None But Christ Holds Your Future: and it is According to Your Choice.

        In our July newsletter we saw that of the hundreds of Messianic prophecies no man has yet been able to fulfil just a few of them in sequence. We saw that according to the science of probability, mathematicians say that the chances of one person fulfilling just eight prophecies are 1 in 100, 000,000,000,000,000,000 (10¹⁷); of one person fulfilling 48 prophecies, the chances are 10 to the 157^th power.  And of one person fulfilling 300 plus prophecies? It is Impossible! Yet Christ did!  And how did he do it? It was because He is God incarnate who came to redeem rebellious humanity because He loved them and did not want to have them die the wages of sin which is eternal death or non-existence.  Talk about God’s boundless love! My friends, this is a love that will never let you go unless you choose to reject it!  Only Jesus Christ holds your future, my friend, subject to your choice.  He offers you the garland of peace and reunion.  What you do will determine His next move for weal or for woe.

        Years ago while studying at the seminary in England a very lovely young Finnish lady fell deeply in love with me, and for some reason, I was unable to reciprocate that love.  Every time our paths crossed I could sense the deep anguish of unreciprocated love.  That episode has stuck with me even to this day. It made me understand a little more how God feels when we spurn and reject His great love for us.  If we can compound to the highest degree the hurt I felt in rejecting a colleague’s overtures of love, much, much more will be the anguish that we will have when we see Jesus returning for those that opened their hearts to His offer of love and pardon, and we stand derelict and forlorn.  Please, my friends, may that never happen to you, to me.

        Prophecies of the Messiah’s first advent are not confined to the Old Testament; the New Testament is also full of these. The bulk of the NT prophecies concerning events related to the First Advent came from the mouth of Jesus Himself.  Fifteen hundred years earlier, Moses prophesied that the Messiah would be a prophet (Deut. 18:15, 18); therefore, when Jesus came and did mighty works among the people, they shouted, “This is really the Prophet who must come into the world.” (John 6:14; 7:40, 41). The Bible, therefore, predicted that the Messiah would also be a prophet.  Here is a brief summary of an outline of these first advent prophecies in the New Testament (I am indebted to Dr David R. Reagan’s Christ in Prophecy, Lamb & Lion Ministries, TX 75070, 2006; 3^rd Printing, March 2015):

1. Prophecies by Angels.

               a.  Mat. 1:20-23.  An angel of the Lord to Joseph.

               b.  Luke 1:11-17, 26-37 Gabriel to Zacharias and Mary

               c.  Luke 2:8-14 Angels to the Shepherds of Bethlehem

            2.  Prophetic statements by Individuals

               a.  Luke 1:43 Elizabeth (wife of Zacharias) Luke 1:43 Prophesied that the baby in Mary’s womb was the Lord

               b.  Luke 1:76-77 Mary (mother of Jesus) prophesied that she will give birth to the Messiah

               c.  Luke 2:25-38 Simeon and Anna prophesied on seeing Jesus that he was to be the saviour of Jews and Gentiles.

           3.  John the Baptist

              a. John 1:15, 30. Prophesied that the Messiah will be one who has existed from eternity.

              b. Mat. 3:3; John 1:23 The prophecy stated John’s purpose was to prepare the way for the Messiah’s coming.

              c. John 1:29, 36 John declared Jesus to be the ‘Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.’

           4.a. John 11:49-53 Caiaphas (the High Priest who had Jesus killed).  Even Caiaphas who wickedly condemned to Jesus to death was involuntarily prompted by the Holy Spirit to prophesy that Jesus should die for the nation of Israel and for those that accepted Him

           5.  We will finally look at some of Jesus’ predictions about his life as he lived with His disciples. All of these predictions were fulfilled. Bear in mind that the New Testament documents are among the best attested historical documents as we pointed in an earlier newsletter.

              a.  Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; John 3:17; John 12:47 He came “to give his life a ransom for many;”

              b.  Matthew 20:18; Matthew 26:20-24 Jesus predicted His betrayal by one of His disciples and his resurrection on the third day.

              c.  Mark 8:31 Luke 18:32 He predicted His rejection and condemnation to death by the chief priests and scribes and killed by the Gentiles.

              d.  Mat. 20:19; Luke 18:32 Predicted He will be mocked, spat upon, scourged, and killed in Jerusalem by crucifixion.

              e.  Mark 14:27 His disciples will forsake Him and be scattered.

              f.  Matthew 26:33-34; Luke 22:31, 32 Peter would deny Him three times but will be renewed and help the nascent church.

              g.  Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8 He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from God to spread the good news of the gospel.

              h.  Luke 19:41-44; Matthew 24:1, 2; Matthew 21:42-43 Jerusalem will be destroyed, first the temple, then the city, and the gospel will be taken from them and given to the gentiles.

               i.  Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:6-8 The Christians and not the Jews will take the gospel to all the world before Jesus comes.

               j.  John 16:7, 8 The Holy Spirit will be given to comfort and encourage the followers of Christ and to convict the world of sin, righteousness and of judgment.

              k.  John 6:40; John 14:6 Those who put their faith in Him will be saved and He will raise them up from death at the second coming. Jesus is the only way to God.

        The preceding account is just a sampling of the hundreds of prophecies that revolve around Jesus found in the New Testament documents.  As pointed out above, the New Testament is in verity a historical document that is well attested to.  It cannot be controverted.  One may choose to disbelieve its contents, but one thing is certain, these pronouncements were documented well before Jesus came and not long after He died.  And as we have seen, some of these prophecies were from Him, Himself.  How is it that Jesus could predict so many things that will take place around His death and have all these predictions take place? He predicted, as noted above, He would be betrayed by one of His own disciples, He would be spat upon, mocked, scourged, and crucified by the gentiles.  And that His disciples would desert Him; that Peter would reject Him and later be converted and be a champion for the early movement; He claimed that His nation, the Jews would be rejected as God’s mouthpiece to humanity, and very disciples that the leaders hated would be bearers and keepers of the flame of truth to the end of the age. 

        When we look at history, secular or religious, we find that we cannot contest these facts for they are well documented for all to see.  One may disbelieve the accounts but nevertheless they were given by eyewitnesses.  Perhaps the significant question behind these facts would be why were they given in the first place?  Was there a pertinent point the Bible or Jesus wanted to make?  I believe the answer is found in something that Jesus said to His disciples as He related to them a series of events that would take place in the future.  We find this in John’s gospel, John 13:19, and Mark’s gospel, Mark 13:23.  In Mark’s gospel Jesus says, ‘take heed’ I have foretold you these things.  And in John Jesus says, I have told you before it comes to pass that when it does come to pass  you might believe that I am He, meaning, that I am the Messiah that was promised.

        There is more to that clause, I am he, than meets the eye.   The verb ‘to be’ has a unique relationship to Divinity.  God is known as the great I am, He is the one that Is and Was and that always will be, and the Jews knew this very well, hence their action in trying to stone Him when He said, before Abraham was, I am.  In John 8:58 we read where they picked up stones to stone him because they figured that he was making himself God, being a man.   The Hebrew name for God, Yahweh, (what we often call Jehovah) actually means the self-existing one, the one who is and always will be.  The Great I Am. God told Moses that His name was I Am (Exodus 3:14) and that he must tell Pharaoh and the Jewish leaders that the I AM had sent him to free the Jews from Egyptian slavery so they could be His special people.  In Deuteronomy 32:39 God declared himself as the only God and that there is no God with Him.  So when Jesus used that expression in John 13:19, “that you might believe that I am He”, (since He can foretell the future like no other can) He was actually making himself equal with God.  Isaiah 46:9, 10 tells us that one of the characteristics of being God is the ability to predict things accurately that are in the future.

        So all these prophecies about Jesus, the Messiah, and from Jesus Himself were to witness and testify to all humanity that Jesus was Himself, God, as He says in Revelation 1:8; 1:17; 21:6; 22:13) echoing the words of Isaiah 44:6-8, I am the LORD the King of Israel, the first and the last, and beside me, there is no God.  In other words, God was intimately involved in seeking to redeem and restore His own creation!  Therefore, my friends, will you not give Jesus an opportunity to remake you after the image of God and become once again a citizen of the great cosmic family in our universe?  He did not come the first time to condemn us but to save us from our sins and to restore us to God’s universal family.  It would be folly in the highest to let this opportunity slip.  Now while there is life there is the hope of forgiveness and restoration.  I plead with you, my friends, do not put this off for tomorrow, for tomorrow may never come.  God is waiting for you to make your choice now while there is the opportunity.  It is my urgent appeal that you please do so now.

        In our next article, we will conclude this chapter on prophecies by looking at some unique prophecies that Jesus made that we have with us today demonstrating His divinity and love for humanity.  May the Almighty watch over you all.

If you have any comments or questions please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.