“Statistical Proof of Jesus Christ as the Messiah” – R. Nelson
BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel.”
– Isaiah 7:14
ENCOURAGING WORD:
Some Bible scholars suggest there are more than 300 prophetic Scriptures completed in the life of Jesus. Circumstances such as his birthplace, lineage, and method of execution were beyond his control and could not have been accidentally or deliberately fulfilled. At least 109 of them have been fulfilled concerning His first coming. Here is the statistical improbability of one man, whether accidentally or deliberately, fulfilling just eight of the prophecies Jesus fulfilled. The chance of this happening is 1 in 1017 power. For those of you that don’t know what that means, it is 10 with 17 zeros behind it. Let’s suppose that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars with an “X” and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What are the chances that he would pick up the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man. The mathematical improbability of 300, or 44, or even just eight fulfilled prophesies of Jesus Christ stands as evidence to his Messiahship. The proof is indisputable, yet millions of people try to do just that!
Let’s take some Bible verses from the Old and New Testament that reference the events leading up to the Birth of Jesus Christ! We read in Matthew 1:19-21; Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Back in those days, adultery was punishable by stoning, and since Joseph wasn’t aware of Mary’s conversation with The Angel Gabriel, he felt he had to protect her by keeping her out of the public eye. We read that in the 19th verse above. Then we read in verses 22-25; “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. This was all foretold in the book of Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 14. In Isaiah 10:13-14; we read where the Lord himself gave a sign to King Ahaz, “Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel.” After King Ahaz appeared to show respect for God by saying that he would not test Him (Isaiah 7:12), amazingly, God went even further to save Judah from imminent danger. He told them about the coming Messiah named Emmanuel, a name that means “God with us.” God was informing His people that He planned to come to earth as a baby so that all of humankind could have access to His saving power. Some 700 years later, Joseph and Mary, who were from the city of Nazareth, were engaged to be married. Mary, still a virgin, was “found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” Matthew 1:18. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that his wife-to-be would deliver the Christ child. Can you imagine what Joseph had to go through? Joseph is an example of true obedience to the Word of God. We read in Matthew 2:13-14; “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,” Here Joseph had to leave his business and pull up stakes and leave for Egypt until it was safe to return. This was foretold by Hosea in chapter 11:1; “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” When you read this verse in Hosea, you wonder why Jesus would be in Egypt. This verse could very well appear to be a verse about the Exodus from Egypt, until you read the rest of Matthew 2:15; “and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” This is why you need to read and understand the Old Testament so that you can also read and understand the New Testament. There is a saying in the Christian Body that goes like this; “The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.” There are so many times when reading the scriptures that you come across a passage in the New Testament that has an Old Testament picture or story that explains it more clearly or vice versa, it may be a New Testament teaching that explains an Old Testament story.
Now we take a step back to a passage in the book of Jeremiah 31:15; where Jeremiah tells of a future event of the slaughter of all the first born children of Bethlehem, ages two and younger. “Thus says the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.” This prophecy was fulfilled in Matthew 2:16-18; where we read, “then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more.” I believe that this is irrefutable evidence that the Christ Child was about two years old when the Wiseman showed up to worship the Child King! There may be some relevance to why they showed up without any real time frame mentioned, but then again maybe so. The Bible has a lot of hidden messages that have not yet been revealed to man, but as the Word of God says, Knowledge will increase in the last days and it is increasing at an unprecedented pace.
There are so many prophecies of the first coming of Jesus Christ that have all been fulfilled with 100% accuracy! It is extremely hard to understand how people can reject the truth of Jesus Christ when it is so obvious based on the facts of everything being foretold hundreds of years in advance. But the Word of God explains this to us where we read in 2 Corinthians 4:4; “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” I guess this is something that unbelievers won’t understand which takes me back to the saying’ “Seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing when it comes to the Word of God.”
I want to ask everybody this question. What is the central part of your family Christmas celebrations? There are many good answers to this, but I’ll bet the exchange of gifts is at the top. The gifts that we give should be perfect mirrors of the gift that God gave to the world. But unfortunately, the giving of gifts very seldom simulates the gift that God gave us. Most people take the greatest gift of Jesus Christ and treat it as if it is something of no value, but those same people will rip into a Christmas present like a monkey on a banana.
I like to give examples that people can relate to and here is a perfect example of what this message say. Suppose that you bought the most wonderful gift you could ever think of for a very special person. It comes time to open the gift and a as they tear off the final wrapping, they show no sign of appreciation or even worse, they appear as if they don’t even want the gift. How would you feel? I know how we would feel, like we have just had our heart ripped out. Well, let me assure you that every time we reject God’s gift of His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, we tear His heart out. He gave the world the most precious gift imaginable, but yet it is rejected by most of the world’s population. Most of us I believe would agree, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. God loves us so much, that He had to do something about the sin that fell upon the world. Can you imagine how God felt when His Son, Jesus Christ was born. He knew that by entering His creation, He could now make propitiation for sins by paying for our sins through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. The greatest love that anybody can show to someone is by laying down his life for a friend as we read in John 15:13; “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” This is exactly what Jesus Christ did for us, and all He expects form us is, acceptance, love and obedience. Acceptance: Receive Jesus Christ today as your personal Lord and Savior. Love: Love Him as He loves you…unconditionally. Obedience: Read His Word and be obedient to His commands. If you truly accept Jesus Christ all these things should just follow.
Jesus Christ is not just some imaginary spirit floating around in the sky as most people imagine, Jesus Christ is alive and well sitting at the right hand of God the Father and do you know what He is doing. Romans 8:34 tells us “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (Prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another) He is constantly witching over His children and intervenes on our behalf. A young boy once ask, “Can God see me all the time? His father said, “God loves you so much that He can’t take His eyes off of you!”
ACTION POINT:
If you have already received Jesus Christ, you are in His protective custody. There is no better place to be, so why wouldn’t you want the creator of the universe who knows everything about to watch over you? Would you want to be taken care of by someone else’s father here on earth or your own? If you are not born-again into the family of God, then you automatically fall under the family of the adversary, (one that contends with, opposes, or resists:an enemy or opponent) you know who I am talking about! There are only two choices. Take this Christmas season and really get to know our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In this world in which we live, we need every soldier that we can get. Please join us and share the love that Jesus Christ has bestowed on us. The gift of eternal life! “Written To the glory of God.” Amen!
The Statistical Proof – Commentary from our Chaplin – R. Fritz
We that have a relationship with Jesus Christ know without a doubt that Jesus is real. People wonder if God or some people call a higher power really exists. Jesus is God who came to Earth as a man. How real is God? So real all you have to do in the time of trouble is call out “Jesus” to help you. He is waiting for you to do that. I can tell you this because that’s exactly what I do. One particular incident that comes to mind is a while back it looked as if I was going to slide in the ditch in the winter with my car and I said ”Jesus” and my car became instantly in my control and I don’t go in the ditch, I used to yell Oh sh_ _ , which did me no good. That phrase Oh sh_ _ was my human expectation that I was going in the ditch. That’s what I believed at that time, Now I say “Jesus”, that’s my expectation that Jesus was going to help me. If you don’t have that relationship, I ask and pray that you find Jesus Christ or if you feel that you do know him, just ask him how you can get to know him better with a personal relationship. That belief comes from going through life issues every day and trusting that when I call on him (Jesus) he will be there. In the Bible in Philippians it says “wherefore God also hath exalted him, and given him a name above every name: That at the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth”. This is how Gods people are able use this name, “Jesus”, it has power.
The Bible in Isaiah talks about “for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. Who were they talking about, “Jesus”. They were fore telling that Jesus was coming and who he is.
During this Christmas season be thankful for God coming to earth as a man to understand us humans and giving his life so we can have an everlasting life with him. Be thankful for his Love. Be thankful the name Jesus has power and using that power can change situations in our lives when we get in. Be thankful that the people around us show unconditional love and forgive us even when we don’t deserve it. Jesus was the Light of the world, Gods people can be the Light of the world now. Show that Light to the people around you year around. God’s people got that from Jesus. He was the example. We need to understand the Bible. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to interpret the Bible.
In Closing – R. Nelson
The evidence and statistical proof of Jesus Christ being exactly who He said He was is off the charts. Jesus Christ is the second part of the trinity, but equal in every sense of the Word to God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Something that we will never be able to wrap our finite minds around is the fact that God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit are all one. So many people cannot wrap their mind around this concept of all three being one, so they try to explain it in a way that people might understand. It is impossible for us to understand. So what happens are religious leaders start to allegorize all scriptures to bring it to their level of understanding! The Bible talks a lot about faith and that is exactly what true Christianity is, a faith in a God that is all powerful and all knowing. Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith comes from reading the scriptures and letting The Holy Spirit fill your heart with truth and knowledge to the point that you will know without a doubt that God exists and every Word in the Bible is absolute truth. The Holy Spirit will reveal all truth to you, all you have to do is receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, allow the Holy Spirit into your heart and get into the Bible and trust in Him. The ball is in your court, so make your move today and receive the greatest gift ever given…Grace!