A Restorer

[Daily Devotional]

A Restorer 

Thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to
dwell in. Isa. 58:12. 

The Son of God came to the world as a restorer. He was the Way, the Truth,
and the Life. Every word He uttered was spirit and life. He spoke with
authority, conscious of His power to bless humanity, and deliver the
captives bound by Satan; conscious also that by His presence He could bring
to the world fullness of joy. He longed to help every oppressed and
suffering member of the human family, and show that it was His prerogative
to bless, not to condemn. 

It was no robbery for Christ to do the works of God; for this was the
purpose He came from heaven to fulfill, and for this the treasures of
eternity were at His command. In the disposal of His gifts He was to know no
control. He passed by the self-exalted, the honored, and the rich, and
mingled with the poor and oppressed, bringing into their lives a brightness,
a hope, and an aspiration they had never before known. He pronounced a
blessing on all who should suffer for His sake, declaring: "Blessed are ye,
when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of
evil against you falsely, for my sake." . . . 

Christ distinctly appropriated to Himself the right to authority and
allegiance. "Ye call me Master and Lord," He said, "and ye say well; for so
I am." "One is your Master, even Christ." Thus He maintained the dignity
that belonged to His name, and the authority and power He possessed in
heaven. 

There were occasions when He spoke with the dignity of His own true
greatness. "He that hath ears to hear," He said, "let him hear." In these
words He was only repeating the command of God, when from His excellent
glory the Infinite One had declared, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased; hear ye him."Standing amid the frowning Pharisees, who sought
to make their own importance felt, Christ did not hesitate to compare
Himself with the most distinguished representative men who had walked the
earth, and to claim preeminence above them all. 

Jonah was one of these men, held in high estimation by the Jewish nation . .
. . As Christ recalled to the minds of His hearers, Jonah's message and his
instrumentality in saving that people, He said: "The men of Nineveh shall
rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they
repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is
here." 

Christ knew that the Israelites regarded Solomon as the greatest king that
ever wielded a scepter over an earthly kingdom.. . . Yet Christ declared: .
. . "Behold, a greater than Solomon is here" (Youth`s Instructor, Sept. 23,
1897). 

>From Lift Him Up - Page 29