Jesus did not begin His public Mission till He was about thirty years of age. It opened with His baptism by John the Baptist, when by the descent of the Spirit of God upon Him and the voice from heaven He was marked out as the "Beloved Son", or as the Fourth Gospel represents John the Baptist saying, "The Son of God". Then followed a retirement of forty days into the wilderness, at the close of which He faced and overcame the severe temptations, which were all intended to debase and destroy the ideal embodied in His Mission as the Saviour not of His nation only but of the whole world, and the Founder of a spiritual Kingdom in the hearts of men. He soon gathered together disciples, of whom He selected twelve, whom He named Apostles, to be His constant and intimate companions. They did not fully realise either the mystery of His Person, or the object of His Mission, till after He rose from the dead. The conviction that a flash of spiritual insight brought to Peter at Caesarea Philippi (St. Matt. XVI. 16) was not sufficiently strong to prevent Him from publicly denying His Master at His trial.
It is difficult to summarise our Lord's teaching, for it cannot be reduced to any system. His Ministry was one of Reconciliation of man to God. As He said, He came to "seek and to save that which was lost". His Gospel is the "Gospel of the Kingdom of God", or "The Kingdom of heaven". This Kingdom was not relegated to the dim and distant future but was to be inaugurated here and now. In all those who should become members, a change of heart, a turning towards God instead of away from Him, and a complete readjustment of values were required.[[1]] He was Himself as it were the Door to this Kingdom, which could only be entered through Him. He asked men to make Him the centre of Life, instead of self. 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.'
It should always be remembered, in studying the teaching of Christ, that it is based upon the fact that men have a spiritual as well as an intellectual and physical life; in other words, that they have a soul as well as a mind and body, and of these the life of the soul is the most important. He does not set forth an elaborate system of conduct, but rather enunciates certain great general principles on which the Christian life is to be based. These principles are to be applied to every human relationship. The teaching of Christ does not deal with particular circumstances, which vary from age to age, and differ in different countries in different races of men, but with human nature which is the same everywhere in its fundamental characteristics. Consequently His teaching is never out of date, but each generation can obtain the light it needs therefrom. It is not any flaw in the teaching of Christ, but the very imperfect application of it by men to the circumstances of life, which has from time to time caused the charge of failure to be brought against Christianity.
CHRIST OUR SAVIOUR—THE ATONEMENT.
The purpose of the Incarnation was not only to reveal to men through the Person and teaching of Jesus Christ the true Nature and Being of God. It was also to effect the reconciliation of men to God. To accomplish this purpose the great obstructing barrier of sin had to be broken down. The means chosen, in the infinite wisdom of God, was the Death of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. By this supreme act of self-sacrifice He opened to men the way of reconciliation to God, and became their Saviour from the dreadful power of sin, which by themselves they could not and cannot overcome. It should also be remembered that in speaking of this sublime subject we are dealing with a mystery, which it is beyond human power fully to explain, and that for that reason no really adequate theory of the Atonement can be set forth. But of the fact there is no doubt. The experience of countless men and women has proven conclusively the saving power of the Cross. When they have accepted that sacrifice made for the sins of men, and have taken Christ into their lives, the predominant feeling is that their sins have been forgiven. And the fact that it is through Christ's sacrifice, and not by anything they themselves have done or could do, that they have won pardon, so far from lowering their moral sense as might be expected, in that they are simply benefiting by the action of another, invariably on the contrary makes a profound impression on both life and character, enabling them through the resulting loyalty and devotion to Christ to reach a standard of life and conduct much beyond that which had previously satisfied them.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
That Christ rose from the dead on the third day has been from the very beginning the unquestioned belief of the Christian Church. It is the main theme of the first Christian sermon ever produced, that by Peter on the day of Pentecost. The Gospel records are perfectly plain as to the nature of Christ's Resurrection. He rose from the grave in His complete Personality, spiritual and bodily, though His risen body was free from certain limitations of pre-resurrection life. It was the same body as His disciples had known before His death. Of this He bade them assure themselves by actual contact. That He rose from the dead in His human as well as in His divine nature is the guarantee that we men can share in His resurrection. "Even so in Christ shall all be made alive".
As to the exact nature of our own Resurrection body, naturally it is not possible to speak with exact certainty. Yet it is certain that the Christian doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead means much more than the survival of the spirit. It teaches plainly and clearly a bodily resurrection. In the inspired statement of St. Paul, found in the familiar Lesson of our Burial Service, (1 Cor. xv. 20-end), we have four great facts set forth regarding the body which is laid in the grave, and what it will become at the Resurrection:
First: It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.
Secondly: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.