Moment of reflection

Every now and then, I receive an excellent blessing through my morning Bible reading and devotions.

This morning is one of those days, and I would like to take the liberty of sharing what caught my attention today from Mrs. Chas E. Cowman's "Streams In The Desert, Vol 2", Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1966.

October 25

We believe and know that Jesus is the Christ. (John 6:68.)

Dr. W. B. HINSON speaks from one of his memorable sermons regarding the fact of Jesus in history.

"I seem to stand on the top of a hill up which I have been climbing all my life; and I seem to be about to tell you that which I have been all my life learning. He is a fact and not a fiction on the pages of history.

"Tacitus, a Roman historian in the first century, spoke of Jesus in this fashion: 'There appeared one Jesus.' He incidentally alluded to the Christ. But nineteen centuries have emphasized the adjective there, and they have spoken of one Jesus.

"In the second century, Lucius, a Greek satirist, gave his brief mention of Jesus when he satirically said - 'Jesus the Great.' But those same nineteen centuries have underscored again and again the adjective in that phrase, and they call Jesus the Great.

"And in century one, four men - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - wrote the story of Jesus, an altogether wonderful story. they tell of His birth, babyhood, boyhood, young manhood. They tell how He talked, indeed how He looked. They tell how He acted, walked, and gestured, sat down, stood up. They tell all about Him. It is the most intimate story of a life. They tell how He died, how He was buried and where, how He rose again, how He ascended to heaven. And the wonderful record of that life that occupies only one-fourth of my New Testament has done more in the world than all the other books that were ever written.

"The historian Lecky, certainly an unprejudiced man, has told how there has more good come from this story than from all the words ever spoken by all the others who ever talked. Those gospels are history.

"John Stuart Mill, of England, said, It is no use denying the historical Christ.' Not it is little use; but it is no use denying it. and the greatest of all French skeptics said, 'It would take a Jesus to forge a Jesus.'

The Apostle Paul has written some history about Jesus. We call them his Epistles. And he stands at the head of an army so large I cannot stop even to mention the names of its officer, who eulogize the Christ. For if you go to Shakespeare, who they say is the greatest uninspired man who ever lived, Shakespeare talks about 'the acres over which walked the blessed feet of Him who for our advantage was nailed to the bitter cross.'

"And if you listen to Gladstone he tells you how in the New Testament the soft note swells to a mighty paen affirming that Jesus is God's Son and the world's Saviour.

"And if you listen to the great German you will find him saying, 'Christ is the holiest among the mighty, and the mightiest among the holy.'

"But most of all I think I love to remember Charles Lamb, the gentle and much afflicted soul. He said, 'Yes, if Shakespeare came in, we should all stand up, but if Jesus Christ came in we should all kneel.'

"Ah, yes, He is a fact. It does not matter what some little professor in some little school says to the contrary. He is a fact and not a fiction, on the pages of history!" (Adapted from "The Christ We Forget," by W. B. Hinson.)