“This cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause” (John 15:25, my italics).

Jesus said he came to seek out and save the lost. This was the same man who had power to subdue the very winds and waves. At any time Christ could have sent fire down from heaven to destroy the wicked. Yet instead Jesus came as a humble servant.

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12, my italics).

Here are the words of a dying man. The apostle Paul was addressing his pupil, the young minister-in-training, Timothy. Later in the same letter, Paul confides to Timothy these difficult words: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (4:7).

Jesus was ministering to a great multitude when the people began getting hungry. He took his disciple Philip aside and asked him an important question. “He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do” (John 6:5–6).