Never a Man Spake Like This Man

Never man spake like this man. The officers who were sent to arrest the preacher of Nazareth were committed to no ordinary task. The power of his word was irresistible.

All human authority seemed to wane in his presence, and instead of arresting him, they were confessively arrested themselves. True, his message was simple, and his language that of the common people. But they were clothed with divine anshun, and confirmed by signs and wonders.

The blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard, the dumb spake, and even the dead came forth at the sound of his voice. For illustrations, he used the wheat in the field, the birds of the air, the prodigal son in the far-off land, and the sheep that had strayed. Yea, they were drawn from every realm in order to reach the heart and mind of his heroes.

The main purpose for which he had come into the world was that men might be saved, and he presented the way of salvation in various aspects. To one, salvation was likened to a gift, full and free, without money and without price. To another, as a well of living water, springing up within that would never run dry.

To a teacher in Israel, he described it as a new birth, whereby a person becomes a partaker of divine nature. The one thing he definitely emphasized was the inability of men to save themselves. Jesus of Nazareth was cut off out of the land of the living, but his voice was not silenced.

Mary heard it on the resurrection morning. Listen, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God. And again the disciples heard it when he declared, Peace be unto you.

Jesus still speaks. His voice is heard by the penitent today. Thy sins be forgiven thee, and also by the believer.

I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Just as clearly as it was when said of him, Never man spake like this man.