Life of Jesus

“ When the mind wanders afar from the dogmatic of the scholiast, the life of Jesus presents itself with a dramatic force of loveliness and grandeur which, of its kind, cannot be surpassed; and the poetic pathos of the New Testament, though not so resonant as that to be found in the pages of such works as Job and the Prophets, possesses a pastoral charm of its own at once soothing and stimulating. ”

“ The agony of the Redeemer which he places before his eyes at all times proves a deterrent from sin, and the holy example of Jesus, who ran with rejoicing the way of the commandments of God, becomes an inspiring example to him: actuated by gratitude for the love of the Son of God who gave Himself for him and reclaimed him from certain perdition, he begins to reproduce the life of Jesus in his own conversation. ”

“ Is it not possible, on the testimony of one's own conscience, and on the testimony of history present and past, and on the testimony of the Apostles and Evangelists—even when critically reviewed and disencumbered of the miraculous element—to acknowledge that Jesus has been indeed "a life-giving Spirit" to mankind, and to worship Him as representing the Creative Word who has moved on the face of the material and of the spiritual waters, creating order alike in the matter of the Universe and in the minds and consciences of men? ”

“ But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said unto them, "Doth this cause you to stumble? What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. ”

“ Jesus is possessed of immortality, and eternal life; and in evidence of his existence and his immortality, and in evidence of the great and glorious truths of the gospel which he taught, the death which he died, and the resurrection that he wrought from the dead, he has revealed himself and borne his own record and testimony to those who have lived and still live in this day and age. ”

“ Jesus lived and died and rose again to prepare for us a new nature, to be received day by day in the obedience of faith: we ‘have put on the [p172] new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.’ Let the inner life, hid with Christ in God, hid also deep in the recesses of our inmost being, be acknowledged, be waited on, be yielded to, it will work itself out in all the beauties of holiness. ”

“ So we ate and drank as we were bidden, even like children that have no understanding; nor did we then discern the meaning of his words. Howbeit, even at that time we understood somewhat of his purpose; for we perceived that Jesus was pouring his love, yea, and his life, into our hearts; and our souls stretched out as it were toward the truth, namely, that Jesus, in this testament of his, was bequeathing himself to us his disciples, to be our possession for ever. ”

“ Jesus answers us in the words of our text: "If any man will come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me." Note it well.—I must deny myself and take Jesus himself as my life,—I must choose. There are two lives, the self life and the Christ life ”

“ This acceptance of Jesus as an infallible teacher, as one whose every word is to be believed simply because He said it, and whose every direction is to be observed simply because He directs it, whose spirit is to be possessed and cultivated to the transforming of the life, till we grow into the divine image and become partakers of the divine nature, is all involved in the "good confession": Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. ”

“ And what is the likeness to Jesus Christ which it is thus our supreme obligation and our truest wisdom and perfection to bear? Well! we can put it all into two words—self-suppression and continual consciousness of obedience to the Divine will. The life of Jesus Christ, in its brief records in Scripture, is felt by every thoughtful man to contain within its narrow compass adequate direction for, and to set forth the ideal of, human life. ”

“ Then Jesus promises that all His people, of all nations and all ages of time, shall become one flock—one in Jesus; one in heart, and mind, and judgment—and the whole redeemed and gathered flock shall at last dwell in one fold—the fold of heavenly, eternal life and glory. ”

“ Jesus answered and said unto them, "Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father who sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is from God, he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ”

“ And thus, in one short life, did Jesus traverse that experience of religious spiritual progression which man begins on earth and ordinarily achieves only at the conclusion of his long sojourn in the spirit training schools of the successive levels of the pre-Paradise career. Jesus progressed from a purely human consciousness of the faith certainties of personal religious experience to the sublime spiritual heights of the positive realization of his divine nature and to the consciousness of his close association with the Universal Father in the management of a universe. ”

“ Jesus Christ is able, by His divine grace, to prevent the power of self from ever asserting itself or gaining the upper hand; Jesus Christ is willing to become the life of the soul; Jesus Christ is willing to teach us so to follow Him, and to have heart and life set upon Him alone, that He shall ever and always be the light of our souls. ”

“ The man of whose soul prosperity can be truly affirmed, has been created anew in Christ Jesus. He advances in the divine life, and abounds in every good word and work. He is deeply concerned not only for his own personal salvation, but also for the present and eternal well-being of his fellow-travellers to eternity. ”

“ He sees in and by the life and conduct of the Lord Jesus on earth that this world is to be renounced and overcome. 4. He perceives that the Lord Jesus conquered the world, not for himself only, but for his followers; and they must study to be partakers of his victory. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. 5. He is taught and influenced by the Lord Jesus's death to be mortified and crucified to the world. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world, Gal. ”

“ Thus each successive epoch of theology found its own thoughts in Jesus; that was, indeed, the only way in which it could make Him live.
But it was not only each epoch that found its reflection in Jesus; each individual created Him in accordance with his own character. There is no historical task which so reveals a man's true self as the writing of a Life of Jesus. ”

“ Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the son of the living God.” From these words he preached several discourses of great power showing that Jesus was the Christ, and that there was no one else to whom we could go. ”

“ Matters are not mended when extremes meet, and Jesus is pictured as at once the sunny and serene Galilean pietist, and the rapt ecstatic obsessed by the thought of His own immediate and glorious return—a deluded enthusiast who saw life steadily and saw it whole. ”

“ Now as to this I remark, in the first place, that Jesus seems to have possessed from the very beginning of his public life intuitive insight into the truth that a genuinely good, godly life could not be lived in the world without trouble. ”

“ Such a life, and such a life only, is to the glory of God. We must fashion our life after his if we would spend life as we should. To know how Jesus lived is to know how we should live. Every life that is in the likeness of Christ's life is accepted of God. No other life can be. While Christ was here in the body, he was in the express image of the Father. The true, holy character of God was revealed through Jesus' human life to a lost and sinning world. ”

“ Then a certain young Ruler came, and asked Jesus, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life." Jesus first shows him, that he must not look upon Him as man only, but as God; and then tells him that, to enter into eternal life, he must keep all the commandments and precepts of God; and then, when the young man "went away sorrowful," Jesus warned His followers of the danger of letting the love of riches draw their hearts from God.
Another remarkable parable spoken by Jesus at this time was that of the labourers in the vineyard. ”

“ The New Testament depicts Jesus as made in the likeness of men, whose life, though unique in some of its aspects, was in its general conditions normal, passing through the ordinary stages of growth, and participating in the common experiences of mankind. ”

“ But at the same time we see Jesus before us, as, surrounded by his disciples, he speaks to the people in the market-place and the streets, disputes with the Pharisees and Scribes, and silences them, strides through life helping, working miracles, consoling, healing, and encouraging, and is blessed by the crowd and by the lost and the saved. ”

“ The external limited was to be put off, and in its place the Divine, even as to ultimates,—or in the last things of human life,—was to be put on—God was to glorify the Son of man in Himself. They were to be made forever one. God was to dwell forever on the plane of the natural, as well as on higher planes. Jesus saw prophetically that which was about to occur. ”

“ Before Reimarus, no one had attempted to form a historical conception of the life of Jesus. ”

“ Jesus is conscious that the life and spirit of God are become his own life and spirit. He knows the indwelling God given to be made man in co-operative union with man, knows him in and through and as himself, the prophet of Nazareth in Galilee. He does not need to refer either to a God, or to a tradition, that is extraneous to himself. ”

“ Our Lord Jesus was the person of God in human shape and human garb, come down close, to draw us men back again to the old trysting place under the Tree of Life. And in every generation, and every corner of the earth, then, and ever since then, men of every colour and sort have come back, and found how His presence eases the tug of life on many a steep roadway, and more, much more. ”

“ Jesus teaches the way of Life in demonstration, that we may understand how its Divine Principle heals the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death. Jesus presents the ideal of God better than mortals can, whose origin is less spiritual. ”

“ Jesus not only insisted that he was the fulfilment of all the prophecies concerning the Messiah, but he lived a life which we have already seen is universally admitted to be the most perfect life ever lived upon this earth, and his teachings are the supremest expressions of spiritual truth ever uttered. ”

“ Naturally the tradition also puts words into Jesus' mouth that could only have issued out of the notions of the people, and almost entirely conceal the depth of his own words. While the revelation of the true divine sonship of man immediately bestows eternal life on him who comprehends or believes in it, heals his blindness, and raises him from spiritual death, Jesus is presented as not purposing to raise the dead until the last day (John vi. 40) . ”

“ Jesus' earthly life was devoted to one great purpose—doing the Father's will, living the human life religiously and by faith. The faith of Jesus was trusting, like that of a child, but it was wholly free from presumption. ”

“ Yet they still insisted that Jesus in his life, conduct, and death demonstrated that human nature could rise no higher than in him, and that he was all and fulfilled all that God had comprised in the Logos “man.” ”

“ OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, AND CONTEMPT OF ALL THE VANITIES OF THE WORLD.
E that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ, which teach us to imitate His life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened, and delivered from all blindness of heart.
Let therefore our chief endeavour be to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ.
2. The teaching of Christ exceeds all the doctrines of holy men; and he that hath the Spirit will find therein the hidden manna.
But it happens that many, who often hear the Gospel of Christ, are yet but little affected, because they have not the Spirit of Christ. ”

“ Who came to sit at Jesus' feet to learn the wisdom that he brought to men, that they might teach their people how to live the holy life.
4. And Jesus taught them how to teach; he told them of the trials of the way, and how to make these trials serve the race.
5. He taught them how to live the holy life that they might conquer death;
6. He taught them what the end of mortal life will be, when man has reached the consciousness that he and God are one. ”

“ Anomalous though it seems at this age, Jesus was called a pestilent fellow at the period of his labors, the stirrer up of seditions, etc., and was followed only by a few unpretentious Christians, whose spirituality was not a name, but so vital it enabled them to understand the Nazarene and the glory of his Life. ”

“ As Jesus of Nazareth entered upon the early years of his adult life, he had lived, and continued to live, a normal and average human life on earth. Jesus came into this world just as other children come ”