Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

more."
name."
Ample
Evidence
John 5:36, 10:25, 14:10, 11
Alvin W. Smith, D.D.
It is still a very important question: Who Is
Jesus Christ Billy Sunday preached a sermon on
that question, toward the end of his ministry, in im
agination calling upon the individuals whom Jesus
healed, cleansed or raised from the dead to give
answer, "Who is Jesus Christ" The same question
was addressed to the enemies of Jesus, the Phari
sees, Sadduccees and the high priest. Pilate and the
soldiers were also included.
Without exception the answer was "Jesus Christ
is God." It was given gladly by His friends and reluc
tantly by His enemies, but given, nevertheless.
It is just as important today for people to have
the right answer to Jesus' question, "Whom say ye
that I am " as it was on that day when Jesus first
asked the disciples in Caesarea Philippi. Is Jesus
God, as He claimed to be, or just a good man
Recently a bold advertisement appeared on the
church page of our newspaper, an advertisement in
serted by a local church in the community featuring
the question, IS GOD SUPERNATURAL The ques
tion was answered with an unqualified "NO." The
advertisement went on to assert, "We believe that Je
sus was a man, no It is sad to realize that
many others evidently believe that, who are less bold
and frank about it.
It was also of more than passing interest to
me, to read the review of a new book, in which the
author makes the plea that all magic be taken out of
Christianity
and the church. One could agree with
the author if he used the word MAGIC in the same
sense in which the Bible uses it, as sorcery, necro
mancy,
conjuration or enchantment.
Webster's Unabridged defines magic, as "the art
or body of arts which pretends or is believed to pro
duce effects by the assistance of supernatural beings
or departed spirits, or by the mastery of secret forces
nature."
in
We know that God in His Word forbade Israel
from having anything to do with sorcery and witch
craft. We are familiar with the account of the
magicians of Egypt who undertook to duplicate the
miracles performed by Moses at God's direction,
with their enchantments. They soon confessed that
any further pretence was beyond them, "This is
the finger of God."
Jesus was accused by His enemies of casting
with Beelze
out demons by collusion (as they said),
bub, the prince of devils. Jesus promptly disclaimed
any and all such collusion and declared that He was
casting out demons by the Spirit of God.
The author of this book to which I refer ap
peared to be using the word magic in a loose sense,
to mean everything SUPERNATURAL, including
the miracles, as though that were a weakness and a
stumbling block to faith.
Brethren, this is no idle speculation. There is
102
today, in our country and throughout the world the
age-old conflict between the natural and the super
natural in application to religion. The battle lines are
sharply drawn ; and the battle rages around the ques
tion of the Deity, the Godhead of Jesus Christ. Is
He only a man, or is He in fact and reality very God
of very God
In the scriptures we have before us we can see
the use which the Lord Jesus Christ made of the
evidence that pointed then and still points to His
being just what He claimed to be, the Messiah, the
One prophesied, one with the Father, sent by the
Father and approved by Him. In chapter 5 of John's
gospel is an array of four kinds of witness supporting
Jesus'
claim:
1. The witness of John the Baptist, 5:32,33.
2. That of the Heavenly Father, v. 37.
3. That of the O.T. Scriptures, Moses .
45, 46.
.
vs.39,
4. The works which Jesus, Himself did. v. 36.
Jesus carried the issue to its logical conclusion. On
more than one occasion He spoke of it. See chap.
10:25, 14:10-11.
Any calling into question of the miracles of
Jesus as an asset to faith in Him, runs directly
against Jesus' own words. He laid great weight upon
these works as evidence of His being genuine. Shall
we fail to acquiesce
pel,
All of these things are found in the Fourth Gos
which deals in particular with this kind of rea
soning. Of the four gospels, that of John employs
the miracles of Jesus, particularly, as evidence to
faith. The very purpose of writing this gospel is
stated in terms of the SIGNS, ch. 20 :30, 31,
"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the
presence of his disciples, which are not written in
this book: but these are written, that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ; and that believ
ing, ye might have life through his
In chapter 2:11, the author specifies the turning
of the water into wine as the beginning of the signs :
'This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of
Galilee and manifested forth his glory; and his
disciples believed on Him."
Then follows the third miracle, the healing of the son
of the nobleman. Then, in series, the healing of the
impotent man, the feeding of the five thousand, the
giving of sight to the man born blind and the raising
of Lazarus. Later, there is the account of His own
resurrection, predicted and
fulfilled; finally, the
draft of fishes in Galilee.
It is your responsibility and mine, the responsi
bility of all who read or hear this record, to decide
in the heart, whether or not it is true. Jesus, knowing
that He had come from God and had come down
COVENANTER WITNESS