The Final Countdown

In life we have many final countdown's. In a couple of months time I am retiring after working for 47 years. In June the last of my three daughter's is getting married. Two down one to go. We are in the final countdown towards that event. I have 34 working days, 6 bank holidays and 11 days holiday before I retire. (Does it look like I am keeping count)?

We are all in another Final countdown. I believe with all my heart that we are in the last days, the speed at which our western world is departing from the moral law of God is staggering. To even suggest that we would be redefining the concept of marriage between a man and a woman a few years ago would have been thought of as being absurd.

Yes! we are in the final countdown before The Lord returns to claim this world back to God, to return it to how things in God's kingdom work.

Let us all look up and wait our coming Lord and Saviour. The countdown is very close to zero.

Thought for today ......................... Time we all thought about what comes next. Are we all prepared?

A Child's Question contd..

As I said at the end my last post that you can trace the genealogy of Jesus through the lineage of Mary and Joseph back to King David and back to Abraham.

The Jewish people up to and past the time of Jesus took great pride in keeping the records of genealogies but with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in AD70 all these historic records were destroyed.

The fact is that no living Jew can trace their lineage back to King David and back to Abraham. That is why both Matthew and Luke were able to trace the lineage of Jesus because the records were in existence and available for study and review after the Lord's crucifixion in AD32, but before AD70.

But going back to the original question posed by Richard Herring, when he said that the bible was wrong if it said the Holy Spirit was the father of Jesus. If that were the case he reasoned that Jesus could not be related back to King David and Abraham.

Why was it vitally important that the Holy Sprit be the father of Jesus and not Joseph?

In Genesis 2:16-17the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

When Adam sinned by eating the fruit of that tree sin entered into the human race through Adam. Eve was deceived by Satan but Adam was instructed by God not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and he sinned when he ate the fruit from the tree.

The penalty for this sin was death and separation from God, and the magnitude of this sin had far reaching repercussions even to this day. This sin nature is passed down from parent to children like DNA is passed down from our parents.

I believe that when a human egg is fertilised that a new human life begins. At that very moment not only does the baby start to form but their soul and with it the sin nature is already in place. I believe that our sin nature is passed down from the man. It is the effect of Adam's original sin passed to all human beings.

I also believe that is why it was necessary that the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary so that Jesus could be born a perfect man, a man without the sin nature, the spotless lamb of God, the second Adam. But more that that, much more than that He was born a human being, but also fully God.

The saviour sent to the world take back what was stolen by Satan from the first Adam, to give us all a route back to God. The word became flesh, the creator entered His creation as a baby and as a perfect human man died to pay for our sins, and the sins of the world. (Joh 3:16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Finally ............................... a thought for today

For time and eternity, Jesus is all we need.

A Child's Question contd ..

The bible tells us that the promised Messiah was to come from the Royal line of David. But in the Old Testament the degeneration and wickedness of the kings of Judah was so bad that God pronounced a blood curse on the line of Kings!

In Jeremiah 22:30 Thus says the LORD: 'Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah.'. So for God to say that the Messiah would come from David's line must now seemed impossible!

However, a close investigation of the genealogies outlined in Matthew and Luke are identical from Abraham to King David. When they get to David the two genealogies take different paths.

The genealogy in Matthew goes through Solomon the son of Bathsheba; through Rehoboam and down the line to Jehoiachin whose son Jeconiah, was the subject of this blood line curse from God. The blood line finally ends in Matthew with Joseph, who is the legal father of Jesus but not the blood father. Jesus in accordance with Jewish law is only the legal son of Joseph with no rights to the lineage of King David.

When Luke gets to King David he traces the genealogy to Jesus through Nathan, the second surviving son of Bathsheba, and on through Heli the father of Mary and the father-in-law of Joseph.

Why is this important? This is an application of the provision in the Torah where the daughters of Zelophehad (numbers 27: 1-11 ; Joshua 17: 3-6) in which the father of the bride adopts her husband as His son. So although the Holy Spirit was the father of Jesus, by adoption Jesus became the legal son of Heli who was in the in the genealogy of King David that did not have this blood curse. The Virgin Birth hinted at in Genesis 3:15 and prophesied in Isaiah gets round the seemingly impossible problem of the blood curse on Jeconiah.

By this the God Man who is Jesus came to earth to seek and to save sinners.

In my next and last post on this topic I will add what I consider to be the most important aspect as to why the the Holy Spirit and not Joseph had to be the father of the Lord Jesus. Some aspects of my next post I have never heard or read about but I believe that the the Lord gave me an insight that you can either prayerfully accept or reject. Until the next post take care my friends. The Lord bless you.

Finally ............ a thought for today

Through the cross, Jesus rescued and redeemed the rebellious.

A Child's Question contd......................

These prophetic words came to life with the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord.

1. He was to be of King David's family -  2Sam 7:12-16; Ps 89:3-4; 110:1; 132:11; Isa 9:6-7; 11:1
2. He would be born of a Virgin -  Gen 3:15; Isa 7:14.
3. He would be born in Bethlehem -  Micha 5:2
4. He would sojourn in Egypt  -  Hos 11:1
5. He would live in Galilee  -  Isa 9:1-2
6. He would live in Nazareth - Isa 11:1
7. He would be announced by an Elijah like herald -  Isa 40:3-5; Mal3:1; 4:5
8. His birth would occasion a massacre of Bethlehem's children - Gen 35: 19-20 ; Jer 31:15
9. His birth would proclaim a jubilee to the world - Isa 58:6; 61:1
10. His mission would include the Gentiles - Isa 42: 1-4
11. He would teach using parables - Isa 6: 9-10; Ps 78:2
12. His ministry would be one of healing - Isa 53:4
13. He would be disbelieved and rejected by the rulers - Ps 69:4; 118:22; Isa 6:10; 29:13; 53:1
14. He would make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem - Zech 9:9; Ps 188:26
15. He would be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver - Zech 11: 1-13; Ps 41:9
16. He would be given vinegar and gall - Ps 69:21
17. He would be like a smitten shepherd - Zech 13:7
18. His garments would have lots cast for them - Ps 22:18
19. His side would be pierced - Zech 12:10; Ps 22:16
20. He would have no broken bones through his crucifixion - Ex 12:46; Num 9:12; Ps 34:20
21. He would die among the wicked - Isa 53: 9, 12
22. His dying words foretold - Ps 22:1; 31:5
23. He would be buried by a rich man - Isa 53:9
24. He would rise from the dead on the 3rd day - Gen 22:4; Ps 16: 10-11; Jon 1:17
25. Resurrection followed by the destruction of Jerusalem - Dan 9:26; 11:31; 12: 1,11

Remember that these verses were written hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Truly only Jesus fulfilled all these prophesies.

Finally  .................. a thought for today

If you know that God's hand is in everything, you can leave everything in God's hands.

A Child's Question contd......

Yesterday I started to answer a question posed by Richard Herring to his mother when he was eight years old. He said that he noticed a 'discrepancy' on the first page of the New Testament' about the genealogy of Jesus, which shows that he is related to David and Abraham via Joseph. Apparently he said to his mother that if the Holy Spirit was the Lord's father then he couldn't be related to them (David & Abraham).

I intend to answer the question via a number of points which with the Lord's help will link together into a complete answer. These points are:

• Evidence through prophesy for Jesus being who he claimed to be
• The lineage to King David through Joseph
• The lineage to King David through Mary
• Jewish law and the rules of inheritance

The New Testament presents the Lord Jesus to different audiences as the promised Messiah and shows what is in the Old Testament concealed now in the New Testament becomes revealed.  What I find fascinating is that these Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament were translated into Greek three centuries BEFORE the Lord Jesus was born. Why is that important? Nobody and say that the facts about Jesus were later twisted to fit in with the events that occurred in the life of Jesus.

I work as a statistical expert in one of the leading aerospace companies in the UK. I have spent my working life teaching the use of statistics. I am a man that needs data, needs to see the evidence before I believe something is real, and I need to be convinced to my own satisfaction. It was through statistics and probabilities that the Lord reached out to me, and showed me the data the facts that Jesus was who He said He was the Son of God was 'statistically' certain.

Big claims I know! But God is a BIG God. Seek and you shall find says God's word. I did seek and I did find the living Lord God.

So where is this 'statistical' proof you might ask? If I were to say to you that a rare event was to happen next week I would be making a prediction. In biblical terms a prophesy. If I then went on to make other predictions that came true then you would have to admit that I, as a human being would be unique. How many predictions I would have to make to achieve this 'unique' accolade would be determined by the degree of proof you as an individual would need to be convinced. Some people might only need two or three predictions to come true to be convinced, while other more sceptical people might need more many more events to come true before agreeing that I was 'different'.

In the Old Testament there are well over 300 prophetic reference to Jesus Christ. Some have already been fulfilled, some are currently being fulfilled and some will be fulfilled in the future. If we just list 25 of these old testament prophesise and calculate the probabilities that one individual could fulfil all 25 predictions the odds on achieving all 25 are so long to be beyond chance. What about 100, 200 ......

In my next segment I will list as an example 25 prophesises and then expand on how the Lord Jesus can be of David's line by both blood and by Jewish law.

Finally .................................... a thought for today

Patience means awaiting God's time without doubting God's love.

A Child's Question

I get the Readers Digest which describes itself as the worlds Biggest magazine with 50 editions in 50 languages. I have been getting this magazine for more years than I care to remember, and mainly now just  zoom to the 'laughter is the best medicine' section and read no further. (memo to self - stop subscription next year).

OK. I do read other bits and I noticed yesterday 22nd October 2011 in the May edition of the Readers Digest (I know I am a bit behind with my reading) in a section called 'Books that Changed my Life' there was a piece written by a British comedian and writer called Richard Herring and one of the books that he had chosen was the New Testament.

However, even before I started to read in detail as to why the New Testament had helped change Mr Herrings life, I knew from the introduction to this man that he was not because he got saved, nor had he found the real purpose for his life.  Anyone who was doing a stand-up comedy tour around the UK entitled 'Christ on a Bike' would only be using the Lords name and Christianity to aid his laughs. (I did go to his website and it is much worse than I can even write about, but you can easily come to the conclusion that Richard is a committed atheist with a passion for mocking Christ's followers). The Lord himself fares much better than His followers and Mr Herring compares the Lord to the Fonz - a cool guy.

Now Richard is nobody's fool (in the eyes of the world) and as a son of a headmaster went on to be educated at Oxford University. When he was eight he said that he noticed a 'discrepancy' on the first page of the New Testament' about the genealogy of Jesus, which shows that he is related to David and Abraham via Joseph. Apparently he said to his mother that if the Holy Spirit was the Lord's father then he could'nt be related to them. He states that from that moment on he wondered if any of the things he had been told were true.

He did go on to say that there is some great things in the Bible that can have an enormous influence on you, even of it's to define yourself as an atheist. So this event apparently opened new perspectives on the world for Richard, in a lot of positive ways according to the article. This positive way turns out to be in him 'losing a religion'.

This prompted me to ask:

• Was / are his mother and father practising Christians? There was a Bible in the home in his early youth!
• Why could his mother not answer the child's question?
• If she did not know the answer did she try to get Richard to talk to someone who could answer the question?

I was prompted to think about:

• The impact on a young life through ignorance of what the Bible actually says about the Lord's birth
• The eternal impact on a life, a soul that is going to be judged by the Lord himself.
• A need to respond to that question posed by Richard many years ago.

With the Lord's guidance over the coming days / weeks or however long it takes,  I will attempt to answer the question posed by Richard to his mother many years ago.

My prayer is that somehow, in someway Richard Herring will come to know the Lord as his own personal saviour and learn that Christianity is not about either losing or gaining a religion, but gaining Jesus. Knowing that Jesus Christ is alive and well and loves Richard Herring. It's all about relationship with the living God NOT religion.

Finally ......................... a thought for today

Our greatest privilege is to enjoy God's presence

Do you believe Jesus or do you believe a Theory?

I have wondered in the past how some people can call themselves Bible believing Christians, who fully accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and yet believe that God has used evolution to get us to the state of development we are in today. They somehow have to 'fit' man made theories into the biblical narrative.

I was asked the other day by a person in work if I believed the book of Genesis to be a literal history of creation, or a series of allegorical stories! My answer, was that I do believe it to be a literal history of how we humans came into existence. But my belief is more than a basic trust based on nothing, it is a trust in the word of God as spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord Himself believed in the Bible's teaching about the beginning of man. When replying to the Pharisee's question about divorce, our Lord asks them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,' (Mat 19:4), and if we accept that Moses wrote the first four books of the Old Testament then again how can we reconcile the fact that in Our Lord again said in John, For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. (Joh 5:46).

Our Lord speaks to us as one who clearly accepts the historical accuracy of the Old Testament. If that were not enough evidence of our Lord's views and beliefs on the accuracy of the Old Testament, he also spoke these words to the disciples after his resurrection. "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." (Luk 24:44).

He was referring to the whole of the Old Testament, Our Lord Jesus Christ accepts it ALL. He says that it all Points forward to Him. Hence, if we indulge in our own particular slant on sections of the Bible, we immediately find ourselves at odds with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It has to be total belief in Him, in His Holiness, in His Deity. If we accept his Deity then we must accept His word is True. In other words Evolution Theory is a man made LIE.

Finally ............................... a thought for today

Every promise of God comes with His personal guarantee.