Glimpses of the Life of Jesus Christ, The Son of God

Christ—the Creator—down to earth He bowed,
His gentle hands moved in the dust, with loving strokes He formed a man.
Then His mouth breathed life into the finished form—and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).
Now Adam stood before Him, their eyes did meet. With thrilling joy
Christ embraced His finished work, agape flowing over both, everlasting love
Did set a seal upon God’s “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31).
Then God gave Adam a companion: He made him fast asleep (Genesis 2:21–22);
Then from his chest He took one rib and His divine design did mold a body—Eve—
A woman, to give to Adam for his wife. That both together spend a life of love,
Devotion, joyful in the Lord in their Eden home in the new created world (Genesis 2:8) ….

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God incarnate came down to earth as a babe lying in a manger.
The eyes of Jesus first beheld the face of Mary His dear mother,
She held Him close—her precious son in sweet repose.
As He grew He was His parent’s joy—to Joseph, Mary. His little hands caressed their face
His sparkling eyes in cheerful gaze, brightened up the days of toil and labour.
A little older as a boy, Jesus looked at nature with delight, the birds, the trees,
the butterflies, all the tiny, creeping, crawling creatures, thrilled His loving heart,
and with tender carefulness He took them in His hands. Everything was a great marvel,
a wonder to His childlike soul.
Attending at the age of twelve the Temple feast, the Passover His first—
There on the mind of Jesus dawned the meaning of the sacrifice—the slain lamb.
It employed His most intense and innermost reflection, it gripped His soul into its very depth,
The understanding opened up to Him that He—Himself—is that mysterious lamb! …
From this day forward Jesus did perceive His mission, conforming into full submission,
‘Til His heavenly Father would call Him forth to be
“The Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

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Meanwhile Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52).
Sometimes His brothers teased Him, luring into mischief, in no wise would Jesus be enticed to do wrong,
His soul divine all pure within, recoiled from sin; the boys considered Him as odd,
They and many others understood Him not.
He learned from Joseph carpentry, performed His duties faithfully,
Helped His siblings with their chores, was attentive evermore to every need around;
with His busy hands and watchful eyes, Jesus lifted burdens, cares in other’s lives.

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At the age of thirty, Jesus left His home, was baptized, then by the Holy Spirit He was drawn
to fasting, praying in the wilderness for forty days.
Then was fiercely tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1–11) to yield to his intrigues of evil,
to feed Himself with bread from stones
To mar right from the start, Messiah’s part of self-denial, and surrender,
Obedience to the word serene, to the will of God supreme.
But Jesus conquered over Satan’s wily scheme, who with pernicious art ventured to entangle,
And draw Him in his crafty laid out net—but Jesus rebuked this fallen angel sharply—then the devil fled…

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Messiah’s ministry began by looking for the men He could teach and train
To testify of Heaven’s goal—salvation’s gift for every soul.
His searching eyes among the crowd found fishermen, simple, plain, not proud, free of sophistry, hypocrisy.
Made them known God’s love for man in the gospel of good news, the hope for sinners
Reconciled to God—forgiven, be sons and daughters of great Yahweh,
learn that Heaven’s kingdom has come nigh.
With others adding to the twelve, Jesus walked through towns and land, teaching,
healing on the way; large crowds followed, listened what He had to say.
Though throngs surround Him, pressing, pushing ever close, His eyes would look for those,
in whose faces He could see true hunger for the truth; their eyes be riveted on Him,
not to miss one word from this great Teacher who had come to them.
Among the many Jesus saw, perceived the one whose countenance revealed great sorrow,
pain of heart. To him, to her, precious words He spoke, they did evoke a spring of hope to see God ’s love,
The face lit up, new faith arose, the soul directed to the realms above.
His hands touched lepers to be clean, the dead were brought to life again,
Jairus’s daughter, Lazarus, the widow’s son of the village Nain. Jesus dried her tears,
Gave her heart a song of cheers.
Wherever Jesus went He brought healing to the weak, afflicted with disease and pain,
And warned some not to live a life of sin again.
His compassion was for all, the sad or sick, the poor, the great or small. Restored not only body
but the soul, they received forgiveness, were made whole.
Jesus cast out demons, they did know Him well, at His command they left, nevermore
to vex the victim; for the heart found a new Master, and followed Him in love and faith,
and witnessed of God’s grace and power.
Mothers brought their children to be blessed. Jesus loved them as they climbed
upon His knees, put their little arms around His neck, with their little fingers touched His face.
The smile of Jesus warmed the heart of humble mothers, children, maidens, many others.
The eyes, the hands, the feet of Jesus only had one aim, to serve, to heal, to bless,
never probe for fame or some big name; but in self- forgetfulness, self-denying love
to do His Father’s will, to reveal His love that man be drawn to God above…

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But another class would follow, watch His every word and step and act: healing on the Sabbath,
eat with sinners, talk with harlots, they even said this son of Joseph has a devil…
Their heart was void of love for men, who needed comfort, speak kind words to them,
their blinded minds stayed on the letter of the law, not a word of pity, mercy would bestow
to one fallen wretched soul, to ease the heavy load, but condemned and judged,
yet found themselves without one flaw, without one spot …
The lot of Jesus was indeed a lonely one,
His beloved disciples did not always grasp His words and meaning,
even among them sometimes He had been alone…
His refuge was in nightly prayer to the Father, there He uttered out in tears and crying
pleas intense for strength, endurance for His mission,
to conquer over Satan’s hateful onslaught against Him by religious leaders,
with their constant sneering, jesting, spying; and to entice Him in some controversial chat,
to ensnare Him in their trap.
The tender soul of Jesus suffered grief, heart-pain from the wicked attitude of men,
to whom He came to set them free from their haughty bigotry and slavery to sin,
but with stern resistance would not yield to Him….

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Then His time on earth was up.
The day drew near to face the bitter cup.
The countdown for the cross begun…
Though Jesus on occasion spoke about His death, the disciples wanted none of that,
What led to utter consternation, when Jesus was betrayed by one of them—by Judas—
Their Master taken prisoner before their eyes—was to their utter shock and lamentation…
Just before this scene, the Son of God suffered most extreme.
Soul-anguish, torture of His mind befell Him in Gethsemane.
Waves of deepest fear, severe anxiety bowed Him to the ground.
The hours for the reason why He came to earth, were veraciously to unfold—
The sin, the guilt of the world lay now upon Him, what long ago Isaiah had foretold (Isaiah 53).
And Satan’s terror with his evil host did fill the air
to weigh Jesus down to bring Him to despair.
Filled with the love for man, His own creation—He refused defeat.
Still afflicted, trembling, agonizing, but in full submission, utter yielding,
Messiah gave Himself to die—to pay the penalty for sin.
In this dark and bitter hour, none was there to pray with Him, the disciples slept
and missed again to be aware to what did lie ahead.
Then later Peter did betray his Master, all others except John were gone—
Jesus was forsaken, all alone…
He only heard abuse, contempt, false accusation, then condemned to death and cruel scourging,
taunting from the sordid, demon-driven mob.
Then they nailed Him to the cross.
There stripped Jesus of His dignity, in merciless malignity down to bare nakedness,
Then from the priests and people’s hatefulness again to hear sarcasm, mockery, disdain,
but the Lamb of God did not condemn, complain,
like a lamb brought down to slaughter…
To reconcile guilty man before the Father, He endured sheer untold agony, ignominy,
To bring justice to the broken law—death on the cross, was the only remedy!
Oh, what love was there revealed…
There you must look for pardon, strength and victory, a place of refuge and security.
Under its shadow you are safe from Satan’s onslaught and vexation,
faith in Jesus’s blood keeps you from transgression and temptation.
He crushed the serpent’s head, He set you free.
Now give Him your heart, your life, for He will give you victory,
and an eternal, blessed destiny. Amen.

These thoughts are just a glimpse of Jesus’ life on earth, the Word made flesh, the Son of God. For would all be told what Jesus did, “that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” John 21:25

Edda Tedford, Canada