Dear Friends,
There is something about our Lord Jesus Christ that fascinates even those who do not believe in Him but who nonetheless find themselves forced to render a verdict about Him. Today’s devotional gives a number of such verdicts which I find, and think you will find, amazing! God bless you.

Because of Calvary,
John Janney

• John 19:4-6 (ESV)

  4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”

“It is very noteworthy that the expression, ‘I find no fault in Him, is used three times by Pilate in the same Greek words, in St. John’s account of the passion (John xviii.38; xix. 4-6). It was meet and right that he who had the chief hand in slaying the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice for our sins, should three times publicly declare that he found no spot or blemish in Him.” [J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels IV, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1856-1873), p. 273]

“…In a court of law, favorable evidence from a witness for the opposite side carries great weight. There follow, therefore, some tributes from unbelievers and even enemies of Christianity.

“Ernest Renan, the French infidel, wrote: ‘Repose now in Thy glory, noble Founder. Thy work is finished! Thy divinity is established…. Between Thee and God there will no longer be any distinction…. Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will never be surpassed.’

Rt. Hon. W. Lecky, of Dublin, the historian of rationalism, says: ‘Christ has exerted so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and all the exhortations of moralists.’

“Lord Byron, profligate poet as he was, affirmed: ‘If ever man was God, or God was man, Jesus Christ was both.’

“Spinoza, apostate Jew: ‘Jesus Christ was the Temple: in Him God had most fully revealed Himself.’

“J. J. Rousseau, immoral atheist: ‘If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a God.’

“James Martineau, famous Unitarian: ‘Jesus Christ must be called the Regenerator of the human race.’

“Robert Ingersoll, the atheist lecturer: ‘For the man Christ…I have the highest admiration and respect. Had I lived in His day I would have been His friend.’

“Pecaut, another noted French infidel: ‘Christ’s moral character rose beyond comparison above that of any other great man of antiquity. No one was ever so gentle, so humble, so kind as He. In His spirit He lived in the house of His Heavenly Father. His moral life is wholly penetrated with God.’

“Napoleon, the ruthless conqueror: ‘I know men, and I tell you Jesus was not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. The resemblance does not exist…. Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love, and at this hour millions would die for Him. In every other existence but that of Christ, how many imperfections.’” [J. Oswald Sanders, Christ Incomparable, (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1952), p. 89-90]