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Quiet Talks about Jesus

by

S. D. Gordon

Author of "Quiet Talks on Power," and "Quiet Talks on Prayer"



Contents



A Bit Ahead

  I. The Purpose of Jesus.
     1. The Purpose in Jesus' Coming
     2. The Plan for Jesus' Coming
     3. The Tragic Break in the Plan
     4. Some Surprising Results of the Tragic Break

 II. The Person of Jesus.
     1. The Human Jesus
     2. The Divine Jesus
     3. The Winsome Jesus

III. The Great Experiences or Jesus' Life.
     1. The Jordan: The Decisive Start
     2. The Wilderness: Temptation
     3. The Transfiguration: An Emergency Measure
     4. Gethsemane: The Strange, Lone Struggle
     5. Calvary: Victory
     6. The Resurrection: Gravity Upward
     7. The Ascension: Back Home Again Until----

 IV. Study Notes




"Show me, I pray thee, Thy glory."--_Moses_.

"When I could not see for the glory of that light."--_Paul_.

"But we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord
are transformed into the same image from glory to glory."--_Paul_.

"The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ."--_Paul_.

    "Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus,
      I've lost sight of all beside,
    So enchained my spirit's vision,
      Looking at the Crucified."
          --From _Winnowed Hymns_.




A Bit Ahead



So far as I can find out, I have no theory about Jesus to make these talks
fit into. I have tried to find out for myself what the old Book of God
tells about Him. And here I am trying to tell to others, as simply as I
can, what I found. It was by the tedious, twisting path of doubt that I
climbed the hill of truth up to some of its summits of certainty. I am
free to confess that I am ignorant of the subject treated here save for
the statements of that Book, and for the assent within my own spirit to
these statements, which has greatly deepened the impression they made, and
make. There is no question raised here about that Book itself, but simply
a taking and grouping up together of what it says.

Most persons simply _read_ a book. A few _study_ it, also. It is good to
read. It is yet better to go back over it and _study_, and meditate. Since
learning that the two books on power and prayer have been used in Bible
classes I have regretted not including study notes in them. For those who
may want to study about Jesus there has been added at the close a simple
analysis with references. The reading pages have been kept free of
foot-notes to make the reading smooth and easier. The analysis is so
arranged that one can quickly turn in reading to the corresponding
paragraph or page in the study notes.

A great musician strikes the key-note of a great piece of music, and can
skilfully keep it ever sounding its melody through all the changes clear
to the end. It has been in my heart to wish that I could do something like
that here. If what has come to me has gotten out of me into these pages,
there will be found a dominant note of sweetest music--the winsomeness of
God in Jesus.

It is in my heart, too, to add this, that I have a friend whose constant
presence and prayer have been the atmosphere of this little book in its
making.




I. The Purpose of Jesus



  1. The Purpose in Jesus' Coming.
  2. The Plan for Jesus' Coming.
  3. The Tragic Break In The Plan.
  4. Some Surprising Results of the Break.




The Purpose in Jesus' Coming



<u>God Spelling Himself out in Jesus.</u>


Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that man can understand. God
and man used to talk together freely. But one day man went away from God.
And then he went farther away. He left home. He left his native land,
Eden, where he lived with God. He emigrated from God. And through going
away he lost his mother-tongue.

A language always changes away from its native land. Through going away
from his native land man lost his native speech. Through not _hearing_ God
speak he forgot the sounds of the words. His ears grew dull and then deaf.
Through lack of use he lost the power of _speaking_ the old words. His
tongue grew thick. It lost its cunning. And so gradually almost all the
old meanings were lost.

God has always been eager to get to