Take a moment to consider the greatest Man who ever lived. Be your own judge of who Jesus is! He is a historical figure. One bearing the name “Jesus” actually lived, worked and taught in a little country bordering the Mediterranean.
History is divided by His life into BC and AD. Every time you date a letter, you acknowledge Him. He is the dividing line of history—the centre of time.
His teaching was revolutionary. “Never man spake like this man.” His ethics are the highest ever given. He spoke with absolute authority on every subject.
His life was exemplary. He was the epitome of virtue. All goodness and greatness converged in His matchless person.
He suffered the injustice of an ignominious trial and the humiliation of a cruel death on a cross—capital punishment's most hideous device.
History's strangest paradox: the perfect man condemned as a criminal! Three days after they put His body in a tomb, sealed it with a Roman seal and stationed a platoon of soldiers about it, the seal was broken and the body gone.
According to the testimony of more that 500 people—all in their right minds—He was seen on many occasions for 40 days following this event.
Men everywhere—in all generations— agree to the greatness of Jesus Christ, his life and teachings. Yet everywhere, men stubbornly ignore Him, reject Him and blaspheme Him in their daily conversations. Why?
He claimed to be God. He did not say He was like God or a prophet of God: He said He was God. He said to reject Him was to reject God. He said to dishonour Him was to dishonour God.
He insisted that obedience to His teaching constituted the only dependable foundation for life and compared disobeying Him to building on sand.
He said that men who did not accept Him would die in their sins—that a man's eternal destiny depended on what that man did with Him. “He that believeth not [on Me] is condemned already, because he hath not believed”
(John 3:18, KJV).
He said He was going to rise from the dead—that this would be the supreme sign He was what He claimed.
His resurrection is one of the most solidly established facts of history! He is not a dead hero. To millions living today, Christ is a living reality—a contemporary Saviour and Lord.
“What will you do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?”
This article is reprinted from Signs of The Times April 1, 1961.
