My dear friends,
It surely must cause us some concern as we view the image of Christ that is being presented and forwarded in these days in which we live. For a long time, the evangelical church as presented Christ somewhat in the terms of Holman Hunt's famous painting, which portrays Christ standing outside the door (of the human heart) and patiently waiting to gain admittance. This, of course, is a travesty of the Christ of the New Testament who came to "seek and to save that which was lost," for He it is "that opens and no man closes, and closes and no man opens." "The image of "gentle Jesus, meek and mild," is no less offensive to any truly born again believer with a balanced view of Scripture and truth than that of the violent Jesus, and to present Christ as a man of his own age, but of this very age in which we ourselves live. Incidents such as the "cleansing of the temple" are proving to be great capital for the purveyors of this image of Christ as the Son of Man is set forth as one who would have been in completely in sympathy with the anarchy and violence of this present age.
How we long for a "mighty" Christ in our pulpits and in our churches today in contrast to the insipid Jesus of the gospel according to Holman Hunt, and the sentimentalities of some of our children's hymns - aye, and gospel hymns, too.
Let us beware of this trend, for underlying it is one of the oldest evils that man has ever concocted, and that is, moulding Christ to conform to our own age and situation, instead of, by God's enabling grace, moulding that age to conform to Christ. This was the burden of the great Charles Spurgeon as he stood almost alone in an age that was conforming Christ to be the great Teacher of a time when intellectual pride ran rampant in the country. The doctrine of evolution was in full swing and Christ was looked upon as the One who had reached the fullest expression of man's evolutionary quest, and the Bible was viewed as the book to be dissected to explore man's unceasing quest for perfection. "Brethren," said Spurgeon, "we shall not adjust our Bible to the age; but before we have done with it, by God's grace, we will adjust the age to the Bible." And Spurgeon only knew one message: "Jesus Christ, and him crucified."
You see, when all is said and done, all that is being presented in these latest terms is an "image" of God's own Son. Many people - and young people especially - may well be attracted to this image: this manly figure who could rebel against His age and finally give up, even His life, for His convictions. For in the same way, many felt, and feel attracted to the "pathetic" Christ standing outside the door of their heart; but all this is far from salvation. It is not an "image" of Christ that saves the soul, be that image attractive to us, either in its meekness or violence or whatever it is Christ that saves.
In this age, as in every age, there is only one way to present Christ, and that is in His Saviourhood to those who feel their need of a Saviour. We must learn that people – even in their natural, sinful state – will come to Christ, as we put it, for many reasons; and not least among these reasons, because He fulfils their ideas of some ideal.
A Man of ideal patience, and ideal Teacher, and ideal Leader, an ideal Martyr for His cause – an ideal anarchist, or demonstrator even; look close enough and an ideal violence can be found in Christ as this age apparently seem to be beginning to find. But, our Lord Himself said, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life". By nature, we will cleave to an "image" but we will turn away from a Saviour from our sins.
Let us beware, then, of any distortion of Christ – and all distortions. Let us preach Christ as Saviour in all its length and breadth, and if men and women will not have Christ as their Saviour, then they must not have Him at all.
God forbid that the church of Christ itself should become the purveyor of idolatry – a Christ which is just an image and not a Saviour.
Yours in Christ,
W.J. Seaton
(1969)
