JUST THE FACTS |
concerning the veracity of Scripture. There seems to be three major types of
people in the way they respond to God's Word.
- Indifferent to any evidence because they simply do not care what
happens to them. One man said, "Even if there is a God, I have no
intention of believing in Him. - People unwilling to even look at the evidence out of fear that they
might have to recognize Yeshua, Jesus, as their Lord. (There are many
reasons why people reject Jesus, but not for lack of evidence.) Usually,
people resist because they do not want to change what they have believed
for most of their lives or want to be their own boss. - People who rejoice because God's Spirit has given them faith in
Jesus so they can be confident of where they will spend eternity.
I have spoken with thousands of people who were atheists or agnostics, and
not one could deny that the Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is risen from
the dead. The evidence is far too great. One man told me, "Even though you
have shown me that Jesus rose from the dead, I am not going to believe in
him. I am going to do things my way. He said this after spending two hours
looking at the evidence he could not refute. He was a devout atheist who
wanted to run his own life.
The most amazing thing for me is the way people can deny reality just
because it does not fit into what they want to believe. Of all people, God has
given Israel the most evidence of any nation because they were given Moses,
the prophets and the Psalms that spoke of their Messiah. They had the
Exodus where God's Presence was with them for forty years. Despite God's
Word taking on flesh, living amongst them doing miracles only God could
do, only a minority of Jewish people have accepted the Lamb of God that
was given to them first.
In fairness, millions of Gentiles have heard of God's plan of redemption
because Jewish apostles brought their message to them also. Despite this,
there are only a small minority of Gentiles who have truly given their hearts
to Jesus, placing their faith
God has given all of us all the evidence we need to know that He has given
us His word. Perhaps the most outstanding evidence is the way He has
spoken through Moses, the prophets and the Psalms. He told them what
would happen long before it took place; no mere human being could do this.
For example, Moses spoke of another prophet like himself would be coming.
(He was not speaking of many other prophets, but someone who spoke the
Word of God.) Listen to his warning in Deut. 18:18 I will raise up for them a
Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His
mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. Note that only
one prophet would fulfill this prophesy. He alone had authority like Moses.
Moses knew God 'face to face' so he could write down what God told him.
The coming prophet would be the Word of God Incarnate so God's words
would be in his mouth.
Anyone reading Psalm 22 will recognize the Messiah who is on the cross.
Look especially at verses 12-18; if you listen closely, you will hear Jesus
talking from the cross: Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of
Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging
and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of
joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. My strength is dried up
like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to
the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the
wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all
My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among
them, And for My clothing they cast lots. If we had time to analyze this
together, you would see how clearly this describes Jesus on the cross.
Isaiah 53:5 foretells how some Jewish people would recognize that Jesus died
to pay the price for their sins, the holy Lamb of God: But He was wounded
for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement
for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (You will
want to read all of this chapter.) There are so many prophecies speaking of
Jesus we cannot cite all of them.
Jump to the time of Messiah's death and resurrection. His disciples were
certain that Jesus was permanently dead until Easter morning when Jesus
came looking for them where they were fishing. We are told in John 19:13,
Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.
No hallucination would be able to take bread and fish and give it to these
men.
We are told of other sightings as the resurrected Messiah met His disciples to
prove to them that he was no longer dead. But this is not all the proof we
have. Most Jews and Christians know the man called Saul. He hated the
hated the name of Jesus so much he was determined to stamp out his name
and Christianity which he saw as a threat to Judaism. He headed for
Damascus determined to get rid of the followers of Yeshua that were there.
We can read his experience in Acts 9 to get the full story, but here is a short
account in verses 3-6. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly
a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard
a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said,
“Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and
astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” This Jewish man was a
fervent follower of Messiah Jesus from this day forward. He even risked his
life to bring the good news that the promised Messiah of Israel had come.
The evidence is profound; the testimony of these early Jewish believers has
transformed the world with their message of God's love through Jesus, the
Passover Lamb. The question each one of us must ask is this: "What will I
do with God's love gift?"
Prayer: Father God, I thank you for sending Jesus to be our passover lamb.
I claim Jesus as my Messiah, my Lord and claim His righteousness as my
own. Let me serve you O God by telling others of the wonderful news about
Jesus. Amen.
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