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Merry Christmas

 

So as be celebrate the birth of the man who has arguably influenced the course of world history like few others, what can we say about him? What can be say about his claims or his teachings? Is he the son of God? Is he just a good moral teacher? How much time have you spent looking into  who he is? What has formed your opinion of him? C.S. Lewis writer of The Chronicles of Narnia discovered who Jesus was at the age of 33 (having being an Atheist before this). He wrote:

 
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” ~ C.S. Lewis

 
The Old Testament (the part of the Bible written before Jesus' birth) was completed in 450 B.C., hundreds of years before Jesus was born. A large number of prophecies were made in astonishing detail by many people throughout the Old Testament. More than 300 Messianic (about Jesus) prophecies  were made in the Old Testament and then fulfilled through Jesus' life, death and resurrection. The chances of one person fulfilling a mere 8 of these prophecies are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. For one person to fulfil 48 of these prophecies, the number becomes staggering--1 chance in 10 to the 157th power (1 with 157 zeros after it). Add to that the 250 other prophecies and it becomes impossible for any other person except Jesus to ever fit that particular sequence of time and events.

 

 
Let's look at some of the prophecies about his birth

Will be born in Bethlehem:

Micah 5:2 (Old Testament)

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

 

Matthew 2:1 (New Testament)

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod..."

 

 

Will be born of a virgin

 

Isaiah 7:14 (Old Testament)

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

 

Matthew 1:18 (New Testament)

"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit."

 

Infants will be slaughtered:

 

Jeremiah 31:15 (Old Testament)

"This is what the Lord says: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.'"

 

Matthew 2:16 (New Testament)

"When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi."

Will escape into Egypt as a child

Hoseah 11:1

"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son."

 

Matthew 2:14

"So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt."

 

More can be seen of the prophecies and their fulfilment at http://www.whoisjesus.org/english/preview.htm

 
There is plenty of  convincing evidence to be found for Jesus . A good and easy to read book is:

The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus - Lee Strobel (ISBN: 0310209307)

In this book Lee (the former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune) writes of his own search for truth and what he found.

 
At the end of the day it is up to you what you choose to believe. I hope this page has wet your appetite for more and that you find time to look further into who this Jesus is. Please feel free to ask any questions you want via email at info@destinyforum.org 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 


 
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