Not With Outward Show
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and they were as men awakened from a dream. They realized that
“the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace
and truth.”
John 1:14
. Christ had actually come from God to a sinful
world to save the fallen sons and daughters of Adam. The disciples
now seemed, to themselves, of much less importance than before they
realized this. They never wearied of rehearsing His words and works.
His lessons, which they had but dimly understood, now came to them
as a fresh revelation. The Scriptures became to them a new book.
As the disciples searched the prophecies that testified of Christ,
they were brought into fellowship with the Deity, and learned of Him
who had ascended to heaven to complete the work He had begun on
earth. They recognized the fact that in Him dwelt knowledge which
no human being, unaided by divine agency, could comprehend. They
needed the help of Him whom kings, prophets, and righteous men had
foretold. With amazement they read and reread the prophetic delin-
eations of His character and work. How dimly had they comprehended
the prophetic scriptures! how slow they had been in taking in the great
truths which testified of Christ! Looking upon Him in His humiliation,
as He walked a man among men, they had not understood the mystery
of His incarnation, the dual character of His nature. Their eyes were
holden, so that they did not fully recognize divinity in humanity. But
after they were illuminated by the Holy Spirit, how they longed to see
Him again, and to place themselves at His feet! How they wished that
they might come to Him, and have Him explain the scriptures which
they could not comprehend! How attentively would they listen to His
words! What had Christ meant when He said, “I have yet many things
to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now”?
John 16:12
. How
eager they were to know it all! They grieved that their faith had been
so feeble, that their ideas had been so wide of the mark, that they had
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so failed of comprehending the reality.
A herald had been sent from God to proclaim the coming of Christ,
and to call the attention of the Jewish nation and of the world to His
mission, that men might prepare for His reception. The wonderful
personage whom John had announced had been among them for more
than thirty years, and they had not really known Him as the One
sent from God. Remorse took hold of the disciples because they had
allowed the prevailing unbelief to leaven their opinions and becloud