No one stops to ask for an explanation of what is perhaps the most extraordinary fact in the world:  the fact that all civilized time is dated from the birth of a Jew, Who wrote no book, made no discovery, invented no philosophy, built no temple, and Who died when as men count years, He had scarcely reached His prime - and died the death of a criminal. Even before His death the little band of disciples He had succeeded in gathering together, all forsook and left Him. This is a story that has every characteristic and element of defeat and failure. Yet civilized time is dated from the birth of This Jew. The centuries carry His signature, and the years of the modern world by universal consent are counted from the time of His birth.

GREATEST MARK IN HISTORY

     All civilized calendars are reckoned from the distant birth of This Jew, in a tiny Jewish village of Palestine. Every morning, all the newspapers of the civilized world adjust their date to His birth, Almanacs, Acts of Congress and Parliaments, business and politics, literature, and the very dates on our letters and checks, all unconsciously bear testimony to the birth of This Jew so long ago.

     From the dawn of history there have been many great men whose contributions have left indelible marks on history, culture, and, civilization. The dialogues of Socrates, the philosophy of Plato and the plays of Shakespeare are studied in every college in the world. Nor is education considered adequate unless the achievements of such great historical figures as Hannibal, Alexander the Great, Galileo, Newton Roentgen and Einstein and many others are known. These great figures have profoundly changed the direction of science, and some of the things they taught or discoveries they made have reached into and changed radically our everyday lives, Yet outside the college campus who can state just when or where these great benefactors of mankind were born? None of them have left their mark on time itself although we may all derive some benefit from their contributions to knowledge.

NO MATERIAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

     This One from Whom time is dated came from an insignificant village in an obscure part of the Roman Empire. He led no great armies to victory, nor conquered worlds, nor subjugated masses of people; He founded no dynasty, propounded no new philosophy, and at His death His disciples fled for fear of their own lives.

     This phenomenon is no accident. It is a sign and a witness written on time itself by the One Who is the Lord of time.