Article December 21, 1940 Issue

"My righteous servant"

NELLIE B. MACE

To heavenward-looking thinkers in various historical instances have come revelations of the Christ, which redeems men from the delusions of material sense. Scriptural writers described in differing metaphorical terms what they had discerned of Truth, and always the revelation was of something holy, something comforting, healing, saving. In one aspect Isaiah discerned this redeeming influence as servant: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold . . . I have put my spirit upon him. . . . He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth." Again, in the experience of overcoming the false material sense, the servant was shown as "despised and rejected of men;" yet it is written, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."

Following upon Jesus' baptism, John the Baptist discerned the saving idea as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Christ Jesus himself early recognized his holy mission as that of revealing the reality of being, and of overcoming the material sense, which obscures it. He saw himself as the Son of God, his true identity abiding in the divine reality forever. He also saw himself as the servant of God, in the sense of his being obedient to God's will, and as mediator, in the working out of the redemption of mankind. In facing the resistance of materiality he was as the servant, bearing the sins of the world that men might be liberated from belief in sin. He told his followers that if they would be his disciples they must know the truth, which would make them free; and that they must do the works which were to confirm their understanding. And he said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

Today in Christian Science we have a fresh revelation and affirmation of the truths foreseen by prophets, revealed and exemplified by Christ Jesus, and carried forward by his early followers. Christian Science shows that this true prophetic sense is the discerning of the reality before which the false material sense necessarily disappears. The spiritual idea, or Christ, which by different seers was more or less clearly discerned, illumines individual human consciousness and redeems it from the beliefs and ills of the flesh. Jesus discerned this true idea and perfectly exemplified it. Mary Baker Eddy says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 332), "Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God—the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

"My righteous servant"

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access