Seven Things We Know About Jesus

Tn a previous chapter we treated of Christ’s -*- knowledge of us, and our wants and weaknesses. Let us now look at the seven things which we know about our Lord and Redeemer. Nearly all of them may be found in that first love-letter which the Apostle John addressed to the churches:

(I.) The first fact we know is that Jesus is divine. John says: “We know that the Son of God is come.” How did he know this? We answer that Jesus proved his divinity by his works and asserted it by his words. If he were not the Son of God, then he uttered a blasphemous falsehood; and for a being of such marvellous kindness, unselfishness, personal purity, and holy life to have uttered so stupendous a falsehood were a moral impossibility. We, in turn, know that Jesus was divine, from the direct testimony of the Scriptures. Saying nothing about other scriptures, it is directly asserted by John himself that “this” (i. e., this person Christ Jesus) “is the true God and eternal life.” How any candid Socinian, who pretends to accept the inspiration of the Bible, can gainsay this point-blank declaration is more than we can fathom. The central truth of John’s epistle is this: “Jesus is the Son of God.” Take the doctrine of gravitation out of Sir Isaac Newton’s natural philosophy, and the system falls into rubbish. Take the divinity of Jesus Christ out of the New Testament and out of the plan of redemption, and they become a delusion and a mockery.

(II.) This same beloved disciple declares the chief object of Christ’s incarnation when he says, “Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins.” The most ever-present, ever-pressing fact in the moral world is the existence of sin. This is the universal malady and misery. We have just come this morning from two households who are heart-broken by sin. They would both accept a coffin in the dwelling as a lighter sorrow. As sin is the greatest of human curses, so deliverance from the guilt and the thraldom of sin would be the greatest blessing which humanity could experience. Its dominion is degradation; its doom is death. Jesus did not come to take all sin out of the world. But he did come to take away its bondage and its condemning curse from every one who will accept of him as a sufficient ransomer, and of his blood as a sufficient atonement for sin. Jesus “bore our sins in his own body on the cross.” This doctrine of Jesus as the sin-bearer is the core of the New Testament. It is the one doctrine of sufficient importance to be commemorated by a perpetual church-rite. The Lord’s Supper is the monument of the Atonement. How can any person come, understandingly, to that table, if he does not know that Jesus died to save him from his sins?

(III.) Deliverance from the curse and punishment of sin is a marvellous blessing. Yet it is a negative blessing: it only saves from remorse and retribution. The positive boon of a life eternal is a blessing beyond words to compass. Joseph delivered from an Egyptian dungeon is a happy man; but Joseph exalted to the second chariot of the empire, with a chain of gold about his neck, is a man who dare not be ungrateful, for the stones in the streets would condemn him. Jesus does more than deliver me from hell’s prison-house. He secures for me Heaven’s palace of glory. For the third great fact which John declares is that “you who believe on the name of the Son of God may know that ye have eternal life.11 This means more than bare existence. A poor wretch may exist and be miserable. Eternal life in God’s Word signifies life at its very highest realization of peace, knowledge, purity, and bliss; life in communion with God; life where no sin defileth, and no death intrudes; a life of ineffable holiness, whose every emotion is an ecstasy. This life has its imperfect beginnings at the “new birth” of conversion. It reaches its acme in Heaven. But of every genuine Christian it may be truly said that he “hath eternal life.” They that trust on Jesus have Jesus. They that have Jesus have the only life which God can give. They that have this life have it forever. To possess such a faith, with its transforming power, and not be conscious of it, seems utterly preposterous. Salvation is not guess-work. Jesus guarantees eternal life to them that are his. (IV.) For his inspired apostle assures us that saving faith carries with it an inward evidence, a witness of the Spirit, an unalterable conviction that brings solid peace. He says: “I know whom I have believed, and that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Paul had made Jesus his trustee, and had put his everlasting welfare into Jesus’s hands. So may I do what Paul did, and may hold Christ responsible for my salvation as long as I keep his commandments. Upon that divine rock I am forever safe; but not safe for one instant if I leave that rock. “Through faith I am kept by the power of God unto salvation.” If faith lets go, all is gone. While faith holds to Jesus, I am more sure of salvation than that the sun will rise to-morrow. God has not pledged an eternal sun-rising; but he has pledged eternal life to those who trust and obey his Son Jesus Christ. (V.) The fifth fact that every Christian may know is that Jesus is our intercessor, and is the bestower of answers to our prayers. John the Apostle (with no fear of any first century Tyndalls before his eyes) expressly affirms “this is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” Observe the conditions clearly, for there is a great deal of slovenly thinking and talking about prayer. God does not promise to gratify all our whims or selfish desires. He gives nothing that is contrary to “his will.” Many good things are undoubtedly in accordance with that will — such as pardon of sin, spiritual help to serve him, and the gift of the Divine Spirit. Now, if we will only leave our Master to decide what we ought to have, we may know that our prayers will bring the answer that is best for us. I do not believe that there is such a thing in the universe as a neglected prayer ever breathed by docile, submissive faith. Emptied of self, I am sure of being filled by Jesus.

(VI.) Another thing the veteran Paul knew, and that was that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” He was just then speaking of the “sufferings of this present time,” and the “all things” evidently refer to trials and sharp afflictions. Paul knew that crowns were made out of crosses. The diadem which Jesus wears was fashioned on Calvary, and the heavenly crowns which we may aspire to must be wrought out of such costly material as penitence, submission, suffering, patience, toil, and self-crucifixion.

(VII.) Do you doubt this, my brother? Then I have a Bible-passage for you — the seventh of the precious things we know about Jesus. It is the best wine kept to the last. “Beloved, we know that when he shall appear we shall be like Mm, for we shall see him as he is.” Like Jesus! Our crosses also turned into crowns! Our bodies fashioned like unto his glorious body! As we have borne the image of the earthy, so we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly. These glorious things we know. Let God be true, though every man should prove a liar.

Now let us gather into one bouquet from the King’s garden these seven fragrant flowers. Jesus the Son of God; Jesus our sin-bearer; Jesus the giver of eternal life; Jesus the keeper of our undying souls; Jesus the hearer of our prayers; Jesus the chastener, who can turn crosses into crowns; and Jesus the wonder-worker, who can change us into eternal likeness unto himself! These flowers will keep sweet till Heaven dawns.