A Teacher Sent From God

At the time of Christ’s first advent darkness had covered the earth, and gross darkness the people. Truth looked down from heaven, and nowhere could discern the reflection of her image. Spiritual darkness had settled down over the religious world, and this darkness was almost universal and complete.

The scribes and Pharisees professed to explain the Scriptures, but they explained them in accordance with their own ideas and traditions. Their customs and maxims became more and more exacting. In its spiritual sense, the sacred Word became to the people as a sealed book, closed to their comprehension.

All things proclaimed the urgent necessity on the earth of a Teacher sent from God,—a Teacher in whom divinity and humanity would be united. It was essential that Christ should appear in human form, and stand at the head of the human race, to uplift fallen human beings. Thus only could God be revealed to the world.

Christ volunteered to lay aside His royal robe and kingly crown, and come to this earth to show to human beings what they may be in co-operation with God. He came to shine amidst the darkness, to dispel the darkness by the brightness of His presence.

When in the fulness of time the Son of the infinite God came forth from the bosom of the Father to this world, He came in the garb of humanity, clothing His divinity with humanity. The Father and the Son in consultation decided that Christ must come to the world as a babe, and live the life that human beings must live from childhood to manhood, bearing the trials that they must bear, and at the same time living a sinless life, that men might see in Him an example of what they can become, and that He might know by experience how to help them in their struggles with sin. He was tried as man is tried, tempted as man is tempted. The life that He lived in this world, men can live, through His power and under His instruction.

From the beginning God had spoken through Christ, laying the foundation of the Gospel in the Jewish economy of types and shadows. Before the coming of Christ this economy was unfinished. The ceremonies of the unfinished economy pointed to the reality. God would not leave the plan incomplete. He would work out to its end the plan for the redemption of the race. By sending His Son into the world, He would carry out to its fulfilment the plan ordained in heaven before the world was made.

The apostle Peter declared: «Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, » Peter continues, «and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.»

Patriarchs and prophets have predicted the coming of a distinguished Teacher, whose words were to be clothed with invincible power and authority. He was to preach the Gospel to the poor, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He was to set judgment in the earth; the isles were to wait for His law; the Gentiles were to come to His light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. He was «the Messenger of the covenant,» and «the Sun of Righteousness.»

The Jewish teachers, claiming to give instruction in the things of God, turned minds to things that eclipsed the revelation of God. They gave the things of earth the first consideration and the greatest thought. God beheld in these teachers an ignorance that is death to true godliness. Under the education they gave, virtue and purity grew feeble, and self-sufficiency and pride ruled the life.

Those who loved God and who realized the danger that lay in the struggle for wealth and power, longed for Heaven’s enlightenment. They longed for a message direct from the heavenly courts. The heavenly inspiration was begotten, and men began to feel after God, if haply they might find Him.

And «when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, . . . to redeem them which are under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.»

Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth. The heavenly Teacher had come. Who was He?—No less a being than the Son of God Himself. He appeared as God, and at the same time as the Elder Brother of the human race. «The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.» Christ must come as a human being. Had He come in the glory that He had with the Father, men could not have lived in His presence.

Nearly two thousand years ago a voice of mysterious import was heard in heaven, from the throne of the Highest, «Lo, I come.» «Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me. . . . Lo, I come, . . . to do Thy will, O God.» In these words is announced the purpose that had been hidden from eternal ages. Christ was about to visit our world, and become incarnate.

Who is this that thus announced His purpose of visiting a guilty world?

We ask Isaiah, and he answers, «Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.»

We ask John, the beloved disciple, and he replies: «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth.»

We ask Him, «Who art Thou?» and the answer comes, «Before Abraham was, I Am.» «I and My Father are one.» «As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.»

We ask Paul, and he breaks forth into words of adoring transport: «Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.»

«In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.»

«Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever.» —

Christ was born a babe in Nazareth, and He grew as other children grow. The powers of mind and body developed gradually, in harmony with the laws of nature. Of Him we read, «The Child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.»

When at the age of twelve He mingled with the doctors of the law in the temple at Jerusalem, hearing them, and asking them questions, they were astonished at His questions and answers; for His words opened up subjects of the deepest importance. His knowledge of sacred science was a surprise to these learned men; for He had never been instructed in the schools of the rabbis. They wondered where He had gained His knowledge. They did not comprehend that He had access to a knowledge that they knew not of.

Christ did not pass over the ground of scholastic education, yet He was far in advance of any student under the teaching of the priests and rulers. God did not design that His Son should listen to the needless suppositions included in what was called education. The teachers in the schools of that time—the priests and rulers—tho supposed to be perfect in knowledge, were in need of being taught the first principles of true education. They needed to know the meaning of the command, «Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.»

Christ’s dignity as a divine Teacher was of an order higher than the dignity of priests and rulers. It was distinct from all worldly pomp; for it was divine. He dispensed with all worldly display, and showed that He regarded the gradations of society, fixed by opulence and rank, as of no value. He had laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, and had stepped down from His high command to bring to human beings power to become the sons of God; and earthly rank was not of the least value with Him. He could have brought with Him ten thousand angels if they would have helped Him in His work of redeeming the race.

Christ passed by the homes of the wealthy, the courts of royalty, the renowned seats of learning, and made His home in obscure and despised Nazareth. His life, from its beginning to its close, was a life of lowliness and humility. Poverty was made sacred by His life of poverty. He would not put on a dignity of attitude that would debar men and women, however lowly, from coming into His presence and listening to His teaching.

In choosing His disciples, Christ passed by the dignitaries of the Jewish nation, and chose lowly, unlearned fishermen. He chose men who had not been spoiled by praise or flattery, men who were not filled with self-sufficiency.

Of Christ’s teaching, the witness borne by those who heard Him is, «Never man spake like this Man.» This would have been true of Christ had He taught only in the realm of the physical and the intellectual, or in matters of theory and speculation solely. He might have unlocked mysteries that have required centuries of toil and study to penetrate. He might have made suggestions in scientific lines that, till the close of time, would have afforded food for thought and stimulus for invention. But He did not do this. He said nothing to gratify curiosity or stimulate selfish ambition. He did not deal in abstract theories, but in that which is essential to the development of character; that which will enlarge man’s capacity for knowing God, and increase his power to do good. He spoke of those truths that relate to the conduct of life, and that unite man with eternity.

Christ’s teaching, like His sympathies, embraced the world. Never can there be a circumstance of life, a crisis in human experience, which has not been anticipated in His teaching, and for which its principles have not a lesson. The Prince of teachers, His words will be found a guide to His co-workers till the end of time.

No teacher ever placed such signal honor upon man as did our Lord Jesus Christ. He was known as the friend of publicans and sinners. He mingled with all classes, and sowed the world with truth. In the marketplace and the synagog He proclaimed His message. He relieved every species of suffering, both physical and spiritual. Beside all waters He sowed the seeds of truth. His one desire was that all might have spiritual and physical soundness. He was the friend of every human being. Was He not pledged to bring life and light to all who would receive Him? Was He not pledged to give them power to become the sons of God? He gave himself wholly and entirely to the work of soul-saving.

Selfishness He sternly rebuked, sparing not even His disciples. «All ye are brethren,» He would say to any one seeking the highest place. Those who were unjust and unfair in their dealings writhed under His parables. He shielded no one, however high his position, who had been guilty of hypocrisy or fraud.

It was not only on the cross that Christ sacrificed Himself for humanity. As «He went about doing good,» every day’s experience was an outpouring of His life. In one way only could such a life be sustained. Jesus lived in dependence upon God and communion with Him. To the secret place of the Most High, under the shadow of the Almighty, men now and then repair; they abide for a season, and the result is manifest in noble deeds; then their faith fails, the communion is interrupted, and the life-work marred. But the life of Jesus was a life of constant trust, sustained by continual communion; and His service for heaven and earth was without failure or faltering. As a man He supplicated the throne of God, until His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that connected humanity with divinity. Receiving life from God, He imparted life to men. —