J.C. Ryle on the Revelation of the Christ

"There came a time when the world seemed sunk and buried in ignorance of God  After four thousand years the nations of the earth appeared to have clean forgotten the God that made them.  Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires had done nothing but spread superstition and idolatry.  Poets, historians, philosophers had proved that, with all their intellectual powers, they had no right knowledge of God, and that man, left to himself, was utterly corrupt.  'The world, by wisdom, knew not God' (1 Cor. 1:21).  Excepting a few despised Jews in a corner of the earth, the whole world was dead in ignorance and sin.

"And what did Christ do then?

"He left the glory He had had from all eternity with the Father, and came down into the world to provide a salvation.  He took our nature upon Him and was born as a man.  As a man He did the will of God perfectly, which we all had left undone; as a man He suffered on the cross the wrath of God which we ought to have suffered.  He brought in everlasting righteousness for us.  He redeemed us from the curse of a broken law.  He opened a fountain for all sin and uncleanness.  He died for our sins.  He rose again for our justification.  He ascended to God's right hand, and there sat down, waiting until His enemies should be made His footstool.  And there He sits now, offering salvation to all who will come to Him, interceding for all who believe in Him, and managing by God's appointment all that concerns the salvation of souls" (J.C. Ryle, Holiness).