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By Keith L. Brooks, D.D.
W E have among us those of lib eral mind who refer to Jesus Christ as the “ flower o f hu manity” and vigorously deny that He is o f the Godhead. Some of these per sons still hold to the New Testament, as serting that it contains no evidence that our Lord asserted His own deity. Ob viously, if He made such claims, and their views are correct, He would be made the world’s worst religious fraud. Dr. Beecher once said: “ If Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God in the experience o f those who love and trust Him, there needs no further argument of His divinity.” We do not hesitate to assert that the deity o f Jesus Christ is so inter woven with the whole texture of the New Testament that any honest person who would deny His deity, must first destroy the New Testament or resort to strange devices to dispose of plain language. But, suppose you were confronted with a denier of Christ’s deity who re fused the testimony of the Scriptures! Could you prove it apart from the tes timony o f the Book? Let us see if we can account for Jesus Christ on the supposition that He was but a man, though perhaps “ an idyllic figure.” If He is to be taken as only human, it is certain that one must first throw out the most striking elements of His character as He has become known to men. One must also' contend that His influence over His times and all subse quent history in transforming the souls of men is a delusion. (1) What is the witness of our cal endar : — Anno Dominum — A.D. 1949 ? Our Gregorian calendar witnesses to the fact that this planet has been visited by One who must have been different from all other mortals. If a mere man has caused the whole course o f time to be changed and the history of the ages divided in two, He was such a person. What kind of a child was this? The only possible explanation of the calen dar is Galatians 4:4,5. (2) What is the witness of the Lord’s Day? Something of tremendous import must have once happened that, after nearly 2,000 years, we find millions the world around meeting regularly on the first day of the week to worship togeth er and to rejoice in the fact that there is a risen Saviour, whereby they are assured that His death was indeed, as He said, an atoning sacrifice. Only by His having been raised from the dead could it be known that His death was different from all other deaths and that God the Father had set His seal upon His claim to being “ the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” Page Eight
Will you attempt to account for such a vast body of believers through 2,000 years on the assumption that its Found er is a dead man and His church simply a memorial? Must it not have a LIVING Head? The One who said He would rise from the dead and make His resur rection power availing to overcome all enemies of His church, has also said that He would come again at the con summation of the age, and receive its last remnants unto Himself? Is there not sufficient reason to believe that He will accomplish THAT ALSO? Think it over! The very ordinances of the church— the Lord’s Supper and water baptism —are age-long witnesses to the power of Christ’s claims. The Saviour chose no towering monument to perpetuate His memory, but the most perishable of all things—a bit of bread and a sip of wine. To the Jew, accustomed to splendor o f the ancient rites and feasts of Israel, what could be more commonplace and bare? This simply could not last! But, after 2,000 years, its power to draw hearts to Calvary is unsurpassed, and nothing has done more to keep evangel ical Christianity alive through long pe riods of apostasy. And He said: “ UN TIL I COME!” Will it continue? A mere MAN, you say? Water baptism is just as strong a witness—symbol of His atoning death and bodily resurrection! Just as by the simple act of the Last Supper, Jesus brushed aside the Passover so long cele brated in Israel, so by the command to baptize in His name, He threw into the discard the covenant sign of Israel, circumcision. Who wishes to contend that at the word of a Galilean preacher, this rite has been perpetuated for 2,000 years? Will it continue as He said, until the consummation of the age? (Matt. 28:19,20). (4) Does the very existence of the New Testament today indicate that a mere man spoke those matchless words therein recorded? Here is the world’s (Continued on Page 28)
Said Paul: “ If Christ be not risen, ye are yet in your sins.” What a monument to the fact that Jesus Christ came forth from the dead is the fact that after 2,000 years, millions are drawn together on the Lord’s Day which dates back to that day when the Lord was said to have come forth from the grave! On that last Saturday when the body of Jesus was sealed in a tomb, the hosts of hell rejoiced that they held Him un der the power of death. They mocked His followers and for the disciples no day was ever so beclouded with doubt and gloom. Suddenly the picture changed. What sent those disciples out as flaming evangels, challenging His very murder ers to deny that He had come forth from the grave? Had the body of Jesus been left lying in some nameless grave, ’ no church bells ever would ring and no church spires point to the skies. Did a mere man bring about this change from the Jewish Sabbath so solemnly observed through the ages back to the days of Egypt? Did a mere man cause the new day to be observed by millions around the world for 2,000 years? Think it over! (3) Can we explain the existence of the Church of Jesus Christ on the basis of a mere human leader? What moral and spiritual power in the world can be for one moment compared to that of the church— despite all its present-day divisions and apostasy? Is it but one more reform movement? Is there any existing spiritual broth erhood in the world found outside the church? Is there any power that so cements human souls together in godly fellowship and constructive ministry to others? To what can it be traced? A man of Nazareth 2,000 years ago said: “ On this rock [the confession of Christ’s deity by Peter] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” None can deny that the powers of hell went to work on it from the start and no movement to the present hour has ever faced such perse cutions—but look at it today! From Pentecost forward, its members faced fearlessly the raging fires of hate, answering: “ We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard.” Their Master had said: “ Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” Imagine any mere man’s daring to make such an assertion concerning his teachings! Beginning at Jerusalem, those early Christians carried His words out to the world. After 2,000 years, no words -are so frequently repeated, sung and printed. The very air is full of His words, wafted to the farthest corners of the earth.
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