The Wednesday Word ~ 24 April, 2024 A.D.
What do you think of Christ? Part II
“What think ye of Christ? is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of Him.”
-John Newton
Last time, in part one, we concluded that no one was ever born like Jesus. His birth was merely an incident in His life. He had been alive from all eternity. He was and is the God-Man.
Now in Part 2 we continue to discover Christ´s uniqueness by considering that no one ever lived like Jesus.
He lived a sinless life.
What a mouthful! Do you realise how staggering that truth is? Have you ever tried it? Tried what? Tried to live sinlessly. I urge you to attempt it and see how far you get. Test every thought of yours against the Glory of God. Does every thought exalt and magnify the eternal God? Well, you say, that´s impossible...Of course it is. That´s one of the reasons why Jesus stands alone in a vast sea of humanity. He actually lived a sinless life. He was sinless in thought. He was sinless in word. He was sinless in deed. I John 3:5 describes Jesus by saying, “in Him is no sin.” In I Peter 2:22 we read of Jesus that, “He did no sin.” Then Hebrews 4:15 declares – “He was without sin.” Also, Hebrews 7:26 affirms, “He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.”
What do you think of Him? That´s the question!
In addition, Jesus, the sinless Christ was all-powerful. Yet, He remained sinless in His omnipotence. Do you remember Lord Acton´s famous words? He said, “Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” There´s a lot of truth in that statement. However, although Jesus was all-powerful, He was never corrupted by His authority. He was sinless (John 8:46)!
Then too He lived knowing the end from the beginning of His earthly ministry. He predicted, His suffering (Matthew 16:21–23), His betrayal (John 13:21), the manner of His death (John 8:28) and His resurrection (Matthew 17:22-23). No one was ever like that.
In His sinlessness He didn´t attempt to avoid the grim monster of death. He set His face like a flint and purposed to walk into the jaws of the “King of Terrors and Terror of Kings.”
How differently we behave. Most of us are trying to avoid death. We exercise and watch what we eat, not just because it makes us feel good but because we are trying to delay death for as long as possible.
Can you see the future? If we knew what the future held for us in terms of when we would die we probably would make every effort to avoid it. For example, let´s say that we knew that we were to die as a result of a car wreck in the last week of July we probably would avoid getting in any car during that month.
But Jesus was not like that. He knew how, where and when He was to die. We read in Matthew 16:21, “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”
The way Jesus lived His life was unique. What do you think of Him?
He´s wonderful.
And that´s the Gospel Truth.
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