accord declare that Jesus did it! It is also true that some will stumble and fall at the same place where others have been lifted. They will not believe this story of a virgin-born Baby, of shepherds going to a stable in response to the word o f angels, and of wise men following a star that led them to where the Young Child was sheltered in a house. They stumble at the story of disciples called from the ranks of the com mon people. They do not understand agony in a garden and drops of sweat as it were drops of blood. They somehow cannot or will not believe that Christ’s death upon the cross was necessary for their salvation. They cannot understand the bursting open of a sealed tomb, of a huge stone rolled away from the entrance by un seen hands. Their reasoning revolts at the resurrection of Christ and His ascension into heaven, there to take His place as the Mediator between God and man. So where others mount up, these fall. The way men rise is not easy. It comes by way of sacrifice on the part of God, and humility, repentance, confession of sin, suing for pardon, and receiving Christ on the part of men. Some reject this, and in turning away, they stumble and fall. How are the mighty fallen! Paul says that to some He is the Wisdom of God, but to those who perish He is foolishness (I Cor. 1:23, 24). To some the gospel message is a message of life; to some it is a message of death (II Cor. 2:16). To some Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone upon which all rests, and the Headstone which is above all. To others He is the stone of stum bling. They cannot leave their case with Him. To some He is God Incarnate. To others He is simply a peasant of Galilee. God sent Him in the world to be reckoned with. We must obey His teachings, or we will be judged by the very words we reject. The hand of mercy re jected becomes the hand of judgment. John said o f Jesus that He was both the Lamb and the Lion. He is the Lamb of God to take away sin— your sin, my sin. He was led to the slaughter without a protest by Him that He might pay the penalty as sessed against us. Be He is also the Lion. He will come to rule with a rod of iron so that righteousness may prevail in the world intended by Him for righteousness. The mighty will not stand in His presence. The self- righteous, though they be kings, warlords, governors, philosophers, atheists, professors o f religion without faith in Christ, rulers of thousands or of ten o f thou sands, will all fall if they persist in their independence of God. Christ is set for the fall of all who will not rise by Him. Yet none of the mighty can remain “ mighty,” for every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus Christ is the Way of Life—not a way. If we miss Him, we miss all. If we have Him, we have all that is needed for life now and forever. He is set for the rising of the soul. Miss Him and the soul remains in darkness, destitute o f eternal life and dead unto God. God was not jesting when He planned our redemp tion and our salvation. What He planned is fully ade quate. Jesus Christ meets our utmost needs. “ He that hath the Son hath life,” says the Bible. God did not make two ways for us to be saved. We either rise by Jesus Christ, or we fall by Him. Let us not live as though Jesus Christ had not come. Let us turn to Him just as we are and trust His re deeming grace for ourselves. Then we need not say, “ How would it have been if Jesus Christ had not been bom into our world?” Instead, we can say, “ It is well with my soul since Jesus came to be my Saviour.” Reprinted from What I f C hrist Had N ot Com e? by permission of the Good News Broadcasting Association, Lincoln, Nebraska.
carved yokes for oxen during the day and swept up the shavings from the floor of the shop in the evening. To others He was the Son of God, Creator and Redeemer. It has always been the way of God to take the simple things in order to confound the wise. The wisdom of man does not reach very high when measured alongside the wisdom of God. In one place God said, “ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8, 9). God delights in lifting the fallen; in touching the com? mon and making it uncommon; in taking- the poor in this world and making them rich in heavenly virtues. He takes pleasure in raising the lowly to positions of power or of influence. There was a man, born of slave parents, with less than usual abilities if we are to believe his own words. But God spoke and he listened. He went into Egypt and overcame Pharaoh. With his rod he divided the Red Sea. From the mountain top he brought down the laws of God. He delivered the people of the Lord to the borders of the land of promise. Thus did Moses, the shepherd from the hills. Take another example. This man looked into heaven itself and told us nearly all we know of it to this day. He spoke of the heavenly city with its streets of gold, walls of jasper, great gates each made of a single pearl, and of harpers making music on their harps. He saw it, a city lighted by the presence of the Son of God and not by the sun in the heavens. He wrote o f eternity and the eternal Word. He recorded the words of the herald of the Saviour, words that opened the eyes of men to the purpose for Christ’s coming: “ Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Such was the work o f John, a common fisherman lifted by the grace of God to describe eternal matters. Another was called to write the most complete life of the Lord we have on record. He provided us with the immortal story of the prodigal son and the kind father who welcomed home the wayward boy. He alone tells us the intimate details of the birth of the Lord Jesus, and he alone records the incomparable hymns of praise which centered around the great event. He sets before the ages the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord. This man was but a humble doctor by the name of Luke. Matthew was a collector o f taxes, a hated position then, but he recorded the Sermon on the Mount in which we have the illustration of the man who built his home on rock and another who built his home on sand. He alone tells why Mary’s child was named Jesus: “ He shall save his people from their sins.” Look at another. He was used of the Holy Spirit to write 14 books of the New Testament. He founded a number of churches and made at least three important missionary journeys. His writings have inspired 2,000 years of Christian living. This was Paul, the tent maker. There is no end to those that have known the lifting power of Jesus Christ. The shoe maker, the druggist, the coal miner, the foundry worker, the house maid, the farmer, the salesman, the lawyer, the doctor. He has lifted all kinds of classes of men and women. They experienced the power of the risen Christ in their souls when they trusted Him in simple faith. The drunkard, the thief, the murderer, the cynic, the cruel, the cursing, the beastly, the lowest of the low have been raised by grace alone into new life in Christ Jesus. They live today to testify that it is so. There is no doubt that He is set for the rising of many, and there is no other explanation for their rise from what they once were to what they are now. They all with one
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