Christ is central to Christian preaching as the divine Savior who embodies God's nature and redeems humanity through His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection (John 1; 1 Corinthians 15). Illustrations often portray Him as the flawless cornerstone and foundation of faith, emphasizing His unique God-man identity and the necessity of focusing solely on Him to build a stable spiritual life.
Focus on Christ alone, not distractions, to truly see His glory and presence.
You are familiar, no doubt, with one of the most famous paintings ever done by any artist: The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, that classic portrayal of Christ and the twelve apostles at the table.
Many students of art history believe that the painting, when first created, was somewhat different from the version which we now see. There was initially, it is believed, an exquisite lace border on the tablecloth. When, immediately upon completion, da Vinci invited a group of art students to view his masterpiece, they were immensely impressed by the delicate design of that lacework. They studied it intensely and praised it highly.
Upon seeing the reaction of these young men, the artist took up a brush, dipped it, and made a few long strokes across the canvas, obliterating the lace. Then, with uncontrollable feeling, he shouted, "Now, you fools, look at the face of Christ!" The Mind Has No Garbage Disposal
In describing one of the new movies of the day, a critic wrote, "The plot moves rapidly down the sewer." It would not be so damaging to those who watch such trash if the mind could be equipped, like your kitchen sink, with a garbage disposal. Then you could flush away all the filth and be done with it, but the mind does not work that way. It stores up impressions for a lifetime. The only way to protect the mind is to expose it to only the best! The Burning Torch
Among ancient Greeks the runner who won the race was not the man who crossed the line in the shortest time, but the man who crossed it in the least time with his torch still burning.
We are so often so busy with life's activities that we are in danger of allowing the torch of our spiritual life to become extinguished.
A good woman once said that in the rush and hurry of her life she felt in danger of being "jostled out of her spirituality." There is a real danger of being too busy to be good, of running too fast to keep our torch burning.
Christ gave up His place and rights to take our place and suffer for us.
When the government phased out its surplus commodity food program, one man went early to the last distribution to secure a place in line before the foodstuffs ran out.
A few hours later, he was near the door where the cheese, butter, dry milk and peanut butter were handed out. He saw a friend walking by and called him by name.
He knew the man. Neither his wife nor he had any work for some time. They had four children. The man confirmed that his prospects were poor.
The man in line knew the food would run out soon, but he told the unemployed family man to take his place in the line. The poor man did so and the other went back to the end of the line.
Within a short time the distribution ended and the one who gave up his place had also given up his food.
This is like Jesus Christ, who drew us into His place, while He stepped in ours, taking upon Himself all the consequences of our failures.
Christianity rests on Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection as its foundational pillars.
The Reverend Charles H. Spurgeon once said, "Christianity rests on three great pillars, the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Incarnation alone could not redeem sinful men. But apart from the Incarnation there could be no propitiatory sacrifice that would avail to put away sin. God became man in order to die. We cannot, therefore, make too much of the mystery of the union of the human and the divine in Him who was both Son of God and Son of Mary. In Him we have the Daysman for whom the patriarch Job longed, one who can lay His hand upon both God and man (Job 9:33) because He combines the natures of both in one glorious Person. Bethlehem, Calvary, and the empty tomb, all alike should stir our souls and draw our hearts out to God in wonder, love, and praise. Our Matchless Christ
To many, Jesus Christ is only a grand subject for a painting, a heroic theme for a pen, a beautiful form for a statue, and a thought for a song; but to those who have heard His voice, who have felt His pardon, who have received His benediction, He is music, warmth, light, joy, hope and salvation, a Friend who never forsakes, who lifts us when others try to push us down. We cannot wear Him out; we pile on Him all our griefs and troubles. He is always ready to lift us; He addresses us with the same love; He beams upon us with the same smile; He pities us with the same compassion.
There is no name like His. It is more inspiring than Caesar's, more musical than Beethoven's, more patient than Lincoln's. The name of Jesus throbs with all life, weeps with all pathos, groans with all pains, stoops with all love. Its breath is laden with perfume.
Who like Jesus can pity a homeless orphan? Who like Jesus can welcome a prodigal back home? Who like Jesus can make a drunkard sober? Who like Jesus can illuminate a cemetery plowed with graves? Who like Jesus can make a queen unto God out of a lost woman of the street? Who like Jesus can catch the tears of human sorrow in His bowl?
There is no metaphor with which to truly express Jesus. He is not like the bursting forth of an orchestra; that is too loud and it may be out of tune. He is not like the sea when lashed into a rage by a storm; that is too boisterous. He is not like a mountain wreathed in lightning, canopied with snow; that is too solitary and remote.
He is the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, a gale of spices from heaven. The Brightness of His Glory
Jesus Christ, by His constant designation as the Son, must not be considered as belonging within time and space. Take as an illustration the sun and its rays. Does the radiance of the sun proceed from the substance of the sun itself or from some other source? We all know that it proceeds from the substance itself. Yet, though the radiance proceeds from the sun itself, we cannot say that it is later in point of time than the existence of that body, since the sun has never appeared without its rays. It is for this reason, says Chrysostom, that Paul calls Christ "brightness" (Hebrews 1:3), setting forth thereby His being and His eternity from God. The fact that Jesus Christ, the Word, is presented as a separate personality from God the Father does not mean that He is less eternal, less infinite, and therefore less God and less responsible for the creation of the world, than God the Father.
No scripture speaks of Christ as man alone; He is always God-Man, fully divine and human.
A professor of theology once asked his students to get a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns. In the first column they were to write every passage where Christ is spoken of as God-Man; in the second column all the passages where Christ is spoken of as God alone; and in the third, all the passages where Christ is spoken of as man alone. The papers were badly balanced. The first and second columns filled right up, but as to the third column, no one found a passage speaking of Christ as man alone. There just is no such passage.
Jesus Christ perfectly reflects God’s nature, revealing the invisible God to us clearly.
In the Rospigliosi Palace in Rome is Guido Reni's famous fresco, "The Aurora," a work unequalled in that period for nobility of line and poetry of color. It is painted on a lofty ceiling, and as you stand on the pavement and look up at it, your neck stiffens, your head grows dizzy, and the figures become hazy and indistinct. Therefore the owner of the palace has placed a broad mirror near the floor. In it the picture is reflected and you can sit down before it and study the wonderful work in comfort. Jesus Christ does just that for us when we try to get some notion of God. He is the mirror of Deity. He is the express image of God's person. The Creator before the Creature
When you say to a child, "Give me a glass," he knows what you are talking about. The word "glass" is associated in his mind with an object. Philosophers like Kant tell us that before we have the phenomenon, i.e., that which can be seen or felt by the senses, we have the noumenon, i.e., that which is conceived of by intellectual intuition. In other words, the object's image is first formed in the mind, and then it is produced as an object. We see a table. It is beautiful. We admire it, but more than that, we accept the fact that behind that object there was a concept in the mind of someone. Or consider the Empire State Building. Before it was erected, it took form in the mind of an architect who transferred his thoughts to paper as a blueprint. Only then could the building be put up for everybody to see. John tells us that Jesus Christ existed before the beginning of the world. The Creator was before the creature. A Difficult Question
A Jewish soldier had been attending services where he heard of the character and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. He went to his rabbi and said, "Rabbi, the Christians say that the 'Christ' has already come, while we claim He is yet to come." "Yes," assented the rabbi. "Well," asked the young soldier, "when our Christ comes, what more than Jesus Christ can we expect?" What, indeed, since Jesus Christ was fully God?
The true meaning of Christ's coming is God Himself coming to us as Immanuel.
Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravians, was converted in an art gallery in Dusseldorf while contemplating a painting of Christ on the cross which had the inscription, "I did this for thee. What hast thou done for me?" This picture had been painted by an artist three hundred years before. When he had finished his first sketch of the face of the Redeemer, this artist called in his landlady's little daughter and asked her who she thought it was. The girl looked at it and said, "It is a good man." The painter knew that he had failed. He destroyed the first sketch and, after praying for greater skill, finished a second. Again he called the little girl in and asked her to tell him whom she thought the face represented. This time the girl said that she thought it looked like a great sufferer. Again the painter knew that he had failed, and again he destroyed the sketch he had made. After meditation and prayer, he made a third sketch. When it was finished, he called the girl in a third time and asked her who it was. Looking at the portrait, the girl exclaimed, "It is the Lord!" That alone makes the coming of Christ meaningful to the world-not that a good man came, not that a wise teacher came, not that a great sufferer came, but that God came-Immanuel, God with us. The Incomprehensible Christ
In a company of literary gentle-men, Daniel Webster was asked if he could comprehend how Jesus Christ could be both God and man. "No, sir," he replied, and added, "I should be ashamed to acknowledge Him as my Savior if I could comprehend Him. If I could comprehend Him, He could be no greater than myself. Such is my sense of sin, and consciousness of my inability to save myself, that I feel I need a superhuman Savior, one so great and glorious that I cannot comprehend Him."
Napoleon recognized Jesus Christ as God, unlike any other human leader or philosopher.
"I know men," said Napoleon in exile on the island of St. Helena to Count Montholon, "I know men, and I tell you that Jesus was not a man! The religion of Christ is a mystery, which subsists by its own force, and proceeds from a mind which is not a human mind. We find in it a marked individuality which originated a train of words and actions unknown before. Jesus is not a philosopher, for His proofs are miracles, and from the first His disciples adored Him. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires but on what foundation did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth, to become food for worms. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and is extending over the whole earth!" And turning to General Bertrand, the Emperor added, "If you do not perceive that Jesus Christ was God, I did wrong to appoint you general!"
Knowing God is only possible through Jesus Christ, who reveals the Father to us.
A Chinese Christian woman was preaching Christ to the scholar of a market town. He heard her courteously and after a little while said, "Madam, you speak well, but why do you dwell on Jesus Christ? Let Him alone. Instead of Jesus Christ, tell us about God." Whereupon she replied, "What, sir, should we know about God if it were not for Jesus Christ?" How true, and this is precisely the meaning of the second clause of John 1:18.
Christ is the unchanging standard by which believers must continually test their spiritual life.
A painter of landscape scenes always kept in front of him on his easel a number of precious stones-emerald, sapphire, ruby. Asked why, he replied, "To help me keep my colors true. In course of time, without some constant reference, my eye might lose its perception of color tones, and the colors I choose may not be right, may not be what they once were."
So it is with us, in the requirements of our ongoing life. Lest we wander astray, we need occasional exposure to some unchanging and unfading standard. Unless we are in touch with some constant reference, we can deviate and scarcely know it. We need some touchstone to test ourselves by, one that is worthy of what life is, one by which our lifetones can be safely set-the only perfect unchanging Lord.
Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, the foundational standard by which all else is measured.
In Mark 12, Christ calls Himself the measuring stone, or, as it is translated in our Bibles, the cornerstone. The cornerstone, in the minds of most Americans, is the stone that tells that a building was erected at a certain time, when a certain person was mayor, and so on. It is merely an exaltation of man.
But when the Bible refers to a cornerstone, it refers to the first stone laid for the foundation. The builders would get a stone from the quarry and chisel it carefully to get as near a right angle as possible. They would measure the placement of all the other stones against that cornerstone, that first measuring stone. It was the standard by which all the walls of the building were determined.
When Jesus Christ is called the cornerstone, God is saying, "I measure everything by Jesus Christ."
Paul emphasized knowing only Christ and Him crucified as the essential foundation for faith.
Alexander Maclaren stated: "Paul felt that, if he was to give the Corinthians what they needed, he must refuse to give them what they wanted, and while he crossed their wishes he was consulting their necessities.... In the message of Christ and Him crucified, there lies the satisfaction of all that is legitimate in those desires that at first sight it seems to thwart. Paul determined to know nothing but Jesus, and to know everything in Jesus, and Jesus in everything. Do not begin your building at the second floor windows. Put in your foundations first and be sure that they are well laid. Let the sacrifice of Christ in its application to the individual and his sins be ever the basis of all that you say. Then, when that foundation is laid, exhibit to your heart's content the application of Christianity and its social aspects. But be sure that the beginning of them all is the work of Christ for the individual sinful soul, and the acceptance of that work by personal faith."
A solid foundation in Christ is essential for a lasting spiritual life and service.
Tourists stand in wondering admiration before some of the palaces of the old world that have endured for more than a thousand years without a crack or seam. The Pantheon at Rome stands just as it did well over two thousand years ago. This would be impossible had not its foundations been right. The Rialto Bridge that spans the Grand Canal in Venice was erected in a.d. 1588. It has stood as it now stands for over four centuries, but that bridge rests on twelve thousand piles driven deeply into the soil. What is true of buildings is also true of life. God cannot and will not build the Christian virtues into your life, or fill you with the Holy Spirit for His service, until the proper foundation of receiving Christ and Him crucified as your Savior and Lord has been laid.
Christ, the Master Builder, can transform seemingly worthless lives into masterpieces.
Agostino d'Antonio, a sculptor of Florence, wrought diligently but unsuccessfully on a large piece of marble. "I can do nothing with it," he finally said. Other sculptors tried their hand at it, but they too gave up the task. The stone lay on a rubbish heap for forty years. Out strolling one day, Michelangelo saw the stone and its latent possibilities and ordered it brought to his studio. He began to work upon it, and ultimately his vision and work were crowned with success. From that seemingly worthless stone he carved one of the world's masterpieces of sculpture-David! The secret lay in Michelangelo, not in the stone. Look at life-your own with all its disappointments, and the lives of others with all that God has accomplished in them or all that He is able to accomplish. Expect Him to produce a masterpiece because you know the quality of the work of the Master Builder, Christ.
Christ humbled Himself to come close to us, embracing us with grace and truth.
It is related how the need of the West Indian slaves was presented to the Moravians. The Moravians were told that it was impossible to reach the slave population because they were so separated from the ruling classes. Undaunted, two Moravian missionaries offered themselves as candidates. They said, "We will go and be slaves on the plantations and work and toil if need be under the lash, to get right beside the poor slaves and instruct them." They left their homes, went to the West Indies, went to work on the plantations as slaves and by the side of slaves, to get close to the hearts of slaves. The slaves heard them, and their hearts were touched, because the missionaries had humbled themselves to their condition. That was grand; it was glorious. Yet Christ's example was more glorious, for He stepped down from heaven to earth to get close to our side. He Himself came beside us that we might feel the throbbings of His bosom, be encircled in the embrace of His loving arms, be drawn to Him, and hear Him whisper in our ears, "God is full of grace and truth."
Christ's light is necessary to dispel the darkness chosen by mankind.
No one switches on a flashlight in an area flooded by direct sunlight. We put on the light in order to dispel darkness. It is the darkness that makes the light necessary. God from eternity knew that men would choose darkness rather than light, and therefore He had to bring His light in Jesus Christ to shine in the midst of darkness. No Mistake in Judgment
A young man who graduated from West Point said that so much tension and anxiety built up with regard to final examinations that the best scholar in his class fainted at the first question asked him. He felt that his standing in his chosen profession was at stake, that his future position depended on the manner in which he acquitted himself. If the loss or gain of a little worldly distinction could so move a man, what will be the feeling of the soul when it stands alone at the bar of God? West Point honors are but for the little moment of time here, but the results of this final examination are for eternity. There are often mistakes made in worldly judgment, but there will be no mistakes made at the judgment seat of Christ. Not Welcome
A young nobleman had been absent for such a long time from his extensive estate and numerous tenants that he was a stranger to them. Having returned home, he was out hunting and wandered from his party. Lost and thoroughly drenched by the rain, he sought shelter and relief in the cottages of some of his tenants, but they did not recognize him as the lord of the manor and shut their doors in his face. Knocking at the cottage of a poor widow, he heard the invitation, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord." She gave him a suit of dry, though coarse, clothing and spread before him the best food she could provide. He went away promising to return for his own clothes. The next day he appeared with his retinue and stopped before the poor widow's door. She discovered in the young lord her unknown guest. He thanked her for her kindness shown to a stranger. She gave as a reason for her hospitality the fact that her own boy was away at sea and might be in need of shelter. When Christ came, He was surrounded by the world He had made. Yet Christ had nowhere to lay His head, for "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." The Right Doctor
A young foreign nobleman came across the English Channel to consult the great English physician, Dr. Forbes Winslow. "Doctor," he said, "I do not know what is the matter with me. I cannot sleep-I am troubled night and day on account of my sins." "Oh," said the doctor, "you are seeking the help of the wrong physician," and instead of his Materia Medica, he took down his Bible and read from the 53rd chapter of Isaiah: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." He knelt in prayer with the nobleman, who went back to his home rejoicing in salvation. The Savior's Grief
Evangelist Gypsy Smith said that once, when a group of gypsies were forced to cross a swollen stream, a great number of men were drowned. One young man made a desperate attempt to save his mother who kept clinging to him. Several times he pushed her away, saying, "Let go, Mother, and I can save you." But she would not heed him and was lost. At the funeral, the son stood by his mother's grave and said over and over, "How hard I tried to save you, Mother, but you wouldn't let me!" These are the tragic words that we shall hear Jesus Christ say to many in eternity one day, "How hard I tried to save you, but you wouldn't let me. Your will was the great hindrance."
Christ came to save sinful hearts, not to reform social conditions.
A Brahmin once said to a Christian missionary in India, "There are many things which Christianity and Hinduism have in common. But one thing Christianity has that is not found in Hinduism." "What is that?" asked the missionary. The Brahmin's answer was, "We do not have a Savior." He was right. Christianity is different in that Christ did not come as a social or economic reformer but as a Savior of individuals. God came to earth, not to change the adverse conditions under which men live but to change the sinful hearts responsible for such evil in the world. The Light of the World
As George Matheson said, "Christ has illuminated the world, not by what He did, but by what He was; His life is the Light of Men. We speak of a man's life-work; the work of Jesus was His life itself.... It is good to be told that the pure in heart shall see God, but the vision of heaven in a pure man's face outweighs it all. They tell us that the Easter morning has revealed His glory; rather would I say that His glory has revealed the Easter morning. It is not resurrection that has made Christ; it is Christ that has made resurrection. To those who have seen His beauty, even Olivet can add no certainty; the light of immortality is as bright on His Cross as on His Crown. 'I am the resurrection' are His own words about Himself-not 'I teach,' not 'I cause,' not 'I predict,' but 'I am.' "
Only Jesus Christ can mediate between God and man without obscuring God's vision.
When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes the cynic, he asked what he could do for Diogenes. The cynic answered that there was only one thing which Alexander could do for Diogenes, and that was to abstain from standing between him and the sun. There are many great and mighty people who like to stand between God and man, but they only obscure man's vision of God. Only Jesus Christ, God incarnate, can bring God as the regenerating and transforming Spirit into our experience.
Jesus Christ personally cares for and sustains each individual life.
Once a great king visited a town to lay the foundation stone of a new hospital. Thousands of school children greeted him and sang for him. Soon after the king passed a group of children, a teacher saw a little girl crying. She asked, "Why are you crying? Did you not see the king?" The little girl sobbed out, "Yes, teacher, but the king did not see me." How different the Lord Jesus Christ is from earthly kings. Not only does He give life to each one, but He is also personally interested in and personally maintains each life.
Only Christ stoops to save helpless souls, unlike other religious teachers offering advice.
A native of interior China wanted to become a Christian but couldn't understand how Christianity was superior to Confucianism and Buddhism. One morning he came to the missionary in a happy mood saying, "I dreamed last night, and now I understand. I dreamed I had fallen into a deep pit where I lay helpless and despairing. Confucius came and said, 'Let me give you advice, my friend; if you get out of your trouble, never get in again.' Buddha came and said, 'If you can climb up to where I can reach you, I will help you.' Then Christ came. He climbed down into the pit and carried me out." It takes the Savior of man to do that. Only a Savior would stoop so low as to save a sinful soul like yours and mine.
Christ is not just the way told but the way who leads and carries us home safely.
On a dark and stormy night, a child was lost in the streets of a large city. A policeman found him crying in distress, and gathering enough from his story to locate the home, gave him directions after this manner. "Just go down this street half a mile, turn and cross the big iron bridge, then turn to your right and follow the river down a little way, and you'll see where you are." The poor child, only half comprehending, chilled and bewildered by the storm, turned about blindly, when another voice spoke in a kindly tone, "Just come with me." The little hand was clasped in a stronger one, the corner of a warm coat was thrown over the shoulders of the shivering child, and the way home was made easy. The first man had told the way; the second man became the way. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ has been for us. From eternity He has told us that He is the Way. He has to become our Light also, to lead us to the Way. The Cleansing Blood of Christ
A woman came to a minister one day carrying a container of wet sand. "Do you see what this is, sir?" she asked. "Yes," was the reply, "it is wet sand." "But do you know what it means?" "I do not know exactly what you mean by it, woman; what is it?" "Well, sir," she said, "that's me; and the multitude of the sins that constantly dirty my heart cannot be numbered." Then she exclaimed, "Oh, wretched creature that I am! How can such a wretch as I ever be saved and keep clean from the influences of the world?" "Where did you get the sand?" asked the minister. "At the beach." "Go back, then, to the beach. Take a spade with you; dig, dig, and raise a great mound; shovel it up as high as you can, then leave it there. Take your stand by the seashore, and watch the effect of the waves upon the heap of the sand." "Sir," she exclaimed, "I see what you mean-the blood, the blood, the blood of Christ, it would wash it all away and would keep washing any new dark stains away."
Neglecting Christ's deity is a grievous error likened to slighting a king's son.
Emperor Theodosius, in the 4th century, denied the deity of Christ as do many in this 20th century. When his son Arcadius was about sixteen, he decided to make him his partner in the government of the empire. Among the great men who assembled to congratulate the new wearer of the imperial purple was Bishop Amphilocus. He made a handsome address to the Emperor and was about to leave when Theodosius exclaimed, "What! Do you take no notice of my son?" Then the bishop went up to Arcadius and putting his hands upon his head said, "The Lord bless thee, my son." The Emperor, roused to fury by this slight, exclaimed, "What! Is this all the respect you pay to a prince that I have made of equal dignity with myself?" Amphilocus replied, "Sir, you do so highly resent my apparent neglect of your son, because I do not give him equal honors with yourself. Then what must the Eternal God think of you when you degrade His coequal and coeternal Son to the level of one of His creatures?" The Unseen Sin
A half-witted man wore a most curious coat. All down the front it was covered with patches of various sizes, mostly large. When asked why the coat was patched in such a remarkable way, he answered that the patches represented the sins of his neighbors. He pointed to each patch and gave the story of the sin of someone in the village. On the back of his coat there was a small patch. On being asked what it represented, he said, "That is my own sin, and I cannot see it."
A mother’s self-sacrifice for her son illustrates Christ’s sacrificial love for us.
When the California gold fever broke out, a man went there, leaving his wife in New England with his boy. As soon as he got on and was successful he was to send for them. It was a long time before he succeeded, but at last he got money enough to send for them. The wife's heart leaped for joy. She took her boy to New York, got on board a Pacific steamer, and sailed away to San Francisco. They had not been long at sea before the cry of "Fire! fire!" rang through the ship, and rapidly it gained on them. There was a powder magazine on board, and the captain knew the moment the fire reached the powder, every man, woman, and child must perish. They got out the life-boats, but they were too small! In a minute they were overcrowded. The last one was just pushing away, when the mother pled with them to take her and her boy. "No," they said, "we have got as many as we can hold." She entreated them so earnestly, that at last they said they would take one more. Do you think she leaped into that boat and left her boy to die? No! She seized her boy, gave him one last hug, kissed him, and dropped him over into the boat. "My boy," she said, "if you live to see your father, tell him that I died in your place." That is a faint type of what Christ has done for us. He laid down his life for us. He died that we might live. Now will you not love Him? What would you say of that young man if he should speak contemptuously of such a mother! She went down to a watery grave to save her son. Well, shall we speak contemptuously of such a Saviour? May God make us loyal to Christ! My friends, you will need Him one day. You will need Him when you come to cross the swellings of Jordan. You will need Him when you stand at the bar of God. May God forbid that when death draws nigh it should find you making light of the precious blood of Christ!
Peter's confession of Jesus as the Son of the living God is a blessed declaration of faith.
One day He said, "Whom do men say that I am?" He wanted them to confess Him. But one said, "They say thou art Elias," and another "that thou art Jeremiah;" and another "Thou art St. John the Baptist." But He asked, "Whom do you say that I am?"--turning to His disciples. And Peter answers, "Thou art the Son of the living God." Then our Lord exclaimed, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas." Yes, He blessed him right there because he confessed Him to be the Son of God. He was hungry to get some one to confess him. Let everyone take his stand on the side of the Lord.
Christ is the essential first step and door to salvation and spiritual life.
Take Christ first, before you think of doing any thing else: did he not say, "Without me, you can do nothing"? So, then, all you do without him is sheer nothing, however pious and noble it may appear in the eyes of men. Is he not the Alpha? and is not the Alpha the first letter? Then do not try to put a letter before it; do not say to yourself, "I will try to obtain a true recognition of my sins, and then I will go to Jesus to obtain salvation. This is beginning with the Z instead of with the Alpha. By doing so, you make yourself like that fool who said, "I will learn to swim first, and then I will go into the water." Do you want to know your sins truly? Who is to give you that knowledge but Christ? Do you want to become better and more heavenly-minded? Who can give you that godly disposition of heart but Christ? Indeed, every thing you want is within the sheepfold of God; but how can you get within, except through the door, which is Christ? "I am the door," he said: "by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
— Dr. Guthrie
Christ is the only door to salvation, just as the ark had only one door.
Though there were many rooms in the ark, there was only one door. "And the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof." And so there is only one door in the ark of our salvation, and that is Christ. There are not two Christs preached, one in one chapel, and another in another. Spurgeon.
Jesus lifts our focus from earthly things to heavenly, eternal realities.
It is recorded of Socrates, that he brought men down from heaven to earth; that is, he drew the attention of men from the study and contemplation of heavenly bodies to the consideration of the nature and end of man, the duties and relations of men in this life. Socrates, therefore, was said to have brought down philosophy from heaven to earth. But of Jesus Christ it may be said that he brings us from earth to heaven; he teaches us a divine philosophy; raises men from things seen and temporal and earthly, to things spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. Dr. Beaumont.
Christ is revealed through many symbols in nature, showing His multifaceted identity.
Cast thine eyes which way thou wilt, and thou shalt hardly look on any thing but Christ Jesus hath taken the name of that very thing upon himself. Is it day? and dost thou behold the sun? He is called the Sun of righteousness. Or is it night? and dost thou behold the stars? He is called a star: "There shall come a Star out of Jacob." Or is it morning? and dost thou behold the morning-star? He is called "the bright Morning-Star." Or is it noon? and dost thou behold clear light all the world over? He is "that Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Come a little nearer: if thou lookest on the earth, and takest a view of the creatures about thee, seest thou the sheep? "As a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." Or seest thou a lamb? "Behold the Lamb of God, which taleth away the sin of the world." Seest thou a shepherd watching over his flock? "I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." Or seest thou a fountain, rivers, waters? He is called a fountain: "In that day there shall be a Fountain opened to the house of David." Or seest thou a tree good for food, or pleasant to the eye? He is called "the Tree of life." Seest thou a rose, a lily, any fair flower in a garden? He is "the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valleys." To come a little nearer yet: art thou adorning thyself, and takest thou a view of thy garments? He is a garment: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." Art thou eating meat, and takest a view of what is on thy table? He is the Bread of God; true Bread from heaven; the Bread of life. Isaac Ambrose.
Christ's endurance in suffering is the supreme example for believers to persevere.
Think of Christ's appointed work, the greatest that ever was to be done on the earth; so great as to be a counteraction to all the sins of all the saved, and at an awful cost of endurance! What toils, what grievances, what terrors (as to his humanity) attend his mighty task! But if he had been "wearied," and left but one thing undone; if he had shrunk and failed, — what sensation in heaven, hell, earth! Let his followers advert to that when tempted to shrink from service, and to say it is too much. When this repugnance arises, go and look at him; even imagine as if any given Christian service had been to be performed in his presence, under his inspection: would you, then, be weary? He is the grand, transcendent example to show that a good work must be gone through with; to constitute it such, the conclusion is indispensable, — "He that endureth to the end shall be saved;" "He that looketh back is not fit for the kingdom of God." John Foster.
The bishop refused to honor the emperor's son as equal, but Christ is truly equal with God.
It was during the reign of Theodosius the Great, in the fourth century, that the Arians made their most vigorous attempts to undermine the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ. The event, however, of his making his son Arcadius partner with himself on his throne was happily overruled, in the following manner, to his seeing the God-disbonoring character of their creed. Among the bishops who came to congratulate him on the occasion was the famous and esteemed Amphilochus, who, it is said, suffered much under the Arian persecution. He approached the emperor, and, making a very handsome and dutiful address, was going to take his leave. "What!" said Theodosius, "do you take no notice of my son? Do you not know that I have made him a partner with me in the empire?" Upon this the good old bishop went to young Arcadius, then about sixteen years of age, and, putting his hand upon his head, said, "The Lord bless thee, my son!" and immediately drew back. Even this did not satisfy the emperor. "What," said he, "is this all the respect you pay to a prince that I have made of equal dignity with myself?" Upon this the bishop arose, and looking the emperor in the face, with a tone of voice solemnly indignant, said "Sir, do you so highly resent my apparent neglect of your son because I do not give him equal honor with yourself? What must the eternal God think of you, who have allowed his co-equal and co-eternal Son to be degraded in his proper divinity in every part of your empire!" This was as a two-edged sword in the heart of the emperor. He felt the reproof to be just and confounding, and no longer would seem to give the least indulgence to that creed which did not secure the divine glory to the "Prince of peace." Dr. Jeffers.
Human names fade, but Christ's name endures forever like engraved granite.
When Ptolemy built Pharos, he would have his name upon it; but Sostratus the architect did not think that the king, who only paid the money, should eat all the credit, while he had none:
so he put the king's name on the front, in plaster; but underneath, in the eternal granite, he cut, deeply enough, "Sostratus." The sea dashed against the plaster, and chipped off bit by bit. I dare say it lasted out the time of Ptolemy; but by and by the plaster was all chipped off, and there stood the name "Sostratus." I am not sure that there are not waves that will chip off all human names from the Church of Christ; but I am quite sure that the one name of Christ shall last. S. Coley.
Christ alone is the perfect example to follow, surpassing all apostles and men.
It is said, that, thinking to amuse him, his wife read to Dr. Judson some newspaper notices, in which he was compared to one or other of the apostles. He was exceedingly distressed: and then he added, "Nor do I want to be like them; I do not want to be like Paul, nor Apollos, nor Cephas, nor any mere man. I want to be like Christ. We have only one perfectly safe Exemplar, — only One, who, tempted like as we are in every point, is still without sin. I want to follow him only, copy his teachings, drink in his Spirit, place my feet in his footprints, and measure their shortcomings by these, and these only. Oh, to be more like Christ!"
Christ is a personal friend who listens and cares, even when unseen and busy.
"What do you do without a mother to tell all your troubles to?" asked a child who had a mother, of one who had none. "Mother told me whom to go to before she died," answered the little orphan. "I go to the Lord Jesus: he was mother's friend, and he's mine." — "Jesus Christ is in the sky. He is away off, and he has a great many things to attend to in heaven. It is not likely he can stop to mind you." — "I do not know any thing about that," said the orphan. "All I know, he says he will; and that's enough for me."
Christ’s eternal fullness surpasses all earthly images of endless rivers and shining suns.
I have found it an interesting thing to stand on the edge of a noble rolling river, and to think, that although it has been flowing on for six thousand years, watering the fields, and slaking the thirst of a hundred generations, it shows no sign of waste or want. And when I have watched the rise of the sun as he shot above the crest of the mountain, or, in a sky draped with golden curtains, sprang up from his ocean-bed. I have wondered to think that he has melted the snows of so many winters, and renewed the verdure of so many springs, and painted the flowers of so many summers, and ripened the golden harvest of so many autumns, and yet shines as brilliant as ever, his eye not dim, nor his natural strength abated, nor his floods of light less full, for centuries of boundless profusion. Yet what are these but images of the fulness that is in Christ? Let that feed your hopes, and cheer your hearts, and brighten you faith, and send you away this day, happy and rejoicing! For when judgment-flames have licked up that flowing stream and the light of that glorious sun shall be quenched in darkness, or veiled in the smoke of a burning world, the fulness of Christ shall flow on throughout eternity, it the bliss of the redeemed. Blessed Saviour, Image of God, Divine Redeemer! in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. What thou hast gone to heaven to prepare, may we be called up at death to enjoy! Dr. Guthrie.
Christ's humble birth contrasts with His divine authority and miraculous power.
His birth was mean on earth below; but it was celebrated with hallelujahs by the heavenly host in the air above. He had a poor lodging; but a star lighted visitants to it from distant countries. Never prince had such visitants so conducted. He had not the magnificent equipage that other kings have; but he was attended with multitudes of patients, seeking and obtaining healing of soul and body: that was more true greatness than if he had been attended with crowds of princes. He made the dumb that attended him sing his praises, and the lame to leap for joy, the deaf to hear his wonders, and the blind to see his glory. He had no guard of soldiers, nor magnificent retinue of servants; but, as the centurion that had both acknowledged, health and sickness, life and death, took orders from him. Even the winds and storms, which no earthly power can control, obeyed him; and death and the grave durst not refuse to deliver up their prey when he demanded it. He did not walk upon tapestry; but, when he walked on the sea, the waters supported him. All parts of the creation, excepting sinful men, honored him as their Creator. He kept no treasure; but, when he had occasion for money, the sea sent it to him in the mouth of a fish. He had no barns, nor corn-fields; but, when he inclined to make a feast, a few loaves covered a sufficient table for many thousands. None of all the monarchs of the world ever gave such entertainment. By these, and many such things, the Redeemer's glory shone through his meanness, in the several parts of his life. Nor was it wholly clouded at his death. He had not, indeed, that fantastic equipage of sorrow that other great persons have on such occasions; but the frame of Nature solemnized the death of its Author: heaven and earth were mourners. The sun was clad in black; and, if the inhabitants of the earth were unmoved, the earth itself trembled under the awful load. There were few to pay the Jewish compliment of rending their garments; but the rocks were not so insensible: they rent their bowels. He had not a grave of his own; but other men's graves opened to him. Death and the grave might be proud of such a tenant in their territories; but he came not there as a subject, but as an invader, a conqueror: it was then the King of Terrors lost his sting; and on the third day the Prince of Life triumphed over him, spoiling death and the grave.
— J. Maclaurin
Christ knows and cares for each believer personally like a shepherd with his sheep.
One of my friends travelling in Greece, some years since, met three shepherds with their flocks. One had under his care about six hundred and fifty sheep, another about seven hundred, and the third about seven hundred and fifty, in all twenty-one hundred: these three flocks were put together. Each sheep had a separate name: it would not answer to any other name nor even to its own, unless called by its own shepherd. Each shepherd knew all his sheep, and also their names. If he saw that one was going in a dangerous direction, he called it, and it retraced its steps. If the way was narrow or steep, he walked first, and the sheep followed. It was cold when my friend met the shepherds. Some of the lambs appeared very vigorous and playful; but others, on the contrary, appeared weak and delicate. The cold made them tremble, and they could scarcely walk. The shepherds were clothed in large cloaks, gathered in at the waist by a girdle. They took these little lambs, and put them in their bosoms. They took care not to stifle them, but to leave their heads uncovered, in order that they might breathe freely; but thus they kept them warm! It was pleasing to see these old shepherds, with their long gray beards, and their bosoms filled with the lambs. It is thus that Jesus did. "He shall gather the lambs with his arms," the Bible tells us, "and carry them in his bosom." Children have loved Jesus, and Jesus has not left them to perish. He takes care of them as well as of grown persons. "I love them that love me," says he; "and they that seek me early (or carefully) shall find me." Amongst the twenty-one hundred sheep that my friend saw, he found some weak or fatigued. They could not walk much, especially in steep or miry places. Then the shepherds approached them, and, placing their crook beneath them, helped them to advance. They always treated them with the greatest tenderness. The Good Shepherd also does the same: he pities the weak, and assists them in their journey; he never abandons them; he makes them go out to find pasture. French S. S. Magazine.
Believers are co-heirs with Christ, sharing in the inheritance of heaven through Him.
As if upon the confiscation of an inheritance coming to many brethren, when the prince afterwards makes a release, the eldest brother taketh the possession, for assurance that he himself and all his brethren are restored to their goods; and the same is an assurance to the co-heirs with the eldest, that, in the person of their eldest brother, themselves are put in possession of the inheritance common to them all: even so Jesus Christ hath taken possession of heaven, not only for himself, but also for us his co-heirs.
— Cawdray
Christ dwells where believers serve Him faithfully and have fellowship with Him.
"Where is Jesus Christ?" was once asked of a child. "He lives in our alley now," was the reply; for the boy had learned that Christ is where he has friends to serve him.
Honoring Christ means revering His presence even in humble and unexpected places.
In the Highlands, they tell that the queen went one day into a poor cottage. The old woman did not know who was seated under her roof; and, even when told, she did not say much of what she felt to see her queen there. But, when the queen rose to go, she set aside the chair on which she had sat, and said, "None shall ever sit on that seat again."
Christ as our High Priest bears our burdens and intercedes for us continually.
When Aaron entered the Most Holy Place, he was bound to carry the names of the tribes of Israel upon his shoulders and upon his breast, — on his shoulders, in token that he bore the burden of their wickedness and their infirmities; upon his breast, in token of his love and care for them as next his heart. Such a High Priest is our Advocate. "We have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." He died to make satisfaction. He lives to make intercession. We are on his shoulders, to have our burdens borne for us. We are near his heart, that he may both die and live for us. . . . It is a glorious thought: we have in heaven one we can think of, know, believe, love, delight in; bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh; one whom no accident can disable, no quarrel can estrange, no death remove: for he ever liveth to make intercession for us. R. B. Nichol.
Neglecting Christ is like sailors ignoring the helm in a storm, lacking true direction.
Men who neglect Christ, and try to win heaven through moralities, are like sailors at sea in a storm, who pull, some at the bowsprit, and some at the maimast, but never touch the helm.
— Beecher
Christ's nature and works reveal a divine mystery beyond human understanding.
Every thing in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confounds me. His ideas and his sentiments, the truths which he announces, his manner of convincing, are not explained either by human observation, or the nature of things. His birth, and the history of his life; the profundity of his doctrine, which grapples the mightiest difficulties, and which is of those difficulties the most admirable solution; his gospel; his apparition; his empire; his march across the ages and the realms, — every thing is for me a prodigy, a mystery insoluble, which plunges me into a revery from which I cannot escape — a mystery which is there before my eyes, a mystery which I can neither deny nor explain. Here I see nothing human. The nearer I approach, the more carefully I examine. Every thing is above me. Every thing remains grand, — of a grandeur which overpowers. His religion is a revelation from an intelligence which certainly is not that of man. Napolcon.
Christ sympathizes deeply with our temptations and afflictions because He experienced them.
Like as if a man be sick of some grievous disease, and if a friend come unto him that hath been troubled with the same disease, he will show more compassion than twenty others; even so Christ, having felt in his own body and soul the anguish and the manifold perplexities that we feel in our temptations and afflictions, hath his bowels, as it were, a running towards us, evermore being pressed, and ready to relieve us in all our miseries. Cundray.
Christ's vicarious death is like a brave man risking all to save others from danger.
At a village called Ragenbach, in Germany, one afternoon a great number of people were assembled in the large room of the inn. There was only one door to the room, and that stood open. The village blacksmith—a pious, brave-hearted man—sat near the door. All at once, a large dog came and stood right in the doorway. He was a great beast, with frightful look. His eyes were bloodshot, and his great red tongue hung out of his mouth. As soon as the keeper of the inn saw him, he exclaimed, "Buck, back! The dog is mad!" Then there was great confusion in the room. There was no way out but by the door in which the dog stood; and no one could pass him without being bitten. "Stand back, my friends," cried the brave smith, "till I seize the dog; then hurry out while I hold him. Better for one to perish than for all!" He seized the beast with an iron grasp, and dashed him on the floor. The dog bit furiously on every side. His teeth tore the arms and thighs of the heroic smith; but he would not let go his hold. Unmindful of the great pain it caused, and the horrible death which he knew must follow, with the grasp of a giant he held down the snapping, biting, howling brute, till all his friends had escaped in safety. Then he flung the half-strangled beast from him against the wall, left the room, and locked the door. The dog was shot; but what was to become of the brave smith? The friends whose lives he had saved stood round him, weeping. "Be quiet! my friends," he said. "Don't weep for me: I've only done my duty. When I am dead, think of me with love; and now pray for me, that God will not let me suffer long, or too much. I know I shall become mad; but I will take care that no harm comes to you through me." Then he went to his shop. He took a strong chain.
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One end of it he riveted with his own hands round his body, the other end he fastened round the anvil, so strongly that no earthly power could loose it. Then he looked round on his friends, and said, "Now it's done! You are all safe. I can't hurt you. Bring me food while I am well, and keep out of my reach when I am mad. The rest I leave with God." Soon madness seized him; and in nine days he died, — died gloriously for his friends; but Christ died for his enemies. Newton.
Christ overcame Satan using the weakest weapon—His flesh—bringing greater glory to Himself.
Like as if two enemies fight together, and the one let the other choose his weapon himself, and appoint the other what weapon he is to use, if he who is dealt so withal doth vanquish and overcome the other, the greater is the glory who doth so overcome: so, likewise, Christ and Satan fighting, Satan did choose to fight with him in the flesh (the weakest of many weapons); yet even with that weapon did Christ overcome him; which got Christ the greater glory, and gave Satan the greater shame. Caedvag.
Christ is the Way, the universal support and path for the redeemed to Zion.
"I am the Way." As a road is that along which men go to their daily avocations, God chooses it to represent himself in this universal use, this underlying support of all things. Who would dare to say this of God but God? Some beasts carry their young, and some birds carry their young, and mothers carry their children; but who but God could say, "I am the Road; press me with your feet"? This is the highway cast up; and on it the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads. Beecher.
Christ's power destroys evil like the sun's rays destroy poisonous serpents.
There is a fable of ancient mythology, to the effect that Apollo, who represents the sun, killed a huge poisonous serpent by arrows surely aimed and shot from afar. It intimates that sunbeams darting straight from heaven destroy many deadly things that crawl upon the ground, and so make the world a safer habitation. The parable is, in this respect, a stroke of truth; and it coincides with a feature of the eternal covenant.
Possessions pale compared to the richness of claiming 'Christ is mine.'
A gentleman one day took an acquaintance upon the leads of his house to show him the extent of his possessions. Waving his hand about, "There," says he, "that is my estate." Then pointing to a great distance on one side, "Do you see that farm?"—"Yes."—"Well, that is mine." Pointing again to the other side, "Do you see that house?"—"Yes."—"Well, that also belongs to me." Then said his friend, "Do you see that little village out yonder?"—"Yes."—"Well, there lives a poor woman in that village who can say more than all this."—"Ah! what can she say?"—"Why, she can say, 'Christ is mine.'" He looked confounded, and said no more.
Christ is the light that dispels the darkness of the Christian's grave.
It is said that the Romans had a practice of lighting up their tombs by placing lamps in them. These lamps have been often found. Man does need a light to scatter the terrors of the dark grave. Christ, the light of the world, makes the Christian's tomb all light.
Diamonds formed from coal illustrate how believers shine with Christ’s borrowed glory.
The stories of subterranean caves, where brilliant diamonds, thickly studding vaulted roof and fretted wall, supply the place of lamps, are fancies, — childhood's fairy-tales. Incredible as it may appear to ignorance, on whose admiring eyes it flashes rays of light, science proves that the diamond is formed of the very same matter as common, dull, black coal. It boasts no native light; and dark in the darkness, as the mine or rock where it lies imbedded, it shines, if with a beautiful, yet with a borrowed splendor. How meet an emblem of the priceless jewels that adorn the Saviour's crown! Dr. Guthrie.
Despising Christ in glory is worse than rejecting Him in humility or suffering.
It is far worse to despise a Saviour in his robes than to crucify him in his rags. An affront is more criminal to a prince upon his throne than when he is disguised as a subject, and masked in the clothes of his servant. Christ is entered into glory after his sufferings: all who are his enemies must enter into misery after their prosperity; and whosoever will not be ruled by his golden sceptre shall be crushed by his rod.
— Charnock
