Quiet Talks on Following the Christ by S. D. (Samuel Dickey) Gordon
page 64 of 195 (32%)
page 64 of 195 (32%)
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personally the needs of men.
In the midst of that, made increasingly difficult by the ever-increasing opposition, there came the experience of _the Transfiguration Mount_. It comes at a decisive turning point, where He is beginning the higher training of the Twelve for the tragic ending, so surprising and wholly unexpected to them. For a brief moment the dazzling light within was allowed to shine through the garments of His humanity. What was within transfigured the outer, the human face and form. And the overwhelming outshining light was evidence to those three men of the divine glory, the more-than-human glory hidden away within this human man. Then within a week of the end came _the Gethsemane Agony._ That was the lone, sore stress of spirit under the load of the sin of others. In Gethsemane He went through in spirit what on the morrow He went through in actual experience. Gethsemane was the beginning, the anticipation of Calvary, so far as that could be anticipated. Anticipation here was terrific; yet less terrific than the actual experience. And then came the climax, the overtopping experience of all for Him, as for us, _the Calvary Cross._ There He died of His own free will. He died for us. He died that we might not die. He took upon Himself what sin brings to us, while the Father's face was hidden. So He freed us from the slavery of sin, made a way for us back to real life, and so touched our hearts by His love that we were willing to go back. And close upon the heels of that came _the burial in Joseph's tomb_. The burial was the completion of the death. The tomb was the climax of the cross. He was actually dead and buried. The corn of wheat had fallen down into the ground and been covered up. There was nothing lacking to make |
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