Laughing at Prophecy:
Why We Have
A Merry Christmas
Why We Have
A Merry Christmas
This is part two referring to those who like to mock and make light of Biblical Prophecy, so if you haven’t read the first part yet, you may want to.
There are literally hundreds of prophecies in the Bible pertaining to the coming of Christ, the Messiah and it is in fact the main reason we have a Christmas at all. The Old Testament has over 90 of these prophecies but I am only going to mention a handful of them here.
The Messiah was first prophesied to be of the human family, then through Shem, Abraham, Issac and Jacob, all the way to David.(Genesis 3:15, 9:26, 22:18, 26:4, 28:14, 49:10 & II Samuel 7:12-16) You may have questions as to how Genesis can be included in the Bible at all since it contains the out of the normal story of Adam and Eve, but it’s there for a very good reason, Genesis actually begins the story of the entire message to mankind, beginning with many references to the coming Messiah who would redeem mankind. And if that’s not Jesus, well then, who? Psalm 2:6-7 says the Messiah would also be uniquely the Son of God. (And that’s Yahweh, where the Jewish writers were concerned.)
The virgin birth was predicted in Isaiah 7:14, his birthplace was predicted in Micah 5:2 as Bethlehem. And you remember that Herod asked the wise men where the reported Messiah was to be born and they told him Bethlehem.
Not only that, but the ministry of his forerunner, John the Baptist was also predicted in Isaiah 40:3 and Micah 5:2. And John plays a major part in the early part of the story.
Yeshua Messiah’s triumphal entry as the promised King of Israel, riding upon an ass, was predicted in Zechariah 9:9,10, the rejection of his coming as such was predicted in Psalm 118:22-24. Now you might say, well Jesus knew the scriptures very well, and could argue with the best teachers of the day over the correctness of them. So, therefore, he knew he had to be on an ass as he rode into Jerusalem and sent the apostles to round one up in order to make the prophecy come true. But as we have said in part one, the reorganization of Jerusalem as a nation is one of the signs of his second coming, and today we have that since 1948. So... if there is another Jewish Messiah who is supposed to come, he better hurry the hell up!
Daniel’s seventy weeks clearly report on Jesus’ arrival and it’s official date. Daniel 9:24-26 says, “Seventy weeks (or seven year periods) are determined upon thy people and thy holy city...from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end wars and desolations are determined.”
The starting point of the prophecy is believed to be the date of the decree of Artaxerxes permitting the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8). Secular history records this date as 446 B.C.. The seventy weeks total 490 years (the number of times we are to forgive our brother, Haha). The first 49 year period concerned itself with rebuilding the city and finalizing Old Testament scriptures. (Malachi was written about 400 B.C.) Customary Jewish reckoning would make the seven years consisting of 360 days each (I had to look this up).
A 434 year period, added to the 49 years, gives 483 years or 360/365 x 483 = 476.383 years from the starting date to the coming of the messiah as Prince. Don’t feel too bad if all this math is losing you, I had to look it all up myself. This all brings us to about 30 A.D. Jesus was actually born in 4 B. C., so he was 33 1/2 years old in 30 A.D. Remember there is no year ZERO so 1 B.C. comes right before 1 A. D. (Agggh! Somebody shoot me!)
Although exact dates are tough to come by, the prophetic period ends right at the time Christ offers himself as the Prince of Peace. Instead of being crowned, however, he was crucified: “cut off, not of himself”.
Sometime later, aprx. 70 A.D., the city and the sanctuary were destroyed by the people of the prince that shall come, the Roman people, people of the Antichrist who is frequently mentioned in Daniel. This is the same book that outlined the great nations of the world in history long before they happened, so listen up!
Unto the end wars and desolations are determined. Ever since the world, both jew and gentile, rejected Christ it has never known true peace. (Just so you know, we really can blame no one for the crucifixion, Jesus gave himself up, he was never killed by anyone. Being a priest in the order of Machizedek, imbued with the power of an indestructible life.) Just this prophecy of the world never knowing peace is evidence itself of divine inspiration involved in the prophetic text. Think things would have happened this way anyhow? Go ahead, bring us peace, especially in the middle east. Good luck.
But prophecy concentrated quite specifically on the crucifixion in a special way. Minute details have been alliterated hundreds of years before hand and are woven through several books, books written by those who had never met, and had never known each other’s text. Zechariah predicted the piercing of his side. The Psalms predicted the unbroken bones and the gambling for his vestments among other things. The burial in a rich man’s grave was predicted by Isaiah as well as the proximity of death to the wicked. The resurrection was predicted by The Psalms, Isaiah and Hosea.
It’s tough to argue the veracity of scripture when you consider that the same story was written over something like 1500 years by people who never knew one another, and if the whole point was the spiritual redemption of all mankind, then how can anyone attribute chicanery to such a grand enterprise. Do grand cover ups and “fixes” truly survive for so long? The Watergate break in was a great conspiracy and all it took to topple the deck of cards was one person who talked. Just ask Tiger Woods if you can really keep big secrets when dealing with a large amount of people. Didn’t the New England Patriots get caught cheating sometime after they won the Super Bowl? Aren’t they paying for that now?
I’ll have more to say on prophecy and wether or not it’s something to laugh at next time, but for now, please be careful who and what you listen to... and remember: You be good!
There are literally hundreds of prophecies in the Bible pertaining to the coming of Christ, the Messiah and it is in fact the main reason we have a Christmas at all. The Old Testament has over 90 of these prophecies but I am only going to mention a handful of them here.
The Messiah was first prophesied to be of the human family, then through Shem, Abraham, Issac and Jacob, all the way to David.(Genesis 3:15, 9:26, 22:18, 26:4, 28:14, 49:10 & II Samuel 7:12-16) You may have questions as to how Genesis can be included in the Bible at all since it contains the out of the normal story of Adam and Eve, but it’s there for a very good reason, Genesis actually begins the story of the entire message to mankind, beginning with many references to the coming Messiah who would redeem mankind. And if that’s not Jesus, well then, who? Psalm 2:6-7 says the Messiah would also be uniquely the Son of God. (And that’s Yahweh, where the Jewish writers were concerned.)
The virgin birth was predicted in Isaiah 7:14, his birthplace was predicted in Micah 5:2 as Bethlehem. And you remember that Herod asked the wise men where the reported Messiah was to be born and they told him Bethlehem.
Not only that, but the ministry of his forerunner, John the Baptist was also predicted in Isaiah 40:3 and Micah 5:2. And John plays a major part in the early part of the story.
Yeshua Messiah’s triumphal entry as the promised King of Israel, riding upon an ass, was predicted in Zechariah 9:9,10, the rejection of his coming as such was predicted in Psalm 118:22-24. Now you might say, well Jesus knew the scriptures very well, and could argue with the best teachers of the day over the correctness of them. So, therefore, he knew he had to be on an ass as he rode into Jerusalem and sent the apostles to round one up in order to make the prophecy come true. But as we have said in part one, the reorganization of Jerusalem as a nation is one of the signs of his second coming, and today we have that since 1948. So... if there is another Jewish Messiah who is supposed to come, he better hurry the hell up!
Daniel’s seventy weeks clearly report on Jesus’ arrival and it’s official date. Daniel 9:24-26 says, “Seventy weeks (or seven year periods) are determined upon thy people and thy holy city...from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end wars and desolations are determined.”
The starting point of the prophecy is believed to be the date of the decree of Artaxerxes permitting the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8). Secular history records this date as 446 B.C.. The seventy weeks total 490 years (the number of times we are to forgive our brother, Haha). The first 49 year period concerned itself with rebuilding the city and finalizing Old Testament scriptures. (Malachi was written about 400 B.C.) Customary Jewish reckoning would make the seven years consisting of 360 days each (I had to look this up).
A 434 year period, added to the 49 years, gives 483 years or 360/365 x 483 = 476.383 years from the starting date to the coming of the messiah as Prince. Don’t feel too bad if all this math is losing you, I had to look it all up myself. This all brings us to about 30 A.D. Jesus was actually born in 4 B. C., so he was 33 1/2 years old in 30 A.D. Remember there is no year ZERO so 1 B.C. comes right before 1 A. D. (Agggh! Somebody shoot me!)
Although exact dates are tough to come by, the prophetic period ends right at the time Christ offers himself as the Prince of Peace. Instead of being crowned, however, he was crucified: “cut off, not of himself”.
Sometime later, aprx. 70 A.D., the city and the sanctuary were destroyed by the people of the prince that shall come, the Roman people, people of the Antichrist who is frequently mentioned in Daniel. This is the same book that outlined the great nations of the world in history long before they happened, so listen up!
Unto the end wars and desolations are determined. Ever since the world, both jew and gentile, rejected Christ it has never known true peace. (Just so you know, we really can blame no one for the crucifixion, Jesus gave himself up, he was never killed by anyone. Being a priest in the order of Machizedek, imbued with the power of an indestructible life.) Just this prophecy of the world never knowing peace is evidence itself of divine inspiration involved in the prophetic text. Think things would have happened this way anyhow? Go ahead, bring us peace, especially in the middle east. Good luck.
But prophecy concentrated quite specifically on the crucifixion in a special way. Minute details have been alliterated hundreds of years before hand and are woven through several books, books written by those who had never met, and had never known each other’s text. Zechariah predicted the piercing of his side. The Psalms predicted the unbroken bones and the gambling for his vestments among other things. The burial in a rich man’s grave was predicted by Isaiah as well as the proximity of death to the wicked. The resurrection was predicted by The Psalms, Isaiah and Hosea.
It’s tough to argue the veracity of scripture when you consider that the same story was written over something like 1500 years by people who never knew one another, and if the whole point was the spiritual redemption of all mankind, then how can anyone attribute chicanery to such a grand enterprise. Do grand cover ups and “fixes” truly survive for so long? The Watergate break in was a great conspiracy and all it took to topple the deck of cards was one person who talked. Just ask Tiger Woods if you can really keep big secrets when dealing with a large amount of people. Didn’t the New England Patriots get caught cheating sometime after they won the Super Bowl? Aren’t they paying for that now?
I’ll have more to say on prophecy and wether or not it’s something to laugh at next time, but for now, please be careful who and what you listen to... and remember: You be good!
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