"What Think Ye
of
Christ?"
by Ed Stevens
THIS QUESTION
was asked by the Lord Jesus speaking to the
Pharisees who did not believe in
His Deity. It is a
most
important
question to this very day. What various religious groups
think about
Christ is as follows, with Bible quotations:
JUDAISM:
The Jewish nation to whom Christ came nearly
2,000 years ago "came unto His own, and His
own received Him not" (John 1:11, as
foretold in Isaiah
53:3). Jews all
along held Christ to be an imposter, not believing His Deity, that He was
the Son of God, the true promised Messiah.
THE BIBLE: Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the
fullness of the Gentiles be come in." Romans 11:25.
"They shall look
upon Me whom they have pierced (as
described in Psalm 22:1-18) and shall mourn
for Him . . . and shall be in bitterness for Him ... "
Zechariah 12:10.
The pronoun "ME" here refers to the
speaker mentioned in
verse 1: "
The burden
of the word of JEHOVAH concerning Israel.
Thus saith JEHOVAH . . . " (Revised
Version). Thus
Christ is here designated as JEHOVAH, just as in
many other
0. T. passages.
MOHAMMEDANISM, OR MUSLIMS:
"It is not for God to take a Son unto Him." The
Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, was only the messenger
of God and His Word that He committed to
Mary, and a spirit from Him. So
believe in God and His
Messengers, and say not
'Three.'
Refrain; better
is
it for you. God is only One God." (Quotations from
"The Quran".)
THE BIBLE:
"And God said, Let
US make man in OUR own
image . . . "
Genesis
1:26. Kiss THE SON lest HE
be angry and ye perish from the way, when His
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that
put their trust IN HIM." Psalm 2:12. "Behold, a
virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call
his name
IMMANUEL" (meaning, "GOD with us"). "For
unto us a child is born, unto us a SON is given:
and the government shall be upon His
shoulder-'
and His
name shall
be
called Wonderful, Counselor, THE MIGHTY GOD,
the everlasting FATHER, The Prince of
Peace." Isa. 7:14, 9:6.
THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY, OFFSHOOT
OF RUSSELISM:
"It was not until the time of his consecration
even
unto death, as typified in baptism at thirty
years of age, that He (Jesus) received the earnest
of his inheritance of the divine nature" (i.e., that he
became the Christ at His baptism). (Vol. 1, "Divine
Plan of the Ages", p. 179; "Let God Be True", p. 41,
1948). "Christ was not Jehovah God." ("Let God Be True", p. 34.) Also Christ's
BODILY resurrection is
denied; but see John 2:19, 21 and 1 Corinthians
15:14, 15.
THE BIBLE:
"For unto you is born this day in the City of
David a SAVIOR which IS CHRIST THE LORD"
("Messiah Jehovah", in Hebrew). Luke 1:35, 2:11.
"I am the
Alpha and the Omega, says JEHOVAH GOD, the One who is and who was and who IS
COMING, THE ALMIGHTY." Revelation 1:8,
Watchtower's "New World Translation." Verses 12, 13, 17,
18 show the speaker here to be JESUS CHRIST.
"In Him dwelleth the fullness of THE
GODHEAD BODILY." Colossians 2:9.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE:
"Jesus, as
material manhood was not Christ." (Science
And Health,
p.
84.)
THE BIBLE:
"The first man (Adam) is of the earth, earthy:
the second man (Christ) is THE LORD FROM
HEAVEN." I Cor. 15:45, 47. "For there is one God
(the Father) and one Mediator between God and
men, THE MAN JESUS CHRIST." I Timothy 2:5.
THE MORMONS:
"Jesus Christ was the son of Adam-God and
Mary. Jesus was not begotten of the Holy Spirit."
(Journal of Discourses," Vol. 1, p. 50.)
THE BIBLE:
"Now the birth of
Jesus Christ was on this wise: When His
Mother Mary was espoused to Joseph,
before they came together, she was found with child
OF THE HOLY GHOST . . . But while he thought
on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto
thee Mary thy wife: for that which is
conceived (`begotten', margin) in her
IS OF THE HOLY GHOST," Matthew 1:18, 20.
See also Matt. 16:15-17 and Romans 1:3, 4,
"Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh; and
declared to be THE SON OF GOD with POWER, according to the spirit of
holiness, by the RESURRECTION from the dead."
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS:
"The
sins
of the repentant are by faith placed
upon Christ
and transferred, in fact to the heavenly
sanctuary . . . the scapegoat typified Satan, the
author of sin, upon whom the sins of the
truly penitent will FINALLY be
placed . . . Satan must bear the
penalty . . . in 1844 Christ then entered the most holy place of the
heavenly sanctuary to perform the CLOSING
WORK OF ATONEMENT preparatory to His coming . . . it is impossible that
the sins of men should be blotted out until
after the (investigative) judgment at
which their cases are to be investigated"
(to determine who are "WORTHY" to have their
sins placed upon Satan who) "will be blotted
from existence in the final
destruction of sin and sinners"— ANNIHILATION! (Textbook: "The
Great, Controversy," pp. 421, 422, 483,
485.)
THE BIBLE:
".. . when He
(Christ) had by Himself PURGED
our
sins,
sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high." "For
by ope offering He HATH PERFECTED
FOREVER them that are sanctified."
Hebrews
1:3; 10:14. "And ye know that He was
manifested to TAKE AWAY our sins." I John 3:5.
"Who HIS OWN
SELF bare our sins in His own body ON THE
TREE." I Peter 2:24.
See
also I Cor.
6:11; I John 1:7 and Rev. 1:5. On the cross Christ
said, "IT IS FINISHED, and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost." John 19:30.
The atonement
for sin WAS FINISHED then and there! The only
sin He did not take away is the damning sin of
UNBELIEF.
Now let us make the question PERSONAL: what do YOU think of Christ? Do YOU
believe that "the
Father sent
the Son to be the Savior of the world," and
YOUR Savior? I John 4:14. The Lord Jesus pliinly stated that there is- no
salvation for anyone who denies His Deity
and Saviorhood, as portrayed in the
above quoted Bible passages, thus: "If ye
believe not that I AM HE ye shall DIE IN
YOUR
SINS."
John 8:24. Oh, BELIEVE "the gospel . . .
wherein ye STAND; by which also ye ARE SAVED
. . . how that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS,
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried,
and that HE ROSE again the third day according
to the Scriptures; and that HE WAS SEEN" of
many witnesses. I Cor. 15:1-8. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth Jesus AS LORD, and believe in
thine heart that God bath raised Him from the dead,
THOU SHALT BE SAVED: for with the HEART
man believeth unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans
10:,10.
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