Chapter III Jesus Christ (The Holy Son)

[This is eternal life that they might know... Jesus Christ].

A Word of Request

Now in this chapter we will learn the second condition for eternal life, that is [to know Jesus Christ](John 17:3). The precious knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the hidden mystery that no one in this world nor angels in heaven can impart, but only the Father who has been with Him from [the beginning of His way, before His works of old;] [no one knows the Son except the Father]{Matt. 11:27)
I wish that before before we begin, we may have a brief time to kneel humbly before our Father that He may unfold the sacred and mysterious knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ, clearly to us.

1. Christ's Outward Appearance and Inward Heart
(1) His Outward Appearance
There are various opinions and descriptions in regard to Jesus' outward appearance as He was on earth. Let us now look at the testimonies of the Bible and two eyewitnesses to find out what He was really like.
Lentulus, who was a candidate for the governor of Judea in the days of Jesus, described His face and figure as follows: "A man of great power called Jesus is living in our days in this region. People call Him a prophet of truth, and His disciples, the Son of God. He raises up the dead and heals the sick. His body and stature is medium and well-balanced. He is a man of such virtuous features that those who glance at Him are forced to feel both fear and affection toward Him. His hair is chestnut-brown and curled, waving smoothly around His ears; it covers His shoulders slightly like waves of water and is parted in the middle of His head in harmony with the customs of the Nazarites. His face is tender and calm, without wrinkle or wound, and a little ruddy. His nose and mouth are good-looking. His beard is much and not shaved, the same in color with His hair, not too long and parted from the chin. His eyes are impressive and glittering. While He can reprove in a severe tone, He is also gentle, meek and so cheerful that it takes effort to be solemn when He advises. He rarely ever laughs but weeps sometimes. His body is slender and of upright posture; hands and arms look fine. He speaks in an earnest tone and not much, and that, thoughtfully. He must be the most elegant among the children of men."
Here is also a testimony discovered from a trustworthy and thoughtfully recorded report that Pontius Pilate - who once met Jesus face to face and also took charge of His final judgment - sent to the Emperor Caesar.
"One day, as I was pushing my way through a crowd in a place called Shilo, I came to notice a young man addressing a crowd while leaning on a tree. Someone informed me that he was Jesus. He looked about thirty years old. I never saw such a serene face to captivate one's heart... (Later) I sent a letter to Jesus to request a meeting at the Government-General Hall. Jesus came. As Your Majesty may already know, I come from a mixed background of both Roman and Spanish blood who know no such fragile emotional element as fear, but when the Nazarite came in, I had been strolling about in the reception room when all of a sudden, my feet became immobilized as if iron hands adhered them to the marble floor. The young man of Nazarite was standing rather calmly and yet my whole body was trembling as if I were a guilty criminal. Though he did not speak a word, he drew near me as if telling me "I am here." For a while, I gazed at this extraordinary person with respect and fear. He had the kind of features that have not yet been portrayed by countless artists who have attempted to draw portraits of gods and heroes in the past. There was nothing in his traits that might reveal any such defects in character.
Another Witness. God the Father testifies in the Bible. [He has no form of comeliness] of world's hypocrites(Isa. 53:2) but [My beloved is white and ruddy, chief among ten thousand.] [He is altogether lovely](Song. 5:10,16). [This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased](Matt. 3:17 K.J.V.).
To put these testimonies synthetically, we find that the general features of Jesus were altogether very beautiful and well-balanced. They were so lofty, blameless and holy that those who looked at Him were seized with fear by His dignity and personality overflowing with God's love and grace. He was the express image of God who came to make manifest the invisible God.[No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him](John 1:18)

(2) His Inward Heart
Jesus was a man of unspeakable humility; He [though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross](Phil. 2:6-8, R.S.V.). Truly [He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed](Isa. 53:5). Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted](Isa.53:4). He is despised and ejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him... He was oppressed and He was afflicted yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked - but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth](Isa.53:3,7-9).
[Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth; when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten; but He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we (sinners) having died to sins, might live for righteousness](1Peter 2:22-24).
In the world [scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us](Rom. 5:7,8)
The life of Jesus was one of persecution and insult who, in order to save sinners, abandoned His heavenly Court and came down to this earth in human form. Driven from Bethlehem by a jealous king, rejected by His own people at Nazareth, condemned to death without a cause at Jerusalem, Jesus with His few faithful followers found temporary asylum in a strange city. He who was ever touched by human woe, who healed the sick, and restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the dumb, who fed the hungry and comforted the sorrowful, was driven from the people He had labored to save.
[Though He was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich](2Cor. 8:9).
Voluntarily, He went through poverty and shame. He was often hungry, thirsty and tired from physical labor, yet He had nowhere to lay His head(refer to Matt. 8:20). In cold dewy nights He often laid on the wet, bare ground to sleep. But lying on the bare ground He blessed them that had rejected Him a moment before.[He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own and His own did not receive Him](John 1:10,11). Truly He who abandoned heaven and came to save sinners was [despised and rejected by men... and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised](Isa. 53:3). The disciples could not understand the loneliness of Christ in His true state, who left His Father's bosom and spent a life as a man on earth. He was at times sorrowful that He did not receive the appropriate treatment even from His own disciples, yet He never spoke a word of anger or displeasure with His lips.
He said, [The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many](Matt. 20:28).
A spirit of self-pity could ever be found in Him. It was solely to bless others that He lived, thought, and prayed. Oh!If the witness for Christ in the world had kept the mind of Christ Jesus in their hearts(refer to Phil. 2:5), what a great change could be seen today! How many children of God would have returned to the ranks of the redeemed!
As long as a bit of selfishness, evil thought or self-pity remain in our hearts, we cannot become perfect witnesses for Jesus. Rather, we will represent Jesus as someone different from His character thus leading the world to perceive Him as selfish, arrogant, bigoted, destitute of love, mercy, compassion, and as unforgiving as we are. Jesus says, [If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me](Matt. 16:24). [If anyone comes to me and does not ate ... his own life also, he cannot be my disciples.][Whoever ... does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciples](Luke 14:26,33). [Love your enemies, do good to those who spitefully use you](Luke 6:27,28).
[If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same](Luke 6:32,33).
[But I tell you not to resist evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away.][Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.] [that you may be sons of your Father in heaven](Matt. 5:39-42, 7:12, 5:45). This was His inward heart, His character and His life.
Therefore, if we His followers cherish jealousy in all sorts of trifling matters, take defensive attitudes against any loss, or strive to maintain the spirit of self-dignity in heart, we give evidence that we are not noble-minded people. In spite of false accusations, we are to submit ourselves and love our enemies (refer to Matt. 5:40,44). If any one would exploit us a mile, we are to avail ourselves two miles. [Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be defrauded?](1Cor. 6:7?. By so doing, we shall become true sons and daughters of God the approved disciples of Jesus.
The only work that He accepts is the work that reflects His image. His followers are to bear, as their credentials to the world, His image, the ineffaceable characteristics of His immortal principles. In choosing men and women for His service. God does not ask whether they posses worldly wealth, learning, or eloquence. He asks, "Do they walk in such humility that I can teach them my way? Can I put My sacred words on their lips? Do they have faultless, sanctified lips? Will they perfectly represent My character? How much of my Spirit do they posses?
As God sent Jesus as the Savior of the world who would perfectly represent His character, so is Jesus seeking for those who will perfectly represent His character, in order to send them into the world. He says to them. [As the Father has sent Me, I also send you](John 20:21).
The Jews cultivated a spirit of retaliation. In their hatred for the Romans, they gave utterance of hard denunciations and pleased the wicked one by manifesting his attributes. Jesus bade them not to deceive themselves with the thought that they could in heart rise up against their oppressors and cherish the longing to avenge their wrongs. He was to do His work not by overturning thrones and kingdoms or with pomp and outward display, but by speaking to the hearts of men through a life of mercy and self-sacrifice.
The kingdom of God does not come with outward show. It comes through the gentleness of the inspiration of His word, through the inward working of His Spirit the fellowship of the soul with Him who is its life.
Human effort will be efficient in the work of God according to the consecrated devotion of the worker - by revealing the power of the grace of Christ to transform life.
There can be no more conclusive evidence that we posses the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work or who work contrary to our ideas.
The servants of Christ are not to act out the dictates of the natural heart. They need to have close communion with God, lest under provocation, self rises up and they pour forth a torrent of words that are unfitting and are not as the dew or the still showers that refresh the withering plant. This is what Satan wants them to do; for these are his methods.It is Satan that is wroth; it is the spirit of Satan that is revealed in anger and accusing. But God's servants are to be representatives of Him.
They are to fix their eyes upon Christ. Then they can present the Gospel with divine tact and gentleness. The spirit that is kept gentle under provocation will speak more effectively in favor of the truth than any argument, however forcible.
Strength of character consists of two things - power of will and power of self-control. The strongest man is he who while sensitive to abuse will yet restrain passion and forgive his enemies. Such men are true heroes in the sight of God and Jesus.
Jesus is glorified through them channels of His power and He will bring them as His attendants wherever He goes(Ps. 101:6).
[Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus](Phi.2:5)