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Christ, the Magnet, April 7
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God
is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and
worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Acts 10:34, 35
.
Christ recognizes no caste, no nationality. He holds it as His prerogative,
divine and incommunicable, to work after His own might and pleasure. The
compassionate Redeemer, He labored among all classes. When the paralytic
was let down through the roof at His feet, He saw at a glance the trouble of the
sufferer, and He immediately exercised His power as a sin-pardoning Saviour.
“Be of good cheer,” He said; “thy sins be forgiven thee” (
Matthew 9:2
).
At this, some of the scribes said within themselves, “Why doth this man
thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” (
Mark 2:7
).
How astonished they were to have their unspoken thoughts opened before
them. “Why reason ye these things in your hearts?” Jesus asked. “Whether is
it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say,
Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of
man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I
say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house”
(
Verses 8-11
).
Christ changed the relation of the sinner toward God, taking the guilt from
the inmost soul. The rich fool died in his bloated wealth, but the helpless
sinner was brought to Christ, and manifesting his belief that Christ could heal
him, he was not disappointed. His diseased mind was first cured, and then
the great Physician cured his bodily infirmities.
Thus Christ drew the people to Him. He was unfolding truths of the
highest order. The knowledge He came to impart was the gospel, in all its
richness and power. The sin bearer, He is alive to all the horrors which sin
brings upon the soul, and He came to this world with a message of deliverance.
What is Christianity? God’s instrumentality for the conversion of the
sinner. Jesus will call to account every one who is not brought under His
control, who does not demonstrate in his life the influence of the cross of
Calvary. Christ should be uplifted by those whom He has redeemed by dying
on the cross.—
Manuscript 56, April 7, 1899
, “Following Christ.”
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