“WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?” When the Lord Jesus was on earth He asked this question of the Pharisees. But let the question go straight home to your own heart, my reader.
Is He to you a mere man of whom you have read in a book called the Bible? Or is He the One whom you know as your Saviour? Perhaps you have only heard others speak of Him as such, and would like to know Him for yourself.
Then let me ask you another question: “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOURSELF?”
Perhaps you are quite willing to own that you sin sometimes, but that you are not quite as bad as some other persons whom you know, and that you hope God will, in His mercy, overlook all your sins because you have tried to do your best. My dear friend, if these are your thoughts, it is no wonder that you do not know Jesus as your Saviour; for He said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Still another question: “WHAT DOES GOD THINK OF YOU?”
Ah, we may try to hide our own shame, as Adam and Eve did behind the trees of the garden, but when the all-searching eye of God looks down upon us, how does He find the state of our hearts? The answer can be found in many places in God’s book, but we will just take two passages from the third chapter of the Epistle to the Romans―
“There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood:
Destruction and misery are in their ways:
And the way of peace have they not known:
There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
And again, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Now, what can you say of yourself after reading what God says of you? Do you believe that God’s word is true, and that He has given a correct picture of yourself? Listen, “Thou art holy” (Psa. 22:33But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3)). “THOU ART HOLY.” Yes, God is holy. Sin and He could not dwell together.
What room, then, can be found in heaven for one who has been a sinner? God has made room, and He has worked in such a way that He can bring men home to Himself without interfering with His own holy character. Jesus, God’s own beloved Son, came into this world nineteen hundred years ago, and by His life and words and work told out all that was in the heart of God for men. He went about doing good, for God was with Him. Men nailed Him to a cross, and it was there that the question of sin was settled, once and forever. It was there that God made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us.
Listen to the cry which rang out through the gloom and the darkness of Calvary― “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Let the blessed Son of God Himself give the answer― “Thou art holy.” There alone, on that cross, forsaken of God, the Sin-bearer bore the judgment that was due to us, and now God can come near to you and tell you that repentance and forgiveness of sins may be yours. Can you link yourself with the apostle Peter, and say, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24))?
What do you think of Christ? Shall I answer the question? He was the blessed Son of God who came here into this world and did a work on account of which God can now offer forgiveness to every man, because Christ died for the ungodly. He is my Saviour, for He died for me.
Beloved reader, happy are you if you can indeed speak thus. Be sure of this, that this work stands good for eternity. “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17)).
And now, just one more question: “WHAT DOES GOD THINK OF CHRIST?”
Let God’s word give the answer. “God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-119Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9‑11)).
Is He not worthy to be praised? Does not your heart go out in deep thankfulness for what He has done, not only for yourself, but also for God? He has so maintained God’s holy character, that God Himself can now give unhindered effect to the desires of His heart by filling His house with the objects of His love. T. H.