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CANON R. B. GIRDLESTONE, M.A._, ON 



I 6. MiiiAcuLOus Phenomena Connected with the Mission 



OF Christ. 



These include the following classes of phenomena : — 



(1) Angelic visitations associated with the coming of Christ 

 to earth. 



(2) The Incarnation, i.e., the entrance of a pre-existent 

 Being into human nature. — " The Word became 

 riesh." 



(3) The conception of Christ by the Holy Ghost and His 



consequent birth of a pure virgin. 



(4) Prophetic messages uttered by John the Baptist and 

 by our Lord Himself. 



(5) The series of mighty works done by Him during the 



three years of His ministration. These included 

 healing of bodily diseases, restoration of the dead to life, 

 driving demons out of the possessed, stilling the 

 storm, walking on the water, and feeding many 

 thousands of people under exceptional circumstances. 



(6) Three days after the crucifixion and death of this 



wonderful Personage, His grave is found to be empty 

 and His bodily life is carried on under new 

 conditions. 



(7) Special phenomena connected with the day of Pentecost 



consequent on His triumphant exaltation to the 

 spirit world. 



These classes of phenomena harmonise with one another and 

 contribute to one great end. They are frequently identical in 

 character, with events recorded in the Old Testament. In both 

 we find angelic utterances, prophecies, births under exceptional 

 •circumstances, cases of healing, feeding, raising from the dead, 

 ^nd ascension to heaven. The salient distinction between the 

 ■cases mentioned in the Old Testament and those in the New 

 is that whilst in the former the mighty works in question 

 were spread over 1,000 years, in the latter they were mainly 

 wrought by one Person, and all in one generation. 



All of them when examined with the context are illustrative 

 of the mission of Christ and are the exercise of prerogatives 

 ascribed to God in the Old Testament. Many works of a 

 similar character were wrought by the Lord's immediate followers, 

 who received special power from Him for the purpose. 



