CHAPTER VIII — Jesus Christ, The Son of God
CHAPTER VIII --- Jesus Christ, The Son of God VIII. JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD
By C. R. NICHOL “Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?” (Matthew 16:13). For centuries men have been interested in their “family tree”—to establish lineal connection with some honorable family. Our nation is interested in vital statistics; in keeping a record of the births, as well as the deaths, throughout the nation. In using human imagery the Bible speaks of God’s “book,” and the names of some who are recorded therein. The name of Moses is in God’s book (Exodus 32:32). Paul makes reference to some whose names are in the “book of life” (Php_4:3).
Two thousand years ago Rome on her seven hills, with power almost seven-fold, held within her power most of the people on the known earth. In many ways she was a most generous conqueror. Palestine was one of her provinces. Tiberus Caesar, the second emperor of Rome, issued a decree demanding that all the world be enrolled—to be taxed. The law of the Jews was that every man register in his native town. Joseph, the husband of Mary, was a Bethlehemite and it was mandatory that he go from Nazareth to that city to be enrolled. Many accompanied him. On reaching that town, because of the crowded condition in the hotels, there was no place found for them; hence the necessity of finding a place in which to be lodged. In the place found, the beasts were cared for hard by. The time was fulfilled, and there Mary gave birth to her first-born child. It was a matter of prophecy that “the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem” (Micah 5:2). The child’s name was, of course, recorded in Caesar’s book. His name was inscribed along with others. Possibly the record read: “Born to Joseph and Mary, a son, named Jesus.” That was the first book in which the name of Jesus was written— Caesar’s book.
How little one knows what will be the life and influence of the new-born child as it grows and fills a place in the earth. What hopes for the child are in the mother’s breast, what resolutions to protect it from danger and shield it from harm.
Wherever civilization is found, there the name of Jesus is revered, and associated with the purest, the best; his very name is the synonym of the ideal character. No man on earth has approached him.
Most likely the book of Caesar, which contained the name of Jesus, was destroyed centuries ago. Your attention is called to the fact that there is another book, “The Book of Life,” in which the names of God’s children are recorded. This book will be thrown wide at the “last day.” Is your name recorded in that book? So live that it will not be “blotted out” (Exodus 32:33; Revelation 20:15).
There are many thousands in other lands who long to come to the United States and have their names in our records; but how many, oh! how many! seem to have no manifest interest in having their names written in the “book of life.” The day of the birth of Jesus marks the beginning of the influence on earth which has changed its face. That day is evidenced in every letter you write, in most books that are published, papers printed, as well as legal documents. At the birth of Jesus angels were dispatched from heaven, and shepherds tending their flocks near Bethlehem heard the heavenly chorus, and the announcement, “I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people; for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). Heaven made known the birth of the King whose kingdom was advanced, and continues to be advanced by the conquest of the hearts of men. From the East came wise men, guided by a special star, to do homage to the one who was born to become the universal sovereign. They brought the richest gifts of their land as a tribute to the new born child. The whole world must have been filled with expectancy. In Palestine lived the Jews, a people through whom God promised to bless the world. They became a modified kingdom, but within that kingdom was the leaven which ultimately brought about its complete and permanent demolition; yet the Jews lookpd for what to them seems the long delayed promise of Jehovah to establish a kingdom which could not be shaken. When the birth of Jesus was announced, Herod was disturbed. Well did he know that it was through chicanery he obtained his power, and retained it only through the grace of Rome. He learned of the. visit of the wise men from the East, and his alarm was increased. Because he was thwarted in his plans, he became infuriated and was guilty of infanticide—having all the male children under two years of age in the regions of Bethlehem killed.
Jesus was reared in Nazareth, a small town in Galilee, the northern province of Palestine. It was a most fertile, prosperous, as well as populous section of the land Nazareth nestled like a hollow amphitheatre in the mountains, overlooking the great Esdraleon, the battlefield 61 Israel. Through Nazareth came the travelers from Damascus to the Mediterranean seaports, as well as to Egypt; hence Jesus was in touch with the outside wodd. Men from all countries contacted Nazareth. In this village his mother taught him to lisp the name of Eloh'm; and his education was further continued in the synagogues of the land. He grew, waxed strong, and was in favor with the people. At the age of twelve he went with his parents to the feast of the passover in Jerusalem. He had attained the age when a lad became a “son of the law,” becoming legally responsible for his actions. It was on this trip to Jerusalem that he uttered the first words we have from his lips: “I must be about my Father’s business.” Returning to Nazareth from his trip to Jerusalem he was taught a trade—he became a carpenter (Mark 6:3). Among the Jews was the trite saying: “Teach your son a trade, else you teach him to be a thief.” As a carpenter Jesus worked not only with wood, but iron also.
Following his first trip to Jerusalem there comes a silence of some eighteen years touching the boy Jesus. When he was about the age of thirty he went to the river Jordan where John the Baptizer was baptizing, and demanded baptism at his hands (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11). It was at the time of his baptism that he was declared to be the “vSon of God,” by the Father himself. He was also the “Son of man,” and often referred to himself as such. The Incarnation of the Lord has been the bone for much contention. It is inquired : “How could he be ‘God’, and at the same time ‘man’ ?” It is recorded that he is the “same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), hence to speak of him as the “Son of man” is incorrect. As touching his nature it remained un-changed, ever his nature was the same as that of Jehovah the Father; but as touching his manhood, his nature as embodied in the flesh was the same as that of man. The two natures were distinct within him, the human inferior to the Divine. In no sense were the two natures fused, though existing in the one person. As the “Son” he remained all the time God; God did not become man—that is, a human person, but united to himself for the period of his life on earth the human personality or human nature. Does someone say that such is a mystery? Well, what of it? Is it not a mystery how your spirit dwells in your body? Can you explain it? Possibly if you knew more about the nature of God, as well as the nature of man, there would be no apparent mystery. It is a mystery to us how God created man. It is contended by some that if Jesus was man, and at the same time God, he was a compound being—Divine and human. Why be astonished? Is not man a compound being, a human, material body, and an immortal, immaterial spirit? Do not make yourself ridiculous by opposing a thing because you do not understand it. Do not try to be “smart.” As a man, Jesus was bound by human limitations as are we, for he took on himself the nature of man; as God he knew the very thoughts of the people before they were manifested by any act. No mere man could know such. He was the Son of God.
Following his baptism came a period of forty days in his life during which he abstained from food. He was not only hungry, but thirsty as well. His physical strength was largely depleted when Satan came to him, tempting him. The traditional place of this temptation is now a barren waste and the appearance is that it has never been otherwise. The story of the temptation was made known by Jesus himself, for not a man saw his conflict with Satan. All the land was filled with limestone rocks. Satan proposed to the Lord that he command the stones to become bread. Jesus made answer: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.” To have followed the lead of Satan would have been to render obedience to him. The reply of Jesus placed his eternal veto on the doctrine of materialism, for if man is wholly mortal he can live by bread alone. Satan, finding Jesus invincible at the point of attack he had made, seeks to find a vulnerable point in his defense, and proposed that he cast himself from the high point of the temple and the angels would bear him up, provided he was the Son of God, lest his foot be injured on the stones. Jesus came to save man, to establish a kingdom “not of this world” (Jno. 18:36). For him to have done as Satan suggested would have startled the people, and they would, no doubt, have flocked about him, declaring him to be the promised Messiah. Even they would have proclaimed him the promised King. Jesus knew the designs of Satan, and answered: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”
It was the promise of Jehovah that a kingdom would be established. Satan was conversant with the Scriptures, and knew that Jesus would set up a kingdom, which had in view the filling of the whole earth. He proposed to Jesus that he would deliver to him all the kingdoms of the earth, if only he would worship him. If Satan could have fulfilled his promise, what a prospect. The Jews were looking for a king who would be a temporal ruler. Satan held before him the opportunity of ascending a temporal throne immediately and becoming the undisputed ruler of “all the kingdoms” of the earth, which would have given him wealth, the power of great men, and social prestige which would quickly have brought all to his colors. Jesus knew Satan as the prince of liars; that he lied when he made tne proposition. First the kingdoms were not Satan’s to deliver, and he lied when he claimed, them. Satan is a usurper, and all he holds in his power is solely by conquest; it is not his in his own right. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (1 Corinthians 10:26). “All souls are mine,” declared Jehovah (Ezekiel 18:4). To me it is passingly strange that some affirm that Satan has anything as his own—his by right. Three trials did Satan make in this narrative to seduce Jesus; but each rime he was met with a sword thrust-r-a quotation from the word of God. God’s word is powerful!
I do not subscribe to the view that Jesus felt the urge to follow the lead of Satan. Though tempted in all points'as man,- his nature as a man had not been perverted by the easy step into “respectable sins” at the first, then gradually de parting into darker paths, till conscience was like the scar- tissues following a severe burn. His was the uncorrupted nature when the .temptations were presented. There was never with him , the urge to lie to advance his interests, or the ends he sought to attain. He was never inclined to stoop to the indecencies of life for any purpose; nor is any man, till he has been led by easy stages into the depths of corruption. The fact that a man sins is not proof that he has a bad nature! Adam was good, yes, God pronounced him “very good,” but he sinned. However, that sin was not proof of a bad nature. Jesus abstained from food for forty days, and there was the cry of his flesh for the necessary food. In such longing for food there was no sin. Jesus was hungry. Though he was, is, the bread of life, he became hungry; though he is the “water of life,” he became thirsty, and asked for drink. He became tired by reason ot the long trek over the dusty roads of Palestine; he gives rest to the weary soul that comes to him. Though he paid tribute to the earthly king, he was the owner of the universe. Though he was sold for thirty pieces of silver, the earth with all its wealth belong to him. Though he died, he is “the resurrection and the life.” It is true that he multiplied the loaves and fishes, yet he did not perform a miracle to satisfy any earthly cravings within himself. Not for self-gratification did he perform a single miracle. Whose Son was he? He was the Son of Mary—she was his mother; but he was the Son of God, God was his father. Never does he refer to Joseph as his father. With his mother and his disciples he attended a marriage in Cana of Galilee, only some four or five miles from his home, and contributed to the joys of the occasion, for when the wine was all used he converted water into wine. Whose Son was he? When a lad he visited Jerusalem at the time of the passover. Now with his disciples he again visits the city at the same season and found the money-changers were polluting the holy precincts of the temple by their practices. His righteous indignation was stirred within him. With a whip he drove the cattle from the place, then overturned the tables of the money-changers, scattering the coin, charging that the operators were making God’s house a place of thieves. They offered no resistance. Why? The Samaritans were disliked by the Jews, and they would have no dealings with them. Jesus was not on earth to show favoritism, nor was he a clannish character. He halted at the well of Jacob one day and sent his disciples into the city to buy food. On their return they were astonished to find him in conversation with a woman of Samaria. Though Jesus was reared by the Jews, was of that extraction, and knew all the clannishness of the Jews and their dislike for the Samaritans, he was himself a world character, and in his life there was no place for the foolish prejudices of the Jews. He was the Son of God.
Jesus in his life as well as in his teachings looked beyond the exterior, the external act was not that which gave value to the deed. The question was: What motivated the act ? It was left for Jesus to bring to the world the proper standard by which to evaluate the actions of men. He taught that it was not necessary to drive the dagger and spill the blood of your fellow-man to become a murderer. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer” (1 Jno. 3:15). To look on a woman to lust after her is to commit adultery—the man is guilty (Matthew 5:28).
Many of Christ’s friends have caused others to turn from him, by reason of their failure to understand his teachings. Christ said: “Resist not evil” (Matthew 5:39). Some who are determined not to become Christians try to salve their consciences by declaring that Christians do not try to translate into actions that which Jesus taught. A man declares that the teachings of Christ forbid the husband using any force to prevent some fiend from ravishing his wife; that if some brute of a man should assault his daughter in the very presence of the child’s father, the father would not be permitted to use any force to prevent the carnal actions of the man; that if some man with no respect for man, nor reverence for Jehovah should strike your cheek, you would do wrong to resist him; but rather you should turn the other cheek, inviting him to further injure your body. Was Jesus placid when Satan tempted him? Are we not commanded to “resist the devil”? (James 4:7). The Devil is “evil” only—the very embodiment of “evil,” and we are to “resist him”; and that in the face of the interpretation some place on the words of Christ to “resist not evil.” Wherein is the harmony of the statements: “Resist not evil,” and “resist the devil” ? It is that which prompts the act which determines the character of the person. There is the internal as well as the external of every overt act; and, too, the character of one’s heart determines his thoughts. His thoughts reveal his heart condition. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” It is not necessary to perform the overt act, so far as the guilt of the one hating is concerned—the desire to murder determines the guilt in the sight of God. Man looks on the actual act, while God sees heart conditions and thoughts arising there. Jesus measures men and their actions by their impulses. A man attempts to shoot his neighbor; but his faulty aim, or some imperfection in the gun, caused him to shoot wild of the man’s body—he missed the mark and though he did not kill the man, he is none-the-less a murderer as God measures the motives of men. One may worship Christ and at the same time sin. Jesus said: “In vain do they worship me” (Mark 7:7). The Pharisees prayed in the corners of the streets that they might be seen from all directions—they were hypocrites. To ring a bell, or sound a trumpet to attract attention to your acts of charity, if performed in the name of Christ, is but to dig deeper the pit in which you flounder. Washing hands is a sanitary act; but to perform such ablutions as an act of worship is a sin!
Christ used force in his work among men. Too many think of physical force only. There is moral force, mental force, spiritual force, as well as physical force! We encounter here all three forms of force, and fighting is carried on in each of these realms. Surely no one thinks all fighting is wrong. When Jesus used his tongue, a physical instrument, and with biting terms condemned the hypocrites, he used force. Have you never been wounded by cruel words which left wounds on the soul which have not healed and scars which time does not efface? Words are weapons which cut like a rapier and pierce like a dagger. It is not the kind of force Jesus teaches, but that which prompts the use of force—that's what Jesus teaches! When you use force against your fellows, with hatred in your heart for him, seeking revenge, then you sin! It matters not the form of force used. That’s what Jesus taught. Whose Son is he?
Many place wrong values on human life. Human life is not the most precious thing with which men have to deal. The value Jesus placed on human life, and the value men place on human life is not the same. Clearly, Christ declares, if need be, one is to sacrifice his temporal, physical life, rather than deny Him. Many in the early days of Christianity died at the stake; others were torn limb from limb by ravenous beasts when they were assured that if they would deny Christ they would not be molested. They counted faithfulness to Christ of more importance, of more value than physical life. Such was (is) the teaching of Christ. Jesus is the Son of God!
There have been many on earth who have been so self- centered that they refused to entertain in their thoughts any consideration for the rights of others when obsessed with the determination to get and hold at any cost. They crushed every righteous impulse until they suffered no compunction when doing that which is wrong. They live by the “Iron Rule”—the rule of the jungle; with them “Might is Right.” It is by that rule that every unholy conquest has been waged. It was Jesus who gave the world the “Golden Rule.” “Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). It was left for Jesus, the Son of God, to give to the world this rule. It requires you to take the initiative. Other “rules” had been given, but they were negative, as: “What thou hateth, do to none” (Tob_4:15). “What is hateful to thyself do not to thy neighbor.” Christ called men to be workers, to be doers, to be forward in doing good.
Since the days of Christ we have had mental giants in the earth—they have brought forth many inventions and made great discoveries. Some of them have given their lives to the study of social ethics; but no man has stepped forth declaring that he has a better rule of action than that given by Christ—he was the Son of God! He taught that which is right; no one can improve on that which is right.
Jesus invited men to test his teaching by its fruit, when he said: “A tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 7:20). The teaching of Christ is not to be judged by some wild fanatic professing to follow Christ, nor by moral perverts who profess to have enlisted under his banner. The test is: Has the teaching of Christ borne good fruit? Does it continue to do so? Recount the men you know who have become Christians, and answer: Does the teaching of Christ when translated into the actions of men make them better? If Christianity is not true, Christ was the greatest deceiver ever among men. If he was not the Son of God, he was a colossal fraud. He was not a “good man” if he was not what he claimed—the Son of God. Liars are not good men. His claim to being the Son of God is true. The men who wrote the New Testament were not men of letters. They were not trained in the universities of their day. They were from the humble, unpretentious walks of life, from among the “common people.” Can you persuade yourself that they invented the character of Jesus and then depicted him as living the sinless life? Though they were clannish, they present him as a universal character. They were under the direct influence of the Son of God for three years and through them he spoke. They thought of a temporal kingdom and dreamed of places in his cabinet. When they saw him in the hands of the mob and then nailed to the cross, their hopes were destroyed and they determined to return to their former work. On Sunday morning the news of his resurrection was brought to them, but not until they had seen him did they believe—they were begotten unto a living hope by his resurrection (Luke 24). Though they had no earthly honor to gain by remaining firm in their affirmation that he was raised, they did not falter, they sealed their testimony by death in his service. He was the Son of God!
Jesus fought for human freedom. He hurled himself against false teachers, hypocrites, corrupt priests, politicians, and the invisible powers of darkness and ignorance.
He was free from selfishness.
He had no personal ambitions—for his advancement.
Worldly pride had no place in his life.
He did not seek for, nor try to obtain that which was another’s.
At no time did he show the spirit of revenge.
He is the Son of God.
The wise man imposes faith in Him, and by His teachings forms his life, shapes his character, and seals his destiny.