Behold the man!

(February 21)
      

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On This Date:

1878- The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Conneticutt.

1945- Japanese Kamikaze planes sink escort carrier Bismarck Sea, and damage the Saratoga.

 (…why did the pilots wear helmets and what was the purpose of the “safety first” stickers on their dashboards?…)

1958- Peace symbol designed and completed by Gerald Holton commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.

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On the Books:

 In Blythe, California:

a person must own two cows in order to legally wear cowboy boots in public.

                                     (…utterly ridiculous…)

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Facts from the other side of the island:

It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.

The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
(…I wouldn’t read too much into that…) 

Major league baseball umpires must wear black underwear while on the job in case their pants split.

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It is a common expression used in a variety of ways - “You’re the man!” It can be used in ridicule and in sarcasm or it can be an expression of heartfelt admiration.

And it was said about Jesus … Behold the man! (John 19:5). I guess it is fitting; some hold Him in disdain even today. He is the object of scorn and dismissed by many as irrelevant and long outdated - a mere remnant of a past religious era.

Still others hold Him in the highest esteem. He is the central figure in the broad stroke known as Christianity. Behold the man! Who is Jesus anyway? That’s today’s Fuel4theFire.

Jesus Christ is absolutely positively the most influential man who ever set foot upon the planet. No one casts the shadow of influence that He does. He has been the subject of more artwork, more literature, more music and more controversy than the rest of mankind combined. Movies are still made on a regular basis that challenge His claims or affirm His power. Even time as we know it is measured by His life. The calendar that we live by is divided into B.C. which means “before Christ” and A.D. which is Latin for anno Domini meaning: “in the year of our Lord.” Think of it … who else can make such claims? Behold the man!

Some have tried to reduce Him to a good teacher or a prophet. Others have lumped Him in with a host of other gods. But this cannot logically be done. Jesus claimed to be one with the Father (John 10:30-33). He claimed to have the power to forgive sins (Luke 5:20-21). He told us plainly that He was absolutely the only way to get to heaven (John 14:6). No other prophet, teacher or religious leader would dare make such claims!

If these claims are true, then He is most certainly God. We are left to say with Pontius Pilate; Behold the man!

If they are not true then He is a liar or He is delusional. But I am afraid that those are our only choices. We cannot try to intermingle Him with other founders of world religions past or present such as Mohammed and Buddha and Joseph Smith.

The Cross looms as the greatest act of love ever recorded in the annals of human history. His empty tomb echoes with the reverberations of changed lives indicative of the difference He makes. What else could have taken the disciples who openly denied Him as His trial unfolded, who fled for their lives as Jesus was hoisted up on His Cross, and hid in fear for three days wondering if they were next in line for the gallows; and turn them into the power-packed preachers, the faith filled miracle workers, the Holy Ghost imparting martyrs that they became in the next few days and throughout the rest of the New Testament.

And it literally happened overnight - as the first light of that initial resurrection Sunday began to crawl across the eastern sky there was but one thing to say; Behold the man! Christ had risen and defeated death, sin and the grave. The prophecies of the Old Testament and the hopes and dreams of all mankind were fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of this one man - Jesus Christ. He cannot be condensed into just a man of influence. He is no mere teacher or prophet. He is God wrapped in human flesh. The Bible says of Jesus; “God was manifest in the flesh…” (1 Timothy 3:16).

Behold the man! Christianity is the only religion that embraces all of who Jesus is. I don’t want to settle for a great teacher or a prophet, don’t give me this higher power stuff … I’m talking about the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the creator of the universe and the author of life. In Him all things were made and all things are held together. He is without beginning and without end. He is God. And even though that doesn’t fit into our limited human minds doesn’t mean it isn’t true. After all; He created these finite human minds - it is not possible for Him to fit into them!

Neither can we treat Jesus like a smorgasbord. We cannot pick and choose the parts we like and pass over the aspects of who He is that we are less comfortable with. I guess it boils down to this; “…every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” (1 John 4:2-3). Behold the man!

That’s today’s Fuel4theFire.

And remember … I love you guys.

Tom