JANUARY 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-11: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)
LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer
JESUS, my prayer for the new year is to daily be totally dependent on Your Mercy and Grace to lead me where You will.
Lord, I pray that in regard to worldly influences I may have the discernment to see past the world and the deceit of this world to Your Truth and to Trust Your Holy Spirit to take whatever worldly circumstance that I find myself in and use it to witness to Your Great Love — for there is nothing or no one that cannot benefit from Grace which You have provided so abundantly.
Keep our hearts and eyes open to those times when we can take the circumstances of the world and use them to witness to your Glory. AMEN
THE JESUS QUESTIONS
Jesus has already in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew fulfilled more prophecies than any one single person before Him and certainly Jesus has fulfilled more prophecies than anyone that has lived after Him. The Birth, Life, Death by Crucifixion, Burial in a “borrowed” Tomb, and His Glorious Resurrection on the Third Day are predictions fulfilled by Jesus.
The fulfilling of specific prophecies of the Messiah by Jesus have been documented by so many independent sources and written down and confirmed in the presence of so many eyewitnesses that
there will NEVER be anyone but JESUS that can have the facts of His Life
be the PROOF that He is the SON OF GOD.
Some obvious supporting facts surrounding Jesus fulfilling the Messianic Prophecies come from the world of mathematics but are not always considered as “proof” (there will always be skeptics). Mathematics became involved because the “claims” that Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies got the attention of the scientific/mathematical community and several well known mathematicians were asked to apply the science of “probability” to the scriptures. As a result of applying the science of probability to prophecy, the numbers generated from this investigation and sophisticated mathematical calculations produced such outrageous numbers that the numbers were rechecked and recalculated by dozens of sources!
One such case resulted in a conclusion written by the professor emeritus of science at Westmont College in Santa Barbara who had previously served as chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College. Professor Peter Stoner had done a probability study on 11 general prophecies coming true and wrote,
“the probability of these 11 prophecies coming true, if written in human wisdom, is…1 in 5.76 x 1059. Needless to say, this is a number beyond the realm of possibility.”
Professor Stoner used the following to illustrate the unbelievable number of 1 x 1017 of one person “accidentally fulfilling” only 8 Messianic prophecies:
“Imagine filling the State of Texas knee deep in silver dollars. Include in this huge number one silver dollar with a black check mark on it. Then, turn a blindfolded person loose in this sea of silver dollars. The odds the the first coin he would pick up would be the one with the black check mark are the same as 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of Jesus.”
{{See internet article: “Applying the Science of Probability to the Scriptures — Do Statistics Prove the Bible’s Supernatural Origin?”
By Dr. David Reagan on the website http://christinprophecy.org}}
If we look at just the “odds” from a numerical standpoint of one man “accidentally” fulfilling more than 8 prophecies as being impossible
then what is the phrase that would have to be invented for a second person to fulfill more prophecies than the first person?!?!?
The “odds” that one man could fulfill ALL the Messianic prophecies are so beyond our comprehension that many find it hard to believe it to be humanly possible and choose to believe that all of this “prophecy” stuff and “the Jesus story” is a “fairy tale” — which is still one of the main arguments put forth by skeptics against Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit today and this argument prevents many people from believing! On the other side of the coin others write:
“The bottom line is that the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in the life of Jesus proves conclusively that He truly was God in the flesh. It also proves that the Bible is supernatural in origin.”
Many “unbelievers” are the very ones that deny that Jesus is the Son of God and that God Himself exists, yet they refuse to accept as “evidence” the “eyewitness” accounts such as each of the individual Gospels. If we accept simple things that must be true of the Messiah like the Messiah is a Jewish male born to a virgin in Judea and that He would have to be “sacrificed” to make atonement for the sins of His people and not just any “sacrifice” but a unique death-by-crucifixion at the hands of a foreign government then when we look at the simple facts of eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus who was a Jewish male born in Bethlehem to a virgin and we have records of Jesus Himself starting His ministry by teaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” then eyes must be opened to the TRUTH!
Matthew, being an educated Jew met Jesus and then learned everything he could about Jesus and would eventually write the Gospel of Matthew that would be an eyewitness account to the fulfilling of Jewish prophecy by Jesus. Matthew being a studied and educated Jew himself recognized the significance of the simple facts of the life of Jesus and wrote the Gospel that documented his findings.
I can just imagine what Matthew felt like when he started following Jesus and hearing reports from the other apostles about the parents of Jesus and when Matthew traced the genealogy of Jesus back to King David, Matthew knew that there was something special about this first born Jewish male that could trace His genealogy back to King David!
But can you imagine how Matthew felt when he learned that the mother of Jesus divulged the detailed accounts of how her firstborn son Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirt and that she was a “virgin” when she gave birth to Jesus! Then Mary and Joseph both told of their separate visits from the angel Gabriel
and Gabriel telling each of them to
“call Him Jesus for He will save the people from their sins”!
I can also imagine that Matthew started taking notes and studying the prophecies of the MESSIAH even more seriously because Matthew realized that already Jesus had fulfilled the three most basic but difficult prophecies concerning the MESSIAH — for no one can choose where they are born nor whom their parents are much less who the parents of the parents are — secondly there is the “virgin birth” prophecy which no one can choose that their mother be a “virgin” and give birth!
Those ARE IMPOSSIBLE things for man, but that makes the HOLY SCRIPTURE valid when it clearly states,
“with man it is impossible but with God, all things are possible.”
I am sure that Matthew started writing furiously when he heard Mary and Joseph tell the account of the “virgin birth” and I am sure that God fully intended for Matthew to be the one to write the Gospel and document this “impossibility” of Jesus — for the TRUTH is that indeed it is “impossible” for man to fulfill prophecy, only GOD can fulfill prophecy and only the Son of God could be “virgin born”!!! The first four chapters of Matthew then documents through eyewitness accounts all the simple facts of the Life of Jesus that points to the Divine Truth that Jesus is the Son of God!!!
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THE PATRIOT’S PULPIT
Comment: 1/11/24 Thursday 6:00A - Good morning and God Bless all Patriots everywhere! Things I wanted to get done on my Patriotic “To Do” list seemed like they were going slower and slower but then it finally dawned on me sometimes we can “want” things to be done “right now” but like my granddaddy told me, “Son, spit in one hand and wish in the other and see which one gets wet first” so either we have to get busy ourselves and get to work shoveling or the hole never gets filled! I have also realized that my “Patriotic” contribution at this time and circumstance in my life was going to be limited to “BELIEVING” and sharing my FAITH IN PATRIOTISM! I am sure that I am not alone in KNOWING that our government should be as President Lincoln said in his famous quote:
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LINCOLN’S FAMOUS QUOTE AND ITS INSPIRATION: “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” |
When we realize that Lincoln was doing everything in his power as President of the United States to give Patriot’s a “new birth of freedom” and that he was using the full weight of his office to ensure our nation would be a nation “of the people, by the people, for the people” yet we find ourselves in 2024 facing the same battle against those that would withhold our “inalienable” God-given rights and freedoms, then if we as “common citizens” struggle to “make things right (Patriotically”) and it takes a little more time than we would like, then dear Patriots, we are in good company and it is well worth the effort for our collective Patriot future to carry on — as long as it takes!
I just have to sometimes step back and take a deep breath and wait for the peace of God to shine forth and confirm that we are wanting the “RIGHT” thing and “those who wait on the LORD will renew their strength”. So Patriots, keep the Faith and know we are on the right path and reconfirm in your Patriotic soul why we became the “UNITED” STATES — remain “united” in our resolve and TRUST GOD, I know that “all things work together for good” and “what man means for evil, God intends for good” and God will make it benefit us if our heart are in the “right” place.
Right is Right and Wrong is Wrong regardless of what the Propagandists want us to believe. I have been a Patriot from the git-go and I “pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America” and “to the Republic for which it stands” and I have not seen any reason to believe there is anything better, therefore I will stand shoulder to shoulder with my fellow Patriots and do what I can as long as I can for the America I LOVE and BELIEVE IN!!!
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