The Wednesday Word ~ 15 May, 2024 A.D.
What do you think of Christ? Part 5
“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
In parts 1- 4 we discovered that no one was ever born like Jesus, no one ever lived like Jesus, no one ever worked like Jesus, and no one ever dealt with sinners like Jesus. This time we will consider how no one ever died like Jesus.
The Lord Jesus didn´t have to die! He voluntarily dismissed His Spirit. In John 10:18 He claimed He had power to lay down His life and power to take it up again and He did just that. When He had made atonement for our sins, He called out, “It is Finished” and gave up the ghost (Matthew 27:50).
He died at will!
No one else ever died at will. You can´t do that and nor can I. “Ah wait a minute” you say, ” There have been people who have been so downhearted that they just wanted to die and they did die.” Yes that´s true and that process took time. Maybe it took a day, maybe a month, maybe a year. It took time to die. However, when Jesus decided it was time to die, He simply bowed His head and dismissed His Spirit.
“Well,” you say, “What´s so marvellous about that?”
To which I respond, you try it. Just where you are sitting go ahead and die. Dismiss your spirt. You can´t do it. You can take your own life, but that´s not what we are talking about. You can´t instantly die at will. Only Jesus was able to do that.
Jesus was different from everyone else.
Also, when He died, He died on purpose, He died with the purpose of redeeming and rescuing a multitude that no one could number (Revelation 7:9-10). He died with the purpose of taking the iniquities of His people (Isaiah 53:6). He died with the purpose that we might live.
His death tore away the barrier between us and God. No one else´s death ever attained the same results...nor could it!
Consider the other principal leaders of world religion, Confucius, Budda and Mohammed. They were simply men. They died as all other men die. However, their deaths did not have any effect anyone´s eternal destiny.
Christ was unique in His death. What do your think of Him?
Moreover, He didn´t stay dead. After three days He rose up from the dead by His own power (John 10:18), It´s as if He said,” I´ve been dead long enough. ” I´m out of here. None of the world´s religious leaders could do that. Their graves are with us to this day.
So, in summary, no one was ever born like Jesus, no one ever lived like Jesus, no one ever worked like Jesus, no one ever dealt with sinners like Jesus. And no one ever died like Jesus.
What do you think of Him?
“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.”
And that´s the Gospel Truth!
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