"Truth about Ellen White Writings"

Childhood and Ministry of Jesus

1. Nature was His lesson book

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Jesus also loved to study the wonderful things which God had made, in the earth and in the sky. In this book of nature He saw the trees and plants and animals, and the sun and the stars. Day by day He watched them, and tried to learn lessons from them,… When His work was done, He loved to go into the fields, to meditate in the green valleys, to pray to God on the mountainside, or amid the trees of the forest. He listened to the lark caroling forth music to its Creator, and His voice joined the song of joyful praise and thanksgiving” (Story of Jesus, pp. 30, 39, 1900).

 Daniel March (1816-1909): “… up and down these terraced hill –sides, up and down the steep and stony road, from the great plain to mountain valley, he passed as peasants now pass to their morning toil and their evening rest. He listened to the birds of the air, the lark, the linnet, the nightingale and the turtle dove, whose voices are now heard in this valley. He delighted himself with the wild flowers that still make the meadows with their beauty. The dome of sky spread over him with the brightness of the noon, with the glory of the clouds, and sunsets, and stars” (Walks and homes of Jesus, p. 54, 1866).

2. He had the keys of knowledge

Ellen White (1827-1915): He held the keys to all the treasures of wisdom, and was able to open doors to science, and to reveal undiscovered stores of knowledge, were it essential to salvation” (RH, November 17, 1891).

John Harris (1802-1856): “He held the keys of all the treasures of wisdom and he distributed of its stores with the affluence and profusion of unwearied beneficence” (The Great Teacher, p. 59, 1837).

William Dool Killen (1806-1902): “The disciples of Jesus did not require to be told that He had “the keys of knowledge,” for they were delighted and edified as “He opened” to them the Scriptures” (The Ancient Church, p. 22, 1859).

3. Lowly parentage and obscurity

Ellen White (1827-1915): “But no; he came in humility, of lowly parentage. He was brought up in an obscure and despised village. He lived a life of poverty, and suffered often with privation and hunger” (RH, July 4, 1912).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “… the poor Nazarenes who are now so despised” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 397, 1855).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “…he comes in poverty and humility, fasting and suffering” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 143, 1855).

 Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “Aside from the lowliness of his parentage, and his humility of condition…” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 193, 1855).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “… shunned for his voluntary poverty – despised for his humble human parentage” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 452, 1855).

Isaac Ambrose (1604-1664): “Oh, the poverty, humility, severity, of Jesus!” (Works of Isaac Ambrose, Vol. 1, p. 221, 1829).

4. Joseph and Mary were gratified to see Jesus amidst the doctors

Ellen White (1827-1915): “His parents were gratified to see him thus honoured” (RH, December 31, 1872).

Henry Kollock (1778-1819): “Mary was, doubtless, gratified to see him in this situation” (Sermons on Various Subjects in Four Volumes, p. 119, 1822).

Matthew henry (1616-1714): “Joseph and Mary were both amazed to find him there, and to find that he had so much respect showed him as to be admitted to sit among the doctors, and to be taken notice of”  (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible: Luke Chapter 2, 1706).

5. Jesus toiled to support his family

Ellen White (1827-1915): “He took his share of the burden, with his father, mother, and brethren, and toiled to help support the family. Though the doctors had been amazed at his wisdom, he obeyed his parents, and worked with his own hands as any toiler would work” (The Youth’s Instructor: Child Life of Jesus, No. 2, November 28, 1895).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “There were two doors, one of which led into a work – shop, where I noticed tools of the occupation at which he toiled to support himself and his mother” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 144, 1855).

W. Robertson Nicoll (1851-1923): “He was a carpenter; and it is very probable that he must by His labour have earned the living of the humble household. Joseph seems to have died early; and Christ, as the oldest in the household, would take upon Himself the burden of their maintenance” (The Incarnate Christ, p. 43, 1897).

J. R. Miller (1840-1912): “On Jesus, as the eldest son, the care of the mother now rested… he had learned the carpenter’s trade; and day after day, early and late, he wrought with his hands to provide for her wants” (personal Friendships of Jesus, pp. 25, 26, 1897 [1894]).

Isaac Ambrose (1604-1664): “It appears at this time especially, in his labouring, working, hewing wood, or the like. Here’s a sharp reproof of all those who spend their time in idleness, or without a particular calling” (Works of Isaac Ambrose, Vol. 1, p. 221, 1829).

6. Jesus was a peasant and a carpenter

Ellen White (1827-1915): “At His coming [the Jews] did not receive Him, because they had gathered a false idea as to the manner of His coming. This Jesus, a peasant and a carpenter, of obscure origin, the Son of God, the Messiah? It could not be.” (LU, p. 35, Jan 21; ST, June 24, 1897)

Ellen White (1827-1915): “At the feast of the Passover Jesus appeared as a stranger, clad in the humble garments of a Galilean peasant, with no outward badge of authority” (ST, June 15, 1876).

The American monthly Review: “Bred a Jewish peasant or carpenter, he issues from obscurity, and claims for himself a divine office, a superhuman dignity such as had not been imagined; and in no instance does he fall below the character. The peasant, and still more the Jew, wholly disappears” (The American Monthly review, Vol. 3, p. 125, 1833).

F W. Farrar (1831-1903): “He was nothing more than a Galilean peasant, the lowliest of the lowly, “the carpenter” of despised and proverbial Nazareth” (The Life of Lives, p. 56, 1900).

Edward Griffin (1770-1837): “He was a reputed son of a carpenter and born in a manger… He who dwelt in eternal repose toiling at a wearisome trade!” (Sermons By The Late Rev. Edward Griffin, Vol. 2, pp. 146, 389, 1838).

William Henry Furness (1802-1896): “In another sermon [Sermon on the Mount], – great in itself, and great as coming from the lips of a young Jewish peasant…” (A History of Jesus, p. 79, 1833).

7. Jesus learned lessons from nature

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Jesus also loved to study the wonderful things which God had made, in the earth and in the sky. In this book of nature He saw the trees and plants and animals, and the sun and the stars… Day by day He watched them, and tried to learn lessons from them His happiest hours were found when alone with nature and with God. When His work was done, He loved to go into the fields, to meditate in the green valleys, to pray to God on the mountainside, or amid the trees of the forest. He listened to the lark caroling forth music to its Creator” (The Story of Jesus, pp. 30, 39, 1900).

Daniel March (1816-1909): “He listened to the birds of the air, the lark, the linnet, the nightingale and the turtle dove… He delighted himself with the wild flowers that still make the meadows glow with their beauty. This dome of sky spread over him with the brightness of the noon, with the glory of the clouds, and sunsets, and stars. The everlasting hills offered him their solitude for a sanctuary” (Walks and Homes of Jesus, p. 54, 1866).

8. Jesus had curly hair

Ellen White (1827-1915): “His hair was white and curly and lay on His shoulders” (EW, p. 16, 1882).

Note: It is believed that Ellen White commenting on the picture below to have said: “Yes, yes, it looks as I’ve seen our Saviour in vision – it’s more nearly a likeness than anything I have ever seen” (Letter from Mrs. Abbie Kellogg Norton, March 19, 1935). This picture can be seen at The Ellen White Estate Museum, Washington D C.

Our Saviour, by John Sartain (1865)

Our Saviour, by John Sartain (1865)

Not content with the description of Jesus’ hair, she goes on to describe His height and other physical features: “Before Christ left Heaven and came into the world to die, he was taller than any of the angels. He was majestic and lovely. But when his ministry commenced, he was but little taller than the common size of men then living upon the earth” (Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 31, 1872; 4aSG, p. 115, 1864).

Cunningham Geikie (1824-1906): “I shall describe,” says Nicephorus, [15th century historian] “the appearance of our Lord, as handed down to us from antiquity. He was very beautiful. His height was fully seven spans; His hair was bright auburn, and not too thick, and it was inclined to wave in soft curls”” (The Life and Words of Christ, Vol. 1, p. 455, 1877).

Cunningham Geikie (1824-1906): “There has appeared,” says Lentulus (AD 33), “and still lives, a man of great virtue, called Jesus Christ, …He is a man tall in stature; noble in appearance….His hair is waving and curly; a little darker and of richer brightness, where it flows down from the shoulders”” (Ibid., p. 456).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “…and his dark hair flowed down about his shoulders” (The prince of the House of David, p. 109, 1855).

Edward Robinson (1794-1863): “His hair was the colour of new wine from the roots of his ears, and from thence to the shoulders it curled, and falls down to the lowest part of them” (Biblical repository, Vol. 2, p.368, 1832).

A wise counsel to those who venture to describe the personality of Jesus

William Dool Killen (1806-1902): “It is most singular that the inspired writers throw out no hint on which an artist might seize as the groundwork of a painting of Jesus. As if to teach us a more emphatically that we should direct our thoughts to the special features of His character, the New Testament never mentions either the colour of His hair, or the height of His stature, or the cast of His countenance. How wonderful that even “the beloved disciple,” who was permitted to lean on the bosom of the Son of man, and who had seen Him in most trying circumstances of His earthly history, never speaks of His voice, or of the expression of His eye, or of anything peculiarly pertaining to his personal appearance! The silence of all the evangelists respecting matters of which at least some of them must have retained a very vivid remembrance, and of which no ordinary biographer would not have failed to preserve a record, supplies an indirect and yet a most powerful proof of the Divine origin of the Gospels” (The Ancient Church: Its History, Doctrine, Worship, And Constitution, p. 21, 1859).

9. John found Jesus in the wilderness

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Rumors had reached Mary concerning her son and his sufferings. John, one of the new disciples, had searched for Christ and had found him in his humiliation…emaciated, and bearing the marks of great physical and mental distress. Jesus, unwilling that John should witness his humiliation, had gently yet firmly dismissed him from his presence. He wished to be alone; no human eye must behold his agony, no human heart be called out in sympathy with his distress…The disciple had sought Mary in her home and related to her the incidents of this meeting with Jesus, as well as the event of his baptism, when the voice of God was heard in acknowledgment of his Son, and the prophet John had pointed to Christ, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (3Red: Redemption or the Miracles of Christ, the Mighty One, pp. 3, 4, 1877; 5BC, p. 1132; 2SP, p. 99, 100, 1877).

Note: According to the Gospel records, Jesus did not have any disciple until after he had returned from the wilderness, after His temptations.

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “…but his friend John remained with us, having agreed that he would go into the desert and not give up his search for the Divine prophet Jesus, until he has found him” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 131, 1855).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): ““You found him, then?” I [Adina] eagerly asked. “Yes, after days of painful search. I found him in the very centre of the desert… “Master, good Master, I said, I have brought food and water…Pardon me if I have intruded upon thy awful loneliness…Eat that thou mayest have strength to endure thy mysterious sufferings… He turned his pale countenance full upon me, and extended towards me his emaciated hands…‘Thou knowest not what temptation thou art offering me,’ he replied, sadly…Go, and leave me to gain  the victory over Satan, for which I was led by the Spirit tither!”” (The prince of the House of David, pp. 135, 136, 137, 1855).

10. He ate and drank nothing during His fast

Ellen White (1827-1915): “For nearly six weeks he endured to be tempted by the devil. For forty days he ate and drank nothing” (ST, August 7, 1879).

Ellen White (1827-1915): “After His baptism, the Son of God entered the dreary wilderness, there to be tempted by the devil…. For forty days He ate and drank nothing…. He realized the power of appetite upon man; and in behalf of sinful man” God’s Amazing Grace, p. 164, 1973).

Rev. Thomas Brown: “During his abode in the wilderness, which was for the space of forty days, our Lord neither ate nor drank” (The Self-explanatory History and Life of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, p. 96, 1814).

11. Angels brought food to Jesus after his temptations

Ellen White (1827-1915): “It was enough. Satan could go no further. Angels ministered to the Saviour. Angels brought Him food” (1SM, p. 95, 1958).

Ellen White (1827-1915): “After Satan had ended his temptations, he departed from Jesus for a season, and angels prepared him food in the wilderness, and strengthened him, and the blessing of his Father rested upon him” (1SG, p. 35, 1858).

Ellen White (1827-1915): “After Satan had ended his temptations, he departed from Jesus for a little season. The foe was conquered, but the conflict had been long and exceedingly trying, and Christ was exhausted and fainting. He fell upon the ground as though dying. Heavenly angels who had bowed before Him in the royal courts, and who had been with intense and painful interest watching their loved Commander, and with amazement had witnessed the terrible contest He had endured with Satan, now came and ministered unto Him. They prepared Him food and strengthened Him, for He lay as one dead” (Confrontation, p. 55, 1971).

Bennett James (1774-1862): “And now angels came to minister to him. “He that would not tempt God, by working miracles at the devil’s bidding… now sees angels come and bring him bread in the desert… They had, doubtless, before been invisible spectators of the mighty conflict, between the prince of darkness, and the Prince of light; but at last, exulting in the victory, they burst forth in the song of triumph, and made the desert vocal with the shout” (Lectures on the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, p. 102, 1828).

Thomas Stephen: “On the flight of the prince of darkness, angels were sent to minister food to Him; but the last day of His human nature was left to itself, and therefore He was “an hungered”; and to appease His hunger angels were sent to minister food to Him in the wilderness, where none was to be found, and to wait upon Him as servants on their Lord” (A Gospel History of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ: or, a Life of the Man of Sorrows, p. 94, 1853).

12. Jesus fasted nearly for six weeks

Ellen White (1827-1915): “For nearly six weeks he endured to be tempted by the devil. For forty days he ate and drank nothing” (ST, August 7, 1879).

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Our Saviour fasted nearly six weeks, that he might gain for man the victory upon the point of appetite” (RH, article. 6, 1874).

Ellen White (1827-1915): “The Redeemer, in whom was united both the human and the divine, stood in Adam’s place, and endured a terrible fast of nearly six weeks” (RH, August 4, 1874).

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Christ entered upon the test upon the point of appetite, and for nearly six weeks resisted temptation in behalf of man. That long fast in the wilderness was to be a lesson to fallen man for all time… If the indulgence of appetite was so strong upon the race that in order to break its power, the divine Son of God, in behalf of man, was required to fast nearly six weeks” (CD, p. 186, 1938).

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892): “Six weeks of temptation. We read the story of the temptation, perhaps, in six minutes; but it lasted for nearly six weeks Forty days tempted of the devil” (Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible, Luke 4; Sermon Delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, August 15, 1889).

Jared Sparks (1789-1866): “Sunday never being a fast day, the Sundays in the six week of lent are deducted, leaving thirty-six days of fasting, to which are added the four days preceding the first Sunday to complete the number of forty. The season of Lent or the great fasting, comprises, as was said before, six Sundays” (The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year, Vol. 1, 1833).

Religious tracts: “Why does the fast for forty days, called Lent, begin on Ash-Wednesday, which is forty-six days before Easter? Sunday being the day on which we commemorate the resurrection of our Saviour, does not allow of fasting. If, then, the six Sundays are deducted out of the six weeks of lent, there remain only thirty-six days of fasting. To make up, therefore, the number forty, four days are added from the week preceding, which makes Wednesday the first day of lent, called Ash-Wednesday” (Religious tracts, Issues 56-113. By Episcopal Church Diocese of Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania, Tract No. 107, 1834).

13. Christ was angry with Satan

Ellen White (1827-1915): “The indignation of Christ was aroused, and he exercised his divine authority in the words, “Get thee hence.” Satan had no power to withstand this command. He was obliged to go” (Christ Our Saviour, p. 47, 1896).

Thomas Stephen: “Christ hitherto answered meekly; but this most audacious attempt of a created being to demand Divine worship from his creator, roused His indignation, and He now for the first time, named the prince of darkness, and said, “Get thee behind, me, Satan”” (A Gospel History of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ: or, a Life of the Man of Sorrows, pp. 92, 93, 1853).

Joseph Hall (1574-1656): “Never did our Saviour say, Avoid, Satan, till now. It is a just indignation, that is conceived at the motion of a rivalry with God” (The Works of Joseph Hall, Vol. 2, p. 318, 1808).

14. Presumption

Ellen White (1827-1915): “But while we trust in God, no one should be presumptuous; and that we may not take an unwise course, we should pray constantly. We should not rush into danger unless God sends us there” (RH, April 22, 1890).

Ellen White (1827-1915): “We are not to be presumptuous, and place ourselves in the way of temptation, trusting that God will deliver us from the power of the enemy… If we are in the path of duty, if we are in the place where the angels of God can have charge over us, we may expect to be kept in all our ways; for God will be our helper; but if we rush into danger, following our own feeble judgment, and led by our own desires, we shall get into sorrow and difficulty. If we persist in presumption, we cannot expect that God will deliver us; for we are not following in the footsteps of Jesus” (RH, July 5, 1892).

Rufus, W. Clark (1813-1886): “If we are found out of the path of duty, or rush presumptuously into peril, or unnecessarily expose ourselves to dangers, we need not expect that Omnipotence will interfere for our protection… If it is true, that if, in the clear path of duty, they meet with dangers, they have a right to ask and expect divine assistance” (The True Prince of the Tribe of Judah, pp. 48, 49, 1859 [1854]).

Thomas Ridgley (1667-1734): “We are not to rush presumptuously into danger of death without divine warrant” (A Body of Divinity, Vol. 3, p. 541, 1815).

15. Christ never laughed?

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Christ is our example. Do you imitate the great Exemplar? Christ often wept but never was known to laugh. I do not say it is a sin to laugh on any occasion. But we cannot go astray if we imitate the divine, unerring Pattern” (6MR, p. 91, 1900; Manuscript 11, 1868).

William A. Alcott (1798-1859): “There is much reason for doubt whether the prevailing belief that the Saviour never laughed, but habitually grave, if not even sorrowful, has not done a great mischief in the world. How do we know that the Saviour never laughed? And suppose were it so, is that a part of his character which, in imitating him, we should consider it indispensible to put on? We may be assured, however, that there is no good evidence that such was the fact” (The Sabbath School As It Should Be, p. 88, 1841).

Edward Robinson (1794-1863): “He is never seen to laugh, but has been observed to weep” (Biblical repository, Vol. 2, p. 368, 1832).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “He never smiles, or rather his face is one soft sunshine of smiling rays, tempered in an indescribable manner which a settled look of sadness, an almost imperceptible shade of permanent sorrow, that seem to foreshadow a life of trial and suffering” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 63, 1855).

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887): “None have seen him laugh; but many on the contrary, to weep” (The Life of Jesus the Christ, p. 141, 1872).

Cunningham Geikie (1824-1906): “No one ever saw Him smile, but He often weeps” (The Life and Words of Christ, pp. 456, 457, 1877).

16. Suppliant and mighty petitioner

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Jesus Himself, while He dwelt among men, was often in prayer. Our Saviour identified Himself with our needs and weakness, in that He became a suppliant, a petitioner, seeking from His Father fresh supplies of strength, that He might come forth braced for duty and trial” (Steps to Christ, p. 93, 1892).

Ellen White: “Think of Christ, the adored of the angels, in the attitude of a suppliant. He was a mighty petitioner, seeking at the hands of the Father fresh supplies of grace, and coming forth invigorated and refreshed, to impart His lessons of assurance and hope. Look at His kneeling form, as in the moonlit hours He pours forth His soul to the Father. Behold the angels watching the earnest suppliant” (Testimonies for the Church Containing Messages of Warning and instruction to Seventh -day Adventists, p. 43, 1903-1905).

John Ross Mac Duff (1818-1895): “…the adorable Redeemer, by thus so identifying Him with our poor weaknesses as to think of him in the attitude of a suppliant – a nightly Petitioner – seeking at hand of His Father fresh supplies of strength, and coming forth invigorated  and fresh from His season of devout communion” (Memories of Olivet, p. 132, 1868).

John Ross Mac Duff (1818-1895): “As we hear this petition of the Mighty pleader ascending before the bar of Justice for us…” (Memories of Olivet, p. 329, 1868).

17. Jesus did not perform miracles to gratify curiosity

Ellen White (1827-1915): “He had taken upon himself the nature of man, and was not to perform a miracle to gratify the curiosity of wicked men, nor to save himself one jot of the pain and humiliation that man would suffer under similar circumstances” (Redemption or the Sufferings of Christ His Trial and Crucifixion,  p. 56,  1877).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “He performs miracles not to gratify curiosity but to bear testimony to the truth he teaches” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 242, 1855).

18. Gather up the fragments

Ellen White (1827-1915): “He who had all the resources of infinity at His command would not waste a fragment!” (21MR, p. 139, 1993).

John Cumming (1807-1881): “He who had all the resources of infinity at His command would not waste a fragment” (Sabbath Evening Readings on The New Testament: St. John, p.88, 1856).

19. Jesus plucked a lily to illustrate the truth

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Jesus plucked the beautiful lily, and placed it the hands of children and youth; and as they looked into His own youthful face, fresh with the sunlight of His Father’s countenance, He gave them the lesson” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 19, 1900).

John Harris (1802-1856): “But the lily of the field, as he plucked by his hand, has the freshness of the morning…and the homeliest fact, as unfolded by him” (The Great Teacher, p. 92, 1842).

20. The ten lepers (Luke 17:12)

Ellen White (1827-1915): “These lepers were made up of Jews and Samaritans, and the prejudice that existed between them was broken down by this terrible malady, and, doomed to death, they associated together” (ST, June 25, 1896).

Bennett James (1774-1862): “There were ten of them together, for, though one of them was a Samaritan, whom the rest, as Jews, hated and despised; their common calamity, like that great leveler death, had thrown them all together in one common mass of pollution” (Lectures on the history of Jesus Christ, p. 93, 1828).

21. The whip of cords appeared like a sword

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Jesus smote them not with the whip of cords, but, to their guilty eyes, that simple instrument seemed like gleaming, angry swords, circling in every direction, and threatening to cut them down” (1Red, p. 77, 1877).

Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “It was not the whip of small cords before which we fled, for He touched no man therewith…To the eyes of all the little whip seemed to blaze and flash above their heads, as if it were the fiery sword of a destroying angel” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 187, 1855).

22. The last great miracle of Jesus

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Christ’s last and crowning miracle was the raising of Lazarus of Bethany, after he had been dead four days. The Jews were given this wonderful evidence of the Saviour’s divinity, but they rejected it” (COL, p. 265, 1900).

William Hanna (1808-1882): “… the greatest of the miracles, reserved as the closing, crowning testimony to the Messiahship…” (The Life of Christ, p. 232, 1863).

23. Blood was forced from His pores

Ellen White (1827-1915): “The agony of the prayer forced drops of blood from His pores” (Story of Jesus, p. 104).

Ellen White: “The sweat of blood was forced from His pores…” (Present Truth, Feb 18, 1886).

John Gill (1697-1771): “… the pores in Christ’s body were so opened, that along with sweat came blood…” (John Gill’s Exposition on the Whole Bible, 1748)

Jamieson (1802-1880): “Sweat oozed out from every pore in thick drops of blood…” (Commentary Critical and Expository on the Whole Bible, 1871).

Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824): “No tongue can describe what anguish what horror overwhelmed the soul of Jesus at the sight of so terrible an expiation – his sufferings were so great, indeed, that a bloody sweat issued forth from all the pores of his sacred body” (The Dolorous Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, p. 102, 1862 [1833]).

Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824): “… from every pore of his sacred body there burst forth large drops of blood, which fell trickling on to the ground” (Ibid., p. 107).

24. The sleepy disciples scarcely recognized Jesus

Ellen White (1827-1915): “The voice of Jesus partially aroused them. They discerned his form bending over them, his expression and attitude indicating extreme exhaustion. They scarcely recognized in his changed countenance the usually serene face of their Master” (5Red, p. 17, 1877).

Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824): “But when, by the light of the moon, they saw him standing before them, his face pale and bloody, and his hair in disorder, their weary eyes did not at first moment recognize him, for he was indescribably changed” (The Dolorous Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, p. 112, 1862 [1833]).

25. Water and blood from His side

Ellen White (1827-1915): “While Jesus hung upon the cross, as the soldier pierced his side with a spear, there came out blood and water, in two distinct streams, one of blood, the other of clear water. The blood was to wash away the sins of those who should believe in his name. The water represents that living water which is obtained from Jesus to give life to the believer” (1SG, pp. 102, 103, 1858).

T. Thompson: “… then one of the soldiers touched his side with a lance, and from his side water flowed and blood. Why water? Why blood? Water to cleanse, blood to redeem” (St. Ambrose (337-397) on the Mysteries, translated in 1919).

Heinrich Meyer (1800-1873): “…blood and water are the speaking symbols, in so far, that is, as He has by blood brought the redemptive work to completion, and by means of water… by means of the birth from above, which takes place through baptism,… it is the representation, contemplated by the writer in a spiritual manner, of the idea that with the death of Jesus there immediately begins the fulness of spiritual life, which was to proceed from Him on behalf of the world” (Heinrich Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, John19:34, 1829).

26. Fainting of Mary the mother of Jesus

Ellen White (1827-1915): “John stood close by the cross. Mary had fainted in her anguish, and John had taken her to his house, away from the harrowing scene” (RH, December 28, 1897).

Edward Griffin (1770—1837): “We stood weeping and trembling six hours as he hung on the torturing spikes, under the burden of our sins; we saw his mother swoon and sink to the earth” (Sermons By The Late Rev. Edward Griffin, Vol. 2, p. 478, 1838).

27. The mystery of the cross

Ellen White (1827-1915): “The cross will be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity… As the nations of the saved look upon their Redeemer and behold the eternal glory of the father shining in his countenance … The mystery of the cross explains all other mysteries … Mercy, tenderness, and parental love are seen to blend with holiness, justice, and power” (GC, pp. 651, 652, 1911).

Ellen White (1827-1915): “we must look in living faith upon the cross, and thus begin the study which shall be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity” (SL, pp.93, 94, 1889).

Daniel March (1816-1909): “But when we see the glory of the eternal father shining in the face of the divine and co-eternal Son, we are attracted by infinite grace and benignity, we rejoice in the accents of parental love… This great mystery of the cross explains all other mysteries… We must look in faith upon the cross and so begin the study which shall be “the science and the song of all eternity”” (Walks and Homes of Jesus, pp. 322, 326, 327, 1866).

28. Christ would have died for a single soul

Ellen White (1827-1915): “Even though but few accept the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, their work will not be in vain; for one soul is precious, very precious, in the sight of God. Christ would have died for one soul in order that that one might live through the eternal ages” (8T, p. 72, 1904).

Ann Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824): “Ah! He so loved his brethren and creatures that, to accomplish the redemption of one single soul, he would have accepted with joy all the sufferings to which he was now devoting himself” (The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, p. 115, 1862 [1833]).