Bible Prophecy: Jesus, the Messiah

There are many religious books out there, but the Bible is the only one that contains prophecy that has been fulfilled. The Bible was inspired by God. As seen in the last post, these writers knew things that no man could possibly know unless they were informed by the Creator of the universe. If you read Psalm 22, verses 11-18, it is a detailed description about the crucifixion 1,000 years before Jesus was even born (read also Isaiah 53 and John 19). The Old Testament also says where the Messiah, Jesus, was going to be born (Micah 5:2 and read Matthew 2:1). In the Bible, one of the other prophecies is that the Messiah would be born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25) and be rejected by His own people (Isaiah 53:3).

The probability that 1 man would fulfill even 8 of the prophecies for the Messiah would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. That would be like taking 10^17 silver dollars and laying them face up in Texas. That would cover the entire state two feet deep. Now mark one of the silver dollars and mix it in with the rest thoroughly and all over the state. Blindfold a person and tell him travel as far as he wants but he has to pick a silver dollar and say it is the one that has been marked. The chance that he has in getting it right is the same chance the prophets had in writing eight of the prophecies and having one man make them come true. For one man to have fulfilled 48 of the prophecies would be 1 in 10^157 or 1 in (I'm not going to write that many 0's). Consider this: the estimated number of electrons in the universe is 10^79 (Peter Stoner). Jesus fulfilled every prophecy (all except for His second coming, which only the Father knows when it will be-Matthew 24:36)! The Bible is inspired by God. There is no way anyone could have fulfilled all the prophecies. God made sure that the time was right for His Son to be born and He made sure that everything was in order. If one thing went wrong, the whole thing would have failed because Jesus, the Messiah, had to fulfill every prophecy '"to the t" and He did.


References: Gideon's Three Hundred//Tactical Guide; Biblegateway.com; Science Speaks by Peter Stoner; The Bible, NIV.

Devotional

"Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."

-Ephesians 5:1-2

Have you ever been late to class, like, really late? It's really embarrassing to walk into the class late and all of a sudden, you become the center of attention and all eyes are on you...especially the teacher. The teacher stares you down as you walk into the classroom. You can feel their eyes boring into the back of your head as you walk as quickly as you possibly can to the closest available seat. The worst is when that first available seat happens to be on the other side of the classroom and you have to walk across the professor in order to get to it; or maybe you have not been able to find a seat right away and end up standing at the door for what seems like forever and people are staring you down thinking that you standing there is distracting and incredibly annoying. Or maybe what happened to you is what happened to me today. I walked to class and was almost 30 minutes late. When I got to the door, guess what? It was locked. And I decided that I wasn't going to knock on the door like the doofus I felt like at the moment.

I've felt convicted lately about being late to class or talking to classmates while the professor is lecturing. Sure, the teacher may be boring but I came to school to learn. It must be really hard for teachers to get up in front of other students and to lecture about something, and at the same time try to make it interesting. It doesn't help them when students like me show them that what they say doesn't interest me or isn't worth listening to.

We are called to exemplify the love of Christ everywhere we go, even in the classroom. We are called to be a light that stands out in darkness. That means honoring God in all that we do, even if it is something we don't like doing, like school or work. People are watching you live your life. They see the choices you make. Are we living our lives in a way that others will want to know Jesus? Or are we living our lives in a way that others won't want to know the hope they can have in Christ?

"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,"

-Colossians 3:23

Read also: Ephesians 5:3-21

References: The Bible, NKJV; Biblegateway.com

Is the Bible Reliable? (Part 2)

In the 5th century B.C., a mathematician by the name if Pythagoras discovered that the earth was round and not flat, that the earth did not have edges. Explorers set out in the 15th century to prove this theory. However, the Bible discusses the earth and its shape before Pythagoras or these explorers ever figured it out. The book of Job is considered to be the oldest book in the Bible. Job writes in chapter 26, verse 7, “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.” In this verse, Job is talking about how God has positioned the earth and what the earth sits on (nothing; Space). Isaiah, a prophet of God wrote around 700 B.C., “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 26:7). We are seen here as tiny compared to everything outside of our planet. And isn’t that what we are? How often do you sit outside and realize how big the universe is and how tiny we are? The verse also points to the fact that God has placed a “curtain” around our planet. There is a canopy embracing our planet, “like a tent to dwell in.” This canopy protects us against the sun and the elements of space. Isaiah also writes that “God sits above the circle of the earth.” There was no way for people to possibly know that the earth was a circle, and there was no way anyone could know that we were so tiny compared to the big universe out there, unless God let them in on what He had done in His creation.

The writer of Hebrews writes in chapter 11, verse 3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” The book of Hebrews was written in approximately 60 A.D. The writer (no one knows who exactly wrote the book of Hebrews, though people have guesses) describes God creating the world here; and not only does the author discuss one world, but “worlds,” a universe/planets. The author also talks about “the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” The author was recognizing the particles and atoms that make up matter, not only within the universe but in them and the objects around them. The author was recognizing the complexity of everything that God created. How can someone, who has no telescope (because the telescope had yet to be invented), possibly know about the existence of a universe or other planets? And how would they know that particles and atoms, things invisible to the eye at that time, made up things?


References: Gideon’s Three Hundred//Tactical Guide; The Bible, NKJV

Devotional

1 Peter 3:15: "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…"

When we are living our lives or answering questions about our faith, we should always remember to do it “with gentleness and respect,” demonstrating the love of Christ. We must also “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you” about what you believe. This means to study up! Read the Word of God. It is one of His ways of talking to us. And in reading it, we can better understand and learn about the One Who loved us so much that He would die in our place.

Is the Bible Reliable (Part 1)?

Many people think that the Bible is fallible because it has many translations and it was written by men. It is true. There have been many translations of the Bible and the Bible was written by men, Godly men. We don’t have the original manuscripts of the New Testament. However, about 5,600 completed manuscript copies exist, some that were copied less than 100 years after the original. Compared to other historical documents, this is outstanding! People think Plato’s work is reliable, yet we only have 7 copies of his work, the earliest being copied over 1,200 years after the original. Homer’s Iliad has 500 years between its original and its copy; it has 643 copies.

How do you view the Bible? Has your opinion of the Bible changed?

Resources: Gideon’s Three Hundred//Tactical Guide, The Bible, New King James Version