"We see, in many a land, the proudest dynasties and tyrannies still crushing, with their mountain weight, every free motion of the Consciences and hearts of men. We see, on the other hand, the truest heroism for the right and the greatest devotion to the Truth in hearts that God has touched. We have a work to do, as great as our forefathers and, perhaps, far greater. The enemies of Truth are more numerous and subtle than ever and the needs of the Church are greater than at any preceding time. If we are not debtors to the present, then men were never debtors to their age and their time. Brethren, we are debtors to the hour in which we live. Oh, that we might stamp it with Truth and that God might help us to impress upon its wings some proof that it has not flown by neglected and unheeded." -- C.H. Spurgeon . . . "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31, 32 . . . . .

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Sunday, October 16, 2022

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THE BIBLE?

~ by James Fire

Check out the audio teaching here on SHINE BRIGHT Church YouTube Channel.

In making disciples, there are teachings given to new believers, called the Fundamentals of the Faith, some of which are as follows:

~ The objective, absolute truth as recorded in Scripture
~ The sinful nature of humanity
~ The Holiness of GOD
~ Salvation by grace alone according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
~ The Deity & Humanity of Christ/His virgin birth
~ The Trinity of GOD
~ The Second Coming of Christ & Judgment Day, and many other such teachings.

As disciples of Christ and of His Word, we all believe these things, don’t we?
As members of SHINE BRIGHT Church, where the Word of GOD is being taught, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, from GENESIS to REVELATION (and when we finish REVELATION, it’s back to GENESIS), we are confident in what we believe, Amen?

So I could ask any one of you what you believe about the Bible, and to one degree or another, you could provide competent answers for me, couldn’t you? I’m sure you could!

So then the next question I would ask you is: Why do you believe the Bible?

“Well, it’s the Bible, it’s the Word of GOD!” you might answer.

How do you know this is GOD’s Word? And if you answer this question with anything like, “My pastor said so” or “Every Christian knows it is!” or “I just have faith that it is”. Then you flunked out.

We cannot afford to base our faith – which is the foundation for how we acquire the salvation of our immortal souls – upon the word of our pastor, upon the word of our favorite Bible teacher, upon our own convictions or feelings or experiences.
These will mean nothing in proving to others that the Bible is GOD’s Word.

We must base our faith solely on the truth!
But how do we know the Bible is the truth? Is there any evidence to prove that the Bible is truly the Word of GOD?
Most certainly, and we are going to get into only some of these proofs today. Here are some websites that will provide further information for you:

www.carm.org; www.crossexamined.org; www.answersingenesis.org; also let’s not forget www.once-lost.com; plus I have a list of many excellent websites included in this link.

All of this information falls under the category of apologetics; this discipline of apologetics comes from a verse out of:

1 PETER 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;


The KJV version says, “to give a reason”; here it says “defense” and it’s based on the Greek word apologia (thus the term “apologetics”) – “an answer, a defense, answering for oneself” which amounts to what one would call a witness who testifies to the truth in a court of law, where the truth of the matter must be determined with solid proof.

In proving the Bible there are two sources of evidence we can use: internal and external evidences. The internal evidences are those that we find within the pages of Scripture themselves; external evidences are sources outside the Bible that verifies its claims as valid.

So let’s get into some of the internal evidences of the Bible first! I have six provisions to look at today.

1) We call the Bible “the Holy Book” but really you have in your hand an entire library of 66 books, 39 books from the Old Testament, and 27 books from the New. The canon was completed nearly two thousand years ago with the book of REVELATION, and it took up to that time, about 1,500 years to write and compile all 66 of these books. Other books claimed to be part of the Bible, but they didn’t measure up as canon – but that’s an entirely different, deep teaching altogether for another time!

These 66 books were written by 40 authors, over three continents, in two primary languages of Hebrew and Greek (some Chaldean as well, and a bit of Aramaic). These authors came from all walks of life: doctors, lawyers, tax collectors, herdsman, fishermen, prophets, kings, priests – and very few of them had access to the other authors or their writings.

They wrote on a wide variety of subject matter – everything from God, Satan and angels and demons, heaven, hell, and Earth; from creation, to morality, systems of just law, married life, family, the reality of sin, holiness, requirements of salvation, purpose in life and on and on…

Now suppose you were to try to duplicate this book: grab at random forty writers from all walks of life, different cultures, different continents (let’s give this group a handicap, and not select them from a time span of 1,500 years, we’ll allow them to exist in today’s world) but disallow them from copying off of each other and ask them to write down their beliefs on all the subject matter just mentioned.

Upon completing their 66 books, and reading the finished product, what would you find?

A completely chaotic, contradictory, confusing, catastrophic copy of craziness!
Not so with the Bible – there is such a fluency, a unity in the Scripture that you would think it was written by one author, not forty: and you would be correct!

2) If we suppose that these books were really written by men, and not truly inspired of GOD…
Incidentally have you heard people say that? “The Bible was written by men” and so they discount this book as being truthful. Yet they’ll read the newspaper, textbooks in schools and universities, books from the library, articles on websites – those were written by people: do they not believe them either?
When I hear people say that, I tell them “Well you’re half right”. And they ask what I mean by that.
I then offer them a pen and paper and ask them to write down their name. They usually oblige me and then I ask them, “Are you the one who wrote down your name?” And of course they say, “Yes!”
“Are you sure?” and they confirm this with confidence.
“Now did you really write down your name or did the pen?”
“Well I wrote down my name, using the pen as an instrument.”

“Exactly! And that’s how GOD wrote the Bible! He used forty different “pens” – instruments named Moses and Isaiah and Daniel and Matthew and John and Paul that He inspired and moved them (just as you moved that pen) to write down His words.”

2 PETER 1:21
…for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit
.
But getting back to the idea of the Bible only written by men: many of these books are autobiographical. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. The Psalms were written in the majority by David, the Gospel of Mark was written by John Mark, but as an amanuensis of Peter who dictated while young John Mark wrote. Paul wrote extensively about his life.

In any typical autobiography, the author wants to present themselves in the best light possible or at the very least minimize his failures.

Faithful accounts: Yet what have we here? David writes about how he committed adultery – and murder? Moses – another murderer. Peter writes about how he denied Christ, not once, or twice but three times? Paul writes about how he arrested, tortured, and put to death the followers of Christ? And these last two Christ chose as His apostles??

Faithful witnesses: Many of the first generation church that were eye witnesses of the miracles and teachings of Christ refused to deny the LORD even under threat of death, even when they were martyred by crucifixion! Some of these preached the Gospel from their own crosses!

These things are incredibly supportive of the integrity and truthfulness of Scripture!

In fact, a world renowned lawyer, Simon Greenleaf, who served as professor of Law at Harvard University back in the mid 1800’s and wrote the three volume work A Treatise on the Law of Evidence (considered a classic of American jurisprudence) wrote a small book called The Testimony of the Evangelicals; here’s a quote from Professor Greenleaf:
“Let the Gospel’s testimony be sifted, as if it were given in a court of justice on the side of the adverse party the witness being subjected to a rigorous cross-examination [in other words, let the prosecution try to disprove this Book]. The results, it is confidently believed, will be an undoubting conviction of their integrity, ability, and truth.”
3) The claims of various religious and philosophical leaders reveals that they only showed a way to truth, to exemplify life in its truest form, but none of them ever claimed to be Creator GOD – the LORD Jesus is exclusive in that truth claim; He made such bold statements as to declare Himself as not “a way…a truth…a life” but THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life – and that no one – NO ONE can come to the Father except through Him!

Jesus claimed to be the voice of the burning bush, where GOD revealed Himself to Moses as the great I AM, the YHWH:

JOHN 8:58
58 Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM. 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

JOHN 10:30-33
30 I and My Father are one. 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me? 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.


In claiming to be one with His Father, He was claiming equality with GOD, and the religious leaders understood this!

C.S. Lewis commented on the claims of Jesus Christ as being LORD:
“I’m trying to prevent really foolish thing[s] people say [such as] … ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be GOD’ … [But] a man that is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher if He wasn’t who He claimed to be. He would either be a lunatic [believing He was GOD but really wasn’t], a liar [knowing He wasn’t really GOD but claimed to be anyway] or He was – and is – exactly Who and what He claimed to be, [the LORD GOD made flesh]. We cannot call Him a great moral teacher otherwise; He has not left that [option] open to us. He didn’t intend to.”
4) There is no other book in all the world that is as accurate as the Bible concerning the human condition of sin nature and its salvation solution through Christ Jesus. Other books will describe humanity as flawed, but not evil; as imperfect, but not sinners; as either evolved animals or transcendent gods in our own right; never, ever as “sinners in the hands of an angry GOD” (Jonathan Edwards, Puritan preacher declared).

Only the Bible describes us in ways that fits our reality: that we are indeed sinners (anyone who doubts this, just try to go through the 10 commandments unscathed – it won’t happen!).

Only the Bible declares that we can be saved apart from any works or merit of our own; every religion on the face of the planet demands something of us, some works, some religious rites, some self-made efforts at self-righteousness.
The Bible stands alone in its statement that we are saved apart from any merit of our own, not of any works, but by the grace of GOD (EPH 2:8-9). If you haven’t yet watched the YouTube clip by John MacArthur entitled TWO RELIGIONS, you need to! Awesome!

TWO RELIGIONS

Those are just some of the internal proofs to show that the Bible is truly GOD’s Word. There are others:

5) Have you ever read the hidden Gospel Message in GENESIS 5?

Here in this chapter you have a list of 10 names, beginning with Adam and ending with Noah, and when you look the Hebrew root words of these names (a concordance won’t help you much here), you come across a startling discovery. These names spell out the Gospel message!

Vs. 1 -     Adam               Man
Vs. 3 -     Seth                 Appointed
Vs. 7 -     Enosh              Mortal
Vs. 9 -     Cainan            Sorrow
Vs. 12 -   Mahalaleel      The Blessed GOD
Vs. 16 -  Jared               Descended, Shall come down
Vs. 18Enoch              Teaching
Vs. 22Methuselah      His death shall bring
Vs. 25Lamech            Despairing
Vs. 30Noah                Comfort, rest

In PSALM 12:6 we read:
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

We find a pattern of sevens throughout the Word of GOD, especially in the book of REVELATION: there are literally hundreds of patterns of sevens in the Bible, within the text itself as well as groups and structures of sevens throughout, and especially in the 22 chapters of REVELATION.

Thanks to scholars like Dr. Ivan Panin and Dr. Peter Stoner, we have these startling discoveries!

But let’s conduct an experiment in forming a make-believe genealogy that includes the same sort of pattern of sevens as we find in the Bible. Here are the rules on what must be included in this made-up genealogy:

The number of words you use to create this genealogy must be divisible by 7 exactly.
The number of letters you use must be divisible by 7 exactly.
The number of vowels must be divisible by 7 exactly.
The number of consonants must be divisible by 7 exactly.
The number of words that begin with a vowel must be divisible by 7 exactly.
The number of words that begin with a consonant must be divisible by 7 exactly.

Now, for every rule you add to create this genealogy, this gets more difficult. Three rules are harder than two. We have six rules so far. But let’s add some more rules!
The number of words that…

…occur more than once must be divisible by 7
…occur in more than one form must be divisible by 7
…occur in only one form must also be divisible by 7

And just a few more rules for your genealogy:

The number of nouns shall be divisible by 7
Only 7 words shall not be nouns
The number of names shall be divisible by 7
Only 7 other kinds of nouns are permitted
The number of male names shall be divisible by 7
The number of generations shall be divisible by 7
Do you think you’d have a hard time coming up with a genealogy like that?
Guess what? You’ve read it already, probably countless times. What I’ve just described is in the genealogy of JESUS CHRIST in the New Testament Greek, found in MATTHEW’s GOSPEL, Chapter One!

6) Did you know that the word “Torah” (TORH) and “YHWH” hidden in the Pentateuch involving equidistant letters in the Hebrew language of the Bible?

If you have an English-Hebrew parallel Bible you can check this out like I did, and these observations are 100% accurate!

Beginning with the book of GENESIS count from chapter 1, verse 1 a total of 49 Hebrew letters, mark the fiftieth letter then count another 49 letters (What’s 7 x 7?), and mark the next 50th letter, and keeping going. Each of those marked letters counted at every fiftieth letter will spell out “TORH” the letters that spell “torah” (keep in mind that Hebrew reads from right to left, not like languages here in the West that read from left to right). It’s throughout the entire book of GENESIS, as well as EXODUS.

Amazing discovery (I don’t know who it was that discovered this, but they obviously had A LOT of time on their hands!)! Hurrying to LEVITICUS, you’re disappointed – it’s not there. But you persist and find that in the next book, NUMBERS – it’s there! Only TORH is spelled backwards (from the Hebrew perspective). And the same with DEUTERONOMY. Taking a step back, you see TORH points forward in the first two books of Moses and points backward from the last two. It’s as though both pairs of books are pointing to LEVITICUS.

So you have another look at LEVITICUS and discover that there is a different equidistance spacing, not of every 49th letter, but of every 7th letter, and instead of spelling TORH, every seventh letter spells Y-H-W-H! The tetragrammaton, the I AM, that I AM.

Lesson learned: The TORH always points to JESUS!

Do you realize how incredibly difficult it would be to contrive a hidden message, repeatedly, for almost 305,000 Hebrew letters (that’s the total number of letters from GENESIS to DEUTERONOMY) and have the text still make sense??

1) There are many external proofs – outside sources that verify that the Bible is wholly accurate and points towards authentic divine inspiration:

~ The Bible is accurate historically, geographically, and archeologically – when scrutinized and compared with what history teaches, we see that the Scriptures are spot on: biblical archeologists use the Bible as a guide and are able find buried cities and civilizations. Comparing historical records with the Bible, the Bible records history with greater accuracy than any other book.

~ It’s accurate scientifically:
~ It’s accurate in astronomy:
~ It’s accurate in biology:
~ It’s accurate in morality:
~ Answers to skeptics of the Bible can be easily refuted if one knows the Scriptures well enough. Every question ever conceived that requires an answer from the Bible in order to validate this book as GOD’s Word is provided under inspiration of the Holy Spirit!

There were people like Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel who were agnostic, didn't believe the Bible and were determined to prove the Bible wrong, and after careful scrutiny, they came to the conclusion that this Book is indeed the Word of GOD!

2) Then we have something that sort of straddles between internal and external proofs, and that is prophecy: the Word of GOD tells us what the future holds, and we can look at the world and see how prophecy has been fulfilled already, and how current events and near future horizons are shaping up to fulfill the eschatological prophecies, that is, prophecies of the Last Days:

There are over 300 prophecies fulfilled concerning the Person of Jesus Christ and more that will be fulfilled by the Second Advent! I’d like to go over each one of these for the rest of the afternoon…(just kidding)!

The BIBLE – is it truly GOD’s Word or a clever forgery? How can we tell? How can GOD send us a message in such a way, that we would know that it’s really from Him, and not a fake?
What about if GOD were to tell us about the future in advance and to such a degree of accuracy that we couldn’t consider it “a lucky guess”?

There are some who think that the prophecies of the Bible are nothing more than lucky guesses; that their predictions are so vague that they could be fulfilled in any number of ways.

But the prophecies of Scripture are very detailed, very precise and find fulfillment with 100% accuracy. Just considering the bull’s eye accuracy of DANIEL 2 and the lay out of Gentile history from Babylon, to Persia, Greece, and Rome, then a last days empire modeled after Rome, but with aspects of the other three. These predictions were so accurate that skeptics insist that the book of DANIEL had to be written after the fact. But we have the Septuagint Bible (The Greek Old Testament) in black and white since 200 BC, translated from older texts that existed before the majority of this history took place!

None of the false gods or false religions can do this! In fact, if you read ISAIAH 41, GOD makes fun of the pagan gods who can’t prophesy the future!

“A professor named Peter Stoner worked with 600 students to figure out what the probability would be of just eight (of the over 300) Messianic prophecies being fulfilled in any one person who had lived up to the present time. The result: 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. 100 quadrillion or 10 x 100 trillion years or about 25% of the number of seconds in the age of the universe (If you believe the universe is almost 40 billion years old).

Lee Strobel, an atheist-turned-Christian, performed some calculations to try to figure out what this would look like in real life. Lee notes:

“I imagined the entire world being covered with white tile; [each] was one-and-a-half inches square—every bit of dry land on the planet—with the bottom of just one tile painted red. Then I pictured a person being allowed to wander for [their entire] lifetime around all seven continents. He would be permitted to pick up … [only one] tile. What are the odds it would be the one tile whose reverse side was painted red? The odds would be the same as just eight of the Old Testament prophecies coming true in any one person throughout history!” But the LORD fulfilled all 300 of them!

Here are some of the over 300 Old Testament prophesies that Jesus FULFILLED:

For a detailed examination of ALL of the Messianic prophecies fulfilled by Christ during His First Advent and earthly ministry, check out Herbert Lockyer's book:

ALL the MESSIANIC PROPHECIES of the BIBLE

Prophecy: The Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, one of the 12 tribes of Israel. (GEN 49:10). 1505 years later...

        FULFILLED: Jesus’ genealogy comes through the tribe of Judah. (MATT 1:1-16)

Prophecy: The Messiah would be a descendant of King David. (JER 23:5, PSALM 132:11). 645 years later...

        FULFILLED: Jesus was a descendant of King David. (MATT 1:1-16)

Prophecy: MICAH 5:2 says that the one true Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. 760 years later...

        FULFILLED: Jesus was born in Bethlehem. (MATT 2:1, LUKE 2:4-6)

Prophecy: In ISAIAH 7:14, it says that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. 740 years later...

        FULFILLED: Jesus was born of the virgin Mary (MATT 1:22-23, LUKE 2:7)

Prophecy: PSALM 2:7 says that the Messiah would be the Son of God. “I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’” 520 years later...

        FULFILLED: “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” (LUKE 1:35)

Prophecy: The Messiah would heal the sick. “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb will sing for joy.” (ISA 35:5-6). 740 years later...

        FULFILLED: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” (MATT 11:5)

Prophecy: ZECH 9:9 says that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey. 578 years later...

        FULFILLED: “They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’” (LUKE 19:35-38)

Prophecy: PSALM 41:9 says that the Messiah would be betrayed by a close friend, one whom He trusted, one with whom He broke bread. 520 years later...

        FULFILLED: Jesus was betrayed by his disciple, Judas. (JOHN 13:18, 21; MATT 26:21-25)

Prophecy: The Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. (ZECH 11:12). 578 years later...

        FULFILLED: “Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.” (MATT 26:14-15)

Prophecy: The thirty pieces of silver used to purchase the Messiah’s betrayal would be used to buy a potter’s field. (ZECH 11:13). 578 years later...

        FULFILLED: When Judas hanged himself, they used the money to buy a potter’s field. (MATT 27:7)

Prophecy: He would be denied by his disciples. “Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” (ZECH 13:7). 578 years later...

        FULFILLED: “Then everyone deserted him and fled.” (MARK14:50)

Prophecy: The Messiah would die in a brutal way, his hands and feet pierced. (PSALM 22:14-17). 520 years later...

        FULFILLED: Jesus was beaten, nailed to a cross and crucified. (LUKE 22:63; 23:32-33, JOHN 19:18)

Prophecy: The Messiah would be given gall and vinegar to drink. (PSALM 69:21). 520 years later...

        FULFILLED: “They came to a place called Golgotha (which means ‘the place of the skull’). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.” (MATT 27:33-34)

Prophecy: “They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” (PSALM 22:18) 520 years later...

        FULFILLED: “When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.” (MATT 27:35-36)

Prophecy: His bones would not be broken. “He protects all His bones, not one of them will be broken.” (PSALM 34:20). 550 years later...

        FULFILLED: “The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.” (JOHN 19:32-33)

Prophecy: He would be flogged. ISAIAH 53:5 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his [stripes] we are healed.” 740 years later...

        FULFILLED: “Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.” (MATT 27:26). Isaiah not only talks about the flogging that Christ would receive, he also outlines the reason why Christ would suffer—to save us from the judgment of sin and death.

Prophecy: ISA 53:7 says, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open his mouth.” 740 years later...

        FULFILLED: “When He was accused by the chief priests and the elders, He gave no answer. Then Pilate asked Him, ‘Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?’ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.” (MATT 27:12-14)

Prophecy: ISA 53:12 says that the Messiah would atone for the sin of man. “He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.” 740 years later...

        FULFILLED: “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.” (ROM 3:25)

Prophecy: “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” (PSALM 110:1) The Messiah would sit at the right hand of God and have authority over everything. 520 years later...

        FULFILLED: “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.” (MARK 16:19).

Prophecy: “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” (ISA 50:6). 740 years later...

        FULFILLED: In MATT 26:67-68, they spat in His face and struck Him with their fists.

Prophecy: The Messiah would speak in parables. (PSALM 78:2). 520 years later...

        FULFILLED: “Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.” (MATT 13:34)

Prophecy: ISA 53:3 says that the Messiah would be despised and rejected by men. 740 years later...

        FULFILLED: Jesus was despised, rejected and crucified. (LUKE 23:20-23)

Prophecy: The Messiah would be mocked by his enemies. (PSALM 22:7-8). 520 years later...

        FULFILLED: “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!’ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.” (MATT 27:39-44)

Prophecy: ISA 53:2 says the Messiah would grow up in poverty. “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” 740 years later...

        FULFILLED: “‘Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at him.” (MARK 6:3)

“These are just a few of the many prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. But as I said to you at the beginning of this chapter, if you’re bent on refuting God and Jesus, nothing I say is likely to change your mind. You can argue until you’re red in the face. You can be a skeptic and declare, “There’s no way 400 of those prophecies are about Jesus.” But the fact of the matter remains: they are real. Even if you can argue away half of them, the other half will still taunt you. Your arms are too short to box with God; he’s created too much evidence for you to just ignore it.” ~ Lee Strobel
List of apologetic websites:

www.carm.org; www.crossexamined.org; www.answersingenesis.org; also let’s not forget www.once-lost.com; plus I have a list of many excellent websites included in this link.

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