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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
Christ exiled himself to the world that he might bring heavenly
light within the reach of humanity. The Jews did not comprehend
the twofold character of Christ; and as he did not assume temporal,
kingly power, and establish his reign on David’s throne, bringing into
subjection every foreign authority, the Jewish dignitaries refused to
accept him. They could not connect man’s suffering, grief, and poverty
with their idea of the Messiah. Yet this was the only Saviour the Word
of God through his prophets had ever predicted.
The Jews utterly failed to understand the spiritual connection which
identified Christ with both the human and the divine, and gave fallen
man a presentation of what he should strive to become. Christ was
God in the flesh. As the son of David, he stood forth a perfect type
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of true manhood, bold in doing his duty, and of the strictest integrity,
yet full of love, compassion, and tender sympathy. In his miracles he
revealed himself as Lord. When he was asked by Philip to show him
the Father, he answered, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen the
Father.”
The Jews were continually seeking for and expecting a Divinity
among them that would be revealed in outward show, and by one flash
of overmastering will would change the current of all minds, force
from them an acknowledgment of his superiority, elevate himself, and
gratify the ambition of his people. This being the case, when Christ
was treated with contempt, there was a powerful temptation before
him to reveal his heavenly character, and to compel his persecutors to
admit that he was Lord above kings and potentates, priests and temple.
But it was his difficult task to maintain the level of humanity.
In the intercessory prayer of Jesus with his Father, he claimed
that he had fulfilled the conditions which made it obligatory upon the
Father to fulfill his part of the contract made in Heaven, with regard to
fallen man. He prayed: “I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. [That is, he had wrought out a righteous character on earth as an
example for men to follow.] And now, O Father, glorify thou me with
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was.” In this prayer he farther goes on to state what is comprehended
by the work which he has accomplished, and which has given him
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all those who believe on his name. He values this recompense so
highly that he forgets the anguish it has cost him to redeem fallen