Dan Eakin/ Contributing writer
W. Herschel Ford was pastor of First Baptist Church of El Paso, Texas for many years.
During the 1960s, he preached a sermon titled “Seven Wonders of Jesus Christ.”
Note it was not THE seven wonders of Jesus Christ. There are many, many wonders about Jesus Christ. But here are seven:
Number one. The wonder of his pre-existence. Jesus Christ did not begin at Bethlehem, although he was physically born there. Many scriptures point out that he lived in heaven before coming to earth, in eternity past. Micah 5:2: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forths are from old, from everlasting.”
John referred to the pre-existent Jesus as the Word:
John 1:1, 2, 14: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father….”
Number two: The wonder of his birth. Jesus had no earthly father. When Joseph learned that his girl friend was expecting, he considered leaving her. But an angel spoke to Joseph in a dream, and said, “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 1:20
John 3:16 tells us that Jesus was the “only begotten Son of God.” No man’s birth was ever celebrated like the birth of Jesus. The shepherds came from near, the wise men came from afar and the angels came all the way from heaven to celebrate his birth.
Number three: The wonder of his life. Jesus walked the dusty roads of Galilee making the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak and the dead to live again.
One version of One Solitary Life reads, in part: “He was born in obscurity and reared in poverty. He did not travel extensively. Once he did cross the border of his own country. That was when he was taken into exile into Egypt as a baby to escape the wrath of Herod. But the entire ministry of our Lord was in a country no larger than the state of Arkansas. Yet, in infancy he startled a king. As a boy, he puzzled doctors. And as a man, he ruled the very course of nature. He walked upon the billows of the sea as though they were pavements, and he hushed the angry sea to sleep.
“Jesus Christ never wrote a book, and yet all the libraries in the world could not contain the books that have been written about him. Jesus Christ never wrote a song. Yet he has furnished the theme for more songs than all the song writers who ever lived. Jesus Christ never practiced medicine. Yet he has healed more people than all of the doctors who ever lived, and is known as the Great Physician.”
The wonder of his life can be subdivided into three categories: the wonder of his words, the wonder of his works and the wonder of his love.
Number four: The wonder of his death. When Jesus died, the sun refused to shine. There was a great earthquake. Dead people came out of their graves and went into the holy city and appeared unto many. Matthew 27:53 But the greatest wonder is that Jesus died voluntarily. He had said, “No man taketh my life from me. I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” John 10:18.
He also said, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” John 10:11. He loved us enough to pay the price for our sins with his own blood so if we would believe on him we could have everlasting life.
Number five: The wonder of his resurrection. Speaking of his body, he had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again.” John 2:19. When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb of Jesus that Sunday morning, they found Jesus was not there. The angel told them, :He is not here. He is risen, as he said.” Read Matthew 28:1-10.
Number six: The wonder of his ascension. In Acts 1:9, we are told, “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.”
Number seven: The wonder of his coming again. I Thessalonians 4:17 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Dan Eakin is a Baptist minister and veteran newspaper man. He is a native of Dequeen, Arkansas as pastored churches all across Norhteast Texas for more than 60 years. He can be reached at daneakin_2000@yahoo.com.