The only reason for my writing this message is that I couldn't help it. It is, in printed form, what I should like to say to millions in our land, to each one personally, with no others listening to our conversation.

What I long to do is persuade those who, year after year, live without giving any serious thought at all to one by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the founder of the Christian faith.

I long to persuade them to give serious, honest, intelligent consideration to this person, Jesus, and to come to some definite conclusion regarding Him and their relationship to Him, based, not upon the superficial, often inaccurate, and sometimes sneering references to Him in contemporary secular literature; not the mere echo of unbelieving professors, or skeptical thinkers, but, the result of one's own unhampered, personal thinking.

I hope that what I have written will be of help to such honest men. WMS

A scientist, working in his laboratory and coming upon a phenomenon not described in any textbook certainly will not brush aside the evidence for the strange phenomenon he has noticed with the remark, "I am not concerned with this; I'll go on as though I had not seen it."

Rather, as a true scientist, he will feel himself morally obligated to investigate this matter further, for he may be at the threshold of as great a discovery as the Curies were when doing their work with radium.

So you and I, in this so-called age of enlightenment, of high literacy --you and I as honest men -- at least owe it to ourselves honestly and carefully to consider, as far as we are able and without prejudice, the amazing claims of Jesus Christ -- claims which, by the way, millions have accepted with uniformly startling results in their lives and hearts.

The latest edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica" gives twenty thousand words to this person Jesus, ^-1- and does not even hint that He did not exist -- more words, by the way, than are given to Aristotle, Alexander, Cicero, Julius Caesar, or Napoleon Bonaparte. H.G. Wells spoke blasphemously concerning Jesus, yet he was compelled to give Him ten pages in his "Outline of History", ^-2- never questioning the fact that there was a person by the name of Jesus.

In fact, so significant was the advent of this person in the history of the human race that, for the last fifteen hundred years, the entire Western world dates every event, from the dawn of human history down to the present hour, by phrases that definitely relate them to His birth. No one today locates in time any event preceding the birth of Jesus without placing "B.C." after the figures for the year, which, of course, stand for "before Christ." Among Gentiles today, no court document, no newspaper, no letter, no deed, carries any date that is not controlled, whether they are used or not, by the letters "A.D." the abbreviation for the Latin phrase "Anno Domini", meaning, "the year of the Lord." Every text book of history in the whole Western world, every dated page, bears testimony to the certainty of the appearance in this world, some nineteen hundred years ago, of one by the name of Jesus, who later was called the Lord.

With the historical reality of Jesus a settled matter in our minds, we next ask ourselves, What kind of person was this Jesus, the most famous and most discussed person in the whole vast history of the human race? To answer that question, we must first consider another -- What records do we have from which to study the life of Jesus?

In the book called the Bible, we have four books, called "Gospels," written by four men, bearing the names, respectively, of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are the only records we have of the advent, life, teaching, work, character, death and resurrection, and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth (with, of course, the few references to the life of Jesus on earth that appear in the later epistles of the New Testament).

This being true, the question which grows increasingly important in these critical days is, Are these records valid? Are they trustworthy? Are the pictures of Christ they present dependable?

It is now generally acknowledged that the first three Gospels were written, all of them, before the year A.D.90, that is, within sixty years of the death of Jesus. Most scholars believe that the first Gospel, by Matthew, was written by a disciple of Jesus, who was an eyewitness of what he wrote. Mark's Gospel is even placed, in time of composition, before the writing of Matthew. Both of these may have been produced within thirty years of the death of Jesus. Thus, unless they are deliberately deceptive -- and no one argues that today -- they ought to carry great weight, when one is considering their historical value.

The pages of the Gospels contain scores of references to geographical locations, all of them substantiated by what is known of these areas. They contain innumerable references to and brief descriptions of contemporary characters, such as Ananias, the Herods, Pontius Pilate, and Tiberius Caesar, not one of which can be shown to contain historical errors.

These Gospels were written in an age of superb historical composition. Among contemporary historians were Tacitus the Roman, Strabo the Greek, Plutarch, the greatest of Roman biographers, and by far the greatest of all ancient Jewish Philosophers, Flavius Josephus.

A distinguished professor in one of our most liberal seminaries, Dr. Ernest Findlay Scott, of Union Theological Seminary, New York, acknowledges, "If our Gospels had not been Christian writings they would have taken their place as admirable examples of Jewish historical literature, and there is no just reason for denying their historical character because they deal with the acts of Jesus and not with those of Herod, or Ananias the high priest... The chief interest of the Gospels is historic."^-3-

Professor Eduard Meyer (of the University of Berlin) was generally recognized as the greatest authority on ancient history of our century and was, one regrets to say, not at all a believer in what we call evangelical Christianity, and therefore his verdict cannot be said to have been given in an attempt to defend the doctrines of the Christian faith. He says: "It is evident that for our history of Jesus we have by no means to reckon merely with representations of the records of the second apostolic generation, but are taken back far beyond that into the midst of the first generation -- people who personally had known Him intimately and still preserved a lively recollection of Him; and that these old recollections lie under our eyes in manifold forms... there is no ground at all for refusing to accept these oldest traditions as historically trustworthy in all essentials, and in their chronological ordering of the history."^-4-

There are many characteristics of Jesus displayed in His three-and-one-half years -- years of teaching, of relieving distress, of healing the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowing, praying, preaching, living the life of a true human being, condemned and dying, and rising again. But everyone will agree, that the outstanding characteristic of Jesus in His earthly life was the one in which all of us acknowledge we fall so short, and yet which at the same time all men recognize as the most priceless characteristic any man can have, namely, "absolute goodness," or, to phrase it otherwise, perfect "purity," genuine "holiness," and, in the case of Jesus, nothing less than "sinlessness."

Let us hear some of the strange testimonies concerning Jesus:

Just before he committed suicide, after betraying Jesus, Judas Iscariot said, "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood."

Pontius Pilate who, as a Roman officer, had for years been passing verdicts on the innocent and the guilty according to Roman law, after a thorough investigation of the charges against Jesus and frequent interrogations of Christ, repeated again and again, "I find no crime in him."

The apostle Peter, who had lived with Christ for practically all His three-and-one-half years of ministry on this earth, thirty years after the ascension of Jesus, said that He was "without blemish and without spot"; and that He "did no sin."

The apostle John, a saint himself, said of Jesus what he never claimed for himself and what he never said, or even hinted at, regarding anyone else, that "In him is no sin."

The apostle Paul, who once persecuted all who followed in the way of Jesus, in his full maturity, after his conversion and years of preaching, declared that Christ "knew no sin."

Jesus Himself said that everything He did pleased the Father and that Satan had nothing in Him. A voice from heaven, certainly the voice of the Father, said of Christ, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Fifteen million minutes of life on this earth, in the midst of a wicked and corrupt generation -- every thought, every deed, every purpose, every word, privately and publicly, from the time He opened His baby eyes until He expired on the Cross, were all approved of God. Never once did our Lord have to confess any sin, for He had no sin.

Here was One who, as Dr. Schaff said, never put Himself in the attitude of a sinner before God; never shed a tear of repentance; never regretted a single thought, word, or deed; never needed or asked divine pardon; was never concerned about the salvation of His own soul; and boldly faced all His present and future enemies in the absolute certainty of His spotless purity before God and man. This in itself lifts Him above the level on which humanity has lived since the dawning of history. Surely here is an unusual person!

Leaders of thought in every age unanimously acknowledge the unique sinlessness of this person Jesus. David Strauss, the bitterest of all opponents of the supernatural elements of the Gospels, whose works did more to destroy faith in Christ than the writings of any other man in modern times -- even Strauss, with all his slashing, brilliant, vicious criticisms, and his sweeping denials of everything partaking of the miraculous, was forced to confess, toward the end of his life, that in Jesus there was moral perfection. "This Christ... is "historical," not mythical; is an "individual," no mere symbol. ...He remains the highest model of religion within the reach of our thought; and no perfect piety is possible without his presence in the heart."^-5-

Think for a moment now of the claims which this person Jesus made for Himself:

He said that the Father sent Him. He declared that He came down from God; that the words He spoke, God had actually given him; and that everything He did, He did according to the commandment of God. In fact, He said that He and God were One. He went even further than this and said that no man could know God except as He, the Son, revealed His Father, and that no man could come to God except through Him.

Now what do you make of these statements? What do you make of the daring, the seemingly sheer egotism of a man talking like that? This is the person Jesus of whom all ages confess that He was a man of sinless character, wholly approved of God.

Moreover, the Lord insisted that He Himself would be the final Judge of all men, their acts and their words; and that this verdict would rest ultimately upon what they did with Him. No other man in all the world, in his right mind, has dared talk like this. And as we hear His words one of three conclusions must be reached. Either He was a liar and knew it, or He was self-deceived and believed things which were nonsensical, or He was telling the truth.

Now, one thing about Jesus is that He was no liar. He condemned falsehood; He lived the truth; He claimed to be the truth incarnate. Falsehood He loathed. No one can ever honestly accuse Him of lying. He certainly was not a deceiver, for His own enemies said, "Never man spoke as this man."

If He were self-deceived, He would not deserve to be the joyfully acknowledged leader of millions and millions of men and women through the ages. He was not deceived in the prophecies He made concerning the fall of Jerusalem; He was not deceived concerning the prophecies He uttered regarding His own death. He did not reveal Himself to be an unbalanced man as He went around doing good.

There is only one other conclusion to come to: this man Jesus was speaking the truth. The dual question Jesus asked while on earth is still a living question -- "Which of you convicteth me of sin? If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?"

Here is a tremendous option. In this matter must we not come to a decision? These are the words Jesus uttered. This is the kind of man He was. What do you think of these words? They cannot honestly be brushed aside. They concern you and me, and He intended that they should. He said that through Him was the way to God; there is no other. He said His blood would wash away sins; there is no other way for washing away sins. He said He came to make us free; there is no true freedom apart from Him. He came to bestow peace and joy. He said He would go and prepare a home for us; if we do not have Christ we do not have His home.

These things concern us; they vitally concern us; they will eternally concern us. We should come to a conclusion regarding them.

The most important single event that ever took place on this earth, with the possible exception of our Lord's crucifixion, was the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus had done a very daring thing: on five occasions during His life on earth, He had predicted that though He would be killed at Jerusalem, on the third day He would rise again.

What would people conclude about you and me if, meeting a friend on the street, we should say, "I feel death coming over me; I believe I will not live later than the end of the week" (such premonitions of imminent death have frequently been vouchsafed to men and women); and then you should say, "But never mind, do not get anyone to take my place in the office, or in the classroom; for three days after I die, I will rise again"?

What would your friends think? Well, they would do more than think; they would say that you were losing your mind, and would grieve for the extreme insanity that had come over you; they would lose all confidence in everything else you were saying; they would know you were out of your mind. Only a fool would say he is going to rise three days after he dies; only a fool, unless -- unless he IS going to rise!

That Jesus did rise from the dead is confirmed first of all by the empty tomb. That the tomb was empty on Easter morning is acknowledged by Jew and Gentile, by believer and unbeliever, by Christian and scoffer. All admit that the testimony is overwhelming that the tomb was empty. The women went to the tomb and found it empty. Peter and John followed and they found it empty. The Sanhedrin that had condemned Jesus to death confessed it was empty, because they concocted a story to explain how it had become empty. The angels from heaven said it was empty, declaring to the wondering disciples, "Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, who hath been crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, even as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."

There are many theories to explain how that tomb became empty, but NOT ONE OF THEM HAS EVER BEEN GENERALLY ACCEPTED, even by the enemies of the Christian faith, by those who deny Christ to be the Son of God.

Theories are still being manufactured, for the question of how the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea became empty is still a problem which those who reject the resurrection are not able to solve, and they confess that they cannot.

The first theory ever constructed to rationalistically explain the empty tomb, and at the same time deny the resurrection, was that concocted by the Sanhedrin on Easter Day. It is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. When the soldiers who had been stationed at the tomb came to report that it was empty, these leaders told them that they should tell everyone that the disciples came and stole the body while the soldiers were sleeping!  (How would they know what went on while they were asleep?) Remember, too, that the disciples devoted their whole lives to the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus. It is this preaching that "turned the world upside down." It is contrary to all the experience of men we know -- and contrary to human nature -- for eleven men who had stolen His body to say He had risen, and then go out and suffer indignities, excommunication, persecution, imprisonment, beatings, torture, and finally, death -- all for a lie.

It was because of the deep conviction of the disciples that they had seen Him alive after He had died that the pagan religions of the Roman world went to pieces; thousands of people received Christ as Savior; many of His enemies were themselves saved, believing in His resurrection.

Our Lord appeared to His disciples and followers during the forty days immediately following His resurrection. He appeared to certain women as they returned from the sepulchre on Easter morning; and then separately to Mary Magdalene. He appeared privately to the apostle Peter, sometime the same morning. He walked with two disciples, one by the name of Cleopas, as they were journeying to Emmaus, Easter afternoon. That night He appeared to the ten apostles, Thomas being absent. A week later He appeared to the eleven. He appeared after that to several more disciples at the sea of Galilee, while they were fishing; and to the apostle James. He appeared to the apostles and above five hundred brethren on a mount designated in Galilee. At the time of His ascension, He appeared to His disciples and others on the Mount of Olives.

These appearances cannot be brushed aside. They must not be interpreted as the fluttering manifestation of a spirit, of a disembodied person, as Renan fancied. Jesus Himself said to the frightened apostles in the upper room, when even they questioned the reality of His person, "Why are you troubled? and wherefore do questionings arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having."  And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

Many of the greatest thinkers of modern times have gladly confessed their faith in the resurrection of Christ. If you who are reading this happen to be a lawyer, you will of course know that one of the greatest works on evidence in this country for nearly one hundred years was "A Treatise on the Law of Evidence", first appearing in 1844, by Samuel Greenleaf (1783-1853).

This master of the important subject of evidence, trained in weighing facts, while still a professor at Harvard wrote a volume entitled "An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists".  As a true believer, he says of the apostles, "It was impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact."^-6-

If you are interested in any of the various fields of physical research, you will know the name of the late Ambrose Fleming, emeritus professor of Electrical Engineering in the University of London, honorary fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, recipient of the Faraday medal in 1928, given a biographical sketch in the fourteenth edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica". Sir Ambrose Flemming wrote, "Study at your leisure the records in the four Gospels of these events [the resurrection and other miracles] and you will see that nothing in the certainly ascertained facts or principles of science forbids belief in those miracles. If that study is pursued with what eminent lawyers have called a willing mind, it will engender a deep assurance that the Christian Church is not founded on fiction, or nourished on delusions, or, as St. Peter calls them, 'cunningly devised fables,' but on historical and actual events, which, however strange they may be, are indeed the greatest events which have ever happened in the history of the world."^-7-

What do you think of this person Christ? What is your personal conclusion regarding His claims for Himself? If you do not accept them, have you sound reasons for rejecting them -- not simply the blind following of someone else who has rejected Christ, but have you, yourself, come to a conclusion regarding this evidence, which is laid out before us so clearly in the Gospels of the New Testament?

Surely you would not say that you do not "understand" these things, therefore you will not believe. That is not the attitude of modern man toward the physical facts of this universe, nor toward the historical data of great events. Have you ever sat down before these Gospels and really thought through what they say, really considered the Character who is here portrayed?

Gamaliel Bradford, one of the most distinguished biographers of modern times, who could read all the important European languages, a master of classical literature, gifted in music, and a lover of art, confessed that he was AFRAID to read the New Testament for fear it might prove that he was wrong, and his opinions would all have to be changed -- and that he did not want.

In his journal for September 8, 1921, in his fifty-seventh year, Bradford wrote: "I do not read the New Testament for fear of its awakening a storm of anxiety and self-reproach and doubt and dread of having taken the wrong path, of having been traitor to the plain and simple God. Not that I do not know perfectly well that no reading would make me believe anymore. But, ho, what agonies of fret and worry it would give me; for I should be able neither to believe nor to disbelieve nor to let it alone."  And yet in his same journal, under the date of February 19, 1919, he cries out, "Who will tell me something of God? I know nothing about Him whatever!"^-8-

Had he only opened his New Testament and considered the life and teachings of Jesus, His death and resurrection, with the same spirit of honesty, with the same desire to discover the truth, that possessed him as he approached the study of the many great men of history, into whose lives he saw so deeply and accurately, he would have found God gloriously revealed in Christ His Son.

Have you for years been inclined to disbelieve in Jesus, to refuse to believe in His resurrection, and therefore in His deity?  There was one just like that in the apostolic company itself. His name was Thomas. He was so skeptical concerning the resurrection of Jesus, when the disciples told him that Christ was risen from the dead, that he said, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

A week later they were all together in the upper room, Thomas being with them, when Jesus stood in their midst and said, "Peace be unto you." Then He said to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and see my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." Five words came from the lips of this former doubter -- the greatest confession of Christ, up to this hour, which the world had known, not only from his lips but from his heart -- "My Lord and my God."

Christ is nothing less than that. He is the Lord; He is the Savior; He is God the Son. The evidence that persuaded Thomas is the evidence that is before us. This is a living option. What we do with it is of pre-eminent importance. A man's decision concerning Christ is the most important one he will ever make, for its consequences in this life are of transforming significance, and the ultimate consequences of such a decision reach into eternity. In fact, our decision will determine our eternity, for Jesus Himself said, "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."

No one is going to force us to make such a decision. Faith in Christ is not brought about by compulsion, nor, as in Mohammedanism, by the use of the sword and the threat of death.

This is for us personally to determine in our own hearts.

We are free to receive Him; we are free to reject Him. It is a living option, and the consequences that follow receiving Him will gloriously reach into eternity, transforming, sanctifying, and glorifying our lives.

We are living in strange days. The world has never known such a dark sky of fear to be over humanity as just now. The future is so uncertain, national problems now appear as international problems, and, apparently, more involved and insolvable than ever. Many institutions that have endured for centuries are now forever in the dust. Everyone speaks of an "impending crisis." Our most brilliant scientists publicly confess, "I am afraid!"

Jesus foresaw just such a day as this. On Tuesday of Holy Week, speaking on the Mount of Olives, April, A.D.29, looking down through the ages, He said there would come a time which would be marked on earth by a "distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world." Are not these very phrases the ones we see in all of our more important journals today? Then Jesus said, "Then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; because your redemption draweth nigh."

Hosts of men and women, "a great multitude, which no man could number out of every nation, and of all tribes, and peoples, and tongues," have believed in Christ as the only begotten Son of God, and have received Him as their Lord and Savior.

To millions the words of the angel from heaven to Joseph have been fulfilled, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for it is He that shall save His people from their sins."

The freedom from sin, the joy, the peace, the light, the abundant life, the indestructible hope, the deliverance from fear, the purity and power and forgiveness which Jesus promised to men -- if they would but believe in Him and follow Him as true disciples -- have been triumphantly realized and displayed in the lives of innumerable multitudes since.

Among his followers have been men and women, the famous and the unknown, rich and poor, learned and unlettered, noble-born and humble-born, young and aged, oriental and occidental, scientist and framer, statesman and herdsman, merchant and blacksmith, slave and freedman.

All were sought with the same divine love; all were redeemed with the same grace; each was made a member of His Body; each had his name written in the Lamb's book of life; each was assured a home in heaven forever with the Lord.

From that great volume of testimony arising from the hearts of this company of the redeemed, may I refer, for a moment, to that one of the most remarkable men of the nineteenth century, Sir James Young Simpson,  without any doubt the great physician of Scotland -- the first of that profession ever to be given a Baronetcy. (It is to the untiring efforts of Sir James Simpson to discover something by which the awful torture of surgical operations could be prevented that we owe the discovery of chloroform.) This is his confession:

"As a corpse moves not, stirs not, feels not, and cannot be aroused, so are all unbelievers dead to all love of God, and to everything pertaining to the wondrous gospel of Jesus Christ. Of the dread and crushing burden of their own sins their souls are not conscious, for the dead feel not. But in the infinitude of His love to our fallen race, God offers to each of us individually a free and full pardon, and life now and forever, if we only believe on Jesus Christ, His Son, whom He sent to suffer in our stead -- to die that we might live -- if we rely and rest entirely on His as the all sufficient sacrifice for our sins, as our substitute and security."^-9-

As the great apostle John once said, "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for the witness of God is this, that he hath borne witness concerning his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son. And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life. These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God."

-1- "Encyclopedia Britannica" (14th ed), art. "Jesus Christ," Vol. XII, pp. 15-28. The columns devoted to the other names mentioned are: Aristotle, 11; Alexander the Great, 11; Cicero, 11; Julius Caesar, 10; Napoleon Bonaparte, 23.

-2- H. G. Wells, "The Outline of History" (4th ed., 1922), pp. 589-599.

-3- Ernest Findlay Scott, "The Validity of the Gospel Record", (New York, 1939), Vol. I, p.329, note.

-4- Eduard Meyer, "Ursprung und Anfange des Christentums", (Origin and Beginning of Christianity), (Berlin, 1909), p.178.

-5- David F. Strauss, quoted in Philip Schaff, "The Person of Christ", (12th ed., rev. New York, 1882), where full references to the German original are given.

-6- Simon Greenleaf. "The Testimony of the Evangelists Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice" (New York, 1874), pp. 28-31.

-7- Sir Ambrose Fleming, "Miracles and Science: The Resurrection of Christ", (London, n.d.), pp. 11, 12, 15.

-8- "The Journal of Gamaliel Bradford", 1883-1932, (Boston, 1933), pp. 274, 152.

-9- James Macaulay, "Sir James Young Simpson," Vol. VII of "Short Biographies".
 

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