John Wesley on Family Religion
"What will the consequence be, if we do not adopt this resolution? —if family religion be neglected? —if care be not taken of the rising generation?"
“I believe that the Messiah will come,” a fellow traveler on an airplane told me. “I might not believe it very strongly, but I believe it.” The Messiah is still the hope of many, for God cannot lie and the Scripture cannot be broken.
What kind of man should you be looking for? Look for a Jew, of course. God made that clear to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What else? Should you look for a quiet man or a man no one can miss?
Hebrew Scriptures seem to indicate both. This man is paradoxical, a man of seeming contradictions, reminding us of the expression “the mouse that roared.”
Look for a quiet, common man. “Behold my servant. . . . He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street (Isaiah 42:1–2.) “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2).
Look for a gentle man. “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth” (Isaiah 42:3).
Look for an unpopular man. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).
Look for a meek man. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).
Look for a dying man. “He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:8–9).
On the other hand . . .
Look for a man who is larger than life, someone more than a man. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called the Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6–7).
Look for a fair judge. “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11:1–4).
Look for a man who enforces peace. “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:4–6).
Finally, look for a Son of man who is also a Son of heaven. “The Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.… I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:9, 13–14).
One more paradox: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
This, my friend, is the man to look for. This is MESSIAH.
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