The Christ

THE DOCTRINE OF JESUS CHRIST
Who He is
He Is Human
He Is Divine
Two Natures   --  One Person
The God-Man

What He has done is the Good News
What He is Doing
What He will Do

He was not merely a man doing his best before God, but God doing His best for man, through the Love revealed in the sacrifice of Himself.

 . . . When Our Blessed Lord was a Babe held by Simeon, the old man had pronounced over Him these words:

This is the Light which shall give revelation To the Gentiles, This is the glory of thy people Israel. Luke 2:32

Now as a grown man walking in the full glare of these lights, He proclaimed:

 I am the Light of the World, He who follows Me can never walk in darkness; He will possess the Light which is Life. John 8:12

Here He made a universal claim such as had been prophesied by Isaias that He would be the Light of all peoples and all nations. Not everyone would follow the Light; some would prefer to walk in darkness and would therefore hate the light. He Who was standing in the temple in which the lights were gradually dimming proclaimed Himself the Light of the World. Previously, He had called Himself the Temple; now He affirmed that He is the Glory and the Light of that Temple. He was declaring Himself more necessary for the life of souls than the light of the sun is for the life of our body. It was not His doctrine, nor His law, nor His commandments, nor His teaching, that constituted this light; it was His Person.

In the midst of Our Lord's affirmation that He was the Messias, there began some of the judicial and civil measures which were later to culminate in the Crucifixion. The Pharisees sent police officers to arrest Our Lord. Before they arrived, Our Lord made another reference to His death:

For a little while I am still with you, And then I am to go back to Him Who sent Me. You will look for Me, But you will not be able to find Me; You cannot reach the place where I am. John 7:33-34

He foresaw all that would happen. Six months remained until the Passover; there was only a little time left before He would fulfill the reason of His coming. They were already planning His death, but their plans would be unsuccessful until He delivered Himself voluntarily into their hands. Then the door would be shut and the time of their visitation would have passed. The separation between them and Him would not be distance but unlikeness in mind and heart, which is the greatest of all distance.
The police who were ordered to arrest Him returned to the chief priests and Pharisees empty-handed.

The officials asked them: "Why have you not brought Him here?" The officers answered, "Nobody has ever spoken as this Man speaks." And the Pharisees answered, "Have you, too, let yourselves be deceived? Have any of the rulers come to believe in Him yet, Or of the Pharisees? As for these common folk who have no knowledge of the law,  A curse is on them." John 7:46-49

The temple officials had contempt for the people; their assumption was that no vulgar person is pious. The very fact that the policemen had an overwhelming impression made upon them and yielded themselves to His fountains of benediction was an indication of the power He had over men of good will. The vocation of a policeman was sanctified that day when these officers refused to arrest the Savior.
There would be another moment in the Garden of Gethsemane when officers would be so impressed with Our Blessed Lord that they would cast themselves prone on the ground, when He said that He was Jesus of Nazareth. On that night, they would have their way because His Hour had come. But for the present they were powerless.
The story of the Feast of Tabernacles ends with the words, "His Hour has not yet come." A particular hour existed for everything He had to do; even His birth is described as the "fullness of time." So His Cross had its appointed hour. Every orb that rolls through the immensity of space is bound to reach a certain point at its own hour. Alan's decrees and proposals often fail, but it is otherwise with the designs of the Almighty. The unity of His life was not in His scattered deeds and parables and utterances, but in Its consummation.
Bethlehem was the foundation of Calvary and His glory. The stairs mount upward from the stable, for even then "there was no room" for Him; the "contradiction" prophesied by Simeon was another step; the Feast of the Tabernacles, another. He knew every step of the way, for He was not merely a man doing his best before God, but God doing His best for man, through the Love revealed in the sacrifice of Himself.

*The Life of Christ  ISBN: 9780385132206, Author: Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Are You a Student of Human Nature?

  We were in the Model A driving to Three Hills from Madison Saskatchewan and I remember Mr. Kirk stopping to pick up a hitchhiker. The tools and supplies already filled the back seat area of the old car for the back cushions had all been removed to leave room for the stuff, so I had to move over into the centre of the front bench seat to let the man in. There I was, a sixteen year old kid between two grown men but I soon forgot about that for Mr. Kirk quickly struck up a conversation with the stranger. I listened and heard things I had never heard before as the two of them talked.

   Of the appearance of the stranger I remember almost nothing except that he was a good sized man and about middle aged and that his speech had no foreign accents. Mr. Kirk soon steered the conversation around to God and Eternity and as I listened I learned that both of them shared a relationship with God that was a completely new thought to me. They had assurance of going to Heaven, something that I certainly did not have even though that thought had caused me to be fearful at times in my few years.

   And then there was an expression that Mr. Kirk used that struck me as strange for it was one I had never heard before, the phrase “a student of human nature.” What did that mean and what did he mean? Was it somewhat the same as the phrase that our school teacher had used in literature classes about character study? But human nature study must be a lot more than character study, so what did he mean? I never asked him, but now I probably would use the words ‘world view to’ if I were to ask the same question.

   Today world view is limited if not suppressed by people, by authorities, and administrations, these are inner circles that nobody dares to question, those who deny the existence of anything more than the material. Thus with no place for the spiritual aspect the idea of world view is strictly subjective. Subjective as opposed to objective, for the denial of our spiritual dimension does not answer our innermost questions but suppresses them. Who I am or where did I come from or why am I here cannot be satisfactorily answered without understanding that there is both a material and a spiritual world.

   Nor is the idea of a spiritual world at all like the idea of virtual reality. That new craze is complete subjectivity with no objective value. By shutting out actual reality and natural laws and allowing only human imagination to rule one is willingly deluded into things that are not real at all. Then when the spell is broken the real actual world floods back to reveal itself and declare that there is more to life than can be seen with earthly eyes or even with Google eyes. There is a spiritual world also.

   So our world view does include God the originator of it all, and of course it includes me because I am here now, but also other people, who they are and what they have done and are doing. An objective view with God as the centre and starting point instead of just me and my ideas. So a student of human nature is different from a materialist the one who denies the supernatural and God who is a spirit.

   That was in 1941 so you may well imagine that over the intervening years the study of human nature has developed more and more in my life. In my old age since I have retired from actually working with my hands I have regarded people as more than tools and work. People are not just things but interestingly different creations. Created like you and me with curiously different looks and speech and likes and dislikes, some who have come into harmony with their Creator and some who sadly have turned away from Him. But all of us are made in His image.

   The Bible says that in the beginning God created man in His own image. But we are told that God is not material, He is spiritual without a body, so it is not our bodies or the material parts of us that is meant when it says we are in God’s image. It is that each of us has been created with a free will, we are free to choose. It is our choice. When we give our final account of life we will not be allowed to blame someone or something else for our personal choices, for our choices are ours.

We are not speaking of our privileges like where we are born and who our parents are and even how much smarts we have, but choices where we respond positively or negatively to our Creator. We have made these choices on our own because like God we have a free will.

   Now although the freedom to choose is ours the consequences of choice are not ours. Those results are according to the laws that govern the universe. For example there are some things you may not agree with me on, for you do have a free will as I have, but no matter whether we agree or not the consequences will be the same for each of us. That is the way God made the Universe. And a world view in harmony with the Bible offers the best and really only explanation for life and people. Our world view makes a world of difference to how we see and interact with God and people.