p. 4 | The Historical Christ by PHIL C. HAYWARD

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 18, 1912

The Historical Christ

By PHIL C. HAYWARD

PHIL C. HAYWARD

From the vast amount of matter, and “evidence,” and logic (?) which is advanced in support of the higher critical idea, there seems to stand out most prominently the claim that the Christ is a myth; or, at best, that Jesus, the man, was never more than a man.

Among the most noteworthy of recent attempts to discredit the Christian religion is a book by a German professor, Dr. Arthur Drews, “The Christ Myth.” Dr. Drews attempts to show that the Messianic idea “is rooted in Persia, and in Greece, as well as in the Jewish conscience;” that the Persians dreamed of a divine “friend” or “mediator,” and the Greeks conceived of a mediatory “word,” which would come to the aid of human weakness and identify man with God. And we are “shown” that the star of the East, the Magi, the child in the stable, the virgin birth, the flight into Egypt, the names of Joseph and Mary, Joseph’s occupation as a carpenter, the baptism, the transfiguration, the Last Supper, the number of the twelve apostles, the symbols of the “rock,” the “door,” the “vine,” and in fact all the principal titles of Christ, and the events connected with his life, find their counterpart in heathen mythology.

It is but a very natural thing that the teachings of the Jews for fifteen hundred years of a Messiah who was to come, and the positive testimony of the early Christians that such a Saviour had come, should leave its impressions in heathen lore. But the very best efforts of heathen mythology can not produce a savior who is above the human in any phase of his life. It may be shown, though often by wide stretches of the imagination, that some of the heathen religions had a chief character who would correspond, in some respects, to that of Jesus Christ; yet when he had died, we find his followers still worshiping at the tomb of one who had not the power to penetrate beyond, and unlock the grave.

But it is not so with the Christ of the Scriptures. While other men have lived, and preached, and died, the Lord Jesus Christ lived, and preached, and died, and lived again! And this is the supreme test of all religions. A religion which has not a savior who has power to lay down his life, and power to take it again, has not a savior who has power to give life to his followers after they have passed into the grave. Of the importance of this Paul testifies, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” Jesus demonstrated his power over life and death by his death and resurrection. Than this there is no better authenticated fact in all history. And the time will surely come when all the world shall confess with awe and reverence around the open grave that Jesus is the Christ, to the glory of the Father. For because he lives, we shall live also.

The historical evidence of the resurrection of Christ is threefold. First, there is the testimony of his enemies. He taught openly that after his death he would rise again from the dead. Nor did he leave the time of his resurrection uncertain; for he plainly declared that his resurrection would occur upon the third day after his death. By a mighty effort, and to the perjuring of their own souls, the Jewish leaders had compassed the death of Christ, and now the thought which was uppermost in all minds was, Will he rise again?

Well did his enemies realize how serious would be the consequences to them if Christ should rise again, or even appear to have risen. Then would the people be turned away from them, and the teachings of this Despised One would be vindicated. Accordingly, they came to Pilate and called his attention to the claims which this man had made of power to come forth from the grave, and begged that they might have a strong guard of Roman soldiers to watch over the grave. They further asked that a seal might be set upon the tomb, so that his disciples might not come and steal the body away and thus deceive the people into the belief that Christ had really risen from the dead.

The guard was given, and the tomb sealed. It would have taken a body of men stronger than the Roman garrison stationed at Jerusalem to have broken that seal and taken the body away. But had such a body of men come, a regular army, and overpowered the Roman garrison and taken the body of Jesus, it would not have deceived any one into a belief in his resurrection, for after such a battle all would have known that the body was taken by human hands. No; such a deception could not have been practised. Furthermore, it is evident that the disciples themselves were closely watched to see that they did not undertake any deception, for they were all assembled in an upper chamber “for fear of the Jews.” But in spite of all of these precautions the seal was found broken and the tomb empty; and the Roman soldiers testified of a great power before which they all fell as dead men. And later, when the disciples proclaimed openly the resurrection of Jesus, when more than five hundred men who had actually seen him after his resurrection bore earnest testimony to this fact in the streets of Jerusalem, no charge of fraud was made against them by the enemies of Christ. There was only anger, and a desire to put a stop to their testimony by putting them to death.

So thoroughly did the rulers of the people accept the fact of the resurrection, that when a council was called to consider the best way to get the followers of Christ not to talk about it, they were advised by one of the most prominent of their number that they had best let the whole question alone, lest they be found to fight against God.

The second great proof of the genuineness of the resurrection of Jesus is found in the ethical teachings of the disciples. If they had, by some human ingenuity, been able to perpetrate a fraud upon all the people of the Jews, and the Roman governor as well, could they with such great power have proclaimed as a fundamental truth that which they knew to be a fraud? Within one short generation from the death of Christ, the gospel of his resurrection had conquered a world. Heathen systems of hundreds of years’ standing were forced to give way before the simple teaching of the followers of Jesus. With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection. Their lives were gladly given in defense of this gospel. Could they with a dead body on their hands and a lie on their consciences have successfully faced all the learning and power of the world, and proclaimed with a power irresistible the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? In all the annals of human history no such thing has been known that a lie should become irrefutable, and that the arguments of the liar could only be answered by persecution and death.

But stronger, if possible, than all of these is the proof offered by one who had been a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a rejector of Christ, and a persecutor of his followers. Paul had stood high in the councils of the Jewish nation. It is possible that he had been among those who had condemned the Saviour, for he was very zealous. More than this, we find him immediately after the crucifixion active in the persecution of the

Christians; even going from Jerusalem to other places where they had been scattered by the persecutions. He was acquainted with all the facts, and was in a position to judge as to the truth or falsity of the statements made by the disciples. He, this learned man and wise, firmly yielded himself to the force of their testimony and the personal appeal of Jesus himself, and became the most active exponent of the doctrine of the resurrection. He, more than any other one man, was instrumental in the final complete victory of Christianity over paganism. It was his unanswerable logic which stopped the mouths of wise men and philosophers, and made a king exclaim, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” It was he who put to flight the doctors of the Jewish law, and proved to them that this Jesus was indeed the very Christ,—the Messiah of their Scriptures.

In the face of such evidence as this how foolish seems the wisdom of the wise and prudent; how vain the philosophy of those who attempt to overthrow God’s great plan and remedy for sin; how weak the comparison between Christianity and pagan mythology, between the Christ of the Scriptures and those mere human agents, whose teachings have been taken for a foundation for heathen religions, and whose dust to-day is mingled with its native elements. These facts absolutely preclude the possibility of a fraud, and raise the Christian religion above that of heathen mythology.

Chattanooga, Tenn.