Jesus, when he was baptised . . the Spirit of God . . . lighting on H i m" (Matt. 3:16; Heb. 9:14). Fourth—In His interview with Nico- demus, the Lord foreshadowed the cross and made life eternal hang on it, when He said, " A s Moses lifted ; «,tip the serpent in the wilderness, even '' so must the Son of Man be lifted u p " (Jno. 3:14). Fifth—Our Lord longed for this sac- rificial offering up of Himself with a great longing, that the fountain of sin and uncleanness (Zee. 13:1) might be opened, and the grace of His resurrec- tion life be poured upon us, " But I have a baptism to be baptised with, an. how am I straightened till it be accomplished" (Luke 12:50). Sixth—In Matthew, He was very ex- plicit and spoke out plainly of His death and its character: 16:21, that He should "Suffer many things and be killed; in 17:22, that He, the Son of Man, should be betrayed;" in 20:18, that He should be "condemned, and in 20:19, that He should be "mocked, scourged, crucified." Seventh—Nineteen of the eighty- | nine chapters in the Gospels are ex- clusively concerning His death and resurrection. The sermons of Acts 2-4 all lay great stress on the death of our Lord as our source of life. All the general and pastoral Epistles of Paul, and the Hebrews, with two or three j, exceptions, speak much of His death, jits meaning and its fruit. In Revela- tions He is still a " Lamb as it had been slain.'' " N o t all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain, Can give the guilty conscience peace | Or wash away the stain. "De ar dying Lamb, Thy precious blood Shall never lose its power, Till all the ransomed Church of God Is saved to sin no more." [ARE YOTT LOOKING FOR JESUS? All the astronomers have been turn- l i ng their tubes toward the constella- Ition of Orion, fully expecting to see iHalley's comet on it, return from space I into which it disappeared two genera- t i o n s ago. I suppose if you were an I astronomer you would be nightly on the I watch for its appearance. But you are Ja Christian, an astronomer of faith, the IStar.of Jacob is your trust. Are you •looking for His rising? If you should
see a great multitude of people bending their eyes toward the skies I think you would join them to see at what they were gazing. A countless multitude have been and are still looking for Jesus. Before the angels sang their song in the choir loft of the Judean skies to that select audience, the shepherds of Bethlehem, many had long been looking for Jesus. First—There was Enoch, " t h e sev- enth from Adam," of whom Jude says that he prophesied, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints" (Jude 14). Second—There was Abraham of whom Jesus said, "Your father Abra- ham rejoiced to see my day; and h« saw it, and was g l a d" (Jno. 8:56). Third—There was James who said, " B e patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord . . .estab- lish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth n i g h" (Jas. 5:7, 8). Fourth—There was Jude who quoted and applied the testimony of Enoch, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His s a i n t s" (Jude 14). Fifth—There was Paul, the glorious, who wrote, "Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great . God even our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Tit. 2:13). Sixth—There was the whole body of the New Testament Church who with the Thessalonians had "Turned from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven'' (1 Thess. 1:9, 1Q. Seventh—There was the whole crea- tion of which it is testified, " F o r the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God" (Rom. 8:19). And what if we should quote you Ignatius, Papias, Polycarp, who were the immediate dis- ciples of John the Apostle, and Trenius, Justin Martyr and Hippolytus, their contemporaries and many others their successors! And should show how the whole multitude of the early Christians were looking for Jesus, as the Didache (A. D. 100) teaches, which sets forth the beliefs of that early day. Can you stand among this great cloud of wit- nesses and, while their eyes are strained toward the East, not look up and out with themt Can you see the loved ones on the pier, gazing down the harbor to catch the first glimpse of the' coming ship with the long absent ones, and not join themt Are you looking for Jesus?
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker