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Short Features and Poems Behold!
He Bids Thee “Come” He who says to us “Come!” is the same who said “Come!” to Peter when he walked on the sea. Peter, in obeying, would have sunk, had not the Lord’s outstretched arm upheld him; and the same arm supports them well who now, at his command, come out of Babylon. Look not at the boisterous sea of difficulties between, but, looking directly to the Lord, be of good courage. —Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3, p. 167 Teaching with Authority The words which fell from the lips of Jesus were words of life. They were healthy, gracious words; sweet, wonderful words; words of comfort, hope, healing, kindness, and authority. All who heard him witnessed to their wonder and beauty. He spoke as never man yet spake. He taught as one having authority. His words bubbled like living water from the fount of his own goodness and purity. They were the overflow of a nature uncorrupted by the taint of this world’s sins. They sprang from a heart touched with compassion for the sorrows and struggles of mankind. Mercy mingled with truth, and every utterance was rich with heavenly wisdom, with the revelation of a Father unknown as yet and of a kingdom of love and good will beyond the conception of fallen humanity. —F. A.
Shuttleworth, The
Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, June 1958. Kings and Priests If the church is to reign with Christ, there must be subjects over which to reign. These subjects are to be those living on the earth: “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). Their work is described as not only that of a king, or lawmaker, but as that of a priest. It is a “royal priesthood,” a priesthood “after the order of Melchisedec,” who was both a king and a priest (1 Peter 2:9; Hebrews 5:10). The priest in ancient Israel was an intermediary between God and man. This “royal priesthood” is to be a sympathetic priesthood. Like their Master, they are to be “touched” with a feeling of the infirmities of others (Hebrews 4:15). It is the plan of God that all men who have ever lived will come back to life on this earth (John 5:28,29). These will return with the same character and thoughts they took into the grave and they will need to learn righteousness by proceeding up a “highway of holiness” (Isaiah 35:8-10). Guides will be needed along the way to direct their footsteps. This will be the future role of the followers of Christ. These will need to understand both the demands of a holy God and the needs of man. They will need to have the experience of temptation in order to “succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). They must learn the privations of hardship to comprehend others so deprived. To offer true sympathy to a world plagued by disease, they must feel the pangs of sickness. This is the blessed lot of the church of Christ. —The Herald of Christ’s
Kingdom, January/February 1997. A Word Portrait of Christ “His hair is the color of a ripe hazelnut, parted on the top in the manner of the Nazirites, and falling straight to the ears but curling below, with blonde highlights and fanning off his shoulders. He has a fair forehead and no wrinkles or marks on his face; his cheeks are tinged with pink. ... his beard is large and full but not long, and parted in the middle. ... his glance shows simplicity adorned with maturity, his eyes are clear and commanding, never apt to laugh but sooner inclined to cry.” ————————————————- These words surfaced in the nineth century and were attributed to a first century A.D. Roman Senator named Publius Lentulus who supposedly left behind this verbal description of Jesus. The words appeared in Treatise on Painting by Samuel Van Hoogstraten, a student of Rembrandt. Although it was later determined to be a fraud, the words could have influenced Rembrandt when he produced the painting of Christ shown on the cover. --Source: Getty Museum, Los Angeles
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