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.
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