Wednesday, March 27, 2013

March 28, 2013

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." John 1:1-18
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." John 14:6
The Bible is referred to as the Word of God.
John records in his much loved and highly acclaimed Gospel that Jesus was the "Word that became flesh". He therefore identifies Jesus as the living Word of God.
Jesus identified Himself as such.
Bible scholars have identified as many as 300 prophecies fulfilled in the events surrounding the virgin birth, life, sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There was not one prophecy that went unfulfilled. In other words, the scorecard reads "God - 300" "skeptics - 0".
Remember that those prophecies were recorded centuries before the birth of Jesus and were regularly taught to and by the rabbi's and religious leaders of the Jews.
The capstone of these hundreds of prophecies was the resurrection of Jesus just as foretold by ancient prophets.
Biblical historians claim that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the best documented events in history.
The Romans inadvertently provided evidence in their attempt to prevent the predicted resurrection from happening. By sealing the tomb and posting guards they assured the body of Jesus was not stolen out of the tomb.
There are eleven references in the New Testament concerning post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.
Paul, the well-regarded scholar and Apostle made this claim in one of his letters and it is presented in a way that assumes his hearers are familiar with the fact of his claim:
"I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once," I Corinthians 15:3-6
So, the historical evidence of 300 fulfilled prophecies, the Romans at the tomb and the documented appearances of Jesus up to 40 days after His resurrection make a strong case for the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Bible is the reliable Word of God.
Anyone who claims otherwise stands on shaky ground with dubious evidence.
One more reason to celebrate Easter and one more case where Jesus is right and all who doubt Him are wrong!