A Quick Overview of Christ’s Impact on World History

Matthew 13 : 31—32  NKJV:

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

(31)    “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The
             kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man
             took and sowed in his field, 

(32)     which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is
            grown it is greater than all the herbs and becomes a tree,
            so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Some people whom you encounter in life have made transformational changes in one department of human learning or in one aspect of human life, and their names are forever enshrined in the annals of human history.

But Jesus Christ is indeed, without question or reservation, the greatest man who ever lived on this earth!  He has personally changed every aspect of our human life —and sadly, most people living today don’t even know it or simply refuse to acknowledge it!

The greatest tragedy of the Christmas holiday each year is not so much its commercialization (gross as that is), but rather its trivialization.  How tragic is it that most people have forgotten or have never learned about Jesus Christ, Who He was and still is, what He did for all the human race, and what He is continuing to do for us through the remainder of eternity!  People have somehow have forgotten Him to whom they all owe so very much.

Jesus says in the Book of Revelation, Chapter21, verses 5—8  NKJV:

(5)    “Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all
           things new.’  And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words
           are true and faithful.’ 

(6)     And He said to me, ‘It is done!’  I am the Alpha and the 
          Omega, the Beginning and the End.  I will give of the
          fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

(7)     He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his
          God and he shall be My son.

(8)     But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers,
          sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall
          have their part in the lake which burns with fire and
          brimstone, which is the second death.”

Everything that Jesus Christ touched, He utterly transformed.  He touched time and its measurement when He was born into this world; He had a birthday and that birthday utterly altered the way we measure time.  An anonymous individual has once said  about Jesus, “that He has turned aside the river of the ages out of its source and lifted the centuries off their hinges.”  

He has indeed done that.  Now the whole world counts time as Before Christ (B.C.) and A. D.  B.C. means before the birth of Christ.  A.D. means Anno Domini which is Latin for “year of our Lord” and it means the number of years since the birth of Jesus Christ as measured in the Julian or Gegorian calendars.

The 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would neither be included in the B.C. or the A.D. time scales.  

It is certainly ironic that the most vitriolic atheist writing a propagandist letter to a friend must acknowledge Jesus Christ when he dates that letter. The atheistic Soviet Union was forced in its constitution to acknowledge that it came into existence in 1917, in the ‘year of our Lord.’  

Whenever you see row after row of books at the library, every one of them—even if it contains anti-Christian diatribes has a reference to Jesus Christ because of its date of publication!  

Jesus Christ has left His impact, His indelible “foot-print” throughout all of human history..You simply cannot avoid encountering it…everywhere you go!

Now let us take a closer look at the Growth of the Mustard Seed.

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which is tiny in and of itself; but, when fully grown, it provides shade and a resting place for many birds.  This parable certainly applies to the individual who embraces Christ; it also applies to Christianity in and throughout the world!

Christianity’s roots were small and humble—an itinerant rabbi preached and performed miracles for three and one half years all around the countryside of subjugated Israel.  And today, as of the 2010 census results, there are more than 2.18 billion professing believers in Him who are found in most all of the nations on earth!  There are many tens of millions of believers in Christ, today who make it their life’s aim to serve Him alone.

Emperors and governors were the men who had real earthly power in Christ’s day.  But now, their bodies rot in their sepulchers, and their souls await the Final Judgment.  They have no followers today.  No one worships them.  No one serves them or awaits their bidding.

Not so with Jesus!

Napoleon, the French leader, was well accustomed to having and wielding great political power.  He once stated that it would be totally amazing if ever a Roman Emperor could rule from the grave, and yet that is precisely what Jesus has been doing  for the past two thousand plus years.  I personally, however, would disagree with the French despot, though in that Jesus Christ is not dead; He is alive!  Napoleon said: “I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel…nations pass away, thrones crumble, but the Church remains!

A Quick Review of the Accomplishments of Christianity

Despite its humble origins, the Christian Church has made more changes on earth for the good than has any other movement or force in all of recorded history.  As an overview of some of the positive contributions Christianity has made through the centuries, here are a few highlights:

Hospitals—began during the Middle Ages.
Universities—began during the Middle Ages.
Most of the world’s greatest universities were started by Christians.
Literacy and education for the masses of people.
Capitalism and Free Enterprise.
Representative government, particularly in America.
The separation of political powers.
Civil liberties.
The abolition of slavery.
Modern science.
The discovery of the New World.
The elevation of women.
Benevolence and Charity.  The Good Samaritan ethic.
Higher standards of justice.
The elevation of the common man.
The condemnation of adultery, homosexuality, and other sexual perversions.
High regard for human life.
The civilizing of many barbarian and primitive cultures.
The codifying and setting to writing of many of the world’s languages.
Greater development of art and music.
The inspiration for the greatest works of art.
The countless changed lives transformed from liabilities into assets to all society because of the gospel.
The eternal salvation of countless souls!—

This last one, the eternal salvation of countless souls is the primary goal of the spread of Christianity.  All of the other benefits listed here are the basic by-products of what Christianity has often brought when applied to daily living.

When Jesus Christ took upon Himself the form of man, He imbued mankind with a dignity and inherent value that had never been dreamed about before.

Whatever Jesus touched or whatever He did transformed that aspect of human life.  Many people will read about the innumerable small instances and incidents in the life of Christ while never once dreaming that those casually mentioned “little” things were to transform the history all humankind!    

One must always remember that God makes no mistakes.  That each and every person’s life has an impact on everybody else’s life.  We are all interconnected through the miracles and power of Christ.

Jesus Christ had an enormous impact—more than anybody else—on history.

An anonymous composition of the nineteenth century puts Christ’s life and influence in to its proper perspective.

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.  He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty.  Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.  He never wrote a book.  He never held an office.  He never had a family or owned a home.  He didn’t go to college.  He never visited a big city.  He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born.  He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.  He had no credentials but Himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away.  One of them denied Him.  He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.  He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.

While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth.  When He as dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.  Twenty centuries have come and gone and today He is the central figure of the human race.

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.        

 

Peace and Love to all of You………………….Poppa Bear