Notes of Faith December 2, 2024
A Sure Word
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
Micah 5:2
There are 60 major prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ. In their book Science Speaks, Peter Stoner and Robert Newman calculated the odds of any one man in all of human history fulfilling only 8 of those prophecies to be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. They compared those odds to covering the state of Texas two feet deep in silver dollars, then sending a blindfolded man into Texas to pick out one marked silver dollar.
Matt 2:1-6
2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:
6 'AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH,
ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH;
FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER
WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL
Jesus didn’t fulfill only 8 of the 60 Old Testament prophecies—He fulfilled all 60! The odds of that happening are astronomical unless it was the plan of God. The prophet Micah prophesied that Jesus would be born in a tiny, rural suburb of Jerusalem called Bethlehem—and He was. Fulfilled prophecy assures us that Jesus Christ is the One God sent to save us from our sins.
Faith in Christ is not a leap in the dark. It is faith based on God’s sure word of fulfilled prophecy (2 Peter 1:19).
No Bible subject holds more practical implications than the matter of prophecy.
Vance Havner
Jesus said that the Word of God is truth. All of Scripture is truth. We do not get to pick and choose the things we like or agree with to be called truth. God is truth. He cannot lie. Satan is the father of lies and deceives the world to attempt to take glory from God. All that belong to God will come to faith believing in Jesus, that He is God, that He was the only perfect sacrifice for the sin of mankind, bringing redemption, forgiveness, and eternal life to those who believe and obey. May we worship and give thanks every day for the God of truth and not believe the evil deceptions of Satan. Listen closely for God is speaking to you to come to Him in faith…today!
Pastor Dale