The Confession of Jesus as Son of God.
I ONCE knew a learned man, who spent his time reasoning with other learned men.
They talked and wrote about everything under the sun; all the things that they could sec with their eyes, or touch with their hands. Some talked of the wonderful things that are found under the earth; how men dig deep and find coal to make our fires; and they find diamonds and precious stones. These learned men could tell how many thousand years these things were widen under the ground.
Then they looked at the sky, and told things about the stars; they spoke of the millions of miles they traveled and how far they were from one another. If anyone asked who made these things, they answered, “Nobody! They came there naturally, as the earth goes round each day, to make what we call day and night. All things remain,” they said, “just as they were: no one created them, or gave them a beginning.” These clever men could only understand the things they saw “under the sun,” and they reasoned that man was not created any more than the earth or the stars. They knew nothing about that which is above the brightness of the sun at noonday. (See Acts 26:13, 1813At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. (Acts 26:13)
18To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18).)
Now the Bible tells us that by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word or God, so that everything had a beginning—for GOD made or created everything that was made. But one day these learned men said to my friend, “You ought to write a book to show that there is no God; and that Jesus was only a man.” He thought that a fine idea; and was pleased that they should think him so clever that he was the one to do it. So he went off and bought the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and then chose a lonely place in the mountains of Switzerland, where he could study without interruption―for he was quite sure that he could prove that Jesus was not God, and that this beautiful world under the sun came of itself, without a Creator. So he read the account about Jesus that God’s Holy Spirit taught the disciples to write. He read the four accounts of that wonderful Person—read them three times over! At last he took up his pen and began to write. He put down the things which the priests said of Jesus. Being religious teachers, it was their business to teach other people about God. But these priests showed more hatred to Jesus than any one; and when poor sinners came to Jesus to be healed of their diseases, the chief priest, Pharisees and Scribes all agreed in speaking against Jesus; and many times they tried to kill Him.
But as the learned man wrote this down, a strange feeling came into his mind. He thought, Jesus was not a bit like other men: I have never known a man like Him. He was very different to me, I would not go about “doing good” to my enemies, I would strike a man dead who dared to speak to me the way they spoke to Him! Yet, Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled, and went about doing good to all those wicked people who hated Him (just as I did yesterday). Yet nothing but gracious words came from His lips.
The clever book did not get written! All the clever man could say was that Jesus was different to other men. Though a gentle, lowly Man, He spoke with great authority, His word had authority over all created things; ― He commanded the winds and the waves, and they obeyed Him; He could make the fish conic up with money in its mouth; and more than all, He could command a dead man to live. He could say to a dead child, “Little maid, I say to you, Arise!” and she lived again. No other man or angel commanded life; Jesus must be God, he thought, in spite of all our learning and our reasoning! I begin to see that, after all, there must be a God!
Then God opened the eyes of this clever man, and he said, “What a fool I have been to think that man can find out God― ‘the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.’ I am that fool!! do not call me clever any more, or learned; it is all foolishness. If a man does not know God, he is without God, and without hope― ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’” (Prov. 9:1010The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)).
Jesus was the Son of God, the Creator of all things. He commanded and they were created (Psa. 148). He upholds all things by the word of His power, the wonders of the sky above and of the earth below (Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3)). He calls all the stars by name. The sea is His and He made it: that is more than any learned man can do!
Then the Holy Spirit taught this clever man that God is speaking to us now by His Son, Whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds—Who having by Himself purged our sins, has sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, and God has given Him a name that is above every name. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow―in heaven, in earth, and under the earth―the devil and all his angels will have to bow to Jesus! The devils believe and tremble―the sinner believes to trust and love!
As the light of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ shone into the heart of this learned man., his whole soul was filled with delight and praise. He used to say, “I was a caterpillar, now I am a butterfly. I have wings―I can fly up in faith, in hope, in love.” He came down from that lonely place in the mountains to proclaim the Name of Jesus to rich and poor. The Name which is above every name was his great theme. He went among sailors, fishermen, boys and girls; wherever he could find poor sinners he told them of the riches of grace that he had found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has gone to be with Him now, as Jesus said— “with Me where I am,” and great will be his reward, when Jesus says to him, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
A. M. S.