To be sure, the personality of Jesus Christ has made such in impact on humanity that even after 2,000 years the impact has not worn off. Each day, there are persons who have revolutionary experiences with Jesus.
The great historian, Kenneth Scott Latourette, said: "As the centuries pass the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect of history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. That influence appears to be mounting."
Philip Schaff adds:
"This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, He shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, He spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, He set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise, than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times."
"The influence of Jesus on mankind is today as strong as it was when He dwelt among men." Martin Scott
"That ministry lasted only three years - and yet in these three years is condensed the deepest meaning of the history of religion. No great life ever passed so swiftly, so quietly, so humble, so far removed from the noise and commotion of the world; and no great life after its close excited such universal and lasting interest." Philip Schaff
"When Jesus Christ left this earth," Griffith Thomas writes, "He told His disciples that after His departure they should do greater works than He had done, and the centuries of Christianity have borne out the truth of this statement. Works greater in kind have been done - are being done. Jesus Christ is doing more wonderful things today than ever He did when on earth, redeeming souls, changing lives, transforming characters, exalting ideals, inspiring philanthropies, and making for the best, truest, and highest in human life and progress."
Griffith Thomas continues: "We are therefore justified in calling attention to the influence of Christ through the ages as one of the greatest, most direct, and most self-evident proofs that Christianity is Christ, and that Christ has to be accounted for. It is impossible to consider this question solely as one of history; it touches life at every point today."
William Lecky, the skeptic, states in History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne:
"The Platonist exhorted men to imitate GOD; the Stoic, to follow reason; the Christian, to the love of Christ. The later Stoics had often united their notions of excellence in an ideal sage, and Epictetus had even urged his disciples to set before them some man of surpassing excellence, and to imagine him continually near them; but the utmost the Stoic ideal could become was a model for imitation, and the admiration it inspired could never deepen into affection. It was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character, which through all the changes of eighteen centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love; has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments, and conditions; has been not only the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive to its practice; and has exercised so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists. This has indeed been the wellspring of whatever is best and purest in the Christian life. Amid all the sins and failings, amid all the priestcraft and persecution and fanaticism that have defaced the Church, it has preserved in the character and example of its Founder, an enduring principle of regeneration."
"Yet thousands and millions today, as in all ages, are testifying to the power and glory of Christianity in dealing with their sin and wickedness. These are facts which stand the test of examination and carry their own conclusion to all who are willing to learn." G. Thomas
"...He is the greatest influence in the world today. There is, as it has been well said, a fifth Gospel being written - the work of Jesus Christ in the hearts and lives of men and nations." G. Thomas
Napoleon said: "Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man towards the unseen that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across the chasm of eighteen hundred years Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy. He asks for that which a philosophy may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself; He demands it unconditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted. Its powers and faculties become an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him experience that supernatural love towards Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable, it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range."
E. Y. Mullins in Why is Christianity True? says:
"But, it may be asked, 'Is this lofty religion one which can be appropriated by men universally?' Does it appeal, as we have declared, to man as man regardless of race, climate or condition? Does it reach the ignorant and learned? May its principles be grasped by all men everywhere?"
Wherever He is, He is Master. When He asks men to make sacrifices, they make them. His call is not that of a fanatic. However, it leads men to deeds of great quality and personal sacrifice.
Again from Napoleon: "The nature of Christ's existence is mysterious, I admit; but this mystery meets the wants of man 0 reject it and the world is an inexplicable riddle; believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactorily explained."
One cannot "fail to see...that since the days of Christ, in spite of all the progress of thought, not a single new ethical ideal has been given to the world." G.Thomas
R. G. Gruenler says: "The herygma of the community is the proclamation that Jesus is of universal relevance. Wherever and whenever He is proclaimed, men are confronted by His concreteness, His humanness, and are brought into the presence of GOD."
From Griffith Thomas we have: "Other religions have had their ethical ideal of duty, opportunity, and even of love, but nowhere have they approached those of Christ, either in reality or in attractiveness or in power. Christ's message is remarkable for its universal adaptation. Its appeal is universal; it is adapted to all men from the adult down to the child; it makes its appeal to all times and not merely to the age in which it was first given. And the reason is that it emphasizes a threefold ethical attitude toward GOD and man which makes a universal appeal as nothing else does or perhaps can do. Christ calls for repentance, trust and love."
"The most marvelous and astonishing thing in nineteen centuries of history is the power of His life over the members of the Christian Church."
George Bancroft said: "I find the name of Jesus Christ written on the top of every page of modern history."
"It is true that there have been other religions with millions of adherents, but it is also true that the existence and progress of the Church is something unique in history to say nothing of the fact that Christianity has attracted to itself the profoundest thinkers of the human race, and is in no way hindered by the ever-advancing tide of human knowledge." G. Thomas
A. M. Fairbairn has said, "The most remarkable fact in the history of His religion is the continuous and ubiquitous activity of His person. He has been the permanent and efficient factor in its extension and progress. Under all its forms, in all its periods, and through all its divisions, the one principle alike of reality and unity has been and is devotion to Him."
Even after 1,800 years, David Strauss is forced to say: "He remains the highest model of religion within the reach of our thought; and no perfect piety is possible without His presence in the heart."
William E. Channing said it this way: "The sages and heroes of history are receding from us, and history contracts the record of their deeds into a narrower and narrower page. But time has no power over the name and deeds and words of Jesus Christ."
From Ernest Renan we have the following two quotes: "Jesus was the greatest religious genius that ever lived. His beauty is eternal, and His reign shall never end. Jesus is in every respect unique, and nothing can be compared with Him."
"All history is incomprehensible without Christ."
"That a Galilean carpenter should so claim to be the Light of the world, and be so recognized after so many centuries, is best explained on the ground of His divinity." Bernard Ramm
In a Life Magazine article, George Buttrick wrote:
"Jesus gave history a new beginning. In every land He is at home: everywhere men think His face is like their best face - and like GOD's face. His birthday is kept across the world. His death-day has set a gallows against every city skyline. Who is He?"
The famous essay, "One Solitary Life," states:
"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executers gambled for the only piece of property He had one earth - his coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
"Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever were built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life."
"The Incomparable Christ," another vivid essay:
"More than nineteen hundred years ago there was a Man born contrary to the laws of life. This Man lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity. He did not travel extensively. Only once did He cross the boundary of the country in which He lived; that was during His exile in childhood.
"He possessed neither wealth nor influence. His relatives were inconspicuous, and had neither training nor formal education. In infancy He startled a king; in childhood He puzzled doctors; in manhood He ruled the course of nature, walked upon the billows as if pavements, and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His service.
"He never wrote a book, and yet all the libraries of the country could not hold the books that have been written about Him. He never wrote a song, and yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all the songwriters combined.
"He never founded a college, but all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many students.
"He never marshaled an army, nor drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun; and yet no leader ever had more volunteers who have, under His orders, made more rebels stack arms and surrender without a shot fired.
"He never practiced psychiatry, and yet He has healed more broken hearts than all the doctors far and near. Once each week the wheels of commerce cease their turning and multitudes wend their way to worshipping assemblies to pay homage and respect to Him.
"The names of the past proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone; but the name of this Man abounds more and more. Though time has spread nineteen hundred years between the people of this generation and the scene of His crucifixion, yet He still lives. Herod could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him.
"He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of GOD, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the living, personal Christ, our LORD and Saviour."
IF GOD BECAME MAN, THEN WE WOULD EXPECT HIM TO SATISFY THE SPIRITUAL HUNGER IN MAN
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6).
"If any man is thirsty, let Him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37).
"But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst" (John 4:14).
"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful" (John 14:27).
"I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (John 6:35).
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
"I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" (John 10:10).
Otto Rauk in Beyond Psychology says that "man needs to be in touch with something more than himself."
The major religions testify to man's need. The pyramids of Mexico and the shrines of India are examples of man's spiritual search.
Mark Twain wrote of men's emptiness: ".../From his cradle to his grave a man never does a single thing which has any first and foremost objective save one 0 to secure peace of mind 0 spiritual comfort for himself."
Fisher, the historian, said, "...There is a cry in the soul, to which no response comes from the world."
Thomas Aquinas exclaimed, "The soul's restless thirst [is] for happiness, yet it is a thirst to be satisfied in GOD alone."
Bernard Ramm states that the "Christian experience alone provides man with an experience commensurate with his nature as free spirit...Anything less than GOD leaves the spirit of man thirsty, hungry, restless, frustrated, and incomplete."
From Philip Schaff we read: "He rose above the prejudices of party and sect, above the superstitions of His age and nation. He addressed the naked heart of man and touched the quick of the conscience."
George Schweitzer, in his personal testimony, says: "Man has changed his world in a remarkable way, but has not been able to alter himself. Since this problem is basically a spiritual one, and since man is naturally bent toward evil (as history attests), the sole way that man can be changed is by GOD. Only if a man commits himself to Christ Jesus and submits himself to the Holy Spirit for guidance can he be changed. Only in this miraculous transformation rests hope for the atom-awed, radio-activity-ruffled world of our day and its inhabitants."
The Director of Scientific Relations at Abbot Laboratories, E. J. Matson, writes: "No matter how exacting, how tiring my life as scientist, businessman, citizen, husband or father, I had only to return to this center to meet Jesus Christ, demonstrating His keeping power as well as His saving power."
A coed at the University of Pittsburgh says: "Whatever joys and gladness, all put together of my past experience, these can never equal that special joy and peace that the LORD Jesus Christ has given me since that time when He entered into my life to rule and to guide."
R. L. Mixter, professor of zoology at Wheaton College: "When he follows the creed of his profession, a scientist believes what he does because of the evidence he can find. I became a Christian because I found in myself a need which could be satisfied only by Jesus Christ. I needed forgiveness and He gave it. I needed companionship and He was a Friend. I needed encouragement and He provided it."
Paul H. Johnson: "GOD has shaped a peculiar vacuum inside us - a vacuum shaped like GOD. Nothing satisfies that vacuum except GOD Himself. You can put money, homes, wealth, power, fame, or anything you want into the vacuum, but it doesn't fit. Only GOD fills it, fits it and satisfies it."
Walter Hearn of Ohio State College: "Often I am absorbed in a kind of philosophical quest...knowing Christ means life itself to me, but a new kind of life, the 'abundant life' He promised."
A public relations and advertising man, Frank Allnutt relates: "Then I asked Jesus to come into my life and dwell there. For the first time in my life I experienced complete peace. The lifetime of emptiness I had known was removed, and I have never felt alone since."
J. C. Martin, former major league baseball catcher, says: "I have found happiness and the fulfillment of all I have desired in Jesus Christ."
IF GOD BECAME MAN, THEN WE WOULD EXPECT HIM TO EXERCISE POWER OVER DEATH
Death
It is seen that Jesus was not forced to give up His life. As evidenced in Matthew 26:53,54, He had the power available to Him to do whatever He pleased. It is in John 10:18 that we find the answer: "No one has taken it (My life) away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My FAther." We see that Christ willingly died for the sins of man.
W. H. Griffith Thomas feels:
"It was not the death of a suicide, for did He not say, 'I lay down My life of Myself.' The death was purely voluntary. We have to suffer: He need not have suffered. A word from Him might have saved His life. Nor was it an accidental death, for the obvious reason that it was foreseen, foretold, and prepared for in a variety of ways. Again, it was certainly not the death of a criminal, for no two witnesses could be found to agree together as to the charge against Him. Pilate declared that he found no fault in Him, and even Herod had not a word to say against Him.This, then, was no ordinary execution."
Another important face of His death is related by W. C. Robinson: "For no mere man in all history has ever had the power to dismiss his spirit of his own volition as did our LORD Jesus (Luke 23:46)...Luke and John use verbs which can only be interpreted as meaning that Jesus miraculously...handed over His spirit to GOD when He had paid the full price for sin. There was a miracle on Calvary on Friday as well as a miracle in the garden on Easter morning..."
Burial
"And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man came to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given over to him" (Matthew 27:57,58).
"And Nicodemus came also, who had first come to Him by night; bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight" (John 19:39).
"And Joseph bought a linen sheet, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen sheet, and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus were looking on to see where He was laid" (Mark 15:46,47).
"And they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56).
Resurrection
"Indeed, taking all the evidence together," B. F. Westcott writes, "it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ. Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it."
From Henry Morris we read: "The fact of His resurrection is the most important event of history and therefore, appropriately, is noe of the most certain facts in all history."
Jesus not only predicted His death, but He also predicted His bodily resurrection. In John 2:19 He says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Here, temple refers to His body.
Again, Morris writes: "He alone, of all men who ever lived, conquered death itself. By all rules of evidence, His bodily resurrection from the grave can be adjudged the best-proved fact of all history. 'I am the resurrection and the life,' He said. "Because I live, ye shall live also' " (John 11:25; 14:19).
"The resurrection of Christ is the seal of our resurrection. The healing of sick people does not warrant us in believing that Christ will heal each of us today, nor did the resuscitation of Lazarus guarantee our immortality. It is the resurrection of Christ as firstfruits which alone opens the grave - in anticipation - the believer and unto life eternal. Because He arose, we shall arise" (Romans 8:11). Ramm
After Jesus' resurrection, the apostles were able to raise the dead through His power (Acts 9:40,41). Thus, He gave life to others after His death. It follows then that Jesus is alive (Hebrews 13:8) and that "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).
"But Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of GOD and the world's promised Redeemer, has conquered death..."
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