Many readers said they were saddened when the serial came to an end with the June 1, 1991, issue. Melissa, a 12-year-old in Italy, had tears in her eyes when she read the last account in The Watchtower. “The night before our convention,” she said, “I prayed to Jehovah asking for a book on the life of Jesus. When the book was presented, I clapped my hands until I could do so no more.”

Faith Strengthening

“I finished reading the publication in two weeks,” reports a woman from Washington, D.C., U.S.A. “While I was reading, tears would flow from my eyes. I would stop reading and pray and cry. It made me feel as if I were right there with Jesus, suffering along with him. Even a week after reading the book, tears still came to my eyes when I thought about what I had read. I feel even closer to Jehovah for his having given his Son.”

“I finished the book about Jesus today,” a woman from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., wrote. “It was wonderful. I had tears in my eyes as I was reading the last few chapters. Reading the book all at once was so nice. I can’t really describe how I feel about it​—only that I loved it so much!”

The beautiful illustrations in the book contribute to the emotional impact, as an appreciative reader notes: “It makes me feel as if I can almost hear them crying over a dead child (chapter 47) or that we know what Jesus was thinking when the woman with a flow of blood touched him and was healed (chapter 46). The expressions on their faces are so real it hurts. . . . Instead of reading being a chore, this book makes it more like entertainment or a treat at the end of my day. The sensitive way the book is written not only tells what Jesus did but gives a glimpse of what he thought and felt.”

Diversified Uses

Many have begun using the book in their family Bible study. “We have three young children,” parents from Silverton, Oregon, U.S.A., write, “and this book is perfect for our ‘every night family study.’ Truly, how appropriate that we study carefully the background of our loving King, Christ Jesus.”

A teenager from Japan explains: “My father has been reading to us while we relax after our evening meal. As a family, we are reading from the beginning, but I decided to read a chapter a night from the back of the book before going to sleep. However, the book is so enthralling that it is often one o’clock in the morning before I notice the time.”

Many are amazed at how many details are included in the accounts. “I learned so many things I just didn’t know,” one Witness wrote. A letter from California, U.S.A., said: “My wife and I have been in the truth for over 35 years, and we can honestly say we have not had a publication in our hands that has been quite so thrilling as this one.”

The book should help to demolish the lie that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in Jesus. One grateful reader commented this way: “I couldn’t put it down, for it was the greatest rebuttal to the ignorance of those who say Jehovah’s people don’t believe in or honor Jesus Christ. All we need to do now is put in their hand this answer to their ignorance.”

Surely this book will have an important place in the ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “I gave a copy of it to a woman with whom I study the Bible,” wrote one Witness, “and the effect it has had on her seems like a miracle. She has been studying for a year, and I have had trouble getting her to come to meetings.” After the student read 45 chapters of the new book, the Witness explained, “she told me she was going to be at the meeting Sunday because it was time for her to take her stand.”