19
The Internal Evidence of the Fourth Gospel
'if I
never have entered the heart of man to say, "1 am the resur rection and the life.” “There is a resurrection and a life,” would have been a great and notable saying, but this Speaker identifies Himself with the resurrection and with life eternal. The words can only be born from above, and He who utters them is worthy of the utmost adoration of the surrendered soul. In an earlier chapter John records a certain question addressed to and answered by pur Lord in a manner which has no counterpart in the world’s literature. “What shall we do,” the eager people cry ; “What shall we do that we might work the works of God?” “This is the work of God , our Lord replies, “that ye believe on Him whom: He hath sent” (John 6:28, 29). I venture to say that such an answer to such a question has no parallel. This is the work of God that ye accept ME. I am the Root of the tree which bears the only fruit pleasing to God. Our Lord states the converse of this in chapter 16, when He says that the Holy Spirit will “convict the world of sin . . . because they believe not on ME.” The root of all evil is unbelief in Christ. The condemning sin of the world lies in the rejection of the Redeemer. Here we have the root of righteousness and the root of sin in the acceptance or rejection of His wondrous personality. This is unique, and proclaims the Speaker to be “separate from sinners” though “the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Truly, “He is His own best evidence, His witness is within.” 2. Pass on to the fourteenth chapter, so loved of all Christians. Listen to that Voice, which is as the voice of many waters, as it sounds in the ears of the troubled disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in ME. In My Father’s house are many mansions: i f it were not so, 1 would have told you. I go to prepare a place
Ï ' >
ft
in
w I
It
ft
-
W *) 5,^
!►
\ f •
<>jy
i •*%
i
.V
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker