One of the signs of these times is a greater trend in the thought of human beings towards things spiritual. We hear and read of men and women turning to God for help in times of great danger, and of their prayers being answered. The effort to reach beyond the warring beliefs of mortal sense, its oppressions and fears, to a higher basis of thought and life, indicates a spiritual awakening among the inhabitants of this earth. Could not this unfolding faith be the forerunner of a desire for a better understanding of God? And if so, does it not show the necessity for a satisfying answer to the challenging question propounded by the Master (Matt. 22:42), "What think ye of Christ?"
It is related that a group of unbelieving Pharisees had gathered around Jesus during one of his most impressive discourses for the purpose of confusing him. But the great Teacher, with this profound query, put them to silence, "and no man was able to answer him a word" (verse 46). It is not difficult to understand why these unreceptive ones were unable intelligently to reply to the question, "What think ye of Christ?" Only those who are humble and teachable could answer. What a wonderful question to contemplate! And even more wonderful to know what Christ is. To all seekers, weary perhaps with unfruitful search, Christian Science comes revealing the truth about God, Christ, man, and the universe.
In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 583), Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, defines "Christ" as follows: "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." Here we have a most comprehensive definition of both the nature and the office of Christ. "The divine manifestation of God" is the completeness of God made manifest as His idea. Mrs. Eddy makes this perfectly clear in a statement to a reporter of the New York Herald as found in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 344) : "If we say that the sun stands for God, then all his rays collectively stand for Christ, and each separate ray for men and women." Christ is the full representation of the light of Truth. This is the light "which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9). Christ is the manifestation of all good, of all love, of all intelligence, the very wholeness of divine Mind's nature manifested.
