JESUS CHRIST-IMPACT
He was born
in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another
obscure village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then
for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never had a family or owned a
home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles
from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none
of the things that usually accompany greatness.
While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned
against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and
went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two
thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of
property He had – His coat. When He was
dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave. Nineteen centuries have
come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race.
All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and 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
this “One Solitary Life.”
Regardless of
what anyone may personally think or believe about Him, Jesus of Nazareth has
been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty
centuries… It is from His birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by His name that millions curse and in His
name that millions pray.
Jaroslav
Pelikan
Jesus Through the
Centuries, New Haven, Conn: Yale, 1985, 1.
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
vocabulary, works of art, and songs of
praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.
Philip Schaff
The Person of Christ, American Tract
Society, 1913.
One of the
most amazing and significant facts of history is that within 5 centuries of its
birth, Christianity won the professed allegiance of the overwhelming majority
of the Roman Empire and even the support of the Roman state. Beginning as a seemingly
obscure sect of Judaism, one of the scores, even hundreds of religions and
religious groups which were competing within the realm, revering as its central
figure one who had been put to death by the machinery of Rome.
Kenneth Latourette
As the
centuries pass the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on
history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet.
Kenneth Latourette
He began His
ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life. Jesus ended His earthly
ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water. Jesus was weary, yet He
is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King. Jesus was accused of
having a demon, yet He cast out demons. Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our
tears. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.
Gregory of Nazianzus
A.D. 381.
Jesus is
hungry but feeds others; He grows weary but offers others rest; He is the King
Messiah but pays tribute; He is called the devil but casts out demons; He dies
the death of a sinner but comes to save His people from their sins; He is sold
for thirty pieces of silver but gives His life a ransom for many; He will not
turn stones to bread for Himself but gives His own body as bread for people.
Mathew, Zondervan, 1984, p. 112, www.zondervan.com.
No
one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus
holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so
devoutly loved.
John
Knox
Though born
amid most disgusting surroundings, the member of a modest working family, He
bore Himself always with great dignity and assurance. Though He enjoyed no
special advantages as a child, either in education or employment, His entire
philosophy and outlook on life were the highest standards of human conduct ever
set before mankind. Though He had no vast economic assets, political power or
military might, no other person ever made such an enormous impact on the
world’s history. Because of Him millions of people across almost twenty
centuries of time have come into a life of decency and honor and noble conduct.
Phillip Keller
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Permission by
Zondervan, www.zondervan.com, 1970, p.
9.
Sum up the
life of Jesus by any other standard than God’s, and it is an anticlimax of
failure.
Oswald Chambers
Christ’s
statements are either cosmic or comic.
John Blanchard
His birth was
common. Men wouldn’t have had a common birth for such a King. But it was
celebrated with hallelujahs by the heavenly host in the heavens above. His lodging
was poor and men wouldn’t have put Him in a stable but it was attended to by
celestial visitants. It was marked by a conflux of stellar bodies. He had not
the magnificent equipage of other kings but He was attended by multitudes of
patients seeking and obtaining healing of soul and body. He made the dumb that
attended Him sing His praises and the lame leap for joy and the deaf to hear
His wonders and the blind to see His glory. He had no guard of soldiers, no
magnificent retinue of military men, but centurions took orders from Him...and
so have millions across the earth. He didn’t control a vast empire of those who
did all of His bidding, but the waves and the winds and the storms which no
early power can control obeyed Him. And death and the grave durst not refuse to
deliver up their prey when He demanded it. He didn’t walk on velvet tapestry
but when He walked on the sea the water held Him up. All parts of the creation
except sinful men honored Him as their creator. He had no vast incomprehensible
treasure of wealth but when He needed His money to pay His taxes, a fish
yielded it up out of its mouth. He had no barns and He had no corn fields, but
when He wanted to fill the hearts and the stomachs of a multitude, He created
the food right out of His own hands. And no monarch in history ever entertained
that way. He didn’t have the fantastic group of people sorrowing like other
people have on occasions that demanded sorrow on His behalf, but the frame of
nature itself solemnized the death of its author, heaven and earth were
mourners, the sun was clad in black and if the inhabitants of the earth were
unmoved, the earth itself trembled under the awful load. And there were few to
pay the Jewish custom of rending their garments at His death, so the rocks took
their place and rent their own bowels. He didn't have a grave of His own, but
other men’s graves open to Him. He came not as the subject of death, but as the
conqueror and invader of its territory and He rose victorious.
John MacArthur
Offending Christ. The article originally appeared (http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/2320)
at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Christ was
placed midmost in the world’s history; and in that central position He towers
like some vast mountain to heaven – the farther slope stretching backward
toward the creation, the hither slope toward the consummation of all things.
The ages before look to Him with prophetic gaze; the ages since behold Him by
historic faith; by both He is seen in common as the brightness of the Father's
glory, and the unspeakable gift of God to the race.
Author Unknown
The Greatest
Man in History, Jesus, had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no
degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him
Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet
He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was
buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
Author Unknown