‘One Solitary Life’ – Jesus has had more impact on history for good than any other person.
One Solitary Life
He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty when public opinion turned against him
He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself
He was only thirty three
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 dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth
When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend
Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind’s progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life
Dr James Allan Francis © 1926.
Christianity is about a relationship with a risen saviour
Jesus’ solitary life has had more impact on mankind for good than any other person
What did Napoleon Bonaparte say about Jesus?
Napoleon I (1769 -1821) was the emperor of France and one of the greatest military commanders of all time. Napoleon knew about shaping history!
“I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I founded empires but on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force.
Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of people would die for Him.” 2
“Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and His will confounds me … I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything that can approach the gospel.” 3
1 Quoted from “Napoleon I,” Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall’s Corporation.
2 Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Here’s Life Publishers, San Bernardino, 25th printing, June 1986, page 127.
3 Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, ibid, page 106.
