trip-hammer is upon your own quivering\nflesh. It is seeing that which is most precious to you, so dear as to be\nyour very life, seeing that in a furnace, seven times heated, while you,\nstanding helplessly by, hope and trust perhaps, and yet _wonder_, even\nwhile trusting, wonder _if_--(shall I say it the way your heart talks it\nout within?), or, at most, wonderingly watch with heart almost stopped,\nand eyes big, to see _if_ the form of the Fourth will intervene in _your_\ncase, or whether something else is the Father's will.\n\nExperience is the three young Hebrews stepping with quiet, full,\nheel-to-toe tread into the hotly flaming furnace, not sure but it meant\ntorture and death, only sure that it was the only right thing to do. It is\nthe old Babylonian premier actually lowering nearer and nearer to those\ngreen eyes, and yawning jaws, and ivories polished on many a bone, clear\nof duty though not clear of anything else.\n\nA man having a financial understanding with his church, or a contract with\nhis employer, or a comfortable business, may be an earnest Christian,\nliving a life of prayer and realizing God's power in his life, but he\ncannot know the meaning of the word _trust_ as George Mueller knew it\nwhen he might waken in the morning with not enough food in hand for the\nbreakfast, only an hour off, of the two thousand orphans under his care,\nand in answer to his waiting prayer have them all satisfied at the usual\nbreakfast hour. George Mueller himself did not know the meaning of \"trust\"\nbefore such experiences as he did afterwards. No one can. We _know_ only\nwhat we _experience_.\n\nNow Jesus became a perfect man by means of the experiences He went\nthrough. He is an older _Brother_ to us, for He has gone through ahead\nwhere we are now going, and where we are yet to go. He was perfectly human\nin this, that He did not know our human experiences, save as He Himself\nwent through those experiences. With full reverence be it said of the\ndivine Jesus, it was necessarily so, because He was so truly human.\n\nThe whole diapason of human experience, with its joyous majors and its\nsobbing minors, He knew. Except, of course, the experiences growing out of\nsin. These He could not know. They belong to the abnormal side of life.\nAnd there was nothing abnormal about Him. It was fitting that Jesus,\ncoming as a man to save brother men, should develop the full human\ncharacter through experience. And so He did. And forever He has a\nfellow-feeling with each of us, at every point, for He Himself has _felt\nour feelings_.\n\nJesus' experiences brought Him suffering; keen, cutting pain; real\nsuffering. Where there is possible danger or pain in an approaching\nexperience there is _shrinking_. It is a normal human trait to shrink from\npain and danger. Jesus' experiences in the suffering they brought to Him\nfar outreach what any other human has known. He shrank in spirit over and\nover again as the expected experiences approached. He shrank back as none\nother ever has, for He was more keenly alive to the suffering involved. He\nsuffered doubly: in the shrinking beforehand; in the actual experience.\n\nBut, be it keenly remembered, shrinking does not mean _faltering_. Neither\nsuffering in anticipation nor actually ever held Him back for a moment,\nnor an inch's length, nor in the spirit of full-tilted obedience to His\nFather's plan. This makes Jesus' experiences the greatest revealers of His\ncharacter. He was sublime in His character, His teachings, His stupendous\nconceptions. He was most sublime in that wherein He touches us most\nclosely--His experiences.\n\nWith a new, deep meaning it can be said, knowledge is power. We humans\nenter into knowledge and so into power only through experience.\nExperiences are sent, or when not directly sent are allowed to come, that\nthrough these may come knowledge, through knowledge power, through both\nthe likeness of God, and so, true service in helping men back to God.\n\nLet us, you and I, go through our experiences _graciously_, not\ngrudgingly, not balking, cheerily, aye, with a bit of joy in the voice and\na gleam of light in the eye. And remember, and not forget, that alongside\nis One who _knows_ the experience that just now is ours, and, knowing,\nsympathizes.\n\nThere were with Jesus the commoner experiences and the great outstanding\nones: the mountain range with the foot-hills below and the towering peaks\nabove. From His earliest consciousness until the cross was reached, Jesus\nran the whole gamut of human experiences common to us all, with some\ngreater ones, which are the same as come to all men, but with Him\nintensified clear beyond our measurements.\n\nThese greater experiences were tragic until the great tragedy was past.\nEach has in it the shadow of the greatest. The Jordan waters meant turning\nfrom a kingdom down another path to a cross. The Wilderness fight pointed\nclearly to successive struggles, and the greatest. The Transfiguration\nmount meant turning from the greatest glory of His divinity which any\nearthly eye had seen to the little hill of death, which was to loom above\nthe mount. Gethsemane is Calvary in anticipation. Calvary was _the_\ntragedy when love yielded to hate and, yielding, conquered. There love\nheld hate's climax, death, by the throat, extracted the sting, drew the\nfang tooth, and drained the poison sac underneath. Love's surgery.\n\nAnd the tinge of the tragedy remains in the Resurrection and Ascension in\nlingering scars. They are still in that face. It is a scale ascending\nfrom the first. In each is seen the one thing from a different angle. The\ncross in advance is in each experience, growing in intensity till itself\nis reached, and casting its shadow as it is left behind.\n\n\n\n<u>Our Brother.</u>\n\n\nThrough the crowds at the Jordan River, there quietly walked one morning a\nMan who came up to where John stood. He took a place in the line of those\nwaiting to be baptized, so indicating His own intention. John is absorbed\nin his work, but as he faces this Man, next in order, he is startled. This\nis no ordinary man. That face! Its wondrous purity! That intangible\nsomething revealing the man! That spirit looking through those eyes into\nhis own! In that presence he feels his own impurity. It is the instant\nunpremeditated recognition by this fine-grained Spirit-taught John of his\nMaster, his Chief. The remonstrance that instinctively springs to his lips\nis held in check by the obedience he at once feels is due this One.\nWhatever _He_ commands is right, however unexpected it may be, or however\nstrange it may seem.\n\nWhy did Jesus go to John for baptism? The rite was a purifying one. It\nmeant confession of sin, need of cleansing, a desire for cleansing, a\npurpose to turn from wrong and sin and lead a new life. How _could_ Jesus\naccept such a rite for Himself? Why did He? Read in the light of the whole\nstory of Jesus the answer seems simple. Jesus was stepping down into the\nranks of man as His _Brother_. The kingdom He was to establish among men\nwas to be set up and ruled over by man's Brother. The salvation was to be\nby One, close up, alongside. The King will brush elbows with His subjects,\nfor they are brothers too. No long-range work for Jesus, but personal\ntouch.\n\nIn accepting John's baptism, Jesus was allying Himself with the race of\nmen He had come to lead up, and out, as King. He was allying Himself with\nthem _where they were_. It was not the path always trodden by man in\nclimbing to a throne. But it was the true path of fellowship with them in\ntheir needs. He was getting hold of hands, that He might be their leader\nup to the highlands of a new life. He steps to their level. He would lift\nfrom below. He would get by the side of the man lowest down. It was clear\nevidence at the start that He was the true Messiah, the King. He was their\n_Brother_. He would get down alongside, and pull up with them side by side\nout of the ditch of sticky mud up to good footing.\n\nAnd mark keenly--and the heart glows a bit at the thought--the point He\nchooses for getting into that contact with His brothers. It is _the point\nwhere they are turning from sin_. John's baptism meant turning from sin.\nIt is at that point that Jesus comes forward. A man can always be\nlive-sure of Jesus meeting him there, close up, with outstretched hand. He\nis waiting eagerly, and steps up quickly to a man's side as in his heart\nhe turns from sin.\n\nBut there's more yet. Read in the after light cast upon it there is much\nmore. This was the voluntary path away from the kingdom. It was the\nbeginning of all that came after. The road up the hill of the cross not\nfar away led out of those waters. This was the starting point. Jesus\ncalmly turned His face for the time being--a long time it has proved--away\nfrom the promised Kingdom of His Father and toward the planned cross of\nSatan.\n\nIt meant much, for it was the _first step_ into the path marked out. What\nthe Father had chosen for Him, He now chooses out for Himself. So every\nbit of service, every plan, must be _twice chosen:_ by God for a man; by\nthe man for himself as from God. He entered eagerly, for this was His\nFather's plan. That itself was enough for Jesus. But, too, it was the path\nwhere His needy brothers were. That would quicken His pace. It was the\nroad wherein He would meet the _enemy_. And with a fresh prayer in His\nheart and a quiet confidence in His eye He steps into the road with that\ncalmness that strong purpose gives.\n\nAs it proved there was danger here for Him. This was not the way approved\nby man's established ideals for starting a kingdom. He was driving\nstraight across the carefully marked out roads of man's usage. He was\ndisregarding the \"No trespassing\" signs. There was danger here. A man\ncutting a new path right across old ones meets stubborn undergrowth, and\nugly thorn hedges. Jesus struck the thorns early, and right along to the\nlast getting sharper. And they tore His face badly, as He cut the way\nthrough for His brothers.\n\nYes, there were dangers as He pushed His way through the undergrowth down\nto the water. Poison ivy thick, and fanged snakes darting guiltily aside\nfrom fear even while wanting to strike in, tangled, gnarly roots hugging\nthe ground close, and bad odors and gases, and the light obscured--dangers\nthick! And these Jordan waters prove chill and roily. His stepping in\nstirs the mud. The storm winds sweep down the valley. A bit of a hill up\nabove to the west casts a long sinister shadow out over the water.\n\nAnd He must have known the dangers. No need of supernatural knowledge\nhere. His familiarity with David and Jeremiah and other Hebrew writers,\nHis knowledge of human nature as it had grown to be, His knowledge of a\nfoe subtler than human, the fine sensitiveness of His finely organized\nsensitive spirit--these would lead Him to scent the danger.\n\nBut He falters not. The calmness of His will gives steadiness to His step\ndown the river's bank. Aye, the dangers lured Him on. He had a keen scent\nfor danger, for it was danger to His race of men, whose King He was in\nright and would prove Himself in fact. He would draw the thorn points by\nHis own flesh that men might be saved their stinging prod and slash. He\nwould neutralize the burning acid poison of the undergrowth by the red\nalkaline from His own veins. He would use the thorns to draw the healing\nsalve for the wounds they had caused. He would put His firm foot on the\nserpent's head that His brothers might safely come along after. This was\nthe meaning of His plunge into the swift waters by John's side.\n\nThe intense significance of this decisive step by Jesus is brought out\nstrikingly by what follows. What followed is God's comment upon it. Quick\nas the act was done came the Father's approval. John's crowds were not the\nonly intent lookers-on that day. Jesus stands praying. Since He is going\nthis road it must be a-knee. Then the rift in the upper blue, the Holy\nSpirit straight from the Father's presence comes upon the waiting Man and\nthe voice of pleased approval. And the heart of Jesus thrilled with the\nsound of that approving voice. He could go any length, down any steep, if\nHe might only ever hear that voice in approval. Then the Holy Spirit took\npossession of Him for the earth-mission. In the pathway of obedience down\nthat rough steep came the coveted power of God upon Him.\n\nThree times in His life the Father's voice came, and each time at a\ncrisis. Now at the plunge into the Jordan waters, which meant brotherhood\nwith the race, and meant, too, a frostier chill of other waters later on.\nAt the opening of the Greek door through which led an easy path to a\ngreat following, and away from a cross, when Jesus, with an agony\nintensified by the intensified nearing of those crossed logs, turned His\nstep yet more steadily in the path He had chosen that first Jordan day.\nAnd between these two, on the mountain top, when the whole fabric of the\nfuture beyond the cross hung upon three poor wobbling, spiritually stupid,\nmentally untrained Galilean fishermen.\n\nThis is the meaning of that step into the Jordan. It was the decisive\nstart.\n\n\n\n\nThe Wilderness: Temptation\n\n\n\n<u>The University of Arabia.</u>\n\n\nThe Jordan led to the Wilderness by a straight road. A first step without\nslipping leads to the second. Victory opens the way to fresh struggles for\nhigher victories. The perfect naturalness of Jesus is revealed here, His\nhuman naturalness. He had taken the decisive step into the Jordan waters.\nAnd while absorbed in prayer had become conscious of a new experience. The\nSpirit of God came upon Him in unusual measure. The effect of that always\nis to awaken to new alertness and vigor every mental power, as well as to\nkey up every moral resolve. Jesus is _caught_ at once by the grasp, the\ngrip of this new experience of the wondrous Spirit's control. Keenly alive\nto its significance, awakened anew to the part He was to perform, and to a\nconsciousness of His peculiar relation to God and to man, He becomes\nwholly absorbed in this newly intensified world of thought.\n\nUnder the Spirit's impulse, He goes off into the solitude of the\nwilderness to think. And in this mood of deep absorption, with every\nfaculty fully awake and every high moral impulse and purpose in full\nthrob, came the temptation with the recorded climax at the close.\n\nThere came an intensifying of all His former consciousness, and\nconvictions, regarding His own personality and His mission to mankind, as\nabsorbed from the Hebrew parchments, with the undercurrent, lying away\ndown, of a tragedy to be met on the way up to the throne.\n\nJesus was a man of great _intensity_. He could become so absorbed as to be\nunconscious of other things. As a boy of twelve, when first He caught\nfire, He was so taken up with the flood of thoughts poured into His mind\nby the temple visit, that for three days and two nights He remained away\nfrom His parents, simply absorbed in the world of thought awakened by that\nvisit. He could remain forty days in the wilderness without being\nconscious of hunger. The impress of that forty days mentally remain with\nHim during the remainder of His human life. Intensity is possible only to\nstrong mentality. The child's mind, the undisciplined mind, the mind\nweakened by sickness or fatigue goes quickly from one thing to another.\nThe finest mental discipline is revealed in the greatest intensity, while\nyet all the faculties remain at normal, not heated, nor disturbed by the\ndiscoloration of heat.\n\nHe withdrew into the wilderness to think and pray. He wanted to get away\nfrom man that He might realize God. With the near flaming footlights shut\nout, He could see clearly the quiet upper lights, His sure guides. These\nforty days gave Him the true perspective. Things worked into proportion.\nHe never lost this wilderness perspective. The wilderness means to Him\n_alone with God_, the false perspective, the flaming of near lights, the\nnoise of men's shuffling feet all gone. And when He went out among men for\nwork, that wilderness atmosphere went with Him. And when the crowds\nthickened, and work piled up, and dangers intensified, off He would go for\na fresh bit of improvised wilderness.\n\nThe temptation follows the natural lines of man's powers. Man was made\nwith mastery of himself, kingship over nature and all its forces, and\nutter dependence, even for his very breath, upon God. While made perfect\nin these, he would know them fully only through growth. He had three\nrelationships, to God, his fellows, and himself. His relation to God would\nkeep true the relation to himself, and adjust the relation to his fellows.\nKeeping God in proper proportion in the perspective keeps one's self in\nits true place always. Utter dependence by every man upon God would make\nperfect harmony with his fellows. The dominion of nature was through\nself-mastery, and this in turn would be only through the practice of utter\ndependence upon God.\n\nNow all sin comes under this grouping, the relation to God, the relation\nto others, within one's self. Temptation follows the line of exaggeration,\nmisuse, misadjustment, wrong motive. It pushes trust over into unwarranted\npresumption. Dominion over nature crosses the line into the relation to\nother men. Fellow-feeling gives way to an ambition to get ahead of the\nother man and to boss him. Proper appetite and desire become lust and\npassion. The dominion that man was to have over nature, he seeks also to\nhave over his brothers, so crossing the line of his own proper dominion\nand trespassing on God's. Only God is to have dominion over all men. Where\na man is lifted to eminence of rule among his fellows he is simply acting\nfor Somebody else. He is not a superior. He is a servant of God, in ruling\nover his fellows.\n\nJohn's famous grouping of all sin as \"the lust of the flesh, lust of eye\nand pride of life,\" refers to what is out \"in the world.\" It touches only\n_two_ of these three: sin in one's self and in relation to his fellows,\nwith the dominion line out of adjustment. Out in the world God has been\nleft clean out, so the phase of trust isn't touched upon by John.\n\nJesus' temptation follows these natural lines. Improper use of power for\nthe sake of the bodily appetite; to presume on God's care in doing\nsomething unwarranted; to cross the line of dominion over nature and seek\nto control men. For, be it remembered, Jesus was here as a man. The realm\nof the body, the realm of religion, the realm of wrong ambition, these\nwere the temptation lines followed then, and before, and ever since.\n\nThe going into the wilderness was planned by the Holy Spirit. He was in\ncharge of this campaign of Jesus to win back the allegiance of man and\nthe dominion of the earth. Jesus yielded Himself to the control of the\nHoly Spirit for His earthly mission, even as later the Holy Spirit yielded\nHimself wholly to the control of the exalted Jesus for _His_ earthly\nmission.\n\nHere the Spirit proves Himself a keen strategist. He drives hard at the\nenemy. He forces the fighting. A decided victory over the chief at the\nstart would demoralize all the forces. It would be decisive of the whole\nconflict, and prophetic of the final outcome. Every demon possessing a man\non the earth heard of his chief's rout that day, and recognized his\nVictor, and feared Him, and knew of his own utter defeat in that of his\nchief. Having gotten the chief devil on the run, every sub-devil fled at\nJesus' approach.\n\nThe Spirit would show to man the weakness of the devil. The devil can do\nnothing with the man who is calmly set in his loyalty to God. This new\nLeader of the race was led up to the dreaded devil that men might know for\nall time his weak spot. The poison of those fangs is completely\nneutralized by simple, steady loyalty to God. But the rattles do make a\nbig scary noise.\n\nIt is safe to go where the Spirit of God leads, and not safe to go\nanywhere else. The wilderness, any wilderness, becomes a place of victory\nif the Spirit of God be leading there. Any temptation is a chance for a\nvictory when the Spirit leads the way. A man's controlling motive\ndetermines the attractiveness or ugliness of any place. To Jesus this\nwilderness barren was one of the mountain peaks. Its forbidding chasms and\nugly gullies and darting snakes ever afterwards speak to Him of sweet\nvictory. The first great victory was here. He made the wilderness to\nblossom with the rose of His unswerving loyalty to His Father. And its\nfragrance has been felt by all who have followed Him there. To the tempter\nit was a wilderness indeed, barren of anything he wanted. He quit it the\nfirst chance he could make. He would remember the beasts and serpents and\ndreary waste. For here he received his first death-thrust.\n\nEvery man whom God has used has been in the wilderness. The two great\nleaders before Jesus, and the great leader after Him, had each a\npost-graduate course in the University of Arabia. A degree in that school\nis required for those who would do valiant service for God. Only so can\nthe eyes and ears be trained away from the glare and blare of the crowd.\nThey needed it, we need it, for discipline. He, the matchless Man, for\nthat too, and that He might make it a place of sure victory for us.\n\n\n\n<u>Earth's Ugliest, Deepest Scar.</u>\n\n\nJesus is the _only_ One of whom we are told that He was led up to be\n_tempted_. He was the leader of the race for the regaining of the blurred\nimage, the lost mastery and dominion. He Himself bade us pray not to be so\ntempted. He out-matched the tempter. Any one of us, alone, is clearly\nout-matched by that tempter. But we may always rest secure in the victory\nHe achieved that day. Only so are we safe.\n\nIt is noteworthy that the _place_ of the temptation was chosen by the\nSpirit, and what place it is He chooses. Mark keenly, the tempter did not\nchoose it. He was obliged to start in there, but he seized the first\nchance to get away to scenes more congenial to himself.\n\nThe wilderness is one of the most marked spots on the earth's crust. That\nremarkable stretch of land going by swift, steep descents almost from\nJerusalem's very door down to the Dead Sea. It was once described as \"the\ngarden of God,\" that is, as Eden, for beauty and fertility, like the\nfertile Egyptian bottoms. For long centuries no ghastlier bit of land can\nbe found, haggard, stripped bare, its strata twisted out of all shape,\nblistering peeling rocks, scorching furnace-heat reflected from its rocks,\nswept by hot desert winds, it is the land of death, an awful death; no\nlife save crawling scorpions and vipers, with an occasional hyena and\njackal. Here sin had a free line and ran riot. It ran to its logical\nconclusion, till a surgical operation--a cauterization--was necessary to\nsave the rest. Earth's fairest became earth's ugliest. It is the one spot\nwhere sin's free swing seamed its mark deepest in. The story of sin's\nworst is burned into the crust of the earth with letters over a thousand\nfeet deep. This is sin's scar: earth's hell-scar.\n\nThere is no talk of the glory of the kingdom here. Yet there had been\nonce. This is the very spot where that proposition on smaller scale was\nmade to a man in a crisis of _his_ life, and where, lured by the\nattractive outlook, he had chosen selfishly. This is the wilderness, sin's\nwilderness, whither the Holy Spirit led Jesus for the tempter's assault.\nNo man does great service for God till he gets sin into its proportion in\nhis perspective.\n\nJesus was tempted. Temptation, the suggestion to wrong, must find some\npoint of contact within. Therein consists the temptation to the man.\nWithout doubt there was a response within to the temptations that came to\nJesus. Satan always throws his line to catch on a hook inside. The\nphysical sense of hunger responded to the suggestion of getting hold of a\nloaf. The unfailing breath of Jesus' life was trusting His Father. For the\n_way_ a thing should be done, as well as for getting the result, He\ntrusted His Father. This trust, underlying and permeating His whole life,\nfurnishes the point of contact for the second temptation.\n\nThe ruling of a world righteously--not for the glory of reigning,\ningrained in _us_, but for the world's good and betterment--was ingrained\nin Jesus by His birth, and fostered by His study of the Hebrew scriptures,\nand by the consciousness of His mission. Here is the point of contact with\nthe third temptation. At once it is plain that there is nothing wrong here\nin the inward response. For instantly it was clear that a response of His\n_will_ to these outer propositions would not be right, would be wrong, and\nso these points of contact were instantly held in check by His will.\n\n\"_Every_ temptation\" was brought, we are told: \"tempted in _all_ points.\"\nThis does not mean that every particular temptation came to Jesus, but the\nheart, the essential, of every temptation. Every temptation that comes to\nus is along the line of the three that came to Him. By rejecting the\n_first_ of each line He shut out its successors. By accepting the first of\na series of temptations a man opens the way for the next, and so on.\nTemptations come on a scale descending. There are the first, the initial\ntemptations, and then all that follow in their train. Rejecting the first\nstops the whole line. Not only that, but stops also the _momentum_,\nterrific, downward momentum of the whole line.\n\nThe first temptation is the door through which must pass all other\ntemptations of that sort. If that door be opened these other temptations\nhave a chance. If that door be kept shut, all these others are kept\nwaiting. Temptation is always standing with its pointed toe at the crack\nof the door, waiting the slightest suggestion of an opening. This first\ntemptation is always the likeliest of its class to get in. It is not\nalways the same, of course. It is subtly chosen to suit the man. Jesus\nkept these doors rigidly shut, key turned, bolts pushed, bar up, chain\nhooked. So may we.\n\nThe tempting is to be done by \"the devil.\" That is his strong point,\ntempting people. It is one way of recognizing some of his kin. It is a\nmean, contemptible sort of thing. He had fallen into a hole of his own\ndigging, and would pull in everybody else. He is never constructive in his\nwork, always destructive. Best at tearing down. Never builds up. His\nallies can often be told by their resemblance to him here. Jesus is to be\ntempted by this master-tempter. He is going to prove to all his brothers\nthat the tempter has no power without the consent of the tempted. The door\ninto a man has only the one knob. And that's on the inside.\n\n\n\n<u>Waiting the Father's Word.</u>\n\n\nQuite likely the form of the tempter's words suggests the upper current of\nJesus' thought. \"If thou be the _Son of God_.\" Jesus was likely absorbed\nwith His peculiar relation to His Father, with all that that involved. The\ntempter cunningly seeks to sweep Him off of His feet by working on His\nmood. It is ever a favorite method with the tempter to _rush_ a man. A\nflush of feeling, the mood of an intense emotion tipped over the balance\nwith a quick motion of his, has swept many a man off his feet. But Jesus\nheld steady. There was no unholy heat of ambition to disturb the calm\nworking of His mind.\n\nWhy \"if\"? Did Satan doubt it? Is he asking proof? He gets it. Jesus did\nnot need to prove His divinity except by continuing to be divine. He\nproved best that He was Son of God by being true to His Sonship. He\nnaturally acted the part. We prove best that we are right by being right,\nnot by accepting captious, critical propositions. The stars shine. We know\nthey are stars by their shine. Satan would have Jesus use His divinity in\nan undivine way. He was cunning. But Jesus was keener than the tempter was\ncunning.\n\n\"Get a loaf out of this stone. Don't go hungry. Be practical and\nsensible.\" The cold cruelty of Satan! He makes no effort to relieve the\nhunger. The hunger asked for bread and he gave it a stone. That is the\nbest he has. He is a bit short on bread. He would use the physical need to\nbreak down the moral purpose. He has ever been doing just that. Sometimes\nhe induces a man to break down his strength in religious activity. And\nthen he takes advantage of his weakened condition. Even religious activity\nshould be refused save at the leading of God's Spirit. It will not do\nsimply to do _good._ The only safe thing is to do _God's will_, to be tied\nfast to the tether of the Spirit's leading.\n\nJesus _could_ have made a loaf out of the stone. He did that sort of thing\nafterwards. It was not wrong to do it, since, under other circumstances,\nHe did it. But it is wrong to do anything, even a good thing, at the\ndevil's suggestion. He would shun the counsel of the ungodly. The tempter\nattacks first the _neediest_ point, the hunger, and in so far the weakest,\nthe likeliest to yield. Yet it was the strongest, too, for Jesus could\nmake bread. The strongest point may become the weakest because of the very\ntemptation the possession of strength gives to use it improperly. Strength\nused properly remains strength; used improperly it becomes weakness. The\nstrong points always need guarding, that the balance be not tipped over\nand lost. Strength is never greater than when used rightly; never greater\nthan when refused to the improper use. The essence of sin is in the\nimproper use of a proper thing.\n\nThe first step toward victory over temptation is to recognize it. Jesus'\nquick, quiet reply here touches the human heart at once, and touches it at\nits neediest and most sensitive point, the need of sympathy, of a fellow\nfeeling. He said, \"_Man_ shall not live.\" The tempter said, \"God.\" Jesus\npromptly said, \"Man.\" He came to be man, the Son of man, and the Brother\nof man. He took His place as a _man_ that day in the Jordan water. He will\nnot be budged from man's side. He will stay on the man level in full touch\nwith His fellows at every step of the way.\n\nHe was giving to every man, everywhere in the world, under stress of every\ntemptation; with every rope tugging at its fastenings, and threatening\nevery moment to slip its hold, and the man be lost in the storm, _to every\nman_ the right, the enormous staying power to say, \"_Jesus_--a _man\n_--such a one as I--was _here_, and as a _man_ resisted--and _won_. He is\nat my side. I'll lean on Him and _resist_ too,--and _win_ too--in the\nstrength of His winning.\"\n\nJesus says here, \"My life, my food, the supplying of my needs is in the\nhands of my Father. When _He_ gives the word, I'll do: not before. I'll\nstarve if He wishes it, but I'll not mistrust Him; nor do anything save as\nHe leads and suggests. I'll not act at _your_ suggestion, nor anybody's\nelse but His. Starving doesn't begin to bother me like failing to trust\nwould do. But I haven't the faintest idea of starving with such a Father.\"\n\n\"Not by bread alone, but by every word ... of God.\" Not by a loaf, but by\na word. When a man is where God would have him, he can afford to wait\npatiently till God gives the word. A man is never unsteadier on his feet\nthan when he has gone where he was not led. \"_I go at my Father's word.\"\n\"I wait_ for my Father's word.\" Jesus' study of the parchment rolls in\nNazareth was standing Him in good stead now. Through many a prayerful hour\nover that Word had come the trained ear, the waiting spirit, the doing of\nthings only at the Father's initiative. He could make bread, but He\nwouldn't, unless the Father gave the word. It was not simply that He would\n_not_ act at the tempter's suggestion, but He would not act at all except\nat the Father's word. And to this Jesus remained true, whether the request\nfor evidence came from the tempter direct, or from sneering Pharisee at\nthe temple's cleansing, or from unbelieving brothers.\n\nLife comes not through what a man can make, but through the Father's\ncontrolling presence: not through our effort, but through the Father's\npower transmitted through the pipe line of our ready obedience.\n\n    \"Just to let thy Father do\n        As He will.\n    Just to know that He is true,\n        And be still.\n    Just to follow hour by hour\n        As He leadeth.\n    Just to draw the moment's power\n        As it needeth.\n    Just to trust Him. This is all.\n    Then the day will surely be\n        Peaceful, whatsoe'er befall,\n    Bright and bless\u251c\u0119d, calm and free.\"[8]\n\nJesus held every activity, every power subject to the Father's bidding.\nNot only obedient, but nothing else. Waiting the Father's send-off at\nevery turn: this is the message from Jesus that first tug, and first\nvictory. Jesus had held true in the realm of the body, in His relationship\nto Himself.\n\n\n\n<u>Love Never Tests.</u>\n\n\nSatan shifts the scene. These wilderness surroundings grate on his nerves.\nThe setting of this place, once first class, is now rather worn. He's\nfamous at that. It's a favorite device of His; quick scene-shifting. A man\nwins a victory over temptation, but a quick change of surroundings finds\nhim unprepared if he isn't ever alert for it, and down he goes before the\nnew, unexpected rush, before he can get his wind. The tempter is not a\nfool, as regards man. That is, as a rule he is not. In the light of all\nfacts obtainable about his career, that word _might_ be thought of. Yet no\nman of us may apply the word to him. Not one of us is a match for him.\nWe're not in the same class. In his keen subtlety and cunning he can\noutmatch the keenest of us; outwit and befool without doing any extra\nthinking. I am not using the word _wisdom_ of him. We are safe only in the\nwisdom of our big Brother who drew his fangs in the wilderness that day.\n\nHe chooses shrewdly the spot for each following temptation. He's a master\nstage manager. He always works for an _atmosphere_ that will help his\npurpose. He took Jesus up to one of the wings of the temple in the holy\ncity. The holy city, and especially its temple, would awaken holiest\nemotions. Here it was that Jesus, as a boy, years before, had probably\nfirst caught fire. It is likely that He never forgot that first visit.\nHere everything spoke to Him of His Father. The tempter is skilfully\nfollowing the leading of Jesus' reply. Jesus had given a religious answer.\nSo He is given a religious atmosphere, and taken to a religious place. He\nwould trust the Father implicitly. Here is an opportunity to let men see\nthat beautiful spirit of trust. Here is a chance for a master-stroke. A\nsingle simple act will preach to the crowds. \"You'll come down in the\nmidst of an open-mouthed, admiring crowd.\" The devil loves the\nspectacular, the theatrical. He is always working for striking, stagy\neffects.\n\nHow many a man has yielded to the _religious_ temptation! He is taken up\nin the air, and seems to float among ethereal clouds. It is better for us\nto live in the strength of Somebody else's victory, and keep good hard\nearth close to the soles of our feet, or we may come into contact with it\nsuddenly with feet and head changing places.\n\nThe devil \"taketh\" Jesus. How could he? He could do it only by Jesus'\nconsent. Jesus yields to his taking. He has a strong purpose in it. He was\ngoing for the sake of His brothers. The tempter cannot take anybody\nanywhere except with his full consent. He tries to, and often befools men\ninto thinking he can. It's a lie. He cannot. Every man is an absolute\nsovereign in his will, both as regards God and Satan. God will not do\nanything with us without our ready consent. And be it keenly remembered\nthat the tempter _cannot_. Here Jesus gave consent for His brothers' sake.\n\nThe tempter acts his part like an old hand. The proper thing here is some\nscripture, repeated earnestly in unctuous tones. Was it from this tempter\nthat all of us religious folks and everybody else have gotten into the\n_inveterate_ habit of quoting verse and sentence entirely out of\nconnection? Any devil's lie can be proven from the Scriptures on that\nplan. If it was he who set the pace, certainly it has been followed at a\nlively rate. It was a cunning quotation, cunningly edited.\n\nThe angels _are_ ministering spirits. On their hands they do bear us up.\nIt is all true, blessedly true. But it is only true for the man who is\nliving in the first verse of that ninety-first psalm, \"in the secret place\nof the most High.\" The tempter threads his way with cautious skill among\nthose unpleasant allusions to the serpent, and the dragon, and getting\nthem under our feet, and then twisting and trampling with our hard heels.\nHe knew his ground well, and avoids such rough, rude sort of talk. It was\na cunning temptation, cunningly staged and worded and backed. He was doing\nhis best. One wonders if he really thought _Jesus_ could be tripped up\nthat way. So many others have been, and are, even after Jesus has shown us\nthe way. A dust cloth would help some of us--for our Bibles--and a little\nmore exercise at the knee-joint, and a bit of the hard common sense God\nhas given every one of us.\n\nDid Jesus' wondrous, quiet calm nettle the tempter? Was He ever keener and\nquieter? He would step from the substantial boat-deck to the yielding\nwater, He would cut Himself off from His Nazareth livelihood and step out\nwithout any resources, He would calmly walk into Jerusalem when there was\na price upon His head, for so He was led by that Spirit to whose\nsovereignty He had committed Himself. But He would do nothing at the\nsuggestion of this tempter. Jesus never used His power to show He had it,\nbut to help somebody. He could not. It is against the nature of power to\nattempt to prove that you have it by using it. Power is never concerned\nabout itself, but wrapped up in practical service. There were no\ntheatricals about Jesus. He was too intensely concerned about the needs of\nmen. There are none in God-touched men. Elisha did not smite the waters to\nprove that Elijah's power rested upon him, but _to get back across the\nJordan_ to where his work was needing him and waiting his touch. Jesus\nwould wear Himself out bodily in ministering to men's needs, but He\nwouldn't turn a hair nor budge a step to show that He could. This is the\ntouch-stone by which to know all Jesus-men.\n\nHe rebukes this quotation by a quotation that breathes the whole spirit of\nthe passage where it is found. Thou shalt not _test_ God to see if He will\ndo as He promises. These Israelites had been testing, criticizing,\nquestioning, doubting God. That's the setting of His quotation. Jesus says\nthat love never tests. It trusts. Love does not doubt, for it _knows_. It\nneeds no test. It could trust no more fully after a test, for it trusts\nfully now. Aye, it trusts more fully now, for it is trusting _God_, not a\n_test_. Every test of God starts with a question, a doubt, a misgiving of\nGod. Jesus' answer to the second temptation is: love never tests. It\ntrusts. Jesus keeps true in His relation to His Father.\n\n\n\n<u>The Devil Acknowledges the King.</u>\n\n\nAnother swift shift of the scene. Swiftness is a feature now. In a moment\nof time, all the kingdoms, and all the glory of all the earth. Rapid work!\nThis is an appeal to the eye. First the palate, then the emotions, now the\neye. First the appetites, then the religious sense, now the ambition. The\ntempter comes now to the real thing he is after. He would be a god. It is\nwell to sift his proposition pretty keenly, on general principles. His\nreputation for truthfulness is not very good, which means that it is very\nbad. Who wants to try a suspicious egg? He could have quite a number of\ncapitals after his name on the score of mixing lies and the truth. He has\na distinct preference for the flavor of _mixed_ lies.\n\nHere are the three statements in his proposal. All these things have been\ndelivered unto me. I may give them to whom I will. I will give them to\nyou. The first of these is true. He is \"the prince of this world.\" The\nsecond is not true, because through breach of trust he has forfeited his\nrule, though still holding to it against the Sovereign's wish. The third\nis not true. Clearly he hadn't any idea of relinquishing his hold, but\nonly of swamping Jesus. Two parts lie: one part truth--a favorite formula\nof his. The lie gets the vote. A bit of truth sandwiched in between two\nlies.\n\nHe asks for worship. Did he really think that possibly Jesus would\nactually worship him? The first flush answer is, surely not. Yet he is\nputting the thing in a way that has secured actual worship from many a'one\nwho would be horrified at such a blunt putting of his conduct. We must\nshake off the caricature of a devil with pointed horns, and split hoof,\nand forked tail, and see the real, to understand better. From all accounts\nhe must be a being of splendor and beauty, of majestic bearing, and\ndignity. His appeal in effect is this:--These things are all mine. You\nhave in you the ingrained idea of a world-wide dominion over nature, and\nof ruling all men as God's King. Now, can't we fix this thing up between\nus? Let's be friendly. Don't let's quarrel over this matter of world\ndominion.\n\nYou acknowledge me as your sovereign. You rule over all this under me.\nI'll stand next to God, and you stand next to me. It's a mere technical\ndistinction, after all. It'll make no real change in your being a\nworld-wide ruler, and it will make none with me either. Each will have a\nfair share and place. Let's pull together.--The thing sounds a bit\nfamiliar. It seems to me I have heard it since somewhere, if I can jog up\nmy memory. It has raised a cloud of dust in many a man's road, and blurred\nthe clear outlines of the true plan--_has_ raised?--_is_ raising.\n\nJesus' answer is imperative. It is the word of an imperative. He is the\nKing already in His Father's plan. He replies with the sharp, imperial\nbrevity of an emperor, a king of kings, \"Get thee hence!\" Begone! The\ntempter obeys. He knows his master. He goes. Biting his teeth upon his hot\nspittle, utterly cowed, he slinks away. Only one Sovereign, Jesus says.\nAll dominion held properly only by direct dependence upon Him, direct\ntouch with Him, full obedience to Him. No compromise here. No mixing of\nissues. Simple, direct relation to God, and every other relation _through_\nthat. No short cuts for Jesus. They do but cut with deep gashes the man\nwho cuts. The \"short\" describes the term of his power, a short shrift.\n\nWhen the devil has used up all his ammunition--. That's a comfort. There\nis an end to the devil if we will but quietly hold on. Every arrow shot.\nNot a cartridge left. Yet he is not entirely through with Jesus. He has\nretired to reform the broken lines. He'll melt up the old bullets into\ndifferent shape. They have been badly battered out of all shape by\nstriking on this hard rock. He's a bit shaken himself. This Jesus is\nsomething new. When he can get his wind he will come back. He came back\nmany times. Once through ignorant Peter with the loaf temptation in new\nshape, once through His mother's loving fears with the emotional\ntemptation, and through the earnest, hungry Greeks, and the bread-full\nthousands with the kingdom temptation. Yet the edge of His sword is badly\nnicked, and never regains its old edge.\n\nBut now he goes. He obeys Jesus. The tempter resisted goes, weakened. He\nis a coward now. He fights only with those weaker than himself. He\ndoesn't take a man of his own size. Temptation resisted strengthens the\nman. There is a new resisting power. There is the fine fettle that victory\ngives. Jesus is Victor. The Jordan experience has left its impress. Every\nact of obedience is to the tempter's disadvantage. In Jesus we are\nvictors, too. But only in Him.\n\nThrough Jesus we meet a fangless serpent. The old glare is in the eye, the\nrattles are noisy, but the sting's out. He is still there. He still can\nscare; but can do not even that to the man arm-in-arm with Jesus. Jesus\nkeeps true the relationship to all men and to nature by keeping true the\nrelationship to His Father.\n\nOur Father, lead us not into temptation as Jesus was led. We're no match\nfor the tempter. Help us to keep arm-in-arm with Jesus, and live ever in\nthe power of His victory.\n\n\n\n\nThe Transfiguration: An Emergency Measure\n\n\n\n<u>God in Sore Straits.</u>\n\n\nThe darkest hour save only one has now come in Jesus' life. And that one\nwhich was actually darkest, in every way, from every view-point darkest,\nhad in it some gleams of light that are not here. Jesus is now a fugitive\nfrom the province of Judea. The death plot has been settled upon. There's\na ban in Jerusalem on His followers. Already one man has been cut off from\nsynagogue privileges, and become a religious and social outcast. The\nsoutherners are pushing the fight against Jesus up into Galilee.\n\nFour distinct times that significant danger word \"withdrew\" has been used\nin describing Jesus' departure from where the Judean leaders had come.\nFirst from Judea to Galilee, then from Galilee to distant foreign points\nHe had gone, for a time, till the air would cool a bit. The bold return to\nJerusalem at the fall Feast of Tabernacles had been attended, first by an\nofficial attempt to arrest, and then by a passionate attempt to stone\nJesus to death.\n\nAnd now the Galilean followers begin to question, and to leave. His\nenemies' northern campaign, together with His own plain teaching, has\naffected the Galilean crowds. They come in as great numbers as ever to\nhear and to be healed. But many that had allied themselves as Jesus'\nfollowers decide that He is not the leader they want. He is quite too\nunpractical. The kingdom that the Galileans are eager for, that the Roman\nyoke may be shaken off, seems very unlikely to come under such a leader.\nMany desert Him.\n\nJesus felt the situation keenly. The kingdom plan in Jerusalem had failed.\nAnd now the winning of individuals as a step in another plan is slipping\nits hold. These people are glad of bread and the easing of bodily\ndistress, but the tests of discipleship they pull away from. He turns to\nthe little band of His own choosing, with a question that reveals the keen\ndisappointment of His heart. There's a tender yearning in that question,\n\"Will ye also go away?\" And Peter's instant, loyal answer does not blind\nHis keen eyes to the extremity. With sad voice He says, \"One of you, my\nown chosen friends, one of you is a--devil.\" Things are in bad shape, and\ngetting worse.\n\nIt was a time of dire extremity. God was in sore straits. The kingdom plan\nwas clearly gone for the present. The rub was to save enough out of the\nwreckage to get a sure starting-point for the new plan, through which, by\nand by, the other original plan would work out. There can be no stronger\nevidence of God's need of men than this transfiguration scene. Just\nbecause He had made man a sovereign in his will, God must work out all of\nHis plans _through_ that sovereign will. He would not lower one whit His\nambition for a man free in his own will. He Himself would do nothing to\nmar the divine image in man. For man's sake, and _through_ man's\nwill--that is ever God's law of dealing.\n\n\n\n<u>Fire and Anvil for Leaders.</u>\n\n\nThe great need just now was not simply for men who would be loving and\nloyal, but men who would be _leaders_. It has ever been the sorest need.\nMen are not so scarce, true-hearted men, willing to endure sacrifice, but\n_leaders_ have always been few, and are. Nothing seems to be less\nunderstood than leadership; and nothing so quickly recognized when the\nreal thing appears. Peter _was_ a leader among these men. He had dash and\npush. He was full of impulse. He was always proposing something. He acted\nas spokesman. He blurted out whatever came. The others followed his lead.\nThere were the crude elements of leadership here. But not true leadership\nof the finer, higher kind.\n\nThe whole purpose of the transfiguration was to get and tie up leaders. It\nwas an emergency measure, out of the regular run of things. Goodness makes\ncharacter. It takes goodness plus ability to make true leadership. The\nheart can make a loving follower. It takes a heart, warm and true, plus\n_brains_ to make a leader. Character is the essential for life. For true\nleadership, there needs to be character plus ability: the ability to keep\nthe broad sweep of things, and not be lost in details, nor yet to lose\nsight of details; to discern motive and drifts; to sift through the\nincidentals which may be spectacular and get to the essential which may be\nin Quaker garb.\n\nThere are two sorts of leadership, of action, and of thought. By\ncomparison with the other, leaders of action are many, leaders of thought\nfew. Peter was the leader in action of the disciples, and in the earlier\nchurch days. John became the leader in thought of the later years of the\nearly church. Paul was both, a very unusual combination. Leaders are born,\nit is true. But the finest and truest and highest leaders must be both\nborn leaders, and then born again as leaders. There needs to be the\noriginal stuff, and then that stuff hammered into shape under hard blows\non the anvil of experience. The fire must burn out the clay and dirt, and\nthen the hammer shape up the metal. Leaders must have convictions driven\nin clear through the flesh and bone, and riveted on the other side.\n\n_Simon_ loved Jesus, but there needed to be more before _Peter_ would\narrive. It took the transfiguration to put into the impulsive, unsteady,\nwobbling Simon the metal that would later become steel in Peter. Yet it\ntook much more, and finally the fire of Pentecost, to get the needed\ntemper into the steel. These same lips could give that splendid statement\nthat has become the church's foundation; and, a bit later, utter boldly\nfoolish, improper words to Jesus; and, later yet, utter vulgar profanity,\nand words far worse, aye, the worst that could be said about a _friend_,\nand in that friend's _need_, too.\n\nThis was a fair sample of the clay and iron, the Simon and the Peter in\nthis man. Yet it was with painful slowness that he had been brought up to\nwhere he is now. Two years of daily contact with Jesus. Slow work! No,\nrapid work. Nobody but Jesus could have done it in such a short time.\nNobody but Jesus could have done it at all. And, mark you keenly, this man\nis the _leader_ of the band of men that stand closest to Jesus. This is\nthe setting of the great transfiguration scene.\n\n\n\n<u>An Irresistible Plan.</u>\n\n\nJesus goes off, away from the crowds, to have a bit of quiet time with\nthis inner band of His. Here is the strategic point, now. The key to the\nfuture plan is in this small group. If that key can be filed into shape,\ncleaned of rust, and gotten to fit and turn in the lock, all may yet be\nwell. The nub of all future growth is here. With simple, keen tact He\nbegins His questionings, leading on, until Peter responds with his\nsplendid declaration for which the church has ever been grateful to him.\n\"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.\" It comes to Jesus' ears\nas a grateful drink of cold water to a thirsty man on a hot day in a\ndusty road.\n\nThen to this leader and to the inner circle, He reveals the changed plan.\nFor the first time the word church is used, that peculiar word which later\nbecomes the name of the new organization, \"a company of persons called\nout.\" He is going to build up a church upon this statement of faith from\nPeter's lips, and this church will hold the relation to the kingdom of\nkey-holder, administrator. The church is to be a part of the\nadministration of the coming kingdom.\n\nAnd so Jesus begins His difficult, sad task of preparing this band for the\nevent six months off in Jerusalem. There is to be a tragedy before the\nbuilding of the church which will hold the kingdom keys. So thoroughly\ndoes Peter fail to understand Jesus, that with stupid boldness he attempts\nto \"rebuke\" Him. Peter \"took\" Jesus. A great sight surely! He slips his\nhand in Jesus' arm and takes Him off to one side to--straighten--Him--out.\nThis Jesus is being swept off His feet by undue emotional enthusiasm.\nPeter would fix it up and save the day. It would take Peter to do that.\n\nAnd this is a sample of the best leadership in this inner group. Things\nwere in bad shape. All the machinery hung upon a little pin holding two\nparts together. That pin threatens to bend and break for lack of temper.\nThe Son of God leaves all else and turns aside to attend to a pin. The\nfuture of the kingdom hung upon three undisciplined country fishermen.\nThe transfiguration spells out God's dire extremity in getting a footing\nin human hearts _and brains_ for His plans. Something must be done.\n\nMark what that something was to be: so simple in itself, so tremendous in\nits results. They were to be allowed to _see Jesus_. That would be enough.\nThe Jesus within would look out through the body He was using. The real\nJesus within looked out through the Jesus they knew. He let these men see\nHimself a few moments; simply that. All of that, yet simply that. They\nwere His lovers. They were to be sorely tried by coming events. They were\nto be the leaders. To _love_, for a time of _sore need_, for _service's_\nsake, for the sake of the _multitudes_ whose _leaders_ they were to be,\nfor the saving of the _church_ plan, and beyond of the _kingdom_ plan, the\nJesus within looked out for a few moments into their faces.\n\nIt was the same plan used later in getting another leader. Jesus had to go\noutside these men for a man with qualifications needed by the situation\nthat these men did not have. The human element again in evidence. Paul\nsays, \"When I could not see for the glory of that light.\" That light\nbothered his eyes. The old ambitions were blurred. He couldn't see them.\nThe outlines dimmed, the old pedigree and plans faded out. They could no\nlonger be seen for the glory of that light. It is the plan the Master has\never used, and still does. It is irresistible.\n\n\n\n<u>\"The Glory of that Light.\"</u>\n\n\nIt was six days, or eight counting both ends, after the first telling of\nthe coming tragedy that shook them so. Here is a bit of practical\npsychology. Jesus lets the brain impression made by that strange\nannouncement _deepen_ before making the next impression. Jesus went up\ninto the mountain \"to pray.\" Prayer never failed Him. It was equal to\nevery need with Jesus. It was while praying that the wondrous change came.\nChanged while praying. When Moses came down from that long time alone with\nGod, his face was full of the glory reflected from God's presence.\nStephen's face caught the light of another Face into which he was intently\nlooking.\n\nJesus was changed _from within_. It was His own glory that these men saw.\nHe had wrapped Himself up in a bit of human tapestry so He could move\namong men without blinding their eyes. Now He looks out through the\nstrands. They are astonished and awed to find that face they know so well\nnow shining as the sun, and the garments made transparent as light,\nglistening like snow, by reason of the great brilliance of the light\nwithin. Yet Jesus let out only a part of the glory. When Paul saw, on the\nDamascus road, the light was _above_ the shining of the sun.\n\nWhen their eyes get over the first daze, the disciples come to see that\nbesides Jesus there are two others, two of the old Hebrew leaders. There\nis Moses, the great maker of the nation, the greatest leader of all. And\nrugged Elijah, who had boldly stood in the breach and saved the day when\nthe nation's king was proposing to replace the worship of Jehovah with\ndemon-worship. They are talking earnestly together, these three,\nabout--what? The great sacrifices Jesus had been enduring? The\ndisappointment in the kingdom plan? The suffering and shame to be endured?\nThe bitter obstinacy of the opposition? The chief priests' plotting?\nListen! They are talking about the departure, the exodus, the going out\nand up, Jesus is about to _accomplish_. They are absorbed in Jesus. He was\nabout to execute a master-stroke. He is going to accomplish a great move.\nThey are wholly absorbed in Him, this Moses, and Elijah, and in this great\nmove of His for men.\n\nMeanwhile these men lying on the ground are waking up and rubbing their\neyes. The only jarring note is a human note. John and James look with awe,\nreverent awe. It is an insight into their character that nothing is said\nabout them. Their sense of reverence and power of control are to the\nfront. It is dear, impulsive old Peter who can't keep still, even amid\nsuch a scene. His impulsive heart is just back of his lips, with no\ncheck-valves between. He must offer a few remarks. This great vision must\nbe duly recognized. What a sensation it would make in Jerusalem to get\nthese two men to stay and come down and address a meeting! That would turn\nthe tide surely. Luke graciously explains that he did not know what he\nwas saying. No, probably not. The tongue seemed to be going mechanically,\nrather than by the controlling touch of the will. Peter seems to have a\nlarge posterity, some of whom abide with us to this day.\n\nThen the vision is shut out by the intervening cloud. This human\ninterference disturbs the atmosphere. For Peter's sake, the glory is\nhidden that the impression of it may not be rubbed out even slightly by\nhis own speech. We blur and lose the impression God would make upon us, by\nour speech, sometimes. A bit of _divine_ practical psychology, this\nmovement of the cloud. Then the quiet voice that thrilled them with the\nmessage of the Jordan, \"This is My Son; My Chosen One: hear ye Him.\" Then\nit is all over.\n\nIt is most striking that this wondrous vision of glory is for these three\nobscure, untutored men, of lowly station. Not for the nation's leaders.\nYet the reason is plain. They had gladly accepted what light had come. To\nthem came more. Their door was open. It is these men who had obeyed light\nthat now received more. To him that hath received what light has come\nshall be given more. From him that hath no light, because he won't let it\nin, shall be taken away even what light he has. Shut fists will stifle\nwhat is already held, and the life of it oozes out between the fingers.\n\nIn each of the three Gospels recording this scene it is introduced by the\nsame quotation from Jesus' lips. There were some persons in His presence\nwho would not die until they had seen the kingdom of God. The writers'\nreference is clearly to the vision that follows. It is said to be a vision\nof the coming kingdom. Jesus, with the divine glory within, no longer\nconcealed, but shining out with an indescribable splendor, up above the\nearth, with two godly men, one of whom had died, and the other had been\ncaught up from the earth without death, talking earnestly about men and\naffairs on the earth, and in direct communication with the Father--that is\nthe vision here of the kingdom.\n\n\n\n<u>A Vision of Jesus.</u>\n\n\nAnd so the darkest hour save only one was filled with the brightest light.\nThe after, darker hour of Calvary had gleams of light from this\ntransfiguration scene. There was faithful John's sympathetic presence all\nthrough the trial. John never flinched. And Peter had tears that caught\nthe light from Jesus' eyes, and reflected their glistening rays within.\nThose tears of Peter's were a great comfort to Jesus that night and the\nnext day. The two greatest leaders were sure.\n\nThe transfiguration served its purpose fully. The memory of it saved Peter\nout of the wreckage of Simon, else Judas' hemp might have had double use\nthat night. Under the leadership of these men, the little band hold\ntogether during that day, so awful to them in the killing of their leader\nand the dashing of all their fondest hopes on which they had staked\neverything. Two nights later finds them gathered in a room. Could it have\nbeen the same upper room where they had eaten _with Him_ that\nnever-to-be-forgotten night, and listened to His comforting words? Only\nThomas does not come. Everybody swings in but one. That shows good work by\nthese leaders. But another week's work brings him, too, into the meeting\nand into the light.\n\nThese three men never forgot the sight of that night. John writes his\nGospel under the spell of the transfiguration. \"We beheld _His glory\"_ he\nsays at the start, and understands Isaiah's wondrous writings, because he,\ntoo, \"_saw His glory.\"_ The impression made upon Peter deepened steadily\nwith the years. The first impression of garments glistening beyond any\nfuller's skill has grown into an abiding sense of the \"_majesty\" _ of\nJesus and \"_the majestic glory_.\" I think it wholly likely, too, that this\nvision of glory was in James' face, and steadied his steps, as so early in\nthe history he met Herod's swordsman.\n\nIt was _a vision of Jesus_ that turned the tide. There's nothing to be\ncompared with that. A man's life and service depend wholly on the vision\nof Jesus that has come, that is coming. When that comes, instinctively he\nfinds himself ever after saying, without planning to,\n\n    \"Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus,\n      I've lost sight of all beside.\n    So enchained my spirit's vision,\n      Looking at the Crucified.\"\n\nWith the Damascus traveller he will be saying, \"When I could not see for\nthe glory of that light.\" May we each with face open, uncovered, all\nprejudice and self-seeking torn away, behold the glory of Jesus, even\nthough for the sake of our eyes it come as a reflected glory. Then we\nshall become, as were Moses and Stephen, unconscious reflectors of that\nglory. And the crowd on the road shall find Jesus in us and want Him.\nThen, too, we ourselves shall be changing from glory to glory, by the\ninner touch of Jesus' Spirit, as we continue gazing.\n\n\n\n\nGethsemane: The Strange, Lone Struggle\n\n\n\n<u>The Pathway In.</u>\n\n\nGreat events always send messengers ahead. There is a movement in the\nspirit currents. A sort of tremor of expectancy affects the finer currents\nof air. The more sensitively organized one is, that is to say, the more\nthe spirit part of a man dominates body and mind, the more conscious will\nhe be of the something coming.\n\nJesus was keenly conscious ahead of the coming of Calvary. Apart from the\nactual knowledge, there was a painful thrill of expectancy, intensifying\nas the event came nearer. The cross cast long, dark shadows ahead. The\ndarkest is Gethsemane. It would be, for it was nearest. But there were\nother shadows before that of the olive grove. Jesus plainly reveals in His\nbehavior, in His appearance, that He felt keenly, into the very fibre, so\nsensitively woven, of His being, that the experience of the cross would be\na terrific one for Him. It was deliberately chosen by Him, and the time of\nits coming chosen in the full knowledge that it would be an awful ordeal.\nIt would establish the earth's record for suffering, never approached\nbefore or since.\n\nAs He turns His face for the last time away from Galilee, and to Judea,\nit is with the calmness of strong deliberation. Yet the intenseness of the\ninner spirit, in its look ahead, is shown in His face, His demeanor. As He\ncomes to a certain Samaritan village on the road south, the usual\ninvitation to stop for rest and a bit of refreshment is withheld out of\nrespect to His evident purpose. It is clear to these villagers that His\nface is set to go to Jerusalem. In Luke's striking language, \"_His face\nwas going to Jerusalem._\" What going to Jerusalem meant to Him had no\nmeaning to them. They saw only that face, and were so caught by the\nstrong, stern determination plainly written there that they felt impelled\nnot to offer the usual hospitality.\n\nThey were Samaritans, it is true, a half-breed race, hated by Jews, and\nhating them, but invariably they had been friendly to Jesus. That must\nhave been a marked face that held back these homely country people from\npressing their small attentions upon Jesus. They are keener to read the\nmeaning of that face than are these disciples who are more familiar with\nthe sight of it. The impress already made upon the inner spirit by the\ngreat event toward which Jesus had determinedly set Himself was even thus\nearly marked in His face.\n\nLater, on that journey south, as the time and place are nearing, He\nstrides along the road, with such a look in His face as makes these men,\nwho had lived in closest touch, \"amazed,\" that is, awed and frightened.\nAnd as they followed behind, they were \"afraid.\" It is the only time it is\nsaid that the sight of His face made them _afraid_. Then He explains to\nthem what is in His thoughts, with full details of the indignities to be\nheaped upon His person. The sternness of His purpose, perhaps not only the\nterrible experience of knowing sin at such close range, but, not unlikely,\nan anger, a hot indignation against sin and its ravages, which He was\ngoing to stab to death, flashed blinding lightning out of those eyes.\n\nIt was, not unlikely, something of the same feeling as made Him shake with\nindignation as He realized His dear friend Lazarus in the cold, clinging\nembrace of death, sin's climax. The determination to conquer sin, give it\na death thrust, mingled with His acute consciousness of that through which\nHe must go in the doing of it, wrote deep marks on His face. It is the\nbeginning already of Gethsemane, as that, in turn, is of Calvary.\n\nEarlier in the last week occurs the incident which agitates Jesus so, of\nthe Greeks' request for an interview. These earnest seekers for truth,\nfrom outside the Jewish nation, seem to bring up to His mind the great\noutside world, so hungry for Him, and for which He was so hungry. But,\nquick as a flash, there falls over that the inky black shadow of a cross\nin His path, and the instant realization that only _through it_ could He\nget out to these great outside crowds.\n\nAs though unaware of the presence of the crowds, He begins talking with\nHimself, out of His heart, saying words which none understand. \"Now is my\ninnermost being agitated, all shaken up; and what decisive word shall I\nspeak? Shall I say, 'Father, save me from this experience'? He can. No, I\ncannot say that, for for this purpose I have deliberately come to it. This\nis what I will say--and the agitation within His spirit issues in the\nvictorious tightening of every rivet in His purpose--'Father, glorify Thy\nname.'\" This is Gethsemane already, both in the struggle and in the\nvictory through loyalty to the Father's will.\n\n\n\n<u>The Climax of Jesus' Suffering.</u>\n\n\nAnd now comes Gethsemane. Both hat and shoes quickly go off here, for this\nis holiest ground. One looks with head bowed and breath held in, and\nreverential awe ever deepening. The shadow of the cross so long darkening\nHis path is now closing in and enveloping Jesus. The big trees cast black\nshadows against the brilliance of the full moon. Yet they are as bright\nlights beside this other shadow, this inky shadow cast by the tree up\nyonder, just outside the Jerusalem wall, with the huge limb sitting\nsharply astride the trunk.\n\nThe scene under these trees has been spoken of by almost all, if not by\nall, as a strange struggle. With a great variety of explanations men have\nwondered why He agonized so. It _was_ a strange struggle, and ever will\nbe, not understood, strange to angels and to men and to demons. It is\nstrange to angels of the upper world, for they do not know, and cannot,\nthe terrific meaning of sin as did Jesus. It is strange to all other men\nexcept Jesus, for we do not know the meaning of purity as Jesus did. And\nit was strange to demons, for in the event of the morrow sin was working\nout a new degree of itself, a new superlative, in its final attack on\nJesus. Sin was trying to strangle God. Even demons stared.\n\nPurity refined beyond what angels knew, and sin coarsened beyond what\ndemons knew were coming together. Purity's finest and sin's coarsest were\ncoming together in the closest touch thus far, in this Man under those old\nbrown-barked gray-leaved, gnarly trees. The shock of such extremes meeting\nwould be terrific. It _was_ terrific here under the trees. It was yet more\nso on the morrow. Here was the cross in anticipation. Calvary was in\nGethsemane.\n\nMan never will understand the depth of Gethsemane. We are incapable of\nsympathizing with Jesus here. Yet it is true that as the Holy Spirit\nwithin a man increases the purity, and the horror of sin, there comes an\nincreasing sense of sympathy with Him, and an increasing appreciation that\nwe cannot go into the depths of what He knew here. In the best of us sin\nis ingrained. Jesus was wholly free from taint or twist of sin. He knew it\nonly in others. Now He, the pure One, purity personified, was coming into\n_closest_ contact with sin, and sin at its worst. He had been in contact\nwith sin in _others_. He had seen its cruel ravages and been indignant\nagainst it.\n\nNow, on the morrow, He is to know sin by a horrid intimacy of contact, and\nsin at a new worst. He was yielding to its tightest hold. Sin at its\nugliest would stretch out its long, bony arms and gaunt hands, and fold\nHim to itself in closest embrace and hold Him there. And He was allowing\nthis, that so when sin's worst was done, He might seize it by the throat\nand strangle it. He would put death to death. Yet so terrific is the\nstruggle that He must accept in Himself that which He thereby destroys.\nThis is the agony of Gethsemane. It may be told, but not understood. Only\none as pure as He could understand, and then only under circumstances that\nnever will come again.\n\nThe horror of this contact with sin is intensified clear out of our reach\nby this: it meant _separation from His Father_. The Father was the life of\nJesus. The Father's presence and approving smile were His sunshine. From\nthe earliest consciousness revealed to us was that consciousness of His\n_Father_. Only let that smile be seen, that voice heard, that presence\nfelt by this One so sensitive to it, and all was well. No suffering\ncounted. The Father's presence tipped the scales clear down against every\nhurting thing.\n\n_But_--now on the morrow that would be changed. The Father's face\nbe--hidden--His presence _not_ felt. That was the climax of all to Jesus.\nDo you say it was for a short time only? In minutes y-e-s. As though\nexperiences were ever told by the clock! What bulky measurements of time\nwe have! Will we never get away from the clocks in telling time? No clock\never can tick out the length to Jesus of that time the Father's face was\nhidden. This hiding of the Father's face was the climax of suffering to\nJesus.\n\n\n\n<u>Alone.</u>\n\n\nIt was a very full evening for Jesus. In the upper room of a friend's\nhouse they meet for the eating of the Passover meal. There is the great\nact of washing His disciples' feet, the eating of the old Hebrew prophetic\nmeal, the going out of Judas into the night of his dark purpose, the new\nsimple memorial meal. Then come those long quiet talks, in which Jesus\nspeaks out the very heart of His heart, and that marvellous prayer so\nsimple and so bottomless.\n\nVery likely He is talking, as they move quietly along the Jerusalem\nstreets, out of the gate leading toward the Kedron brook, and then over\nthe brook toward the enclosed spot, full of the great old olive trees. The\nmoon is at the full. This is one of His favorite praying places. He is\ngoing off for a bit of prayer. _So_ He approaches this great crisis. There\nis a friendly word spoken to these men that they be keenly alert, and\n_pray_, lest they yield to temptation. It is significant, this word about\ntemptation. Then into the woods He goes, the disciples being left among\nthe trees, while He goes in farther with the inner three, then farther\nyet, quite alone. Intense longing for fellowship mingles with intense\nlonging to be alone. He would have a warm hand-touch, yet they cannot help\nHim here, and may do something to jar.\n\nNow He is on His knees, now prone, full length, on His face. The\nagony is upon Him. Snatches of His prayer are caught by the\nwondering three ere sleep dulls their senses. \"My Father--if it be\npossible--_let--this--cup--pass_--from--me--Yet--_Thy--will_--be done.\"\nThe words used to tell of His mental distress are so intense that the\ntranslators are puzzled to find English words strong enough to put in\ntheir place. A frenzy of fright, a nightmare horror, a gripping chill\nseizes Him with a terrible clutch. It is as though some foul, poisonous\ngas is filling the air and filling His nostrils and steadily choking His\ngasping breath. The dust of death is getting into His throat. The strain\nof spirit is so great that the life tether almost slips its hold. And\nangels come, with awe stricken faces, to minister. Even after that, some\nof the life, that on the morrow is to be freely spilled out, now reddens\nthe ground. The earth is beginning to feel the fertilizing that by and by\nis to bring it a new life.\n\nBy and by the mood quiets, the calm returns and deepens. The changed\nprayer reveals the victory: \"My Father, if this cup _can_not pass away\nexcept I drink it--if only through this experience can Thy great love-plan\nfor the race be worked out--Thy--will\"--slowly, distinctly, with the\nthrobbing of His heart and the iron of His will in them, come the\nwords--\"Thy--will--be--done.\" In between times He returns to the drowsy\ndisciples with the earnest advice again about being awake, and alert, and\npraying because of temptation near by.\n\nAnd gentle reproach mingles in the special word spoken to Peter. \"Simon,\nare you sleeping? Could you not be watching with me _one hour_?\" Yes, this\nwas Simon now, the old Simon. Jesus' new Peter was again slipping from\nview. Then the great love of His heart excuses their conduct. What\nmasterly control in the midst of unutterable agitation! Back again for a\nlast bit of prayer, and then He turns His face with a great calm breathing\nall through those deep lines of suffering, and with steady step turns\ntoward the cross.\n\n\n\n\nCalvary: Victory\n\n\n\n<u>Yielding to Arrest.</u>\n\n\nIt is probably close to midnight when Jesus steps out from among the trees\nto meet the crowds headed by the traitor. He knew they were coming, and\nquietly goes to meet them. There is a great rabble that the chief priests\nhad drummed up, a city rabble with Roman soldiers, some of the chief\npriests' circle, and in the lead of all, Judas. Judas keeps up the\npretense of friendship, and, advancing ahead of his crowd, greets Jesus\nwith the usual kiss. Jesus dispels the deception at once with His question\nof reproach, \"Betrayest thou with a _kiss_?\" Damnable enough to betray,\nbut to use love's token in hate's work made it so much worse. Then He\nyields to Judas' lips. It was the beginning of the indignities He was to\nsuffer that night. Jesus quietly adds, \"Friend, do what you have planned.\nLet there be no more shamming.\" But Judas' work is done. The silver\nsecured under his belt is earned. He drops back into the crowd.\n\nJesus steps out into the clear moonlight, and faces the crowd pressing\neagerly up. His is the one masterly, majestic presence. Quietly He asks,\n\"Whom are you hunting for?\" Back comes the reply, \"Jesus of Nazareth.\"\nJesus at once replies, \"I am He.\" Again, that strange power of Jesus'\npresence is felt, but now more marked than ever before. The crowd falls\nbackward and down to the ground. Soldiers, priests, crowds, Judas lying\nprone before Jesus! Again the question and the answer, and then the word\nspoken on behalf of His followers. This manifestation of power is _for\nothers_ this time.\n\nRecovering themselves, the crowds press forward. The bewildered Peter\nmakes an awkward stroke with a sword he had secured and cuts off the right\near of a man in the front of the crowd. Jesus gently stops the movement\nwith a word. The Father would even then send twelve legions of angels if\nHe were but to give the word. But He was not giving words of that sort,\nbut doing what the Father wished. With a word of apology for His impetuous\nfollower, the man's ear is restored with a touch. Surely _he_ never forgot\nJesus.\n\nThe leaders, now satisfied that Jesus will not use His power on His own\nbehalf, seize Him and begin to bind His hands. As He yields to their\ntouch, Jesus, looking into the faces of the Jewish leaders, said, \"You\nhunt me and treat me as though I were a common robber. I have never tried\nto get away from you. But now for a while things are in your control, the\ncontrol of the powers of night.\"\n\nMeanwhile the disciples forsook Him and fled, except two, John and Peter.\nPeter followed at what he thought a safe distance. John kept along with\nthe crowd, and went in \"_with Jesus_.\" Mark tells about the attempted\narrest of a young man who seemed friendly to Jesus, but in the struggle he\nescaped, leaving his garments behind. And so they make their way, a\ntorch-light procession through the darkness of the night, back across the\nbrook, up the steep slope to the city gate, and through the narrow streets\nto the palace of the high priest.\n\n\n\n<u>The Real Jewish Ruler.</u>\n\n\nHere Jesus is expected. Late as it is He is at once brought before Annas.\nAnnas was an old man who had been high priest himself once, years before,\nand who had afterwards absolutely controlled that office through the\nsuccessive terms of his sons and now of his son-in-law. He was the real\nleader of the inner clique that held the national reins in a clutching\ngrip. Caiaphas was the nominal high priest. The old man Annas was the real\nleader. He controlled the inner finances and the temple revenues. To him\nfirst Jesus is taken. He begins a quizzical, critical examination of Jesus\nabout disciples and teaching. Possibly he is trying to overawe this young\nGalilean. Jesus calmly answers. \"I have taught openly, never secretly;\neverybody knows what my teaching has been. Why ask Me? These people all\naround have heard all my teaching.\" He was ever in the open, in sharp\ncontrast with these present proceedings. One of the underlings of the\nhigh priest--struck--Jesus--in the face, saying, \"Answerest thou the high\npriest so?\" Jesus quietly replies, \"If I have spoken something wrong tell\nme what it is, but if not, why do you strike Me?\" Annas ignores the gross\ninsult by one of his own men, and, probably with an exultant sneer that\nthe disturber of the temple revenues is in his power at last, gives order\nthat Jesus be bound and taken to his chief underling, Caiaphas.\n\nThis is the first phase of the condemnation determined upon beforehand,\nand the real settling of the _Jewish_ disposition of Jesus. Still the\nforms had to be gone through. So Jesus is sent with the decision of Annas\nin the thongs on His hands to Caiaphas, high priest that year by the grace\nof the old intriguer Annas, and by Roman appointment. The thing must be\ndone up in proper shape. These folks are great sticklers for proper forms.\n\nProbably it is across a courtyard they go to another part of the same pile\nof buildings or palace. Caiaphas, too, is ready, unusual though the hour\nis. With him are several members of the senate, the official body in\ncontrol of affairs. The plans have been carefully worked out. This night\nwork will get things in shape before the dreaded crowds of the morrow can\nbe aroused. Now begins the examination here. These plotters have been so\nabsorbed in getting Jesus actually into their power that they seem to have\nover-looked the details of making out a strong case against Him. They\nreally didn't need a case to secure their end, yet they seem to want to\nkeep up the forms, probably not because of any remnants of supposed\nconscience left unseared, but to swing the bothersome, fanatical crowds\nthat must always be reckoned with. Now they deliberately try to find men\nwho will lie about Jesus' words, and swear to it. They find some willing\nenough--money would fix that--but not bright enough to make their stories\nhang together. At last some one brings up a remark made three years before\nby Jesus about destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days. It\nis hard to see how they might expect to make anything out of that, for in\nthe remark, as they understood it, He had proposed to undertake the\nrebuilding of the famous structure if they should destroy it. And then\nthey can't even agree here. Clearly they're hard pushed. Something must be\ndone. Precious time is slipping away. The thing must be in shape by dawn\nif they are to get it through before the crowds get hold of it.\n\nAll this time Jesus stands in silence, doubtless with those eyes of His\nturned now upon Caiaphas, now on the others. His presence disturbed them\nin more ways than one. That great calm, pure face must have been an\nirritant to their jaded consciences. Suddenly the presiding officer stands\nup and dramatically cries out, as though astonished, \"Answerest thou\nnothing? Canst thou not hear these charges against Thee?\" Still that\nsilence of lip, and those great eyes looking into His enemies' faces. Then\ncomes the question lurking underneath all the time, put in the form of a\nsolemn oath to the prisoner, \"I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou\ntell us whether Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.\" Thus appealed to,\nJesus at once replies, \"_I am_.\" And then, knowing full well the effect of\nthe reply, He adds, \"_Nevertheless_--notwithstanding your evident purpose\nregarding Me--the Son of Man will be sitting at the right hand of Power,\nand coming in the clouds of heaven, and ye shall see it.\"\n\nIn supposed righteous horror Caiaphas tore his garments, and cried, \"What\nfurther need is there of witnesses? Behold you have heard His blasphemy.\nWhat verdict do you give?\" Back come the eager cries, \"He deserves\ndeath--Guilty.\" So the second session closes with the verdict of guilty\nagreed upon. Yet this was not official. The senate could meet only in\ndaylight hours. The propriety of form they were so eager for requires them\nto wait until dawn should break, and then they could technically give the\ndecisive verdict now agreed upon. While they are waiting, the intense\nhatred of Jesus in their hearts and their own cruel thirstings find outlet\nupon Jesus' person. They--spat--in--His--face, and struck Him, with open\nhand and shut fist. He is blind-folded, and then struck by one and another\nwith derisive demands that He use His prophetic skill to tell who had been\nhitting Him. And this goes on for possibly a couple of hours before dawn\npermits the next step, soldiers vying with senators in doing Him greatest\ninsult.\n\n\n\n<u>Held Steady by Great Love.</u>\n\n\nMeanwhile a scene is being enacted within ear-shot of Jesus that hurts Him\nmore than these vulgar insults. Peter is getting into bad shape. John was\nacquainted in the high priest's house-hold, and, going directly in without\nstriking his colors, is not disturbed. Peter gets as far as the gateway,\nleading through a sort of alley into the open courtyard, around which on\nthe four sides the palace was built. Here, as a stranger, he was refused\nadmittance, until John comes to speak a word for him. In the center of the\nopen court a fire was burning to relieve the cold of the night, and about\nthis was gathered a mixed crowd of soldiers and servants and attendants.\nPeter goes over to the fire, and, mingling with the others, sits warming\nhimself, probably with a studied carelessness. The maid who let him in,\ncoming over to the fire, looks intently into his face, and then says, \"You\nbelong to the Nazarene, too.\" Peter stammers out an embarrassed, mixed up\ndenial, \"I don't know what you mean--I don't understand--what do you say?\"\n\nTaken unawares, poor Peter mingles a lie with the denial. As soon as\npossible he moves away from the fire toward the entrance. It's a bit warm\nthere--for him. He remembered afterwards that just then the crowing of a\ncock fell upon his ear. Again one of the serving-maids notices him and\nsays to those standing about, \"This man was with Jesus.\" This time the\ndenial comes sharp and fiat, \"I don't know the man.\" And to give good\ncolor to his words, and fit his surroundings, he adds a bit of profanity\nto it.\n\nAn hour later, as he moves uneasily about, he is standing again by the\nfire. Something about him seems to make him a marked man. Evidently he has\nbeen talking, too. For now a man looking at him, said, \"You belong to this\nJesus. I can tell by the twist of your tongue.\" Peter promptly says, \"No.\"\nLying comes quicker now. But at once another speaks up, who was kin to the\nman that temporarily lost his ear through Peter's sword. \"Why,\" he said,\n\"certainly I saw you with Him in the garden.\" Again the denial that he\nknew Jesus mingled freely with curses and oath. And even as he spoke the\nair was caught again with the cock's shrill cry. And then Jesus, in the\nmidst of the vulgarity being vented upon Him, turned those wondrous eyes\nupon Peter. What a look must that have been of sorrow, of reproach, and of\ntenderest love. It must surely have broken Peter's heart. The hot tears\nrushing up for vent were his answer. Those tears caught the light of love\nin that look, as he goes away into the night and weeps bitterly. Those\nbitter tears were as small, warm rain to a new growth within.\n\n\n\n<u>An Obstinate Roman.</u>\n\n\nAnd now the impatient leaders detect the first streaks of gray coming up\nin the east. The national council can now properly meet. Like their two\nchiefs, these men are prompt. The whips had been out over the city\ndrumming up the members for this extraordinary session. There seems to\nhave been a full attendance. Jesus, still bound, is led through the\nstreets; followed by the mixed rabble, to the meeting hall, probably in\nthe neighborhood of the temple. He is brought in and faces these men. How\nsome of those eyes must have gloated out their green leering! Here are the\nmen He had not hesitated to denounce openly with the severest invective\never spoken.\n\nSome time is spent in consultation. The difficulty here is to fix upon a\ncharge upon which they can themselves agree, and which will also be\nsufficient for the desired action by the Roman governor. It was a tough\ntask. They fail in it. These men divided into groups that were ever at\nswords' points. There were utter opposites in beliefs and policies. But\ntheir common hate of Jesus rises for the time above their hatred for each\nother. The charge must appeal to Pilate, for only he has power of capital\npunishment, and nothing but Jesus' blood will quench their thirst.\n\nTheir consultation results in another attempt to question Jesus in the\nhope of getting some word that can be used. The president goes back to his\nformer question, \"If Thou art the Christ, tell us.\" Jesus reminds them of\nthe lack of sincerity in their questionings. They would not believe Him,\nnor answer His questions. Then He repeats the solemn words spoken in the\nnight session, \"From henceforth shall the Son of Man be seated at the\nright hand of the power of God.\" Eagerly they all blurt out, \"Art Thou\nthen the Son of God?\" Back comes the quiet, steady reply, \"Ye say that I\nam,\" equal to a strong yes. Instantly they decide fully and formally upon\nHis condemnation. So closes the third phase of the Jewish examination. The\ndeath sentence is fixed upon. The thing has been formally fixed up. The\nground is now cleared for taking Him to Pilate for His death sentence.\n\nIt is still early morning when Jesus is taken to Pilate. It was an\nimposing procession of the leading men of the nation, headed very likely\nby Caiaphas, that now led Jesus across the city, through its narrow\nstreets, up to the palace of the Roman governor. Jesus is conducted into\nPilate's hall of judgment within, but, with their scrupulous regard for\nthe letter of their law, these principals would not enter his palace on\nthat day, but remained without. They seem to be expecting Pilate to send\nthe prisoner back at once with their death sentence endorsed.\n\nTo their surprise and disgust,[A] Pilate comes out himself and wants to\nknow the charge against the prisoner. They are not prepared for this. It\nis their weak point, and has been from the first. Their bold, sullen\nanswer evades the question, while insisting on what they want, \"If He were\nnot a criminal we would not have brought Him to thee.\" They didn't want\nhis opinion, but his power, his consent to their plot. But Pilate doesn't\npropose to be used as such a convenience. With scorn he tells them that if\nthey propose to judge the case they may. This wrings from them the\nhumiliating reminder that the power of capital punishment is withheld from\nthem by their Roman rulers, and nothing less will satisfy them here. Then\nthey begin a series of verbal charges. They are all of a political nature,\nfor only such would this Roman recognize. This man had been perverting the\nnation, forbidding tribute to Caesar and calling Himself a King.\n\nIt takes no keenness for Pilate to see the hollowness of this sudden\nloyalty to Caesar. He returns to the beautiful marble judgment hall, and\nhas Jesus brought to him again. He looks into Jesus' face. He is keen\nenough to see that here is no political schemer. At most probably a\nreligious enthusiast, or reformer, or something as harmless from his\nstandpoint. \"Art _Thou_ the King of the Jews?\" he asks. Jesus' answer\nsuggests that there was a kindliness in that face. If there be a desire\nfor truth here He will satisfy it. This political charge had been made\noutside while He was within. \"Do you really want to know about Me, or are\nyou merely repeating something you have heard?\" He asks, with a gentle\nearnestness.\n\nBut Pilate at once repudiates any personal interest. \"Am I a _Jew_?\" he\nasks, with plain contempt on that word. \"Thine own people are accusing\nthee. What hast Thou done?\" Then comes that great answer, \"My kingdom is\nnot of this world, if so I would be resisting these leaders and these\npresent circumstances would all be different. But my kingdom is not of\nyour sort or theirs.\" Again there likely came a bit of softening and\ncurious interest in Pilate's face, as he asks, \"Art Thou really a _King_\nthen?\" Jesus replies, \"To this end have I been born, and to this end am I\ncome into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one\nthat is of the truth heareth my voice.\" Pilate wonders what this has to do\nwith being a king. With a weary, impatient contempt, he says, \"_Truth_?\nWhat is that?\" The accused seems to be an enthusiast, a dreamer, yet\nwithal there certainly was a fine nobility about Him. Certainly He was\nquite harmless politically.\n\nLeaving Him there, again he goes to the leaders waiting impatiently\noutside. To their utter astonishment and rage he says, \"I find no fault in\nthis man.\" It is the judgment of a keen, critical, worldly Roman; an\nacquittal, the first acquittal. The waiting crowd bursts out at once in a\nhot, fanatical tumult of shouted protests. Is all their sleepless planning\nto be disturbed by this Roman heathen? The prisoner was constantly\nstirring up the people all through Judea and Galilee. He was a dangerous\nman. Looking and listening, with his contempt for them plainly in his\nface, and yet a dread of their wild fanaticism in his heart, Pilate's ear\ncatches that word Galilee. \"Is the man a Galilean?\" \"Yes.\" Well, here's an\neasy way of getting rid of the troublesome matter. Herod, the ruler of\nGalilee, was in the city at his palace, come to attend the festival. It\nwould be a bit of courtesy that he might appreciate to refer the case to\nhim, and so it would be off his own hands. And so the order is given.\n\n\n\n<u>A Savage Duel.</u>\n\n\nOnce more Jesus is led through these narrow streets, with the jeering\nrabble ever increasing in size and the national heads in the lead. They\nare having a lot of wholly unexpected trouble, but they are determined not\nto be cheated of their prey. And now they are before Herod. This is the\nmurderer of John. He is glad to see Jesus. There has been an eager\ncuriosity to see the man of whom so much was said, and he hoped to have\nhis morbid appetite for the sensational satisfied with a display of Jesus'\npower. He plies Him with questions, while the chief priests with fierce\nvehemence stand accusing Him, and asking for His condemnation.\n\nBut for this red-handed man Jesus has no word. To him rare light had come\nand been recognized, and then had been deliberately put out beyond recall.\nHe has gone steadily down into slimiest slush since that. Now, with\nstudied insolence, he treats this silent man with utmost contempt. His\nsoldiers and retainers mock and deride, dressing Him in gorgeous apparel\nin mockery of His kingly claims. When they weary of the sport He is again\ndismissed to Pilate, acquitted. It is the second mocking and the second\nacquittal.\n\nAgain the weary tramping of the streets, with the chief priests' rage\nburning to the danger point. Twice they have been foiled. Now the matter\nmust be _forced_ through, and quickly, too, ere the crowd that are\nfriendly have gotten the news. They hurry Jesus along and make all haste\nback to Pilate. Now begins the sixth and last phase of that awful night.\nThings now hasten to a climax. The character of Pilate comes out plainly\nhere. He really feared these wildly fanatical Jews whom he ruled with a\ncontemptuous disgust undisguised. Three times since his rule began their\nextreme fanaticism had led to open riot and bloodshed, and once to an\nappeal to the emperor, by whose favor he held his position. His hold of\nthe office was shaky indeed if the emperor must be bothered with these\nsuperstitious details about their religion. The policy he pursued here was\nbut a piece of the whole Roman fabric. Yet had he but had the rugged\nstrength to live up to his honest conviction----. But then, that is the\none question of life everywhere and always. He failed in the test, as do\nthousands. Unconsciously he was touching the quivering center of a whole\nworld's life, and so his action stands out in boldest outline.\n\nHe comes out now and sums up the case. He had examined the prisoner and\nfound no fault touching their charges of perverting the people. Herod,\ntheir own native ruler, who was supposed to know thoroughly their peculiar\nviews, had also fully acquitted Him. Now, as a concession to them, he\nwill disgrace this man by a public scourging and let him go as harmless.\nInstantly the air is filled with their fierce shrill cries, \"Away with\nHim: Away with Him.\"\n\nBut Pilate seems determined to do the best he can for Jesus, without\nrisking an actual break with these fanatical Orientals such as might\nendanger his own position. It was usual at feast times to release to the\npeople some one who had been imprisoned for a political offense. The\ncrowds, prompted by the chief priests, doubtless, begin to ask for the\nusual favor. Pilate brings forward a man named Barabbas, who was a robber\nand murderer and charged with leading an insurrection against Roman rule.\nMeanwhile, as he waits, a messenger comes up to him and repeats a message\nfrom his wife. She has been suffering much in dreams and urges that he\nhave nothing to do with \"that righteous man.\"\n\nApparently Pilate brings forward the two men, the one a robber and\nmurderer, the other with purity and goodness stamped on every line of His\nface. It is a dramatic moment. \"Which of the two will you choose?\" he\nasks. It is the appeal of a heathen to the better nature of these Jews,\ncalled the people of God. Quick as a flash of lightning the word shot from\ntheir lips and into his face, \"_Barabbas!_\" \"What, then, shall I do with\nJesus, who is called Christ?\" He is weakening now. His question shows it.\nThey are keen to see it and push their advantage. Again the words shoot\nout as bullets from their hot lips, \"Crucify Him: crucify Him.\" Still he\nwithstands them. \"Why? What evil has He done? I find no fault in Him. To\nplease you I will chastise Him and release Him.\" But they have him on the\nrun now. At once the air is filled with a confused jangle of loud shrill\nvoices, \"Away with Him! Give us Barabbas! Crucify! Crucify.\"\n\nApparently he yields. Barabbas is released. Jesus is led away to be\nscourged by the soldiers. His clothing is removed, and He is bent over,\nwith thongs on the wrists drawn down, leaving the bare back uppermost and\ntense. The scourging was with bunches of leather strips with jagged pieces\nof bone and lead fastened in the ends. The blows meant for the back, even\nif laid on by a reluctant hand, would strike elsewhere, including the\nface. But reluctance seems absent here. Then occurs another, a third of\nthose scenes of coarse vulgarity, horrid mockings, based on His kingly\nclaims. The whole band of soldiers is called. Some old garments of royal\npurple are put upon Jesus. One man plaits a crown of the thorns that grow\nso large in Palestine, and with no easy gesture places it upon His head. A\nreed is placed in His hand. Then they bow the knee in turn, with \"Hail!\nKing of the Jews,\" and spit in His face, and rain blows down upon the\nthorn-crown. All the while their coarse jests and shouts of derisive\nlaughter fill the air. Surely one could never tell the story were he not\nheld in the grip of a strong purpose.\n\nBut now Pilate springs a surprise. The scourging might be preliminary to\ncrucifixion or a substitute. Again Jesus is brought forward, as arrayed by\nthe mocking soldiers. There must have been an unapproachable majesty in\nthat great face, as so bedecked, with the indescribable suffering lines\never deepening, He stands before them with that wondrous calm still in\nthose sleepless eyes. Pilate seems caught by the great spirit of Jesus\ndominant under such treatment. He points to Him and says, \"Behold the\nMan!\" Surely this utter humiliation will satisfy their strange hate.\n\nRealizing that their fight is not yet won as they had thought, they make\nthe air hideous with their shouts, \"Crucify--crucify--crucify.\" Anger and\ndisgust crowd for place in Pilate, as, with a contemptuous sneer, he says,\n\"_You_ crucify Him. _I_ find no fault in Him.\" It would be illegal, but it\nwould not be the first illegal thing. But these men are bound to get all\nthey want from their weakening governor. One of the leaders sharply spoke\nup, \"We have a law, and by our law He ought to die because He pretends to\nbe the Son of God.\" The Roman custom was to respect the laws of their\nsubject-peoples. All pretense of a political charge is now gone.\n\nPilate is startled. The sense of fear that has been strong with him\nintensifies. That face of Jesus had impressed him. His wife's message\ndisturbed him. Now that inward feeling that this man was being wronged\ngrips him anew. At once he has Him led into his judgment hall for another\nprivate interview. Looking into that face again with strangely mingling\nemotions, he puts the question, \"Whence art Thou?\" But those lips refuse\nan answer. The time for speech is past. Angered by the silence on the part\nof the man he had been moved to help, Pilate hotly says, \"Speakest Thou\nnot to _Me_? Knowest Thou not I have the power to release or to crucify?\"\nThen this strangely masterful Man speaks in very quiet tones, as though\npitying His judge, \"Thou wouldst have no power against Me, except it were\ngiven thee from above: therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath\ngreater sin.\"\n\nAgain Pilate comes out to the waiting crowd more determined than ever to\nrelease Jesus. But the leaders of the mob take a new tack. They know the\ngovernor's sensitive nerve. \"If thou release this man thou art not\nCaesar's friend. Every one that maketh himself a king speaketh\nagainst Caesar.\" That word \"Caesar\" was a magic word. Its bur catches\nand sticks at once. It was their master-stroke. Yet it cost them\ndear. Pilate instantly brings Jesus out and sits down on the\njudgment seat. The thing must be settled now once for all. As Jesus\nagain faces them he says, \"_Behold!--your King._\" Again the hot shouts,\n\"Away--Away--Crucify--Crucify.\" And again the question. \"Shall I crucify\nyour King?\"\n\nNow comes the answer, wrung out by the bitterness of their hate, that\nthrows aside all the traditional hopes of their nation, \"_We have no king\nbut Caesar_.\" Having forced that word from their lips, Pilate quits the\nprolonged duelling.\n\nYet to appease that inner voice that would not be stilled--maybe, too,\nfor his wife's sake, he indulges in more dramatics. He washes his hands in\na basin of water, with the words, \"I am innocent of the blood of this\nrighteous man. See ye to it.\" Back come the terrible words, \"His blood be\non us and on our children.\" Surely it has been! Then Jesus is surrendered\nto their will. They have gotten what they asked, but at the sacrifice of\ntheir most fondly cherished national tradition and with an awful heritage.\nPilate has yielded, but held them by the throat in doing it to compel\nwords that savagely wounded their pride to utter. The savage duel is over.\n\n\n\n<u>Victory.</u>\n\n\nJesus is turned over to the soldiers for the execution of the sentence.\nHis own garments are replaced, and once more He is the central figure in a\nstreet procession, this time carrying the cross to which He has been\ncondemned. His physical strength seems in danger of giving way under the\nload, after the terrible strain of that long night. The soldiers seize a\nman from the country passing by and force him to carry the cross. As they\nmove along, the crowd swells to a great multitude, including many women.\nThese give expression to their pitying regard for Jesus.\n\nTurning about, Jesus speaks to them in words that reveal the same clear\nmind and masterly control as ever. \"Daughters of Jerusalem, be weeping for\nyourselves and your babes, rather than for Me. The days are coming when\nit shall be said, 'Blessed are the barren, and the womb that never bare,\nand the breasts that never gave suck.' If they have done these things\nwhile the sap of national life still flows, what will be done to them when\nthe dried-up, withered stage of their national life is reached!\"\n\nNow the chosen place is reached, outside the city wall, probably a rise of\nground, like a mound or small hill. And the soldiers settle down to their\nwork. There are to be two others crucified at the same time. A drink of\nstuff meant to stupefy and so ease the pain of torture was offered Jesus,\nbut refused. And now the cross is gotten ready. The upright beam is laid\nupon the ground handy to the hole in which the end of it will slip, and\nthe cross-piece is nailed in place. Jesus is stripped and laid upon the\ncross with His arms, outstretched on the cross-piece. A sharp-pointed\nspike is driven through the palm of each hand and through the feet. The\nhands are also tied with ropes as additional security. There is a small\npiece half-way up the upright where some of the body's weight may be\nsupported.\n\nAs the soldiers drive the nails, Jesus' voice is heard in prayer, \"Father,\nforgive them; they know not what they do.\" Then strong arms seize the\nupper end, and, lifting, shift the end of the cross into the hole, and so\nsteady it into an upright position. It is nine o'clock, and the deed has\nbeen done. The soldiers, having finished their task, now go after their\npay. Jesus' garments are divided up among them, but when the outer coat\nis reached it is found to be an unusually good garment, woven in one\npiece. It was the love gift of some friend likely. So they pitch dice, and\nin a few moments one of them is clutching it greedily as his own.\n\nAs quickly as the cross is in position the crowds are reading the\ninscription which has been nailed to the top to indicate the charge\nagainst the man. It was in three languages, Latin the official tongue,\nGreek the world tongue, and Aramaic the native tongue. Every man there\nread in one or other of these tongues, \"_The King of the Jews_.\"\nInstantly the Jewish leaders object, but Pilate contemptuously dismisses\ntheir objection. This inscription was his last fling at them. And so Jesus\nwas crucified as a King. There He is up above them all, while the great\nmultitude stands gazing.\n\nNow begins the last, coarse, derisive jeering. Some of the crowd call out\nto Jesus, \"Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,\nsave Thyself; if Thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross.\" The\nchief priests have dignified the occasion with their presence. Now they\nmockingly sneer out their taunts, \"He saved others; but He can't save\nHimself. He is the King of Israel. Let Him come down from the cross and we\nwill believe on Him.\" The two others hanging by His side, in their pain\nand distress, join in the taunting cries, and the soldiers add their\njibes.\n\nBut through it all Jesus is silent. There He hangs with those eyes\nwatching the people to whom His great heart was going out, for whom His\ngreat life was going out, calm, majestic, masterful, tender. The sight\naffects at least one of those before unfriendly. The man hanging by His\nside is caught by this face and spirit. He rebukes the other criminal,\nreminding him that they were getting their just deserts, but \"This Man\nhath done nothing amiss.\" Then turning so far as he could to Jesus, he\nsaid, with a simplicity of faith that must have been so grateful to Jesus,\n\"Jesus, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.\" Instantly comes the\nreply, \"Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in\nParadise.\"\n\nIn the crowds were many of Jesus' personal acquaintances, including women\nfrom Galilee. Close by the cross stood His mother and aunt and faithful\nJohn and a few others of those dear to Him. Most likely John is supporting\nJesus' mother with his arms. Turning His eyes toward the group, Jesus\nspeaks to His mother in tones revealing His love, \"Woman, behold thy son;\"\nand then to John, \"Behold thy mother.\" _So_ He gives His mother a son to\ntake His own place in caring for her, and to His friend John this heritage\nof love. John understands, and from that hour the ties between these two\nwere of the closest and tenderest sort.\n\nSo the hours drag along until noon. And now a strange thing occurs that\nmust have had a startling effect. At the time of day when the sunlight is\nbrightest a strange darkness came over all the scene, the sun's light\nbeing obscured or failing wholly. And for three hours this strange, weird\nspectacle continues. Then the hushed silence is broken by an agonizing cry\nfrom the lips of Jesus, \"My God--My God--why--didst--Thou--forsake--Me?\"\nOne of the bewildered bystanders thinks He is calling for Elijah, and\nanother wonders if something startling will yet occur.\n\nJesus speaks again--\"I--thirst\" and some one near by with sponge and stick\nreaches up to moisten His lips. Then a shout, a loud cry of _victory_\nbursts in one word from those lips, \"_It is finished_.\" Then softly\nbreathing out the last words, \"Father, into Thy hands I commend My\nspirit,\" and bowing His head, Jesus, masterful, kingly to the last,\n_yielded up_ His spirit.\n\n\n\n\nThe Resurrection: Gravity Upward\n\n\n\n<u>A New Morning.</u>\n\n\nIt was near the dawning of a new morning, the morning of a new day\ndestined to be a great day. While yet dark there come a number of women\nout of the city gate toward the tomb where Jesus' body had been laid. They\ncarry spices and ointment. With woman's ever tender thoughtfulness they\nare bent upon some kindly service for that precious body. They had\nfollowed up the burial and noted the arrangements with a view to this\nmorning's early service. Their whole thought is absorbed with a tomb and a\nbody and a bit of loving attention. They wonder as they come along whom\nthey can get to roll the heavy stone over into its groove at the side of\nthe opening. Mary Magdalene is in the lead. With her in the darkness is\nher friend Mary, the mother of John and James. Others come along a little\nbehind, in small groups.\n\nAs they get near to the place the keen eyes of Mary Magdalene notice at\nonce with a quick start that the stone is rolled away. Somebody has been\ntampering with the tomb in the night. Leaving her companion, she starts\nback on a run into the city and finds Peter, and tells him that the Lord\nhas been taken away, and they don't know where He has been laid. Peter,\ntoo, is startled. He gets John, and the two start back on a run.\n\nMeanwhile the other women have gone on toward the tomb. As they approach\nthey are startled and awed to find a man there, with the glorious\nappearance of an angel, sitting upon the stone. To these awe-stricken\nwomen this angel being quietly said, \"Do not be afraid. I know you are\nlooking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen, as He\ntold you. Come and see the place where He lay.\" And as they gaze with wide\nopen eyes, he adds, \"Go quickly and tell His disciples, and be sure you\ntell Peter, that He is risen from the dead, and lo, He goeth before you\ninto Galilee. You will meet Him there. Lo, I have told you.\" But the women\nwere panic-stricken, and ran away down the road, and told no one except\nsome of the apostles. And to them their story seemed ridiculous. They\nrefused to believe such talk.\n\nAnd now Peter and John come breathless to the tomb. John is in the lead.\nEither he is younger or swifter of foot. As he comes up he stops at the\nopening of the tomb, and, with a bit of reverential awe, gazes within. He\ncan see the linen cloths lying; but the body they had encased is clearly\nnot in them. Peter comes up, and steps at once inside for a closer\ninspection. There the linen cloths are, just as they had enswathed the\nbody, but flattened down, showing the absence of anything inside their\nfolds. The napkin that had been about the head was folded up neatly and\nlaid over to one side. Then John enters, and as he continues looking\nconviction comes to him that Jesus has indeed risen. Wondering greatly at\nthis thing, wholly unexpected by them, they go off to their homes in the\ncity.\n\nAnd now another little group of the women come up, and are perplexed in\nturn as the others, the stone away, the body of Jesus not there. As they\nstand with staring eyes and fearing hearts, two men unexpectedly appear in\nclothing that dazzles the women's eyes. Frightened, they bow down before\nthese men, who seem to be angels. But the men quickly reassure them with\ntheir words. Why were they seeking a living One in a tomb? Jesus was not\nthere. He was risen. And they remind the women of Jesus' own words about\nbeing killed and then rising again. As the men talk the women remember the\nMaster's words, and wonderingly see their meaning now, and hurry away to\ntell their friends the great news.\n\n\n\n<u>Jesus Seeking Out Peter.</u>\n\n\nAnd now Mary Magdalene has gotten back to the tomb. In her zeal for the\nsafety of that precious body, she had made quite a journey into the city\nand back. Her zeal took her quickly to Peter. Her sorrow makes the way\nback longer. She had been first to come, but had not heard the news that\ncame to her companions. Now she stands at the open tomb weeping. She\nstoops and looks in to see if it can be really true that _He_ is not\nthere. To her surprise two angel beings are seated, one at each end of\nwhere Jesus' body had been lying. They say to her, \"Why are you weeping?\"\nShe replies, \"Because they have taken away _my Lord_, and I know not where\nthey have laid Him.\" Turning back in her grief as the words are spoken,\nshe sees some one else standing. Again the same question by this One. Why\nwas she weeping? Whom was she looking for? Her eyes are blinded with the\nrain of tears. This is likely the man in charge of the garden wherein this\nfamily tomb was.\n\nWith earnest tones she says, \"Sir, if _thou_ didst carry Him away, tell me\nwhere thou didst lay Him and _I_ will have Him taken away.\" Then that one\nword came to her ears, her name, in that unmistakable voice, \"Mary.\"\nQuicker than a flash came the response, \"_Oh, my Master_!\" That same\nwondrous, quiet voice continues, \"Do not continue to be clinging to Me. I\nam not yet ascended to my Father. Be going to my brethren and tell them I\nascend to My Father and your Father, My God and your God.\" And Mary\nquickly departs on her glad errand for Him. She was the first to see His\nface and hear His voice, and have her hand upon His person, and do\nsomething at His bidding.\n\nAnd now the other women who had been at the tomb in the garden and fled\naway are on the road approaching the city. As they hurry along, to their\nutter amazement--here is Jesus in the road approaching them. With a glad\nsmile in His eyes, the old, sweet voice speaks out in rich tones the usual\nsimple salutation of greeting, \"Good morning.\" At once they are down on\ntheir knees and faces, holding His feet and worshipping. And Jesus softly\nsays, \"Do not be afraid. Go tell my brethren to meet Me in Galilee, up by\nthe old blue waters of the sea.\"\n\nWhile these incidents were occurring, all in such short time, something\nelse is going on of a different sort. The Roman soldiers guarding that\ntomb had had a great shock. They had been suddenly displaced by another\nguard. The sacred Roman seal had been ruthlessly broken, the stone rolled\nback from the opening, and some one sat upon it. Their bewildered,\nstupefied senses heard the movements and were aware of a strange, blinding\nlight. Then they knew that the body they were to guard was no longer\nwithin. That was about as much as they could get together. They hurry to\ntown and tell the chief priests. Quickly the chief priests gather their\nclique to confer about this new phase. Was there ever such mulish\nobstinacy? No thought of candid investigation seems to enter their mind.\nThe way of covering this new difficulty is after all easy. Money will buy\nthe soldiers, and they will do as they are bid. It took a good bit of\ngold. The soldiers probably were keen to know how to work so good a mine.\nAnd the story was freely circulated that the body was stolen while the\nsoldiers slept.\n\nPeter has gone down the road from the garden toward the city after having\nsatisfied Himself that Jesus was not in the tomb. He was _wondering_ what\nall this meant. John, lighter of foot, had hurried ahead to his home in\nthe city, very likely to tell the news to Jesus' mother, his own new\nmother. Peter plods slowly along. There is no need of haste now. He is\nthinking, wondering, thinking. It was still early morning, with the sweet\ndew on the ground, and the air so still. Down past some big trees maybe he\nwas walking, deeply absorbed, when--Somebody is by his side. It is the\nMaster! But we must leave them alone together. That was a sacred\ninterview, meant only for Peter.\n\n\n\n<u>Made Known in the Breaking of Bread.</u>\n\n\nThe news now quickly spread; the two stories, that of the soldiers, that\nof the disciples. Folks listened to the one they preferred. Everybody was\ndiscussing this new startling appendix to the crucifixion. A bit later in\nthe day two others were walking along one of the country roads leading out\nof the city, toward a village a few miles away. They jog along slowly as\nmen who are heavy footed with disappointment. They are intently absorbed\nin conversation, eagerly discussing and questioning about something that\nclearly puzzled them.\n\nA Stranger, unrecognized, overtakes them and joins in their conversation.\nHe asks, \"What is this that you are so concerned about?\" So absorbed are\nthey with their thoughts, that at His question they stand still, looking\nsad and unable for a moment to answer. Where would they begin where there\nwas so much? Then one of them says, \"Do you lodge by yourself in the city,\nand even then do not know the things that have been going on there?\" The\nStranger draws them out. \"What things?\" He says. Thus encouraged, they\nfind relief in unburdening their hearts. It was all about Jesus, a man of\ngreat power in word and deed, before God and all the people; the great\ncruelty with which the rulers had secured a sentence of death for\nHim--and--crucified--Him.\n\n\"We were, however, hoping,\" they said, \"that He was the One who was about\nto redeem the nation. And now it is the third day since these things\noccurred. And most surprising word was brought by certain women that has\ngreatly stirred us. They went early to the tomb, and did not find His\nbody, but saw a vision of angels who positively said that He was alive.\nAnd some of our party went there and found it true as the women said.\nBut--they did not see _Him_.\"\n\nThen the Stranger began speaking in a quiet, earnest way that caught them\nat once. \"O foolish men, so slow you are in heart to believe the messages\nof the old prophets! Was it not needful that the Christ should suffer\nthese very things and to enter into His glory?\" Then He began freely to\nquote passages from all through their sacred writings. As they walk along\nlistening to this wonderful explanation, which now sounds so simple from\nthis Man's lips, they come up to their home in the village. The Stranger\nseemed inclined to go on. But they earnestly urge Him to come in and get\nsome refreshment and stay over night. He may talk more. They have heard no\nsuch winsome talk since Jesus was with them.\n\nHe yields. And, as they gather over the simple evening meal, the Stranger\npicks up the loaf, and looking up repeats the simple grace, and breaking\nthe loaf reaches the pieces over. But as their hands go out for the bread,\ntheir eyes turn toward the Stranger's face. Instantly they are\nspell-bound--_that face_--why--it is the _Master!!_ Then He is not there.\nAnd they said to each other, \"Did you ever hear such talking?\" \"My heart\nwas burning all the time He was talking.\" \"And mine, too.\" Then they\nhasten back to the city. Those miles are so much shorter now! They go\nstraight to the house where they have been meeting.\n\n\"_Even So Send I You_.\"\n\nHere were gathered most of the apostles and several others. Eagerly they\nwere discussing the exciting news of the day. Some _know_ that Jesus has\nrisen. Mary Magdalene, with eyes dancing, says, \"I _saw_ Him.\" But some\nare full of doubt and questionings. How _could_ it be? The door is\nguarded, for if the frenzy of the national leaders should spread, _they_\ncome next. There's a knock at the door. Cautiously it is opened. Two dusty\nbut radiant faces appear. \"The Lord is risen _indeed_,\" they exclaim. And\nthen they tell the story of the afternoon and His wondrous explanation and\nof that meal.\n\nAs they are talking, all at once--who's that?--right in their midst. It\nlooks like Jesus. There is that face with those unmistakable marks. And\nyou can see their eyes quickly searching between the sandal straps. Yes,\nit looks like Him. But it can't be. Their eyes befool them. It's been a\nhard day for them. It must be a spirit. As they start back, there comes in\nthat voice they can never forget, the old quiet \"Good evening.\"--\"Peace\nunto you.\" Then He holds out His hands and feet, saying, \"Do not be\ntroubled--it is I Myself--handle Me, and make sure. A spirit does not have\nflesh and bones as you see that I have.\" Then He said, \"Have you something\nto eat?\" and He ate a bit of broiled fish.\n\nReassured by such simple practical evidence, a glad peace fills their\nhearts and faces. They talk together a bit. Then Jesus rising, said again,\n\"Peace unto you--as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.\" Then He\nbreathed strongly upon them, saying in very quiet, solemn tones, \"Receive\nye the Holy Spirit--Whosesoever sins ye forgive they are forgiven.\nWhosesoever ye retain they are retained.\" And again, as they look, He is\nnot there.\n\nBut one man was absent that new Sabbath evening hour. Thomas simply could\nnot believe, and would not, without the most sane, common-sense evidence.\nHe missed much by not being at that meeting. The next Sabbath evening he\nis present with the others. Again the Master comes as before, unexpectedly\nstanding in their midst, as they talk together about Him. And now Thomas\nis fully satisfied after his week of doubting. Some of us folks will\nalways be grateful for Thomas.\n\nSome time later, there occurs that second wondrous draught of fishes, at\nthe command of the unrecognized Stranger, one morning at the breaking of\nthe day, and the talk with Peter and the others as they walk along the old\nshore of the sea. And to James, who seems to have been a leader by dint of\na strong personality, He appears.\n\nAnd one day when there was an unusually large meeting of His followers, as\nmany as five hundred, He came as before and was recognized. And then at\nthe last upon Olives' top came the goodbye meeting and message.\n\nIt is surely worthy of remark that the Bethany home is not represented at\neither cross or tomb. Many of His dear friends are named in connection\nwith both, but not these. Here are some of those dearest to Him, and to\nwhom He is most dear. Here is one, a woman, who had discerned more keenly\nahead than any other that He was to die and why. She had understood the\nminor strains of the old Hebrew oratorio as none other. She had learned\nat His feet. And here, too, was one who knew death, and the life beyond,\nand then a return again to this life. It was not indifference that kept\nthem away. They loved tenderly, and were tenderly loved. Their absence is\nsurely most significant. Mary's ointment had already been used. This\nmorning in glad ecstasy of spirit she and her brother and sister wait.\n_They know._\n\n\n\n<u>Gravity Upward.</u>\n\n\nTwo things stand out very clearly about Jesus' resurrection. It was not\nexpected by these followers, but received at first with incredulity and\ndoubt and stubborn unwillingness to accept it without clear undisputable\nproof. And then that they were thoroughly satisfied that He was actually\nback again with them, with His personal identity thoroughly established;\nso satisfied that their lives were wholly controlled by the consciousness\nof a risen Jesus. Sacrifice, suffering, torture, and violent death were\nyielded to gladly for His sake.\n\nA new morning broke that morning, the morning of a new day, a new sort of\nday. That resurrection day became a new day to them and to all Jesus'\nfollowers. The old Sabbath day was a _rest_-day. God Sabbathed from His\nwork of creation. This new day is more, it is a _victory_-day. Every new\ncoming of it spells out Jesus' victory over sin and death and our victory\nin Him. The old Hebrew rest-day came at the week's close. The new\nvictory-day comes at the week's beginning. With the fine tingle of\nvictory in our spirits we are ever at the beginning of a new life and new\nvictory and great things to come.\n\nDid Jesus rise? Or, was He raised? Both are said of Him. Both are true. He\nwas raised by the power of the Father. Every bit of His human life was\nunder the direction and control of His Father. Every act of His from first\nto last was in the strength of the Father. This last act was so. The\nFather's vindication of His Son was seen in the power that raised Him up\nfrom out of the domain of death. He was raised.\n\n_Jesus rose_ from the dead. The action was in accord with the law of His\nlife. He rose at will by the moral gravity of His character. He had gone\ndown, now He lets Himself rebound up. The language used of His death is\nvery striking. No one of the four descriptions of the death upon the cross\nsays that He _died_. The words commonly used to describe the death of\nothers are not used of Jesus. Very different language is used. Matthew\nsays, \"He dismissed His spirit.\" Mark and Luke each say, \"He breathed out\"\nHis life. John says, \"He delivered up His spirit.\"\n\nHis dying was voluntary. Not only the time of it and the manner of it, but\nthe fact of it was of His own choosing. The record never suggests that\ndeath overcame Him. He yielded to it of His own strong accord. He was not\novercome by death. He could not be, for sin having no hold within His\nbeing, death could have none. Physical death is one of the logical results\nof the sin within. Jesus yielded up His spirit. It was a free, voluntary\nact. He had explained months before that so it would be. \"I lay down My\nlife that I may take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down\nof Myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take\nit again. This commandment I received from My Father.\" This being so, the\nreturn to life followed the same voluntary course. Having accomplished the\npurpose in dying, He now recalled His spirit into the body and rises by\nHis own choice.\n\nMan's true gravity is toward a center upward. Sin's gravity is toward a\ncenter downward. When an ordinary man, a sinful man, dies, he is overcome\nby the logical result of the sin in himself. He is overcome by the moral\ngravity downward of His sin. He has no choice. His own moral gravity apart\nfrom sin is upward. But that is overbalanced by the downward pull of the\nsin ingrained in his very being. And this quite apart from his attitude\ntoward the sin.\n\nIn Jesus there was no sin. Being free of it, He rose at will. \"It was not\npossible that He should be held by death,\" for it had no hold upon Him.\nHis gravity was upward. For a purpose, a great strong purpose, He yielded\nto death's embrace. Now that purpose being achieved, He quietly lets\nHimself up toward the natural center of gravity of His life.\n\n\n\n<u>The Life Side of Death.</u>\n\n\nClearly Jesus' body had undergone changes through death and resurrection.\nIt is the same to outer appearance, so far as _personal identity_ is\nconcerned. The doubting, questioning disciples handle His person, they\nknow His face, they recognize His voice. He eats with them and talks with\nthem and moves in their midst as before. Even the doubter, stubborn in his\ndemand for tangible, physical evidence, is convinced by the feel of his\nhands that this is indeed Jesus back again. Further, He moves about among\nthem unrecognized till He chooses to be known. Yet this may have been His\npower over them rather than any changed quality in His person.\n\nBut mark that the limitations of space and of material obstructions are\ngone after the resurrection. He no longer needs to get that body through\nspace by physical strength or management, but seems to go where He will by\nchoosing to be there. He is no longer affected in His movements by the\nwalls of a building or other such material obstruction, but comes and goes\nat will. The arrangement of the linen cloths in the tomb, as marked so\nkeenly by Peter and John, is significant. They are found lying as they\nwere when enfolding that body, as though He had in rising risen up through\nthem.\n\nClearly the body is the same so far as personal identity is concerned. But\nthe limitations are gone. The control of spirit over body seems full,\nwithout any limitations. As one of us can, _in spirit,_ be in a place far\nremoved as quick as thought, so He seems to have been able to be\n_actually_, bodily, where He wanted to be as quickly. All the old powers\nremain. All the old limitations are gone, never to return. Jesus had moved\nover to the life side of death. He had gone down into death's domain,\ngiven it a death blow, and then risen up into a new Eden life, where\nneither sin nor death had power to touch. Those forty days were sample\ndays of the new Eden life on earth.\n\nJesus has become the leader of a new sort of life lived on the earth,\nmingling in its activities, but free of its power, _controlled from\nabove_. He asks every one who will to come along after Him. We can, for He\nhas. It is possible, because of Him. We may, for He asks us to. It is our\nprivilege. Let us go.\n\n\n\n\nThe Ascension: Back Home Again Until----\n\n\n\n<u>Tarry Ye--Go Ye.</u>\n\n\nOne day the disciples and followers of Jesus had met in Jerusalem, when\nJesus Himself came again in their midst and talked with them quite a bit.\nHe said particularly that they were not to leave Jerusalem, but wait\nthere. In a few days the Holy Spirit would come upon them, and they were\nto wait until He came. Then He asked them to go with Him for a walk. And\nthey walk together along those old Jerusalem streets, out the gate and off\npast Gethsemane toward the top of Olives over against Bethany. On the way\nthey ask Him if it was His plan to set up the kingdom then. He turns their\nthought away from Palestine toward the world, away from times and seasons\ntoward telling a race about Himself.\n\nAnd now they are standing together on the Mount of Olives. There is Peter,\nthe new man of rock, and John and James, the sons of thunder, and little\nScotch Andrew, and the man in whom is no guile, and the others. But one's\neyes quickly go by these to the Man in the center of the group. These men\nstand gazing on that face, listening for His words. There is a\nconsciousness that the goodbye word is about to be spoken. Yonder they can\nsee the bit of a depression and the tops of some old trees. That is\nGethsemane. And over beyond that is the city wall and the little knoll\nnear by outside. That is Calvary. With memories such as these suggest they\nlisten with eyes as well as ears. \"Ye shall receive power,\" the Master is\nsaying, \"and ye shall be _My witnesses_ here in Jerusalem and in all\nJudea, your brothers, and in Samaria, the nearby people you don't like,\nand unto the uttermost part of the earth, everybody else.\" They are held\nby the words and by that face. Then He lifts up His hands in blessing upon\nthem. And as they gaze they notice He is rising, His feet are off the\nearth, then higher and higher. Then a shining glory cloud sweeps down out\nof the blue, and now they see Him no more.\n\n\n\n<u>Coming Again.</u>\n\n\nThey continue gazing, held spellbound by the sight, thinking maybe they\nmay get another look. Then two men in white apparel are in their midst and\nspeak to them: \"Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into the\nheavens? This Jesus who was received up into heaven shall so come in like\nmanner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.\" That word at once sends them\nback to the waiting-place of which the Master had spoken. From that time\nthey never lost the upward glance, but they were ever absorbed in obeying\nthe Master's command.\n\nJesus' ascension was a continuation of the resurrection movement. The\nresurrection was the beginning of the ascension. Having finished the task\ninvolved in dying, Jesus responded to the natural upward movement of His\nlife. On His way up from the tomb to His Father's home and throne, He\ntarried awhile on the earth for the sake of these disciples and leaders,\nthen yielded again to the upward movement. The two men in white apparel\ngive the key to the ascension. Jesus will remain above until the next\ngreat step in the kingdom plan. Then He will return to carry out in full\nthe Father's great love-plan for man and for the earth.\n\nHis last act with these men was conducting them to the Mount of Olives.\nThat is ever to be the point of outlook for His follower. Yonder in full\nview is Gethsemane and Calvary. Following the line of His eyes and\npointing finger, as the last word is spoken, leads us ever to the man\nnearest by, to the uttermost parts of the earth, and to all between.\nFollowing His disappearing figure keeps us ever looking upward to Himself\nand forward to His return.\n\n\n\n\nStudy Notes\n\n\n\nAnalysis and References\n\n\nThe spirit-key to an understanding of God's Word is surrender of will and\nlife to His mastery. \"He that is willing to do His will will know of the\nteaching.\" The mental-key to a grasp of the contents of that Book is\n_habitual broad reading_. It cannot be too insistently insisted upon that\nwide reading from end to end of the Book, and from end to end of the year,\nis _the_ simple essential to a clear understanding and a firm grasp of the\nBible. It is the only possible salvation from the piece-meal, microscopic\nstudy of sentences and verses that has been in common use _clear out of\nall proportion_. Such disproportionate study steals away very largely the\nhistorical setting, and the simple meaning in the mind of speaker and\nwriter. Wide reading habitually indulged in should come first, and out of\nthat will naturally grow the closer study. This is the true order. In\ngiving references it is needful to mark particular verses. Yet this is to\nbe regretted because of our inveterate habit of reading only the marked\nverses instead of getting the sweep of their connection. The connection is\na very large part of the interpretation of any passage. The references\nhere are meant to be indices to the whole passage in connection. They are\nnot meant to be full, but simply to start one going. They should be\nsupplemented by others suggested by one's own reading, by marginal\nreferences (those of the American Revision are specially well selected),\nand by concordance and topical text-book. What a student digs out for\nhimself is in a peculiar sense his own. It is woven into his fibre. It\nhelps make him the man he comes to be. Those who may want a course to\nfollow rigidly without independent study will find these notes\ndisappointing. For those who want a daily scheme of study the allotment\nfor the day can be by certain designated pages of reading with the\ncorresponding paragraphs in the Study Notes. The paragraphing will be\nfound to be in some measure, though not wholly, a sub-analysis. The\nAmerican Revision is used here.\n\n\n\n\nI. The Purpose of Jesus.\n\n\n\n1. The Purpose in the Coming of Jesus.\n\n\n_God Spelling Himself out in Jesus_: change in the original\nlanguage--bother in spelling Jesus out--sticklers for the old\nforms--Jesus' new spelling of old words.\n\n_Jesus is God following us up_: God heart-broken--man's native air--bad\nchoice affected man's will--the wrong lane--God following us up.\n\n_The Early Eden Picture_, Genesis 1:26-31. 2:7-25: unfallen\nman--like God--the breath of God in man--a spirit, infinite,\neternal--love--holy--wise--sovereign over creation, Psalm 8:5-8--in his\nown will--summary--God's thought for man.\n\n_Man's Bad Break_, Genesis 3. the climax of opportunity--the tree of\nchoice--the temptation--blended lies--the tempter's strategy--the choice\nmade--the immediate result--safety in shame--the danger of staying in\nEden--guarding man's home--the return, Rev. 2:7. 22:14, 2. John 10:10.\n\n_Outside the Eden Gate_: a costly meal--result in the man himself--ears\nand eyes affected--looking without seeing--a personal test--Isaiah's\nfamous passage, Isaiah 6:9-10, see Isaiah 42:18, 20, 23. 43:8. 29:10.\nJeremiah 5:21. 6:10. 7:26. Ezekiel 12:2. Psalm 69:23. Micah 3:6. Acts\n7:51.--Jesus' use of parables--Jesus' irony--Matthew 13:10-15. Mark\n4:10-12. Luke 8:9-10. See John 12:40. Acts 28:26, 27. Romans 11:8. John\n9:39-41--tongue affected--the tongue man's index--effect of seeing\nGod--whole mental process affected--sense of dread--- Paul's seven steps\ndown in mental process, Ephesians 4:17-19--Jesus the music of God, the\nface of God.\n\n_Sin's Brood_: result in the growth of sin--three stages, flood, Moses,\nPaul--Paul's Summary, Romans I:18-32, see Matthew 15:19. Galatians\n5:19-21. 2 Timothy 3:2-5.--Paul's Outlook--a summary of to-day--the\nconventional cloak--four great paragraphs--man still a king, Genesis 9:6.\n1 Corinthians 11:7. James 3:9.--a composite picture--analysis of sin--the\nroot of sin.\n\n_God's Treatment of Sin_: \"gave them up,\" Romans 1:24, 26, 28. see Job\n8:4. 1 Kings 14:16. Psalms 81:12. Acts 7:42, Romans 9:22 (endured).--the\nworst thing and the best--sin's gait--Jesus is God letting sin do its\nworst upon Himself.\n\n_A Bright Gleam of Light_: the non-Christian world--God has no\nfavorites--all know God directly, Romans 1:20, 32. John 1:9--believing on\nJesus--the outside majority--Peter's statement, Acts 10:34, 35.--Paul's\nstatement, Romans 2:7.--persistent climbers--trusting the unknown\nJesus--the Master's command--to help our brothers--Jesus is God\nsacrificing His best.\n\n_The Broken Tryst_, Genesis 3:8-9: God keeping tryst--man not there--God's\nsearch--a lonely God--still calling--Jesus is God calling man back to the\nbroken tryst.\n\n_God's Wooing_: direct revelation to all--the inner light, John 1:9. Acts\n17:26-28. Job 12:10. Psalms 139:1-16.--through nature, Psalms 19:1-6.--in\nthe daily weave of life, Acts 17:28.--\"The Lord's at the loom\"--a special\nrevelation, Romans 3:2. Deuteronomy 4:8.--in Jesus, Heb. 1:1-3.--the\nBook--the mission of the Book, John 20:31.--summary--chiefly Jesus.\n\n\n\n2. The Plan for the Coming of Jesus.\n\n\n_God's Darling_, Psalms 8:5-8.--the plan for the new man--the Hebrew\npicture by itself--difference between God's plan and actual events--one\npurpose through breaking plans--the original plan--a starting\npoint--getting inside.\n\n_Fastening a Tether inside_: the longest way around--the pedigree--the\nstart.\n\n_First Touches on the Canvas_: the first touch, Genesis 3:15.--three\ngroups of prediction--first group: to Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3; to Isaac,\nGenesis 26:1-5; to Jacob, Genesis 28:10-15; through Jacob, Genesis\n49:9-11. through Balaam, Numbers 24:17-19; through Moses, Deuteronomy\n18:15-19, see Matthew 21:11. John 1:21. 6:14. Acts 3:22. 7:37.--second\ngroup: David, 2 Samuel 7:16, 18, 19. 23:3-5. Psalms 2nd, 110th. Solomon in\n72nd Psalm. Forty-fifth Psalm.\n\n_A Full Length Picture in Colors_: third group in prophetic books--one\ncontinuous subject--\"day of the Lord,\" 134 times,--Somebody coming--His\nPerson; _divine_, Isaiah 7:14. 9:6. 33:22. Micah 4:7. 5:2. Haggai 2:9.\n_human_, Isaiah 32:2. Daniel 7:13. _manner of birth_, Isaiah 7:14. _of\nnative stock_, Isaiah 9:6. Ezekiel 29:21. _of David's line,_ _ Isaiah 9:7.\n11:1. 16:5. Jeremiah 23:5. 33:15, 17, 21, 26. Amos 9:11. Zechariah 3:8.\n6:12. _a branch of Jehovah, _ Isaiah 4:2. _a King_, Isaiah 9:6. 32:1.\n33:17. Jeremiah 23:5. Zechariah 6:13. 9:9. _called David_, Jeremiah 30:9.\nEzekiel 37:24, 25. Hosea 3:5. _a priest-king,_ Zechariah 6:13. _a\npreacher_, Isaiah 61:1-3. _a teacher_, Isaiah 9:6 (counsellor).--the\nkingdom, Daniel 2:34,44. Obadiah:21 (Jehovah's).--the capital, Isaiah 2:3.\n4:5. 33:20,21. 59:20. 65:18, 19. Joel 3:16, 17, 20, 21. Micah 4:7, 8.--the\npresence of God, Ezekiel 37:27. Joel 3:21. Zechariah 2:10, 11. Zephaniah\n3:17.--visibly present, Isaiah 4:5, 6.--characteristics, vengeance, Isaiah\n61:2. 63:1-6. Zephaniah 3:19.--great victory, Zechariah 9:9.--- but\nwithout force, Isaiah 11:4. Zechariah 9:10.--peace, Isaiah 2:4. 9:6,\n7.--established in loving kindness, Isaiah 16:5.--justice and right,\nIsaiah 9:7. 16:5. 32:1. Jeremiah 23:5. 33:15.--the poor and meek, Isaiah\n11:4, 5.--broken-hearted, poor and imprisoned, Isaiah 61:1-3.--protection\nfrom all ills, Isaiah 32:2.--impartiality in judging even the most weak\nand obnoxious, Isaiah 42:3, 4.--gradual increase, Isaiah 9:7. 42:4. a\ngreat crisis, Zephaniah 4:1. Habakkuk 3:1-15. with unexpected suddenness,\nMalachi 3:1--effect upon Israel _nationally_; Spirit-baptized, Isaiah\n44:2. Ezekiel 37:9-14. 39:29.--never withdrawn, Isaiah 59:21.--judgments\nremoved, Zephaniah 3:14, 15.--impurity cleansed, Isaiah 4:4. Malachi 3:2,\n3.--possession of land, Zephaniah 2:7.--capital holy, Joel 3:17.--weakness\ngone, Micah 4:6, 7. freedom from enemies, Isaiah 33:18, 19.--Jeremiah\n30:8-10. Joel 3:17. Zechariah 14:11. Micah 5:6.--at peace, Isaiah 33:20.\nMicah 5:5.--leadership, Isaiah 2:2. Micah 4:1, 3. 5:8.--spiritual\nleadership, Joel 2:28, 29.--supremacy, etc., Isaiah 60:1-22. 11:10. 2:2.\nMicah 4:1, 3. 5:8. Zechariah 2:10.--Jerusalem center, Isaiah 60:10-14.\nZechariah 14:16. effect upon Israel _personally_; made over new, Ezekiel\n11:17-20. 36:25-27. Jeremiah 31:31-34. Isaiah 4:3.--devotion and\nopen-mindedness, Isaiah 32:3-4. 44:5.--sickness absent, Isaiah\n33:24.--longer lives, Isaiah 65:20.--increase in numbers, Jeremiah 33:22.\nEzekiel 37:26. Isaiah 44:4.--no disappointed plans, Isaiah 65:21-23. Amos\n9:14.--fear gone, Micah 4:4.--thrilled hearts, Isaiah 60:5. effect upon\n_other nations_; to come back to God, Micah 5:3 (see John 10:16).--Spirit\nupon all, Joel 2:28.--voluntary coming to Israel for instruction, Isaiah\n2:3. Micah 4:2.--earth filled with knowledge, Isaiah 11:9.--her influence\nas the dew, Micah 5:7.--the only medium, Isaiah 60:12. wondrous blessings\nshared with all, Isaiah 42:1, 6, 7. 49:6. 51:4. 61:1.--universal peace,\nMicah 4:3-4. Zechariah 9:10. changes in nature; at Jerusalem, Isaiah\n33:21. Joel 3:18 l.c. Zechariah 14:8. Ezekiel 47:1-5. Zechariah\n14:4.--increased light, Isaiah 30:26.--overshadowed by presence of God,\nIsaiah 60:19 (Presence cloud, Exodus; as sun, Matthew 17:2 with parallels;\nabove sun Acts 26:13).--renewed fertility, Ezekiel 36:29, 30. Hosea 2:21.\nJoel 3:18. Amos 9:13. Zechariah 14:10. Isaiah 4:2.--removal of curse upon\nearth, Zechariah 14:11. Isaiah 65:17.--the animal creation, Isaiah 11:6-9.\n65:25. Hosea 2:18 (see Romans 8:20-22).--without limit, Isaiah 2:2. 9:7.\nDaniel 2:44. 7:14. Micah 4:1. 5:4. Zephaniah 3:20. Zechariah 9:10. Joel\n3:20.--a return to original conditions--characteristics of the coming\nOne--mental equipment, Isaiah 11:2. 42:1. 61:1.--personal beauty and\ndignity, Isaiah 4:2. 33:17. Daniel 7:14. Micah 5:14.--unpretentious,\nZechariah 9:9.--direct touch with God, Isaiah 49:1-3. 50:4.--backed by\npower of God, etc., Isaiah 42:1, 6. 49:3. 52:13. 53:11. 59:20. Zechariah\n3:8. Malachi 3:1.--the poor cared for righteously, Isaiah 11:3-5.--divine\ninsight, Isaiah 11:3.\n\n_Back to Eden_: a wild dream--the Hebrew Book's conception--Simeon and\nAnna, Luke 2:25-38.\n\n_Strange Dark Shadowings_: weird forebodings--acted out, Joseph and\nDavid--Psalms 22. 69:20, 21. Isaiah 50:6, 7. 52:13-53:12. Daniel 9:24-26.\nZechariah 11:4-14. 12:10. 13:7. a valley-road to the throne.\n\n\n\n3. The Tragic Break in the Plan.\n\n\n_The Jerusalem Climate_: the contrasting receptions, Luke 2. the music of\nheaven, Job 38:6, 7. Luke 2:13, 14. pick out the choruses of Revelation,\nthe crowning book.--the after-captivity leaders, see Ezra and\nNehemiah--ideals and ideas--present leaders--Herod--the high priest--the\nfaithful few, Luke 2:25, 38. 23:51.\n\n_The Bethlehem Fog_: Matthew 1 and 2. Luke 2. a foggy shadow--suspicion of\nMary--a stable cradle--murder of babes--star-students--senate meeting--a\ntroubled city-flight--Galilee.\n\n_The Man Sent Ahead_: the growing boy--John's relation to Jesus--trace\npassages in gospels referring to John.\n\n_The Contemptuous Rejection_: accepted by individuals, rejected by\nnation--John's drawing power--a dramatic presentation. John\n1:19-34.--ominous silence--five satisfied seekers, John\n1:35-51.--cleansing of temple, John 2:13-22.--first public work, John\n2:23-25.--Nicodemus, John 3:1-21.--helping John, John 3:22, 23. 4:1 with\nMatthew 3:5-7. Luke 3:7-14. the dispute about the two men, John 3:25-30\n(note American Revision)--John's arrest--effect upon Jesus, Matthew\n4:12-25.--\"withdrew.\"\n\n_The Aggressive Rejection_: the second stage--Nazareth, Luke\n4:16-30.--seven incidents, _i.e._ (i) healing at pool of Bethesda, John\n5:1-47. (2) forgiving and healing palsied man, Matthew 9:2-8 with\nparallels. (3) criticizing Jesus' personal conduct, Matthew 9:10-17 with\nparallels. (4) grain fields on the Sabbath, Matthew 12:1-8 with parallels.\n(5) healing whithered hand, Matthew 12:9-14 with parallels.--second\n\"withdrew,\" Mark 3:7-12 with parallels. (6) charge of having an unclean\nspirit, Mark 3:20-30 with parallels. (7) interruption by his mother,\nMatthew 12:46-50 with parallels.--the murder of John, Matthew 14:1-12 with\nparallels.--third \"withdrew,\" Matthew 14:13 with parallels.--staying in\nGalilee during fourth Passover, John 6:4, 5.\n\n_The Murderous Rejection_: a fugitive from Judea, John 7:1.--fresh attack\nby southern leaders, Matthew 15:1-20 with parallel in Mark.--fourth\n\"withdrew\"--outside national lines, Matthew, 15:21 with parallel in\nMark.--return to Sea of Galilee and request for sign, Matthew 15:29-16:4\nwith parallel in Mark.--Feast of Tabernacles, John 7: 2-8:59.--the blind\nman cured, John 9:1-40.--Transfiguration, Matthew 17:1-8 with\nparallels.--the beginning of the last journey, Luke 9:51. Mark 10:1, 32.\nMatthew 19:1.--the Seventy, Luke 10:1-17.--getting nearer to Jerusalem,\ndivorce question, Mark 10:2-12. Matthew 19:3-12.--Good Samaritan, Luke\n10:25-37. Beelzebub, \"vehemently,\" Luke 11. fresh tilt over Sabbath\nquestion, Luke 13:10-17.--cunning attempt to get Him into Judea, Luke\n13:31.--Feast of Dedication, John 10:22-40.--Lazarus, John 11:1-46. formal\ndecision against Him, John 11:47-53. a fugitive, John 11:57. no more\nopenly, John 11:54. crowding pilgrims, John 11:55, 56. Lazarus again, John\n12:9-11. the last week; triumphal entry, Matthew 21:1-17 with parallels,\ndaily visits and return to Olivet, Luke 21:37-38; cleansing temple,\nMatthew 21:12-17 with parallels; duel of questionings, Matthew 22. Mark\n11:27-12:34. Luke 20:1-44; His terrific arraignment, Matthew 23:1-39 with\nparallels; Greeks, John 12:20-36. Bethany feast, Matthew 26:6-13 with\nparallels, Judas, Matthew 26:14-16 with parallels; with the inner circle,\nMatthew 26:17-46 with parallels.\n\n_Suffering the Birih-pains of a New Life_: why did Jesus die?--God's plan\nof atonement, Leviticus 1:3-9--Paul's statement in effect, Galatians\n2:20.--Jesus' dying does not fit into Hebrew ritual--standpoint of\nHebrews--what God counselled, Acts 2:23.--this affects only the form not\nthe virtue of Jesus' death--preaching of Acts, 2:14-36, 38, 39. 3:12-26.\n4:8-12. 5:29-32, and on, first church council, Acts 15.13-18 with Amos\n9:11-12.--the superlative of hate--Jesus' death voluntary, John 10:17,\n18--ten attempts before the cross; three to kill at once, Luke 4:30. John\n8:59. 10:31. other attempts, Matthew 12:14. John 5:18. 7:1, 30, 32. 10:39.\n11:53 Jesus' own explanation:--the temple, John 2:19. lifted up, 3:15.\nMatthew 9:15 with parallels. His flesh, John 6:53-57. with Jesus' own\ninterpretation, good Shepherd, John 10:11; for the sheep, 10:15; other\nsheep, 10:16; take it again, 10:17; of Myself, 10:18. cross, Matthew 10:38\nwith parallels. Jonah, Matthew 12:39, 40. 16:4 with parallel in Luke.\nGreeks, John 12:24-33. the Father's command, John 14:31. for friends, John\n15:13. sanctified, John 17:19. the Father's cup, John 18:11. John's\ncomment, John 12:47-52.--the necessity for dying--a step in a wider\nplan--for the nation--wholly voluntary--six elements in a perfect\nsacrifice--Jesus alone is a perfect sacrifice--Paul's comment, Romans\n3:26.--God's master-stroke--faith--Hebrew heathen and Christian grouped.\n\n\n\n4. Some Surprising Results of the Break.\n\n\n_The Surprised Jew_: a clash of wills--thousands of believing Jews--the\nchurch displacing kingdom--two-fold division of men formerly--now\nthree-fold--church different in organization from kingdom--the Baptist\npuzzled--Jesus did not fill out Hebrew prophecy--two characteristics,\npersonal and official--personal details fulfilled--official not because of\nrejection--out of situation grew four gospels--Mark--Matthew's the gap\ngospel--Paul's audiences--Luke's gospel--these three tell of rejection\nmainly--John's gospel--the order of the gospels in canon.\n\n_The Surprised Church_: God holds to His plan--mixed ideas of kingdom and\nchurch--a handy principle of interpretation--one law consistently\napplied--the church to fulfil its mission and go--the kingdom simply\nretarded, yet to come--the plan enriched--sliding scale of fulfilment--the\nKing must come--- even this in Hebrew picture, Zechariah 12:10. New\nTestament teaching. Peter, Acts 3:21.--keeping truth in proportion--the\ngospel of the kingdom--Paul, 1 Thessalonians 1.10. 2:19. 3:13. 4:13-18.\n5:10-23. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10. 2:1-9. 1 Corinthians 1:7, 8. 3:13. 5:5.\n15:23, 25, 51, 52. 16:22. 2 Corinthians 1:14. 5:2-4. Romans 8:18, 19, 23.\n11:12-29. 13:11, 12. 16:20. Colossians 3:4. Ephesians 1:10, 14, 18. 4:4,\n30. 5:27. Philippians 1:6, 10. 2:16. 3:20. 4:5. 1 Timothy 1:1 (note Paul's\nuse of \"hope\" throughout). 6:14. Titus 2:13. 2 Timothy 1:12, 18. 2:12.\n4:1, 8.--The Book of Revelation--the coming surprise. _The Surprising\nJew_: greatest surprise--for all--the puzzle of history--divinely\npreserved--the keystone of the coming kingdom--Jesus the spirit magnet for\nJew and all.\n\n\n\n\nII. The Person of Jesus.\n\n\n\n1. The Human Jesus.\n\n\n_God's meaning of \"Human\":_ man's fellow--two meanings of word\nhuman--original meaning--natural limitations.\n\n_The Hurt of sin_: sin's added limitations.\n\n_Our Fellow_: Jesus truly human--up to first standard--His\ninsistence--perfect in His humanness--fellowship in sin's\nlimitations--hungry, Matthew 16:5. John 4:6-8.--tired, John 4:6. Mark\n4:38.--poverty, Matthew 13:55. Mark 6:3.--hard toil, John\n19:25-27.--homeless, Luke 4:16-30. Matthew 8:20. Luke 9:58.--discipline of\nwaiting.\n\n_There's More of God since Jesus Went Back_: the Nazareth home--fellowship\nwith His brothers--\"In the shop of Nazareth\"--a Man on the throne.\n\n\n\n2. The Divine Jesus.\n\n\n_Jehovah-Jesus:_ John 1:1-18. the intimacy of John, John 13:23. 19:26.\n20:2. 21:7, 20. \"with Jesus,\" John 18:15.--John writes of Jesus--- when he\nwrote--getting the range--his literary style--the beginning--the\nWord--this was Jesus--the tragic tone.\n\n_God's Spokesman_: the Creator was Jehovah--- Jehovah is Jesus--the\nSpokesman--Old Testament revelations, Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac,\nJacob, Moses, the elders of Israel, Isaiah, Ezekiel,--Whom these\nsaw--various ways of speaking--John's Gospel a battlefield--finding the\nMan. _Whom Moses Saw_: Jesus' own standpoint--\"down from heaven,\" John\n3:13, 31. 6:38. 8:42. would go back again, John 6:62. John 16:5, 10. 13:1.\ncome on an errand, then going back, John 16:28 13:3. He only had seen the\nFather, John 6:46. only begotten Son, John 3:16, 18. His own Father, John\n5:17, 18. 10:32-33. 19:7.--Jesus' answer to Jews' objection, John\n5:19-47.--\"He wrote of Me,\" the true meaning--I and the Father one, John\n10:30.--the Father in Me, John 10:38. the name Father in Old Testament, 2\nSamuel 7:14. 1 Chronicles 17:13. 22:10. Psalm 68:5. 89:26. 103:13. Isaiah\n63:16. 64:8. Jeremiah 3:4, 19. Malachi 3:17.--Jehovah the common\nname--trace Jesus' use of Father about 180 times--manna, John 6:32.\n\n_Jesus is God Wooing Man_: \"Abraham--saw and was glad,\" John\n8:33-59--supposed meanings--natural meaning--\"I am\"--Jesus is Jehovah come\nHimself to woo man.\n\n\n\n3. The Winsome Jesus.\n\n\n_The Face of Jesus_: Jesus drew crowds, men, women, children, bad people,\nenemies--His personality--face--impress of experiences--the glory of God\nin that face, 2 Corinthians 4:6. Hebrews 1:3.\n\n_The Music of God in the Voice of Jesus_: the eye--Jesus' eyes, Luke\n4:16-30. John 8:59. 10:31. 7:32, 45, 46. 18:6. Mark 10:32. 9:36. 10:13-16.\nLuke 19:48.--His voice, Matthew 26:30. personal touch, Matthew 8:3, 15.\n9:29. 17:7. 20:34. Mark 1:41. 7:33. Luke 5:13. 22:51. (John 14:16-20). His\npresence irresistible. Moses' request, Exodus 33:18. Jesus draws\nmen--yielding to His power.\n\n\n\n\nIII. The Great Experiences of Jesus' Life.\n\n\n\n1. The Jordan: The Decisive Start. Matthew 3:13-17. Mark 1:9-11. Luke\n3:21-22.\n\n\n_The Anvil of Experience_: knowledge only through experience--the Fourth,\nDaniel 3:25.--three Hebrews, Daniel 3.--Babylonian premier, Daniel\n6:16-23.--George Mueller--Jesus made perfect through experience, Hebrews\n2:10. 5:8, 9. 7:28, l.c.--all our experiences, Hebrews 2:14-18.\nPhilippians 2:7. Hebrews 4:15, except through sin, Hebrews 4:15, l.c.\n7:26. 2 Corinthians 5:21, f.c. 1 Peter 2:22. 1 John 3:5, l.c.--Jesus'\nsuffering, Philippians 2:6-8. Hebrews 2:9, 17, 18. 4:15. His obedience,\nLuke 2:51. Matthew 26:39. John 10:18. 14:31. Philippians 2:8. Romans 5:19.\nHebrews 5:8. knowledge through experience--common experiences--mountain\npeaks--the tragic in each.\n\n_Our Brother_: Jesus coming for baptism--John's objection--why\nbaptized--getting in touch--the point of contact--choosing for Himself the\nFather's choice--the dangers--His strong purpose--the Father's\napproval--three times the voice, here, transfiguration, Matthew 17:5. Mark\n9:7. Luke 9:35. Greeks, John 12:28. the decisive start.\n\n\n\n2. The Wilderness: Temptation. Matthew 4:1-11. Mark 1:12, 13. Luke 4:1-13.\n\n\n_The University of Arabia_: Jesus' naturalness--the Spirit's\npresence--intensity, Luke 2:45-51.--a true perspective--- the temptation's\npath--sin's path--John's grouping, 1 John 2:16.--the Spirit's\nplan--why--the devil's weakness--the Spirit's leading--a wilderness for\nevery God-used man, Moses, Elijah, Paul.\n\n_Earth's Ugliest, Deepest Scar_: Jesus the only one led up to be\ntempted--the wilderness--its history, Genesis 13:10-13.\n18:16-19:38.--Jesus really tempted--no wrong here in inner response--every\ntemptation--by the devil.\n\n_Waiting the Father's Word_: the tempter's skill--acting divinely--a stone\nfor hunger--not wrong in itself--recognizing temptation--\"man\"--waiting\nthe Father's word--the trained inner ear--not our power but God's through\nour obedience.\n\n_Love never tests_: a more agreeable setting--touching tender chords--the\nreligious temptation--only through consent--bad scripture quoting, Psalm\n91--a helpful dust-cloth--using power only to help--a true quotation,\nDeuteronomy 6:16.\n\n_The Devil acknowledges the King_: a dazzling scene--analyzing the\ntempter's proposition--a common cunning trap--Jesus' kingly conduct--the\ndevil obeys Him--but to return--a coward--our safety in Jesus--lead us not\ninto temptation.\n\n\n\n3. The Transfiguration: An Emergency Measure. Matthew 16:28-17:1-8. Mark\n9:1-8. Luke 9:27-36.\n\n\n_God in Sore Straits_: the darkest hour save one, fugitive, John 7:1. ban,\nJohn 9:22, 34. pushing, Matthew 15:1. Mark 7:1.--the danger zone,\n\"withdrew,\" Matthew 4:12. 12:15. 14:13. 15:21. Tabernacles, John 7:32.\n8:59.--Galileans desert, John 6:60-66.--the inner circle infected, John\n6:67-71.--God needs men.\n\n_Fire and anvil for Leaders_: mental strength--seasoned leadership--Simon\nand Peter.\n\n_An Irresistible Plan_: alone with the twelve--the changed plan, Matthew\n16:18-21.--Peter's stupid boldness, Matthew 16:22, with Mark 8:32.--the\nbest available stuff--to see the Jesus within--getting Paul, Acts 9:1-9.\n22:6-11. 26:12-18.\n\n_The Glory of that Light_: while praying--changed from within--absorbed\nwith Jesus' master-stroke--the jarring human note--the glory\nobscured--through an opened door--the kingdom.\n\n_A Vision of Jesus_: gleams of light--the purpose secured, John 20:19, 24,\n26-29.--an indelible impress, John 1:14. 12:41. Mark 9:3 with 1 Peter\n1:16-17. Acts 12:2.--changed while looking, Acts 22:11. 2 Corinthians\n3:18.\n\n\n\n4. Gethsemane: The Strange, Lone Struggle. Matthew 26:36-46. Mark\n14:32-42. Luke 22:39-46. Hebrews 5:7.\n\n\n_The Pathway in_: messengers ahead--Jesus _felt_ the cross drawing\nnear--the look of His face, Luke 9:51-55.--His disciples afraid, Mark\n10:32.--indignation against sin, John 11:33, 38. marginal reading American\nRevision.--the Greeks, John 12:20-28.\n\n_The Climax of Suffering_: the darkest shadow--why the struggle is\nstrange--shock of extremes--His purpose in yielding--separation from the\nFather--Matthew 27:46. Mark 15:34 margin.--the superlative degree of\nsuffering.\n\n_Alone_: a full evening, Matthew 26:17-19 with parallels. John, chapters\n13 to 17.--for prayer--on knees and face--the changed prayer--ready for\nthe worst.\n\n\n\n5. Calvary: Victory. Matthew 26:47-27:61. Mark 14: 43-15:47. Luke\n22:47-23:56. John 18:1-19:42.\n\n\n_Yielding to Arrest_: the betrayal--protecting the disciples--checking\nPeter's violence--the arrest--the disciples forsake Him--except two, John\n18:15, 16.\n\n_The Real Jewish Ruler_: Annas the intriguer--an unrebuked insult--the\ncase settled at once--before Caiaphas--difficulty in fixing a charge--the\ndramatic question and solemn answer--second condemnation--gross insults.\n\n_Held Steady by Great Love_: Peter gains entrance through John, John\n18:16.--the stammering denial--the bolder--with oaths and curses--Jesus'\nlook--Peter's tears.\n\n_An Obstinate Roman_: before the senate--trying to make a case--the formal\ncondemnation--before Pilate--an unexpected set-back--alone with\nPilate--acquitted--shrill protests--off to Herod.\n\n_A Savage Duel_: before Herod--no word for him--more insults--a second\nacquittal--back to Pilate--his character--his summing up--their\nprotests--his wife's message--Barabbas or Jesus--Pilate weakening--the\nscourging and coarse mocking--Pilate's surprise--a new charge--the\ngovernor startled--alone again with Pilate--the use of Caesar's\nname--renunciation of national hopes--the defeated governor's small\nrevenge--the duel over.\n\n_Victory_: out to Calvary--the pitying women--crucified--praying for the\nsoldiers--pitching dice for His clothes--the inscription--coarse taunts\nand jests--winning a man at the very last--providing for His mother the\ndarkness--the agonizing cry--the shout of victory.\n\n\n\n6. The Resurrection: Gravity Upward. Matthew 28:1-15. Mark 16:1-8. Luke\n24:1-49. John 20:1-21:25. 1 Corinthians 15:4-7.\n\n\n_A New Morning_: early visit to the tomb--Mary Magdalene's alarmed call\nfor Peter--the message of the angels--Peter and John come--another group\nof women get an angelic message.\n\n_Jesus seeking out Peter_: Mary Magdalene meets Jesus--He meets other\nwomen--the soldiers' story--alone with Peter.\n\n_Made Known in the Breaking of Bread_: the Emmaus travellers--the\nStranger's explanation--the evening meal--the Master!\n\n_Even so Send I you_: the meeting in Jerusalem--the Master's unexpected\npresence--the sure proofs--breathing on them--Thomas' stubborn doubts--a\nweek later--a second great catch of fish--to James--to five hundred--on\nOlives' top--the Bethany home not represented.\n\n_Gravity Upward_: the resurrection not expected--fully assured--the new\nvictory-day--Jesus was raised--He rose at will--His dying voluntary, so\nthe rising--man's true gravity--sin's gravity--Jesus' gravity upward.\n\n_The Life Side of Death_: bodily changes in Jesus--personal identity\nunchanged--limitations gone--the Leader of a new sort of life.\n\n\n\n7. The Ascension: Back Home Again Until----\n\n\n_Tarry ye--Go ye_: the Jerusalem meeting--the walk to Olives--not\nPalestine only, but a world--the last word--upward--seen no more.\n\n_Coming again_: gazing upward, Acts 1:10, 11.--a continuation upward--the\nOlivet outlook.\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n[1] Genesis 2: 25.\n\n[2] Schiller.\n\n[3] \"An Indian Priestess.\" Published by Hodder & Stoughton.\n\n[4] Mary A. Lathbury.\n\n[5] Nathaniel Parker Willis.\n\n[6] Arthur Peirce Vaughn.\n\n[7] So the best manuscripts.\n\n[8] Frances Ridley Havergal.\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes\n\n\n[A] Original text read \"disguest\".","title":"Quiet Talks about Jesus","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":69089}