Who is Jesus Christ?

by Jannie

Prologue

For those disputing the name Jesus, please refer to the section further on, discussing His name.

This is by no means an in-depth academic study, but a plain and honest search for truth, specifically with the idea to get closer to the Truth claimed in Jn 8:32,36. We’ll try to examine who Jesus Christ really is.  It is impossible in such a short meditation like this, to cover all that Jesus Christ has done and taught.  Suffice to say that He has changed the world like no other did or could.  Even the date a great portion of humanity utilizes is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ as A.D. (Anno Domini, i.e. “In the year of our Lord…”; and as “Lord” means “maximum authority” does logic dictate only one real Lord God. At the very least must the immense influence and literature based on Jesus of Nazareth warrant further probing.

When Jesus, using an analogy, warned His disciples about leaven (ferment; the false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees) in the bread (Mt 16:11,12), Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was (Mt 16:13-17). This was done to illustrate 1 Cor 12:3 and He expressed that in Mt 16:17 (Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22-24; Jn 4:23-24; 14:26; Rom 8:14). But let’s examine this, shall we?

Note at Mt 22:41-46.  Jesus baffled his enemies (unbelievers) when he asked what thoughts they had of the promised Messiah? How he could be the Son of David and yet his Lord? He quotes Ps 110:1. If the Christ was to be a mere man, who would not exist till many ages after David’s death, how could his forefather call him Lord? The Pharisees could not answer it. Nor can any solve the difficulty except he allows the Messiah to be the Son of God, and David’s Lord equally with the Father. He took upon him human nature (Jn 1:14), and so became God manifested in the flesh; in this sense he is the Son of man and the Son of David. It is fitting for us above all things to seriously inquire, what do we think of Christ?

Carefully ponder Jn 4:25,26; 5:39-40.

By the end of this meditation, we’ll find adequate evidence of both (a) the supremacy of Jesus Christ (Ex 34:14; Dan 3:29; Ezek 21:27; Jn 1:1-5,12-14,17; 3:3; 6:35,50-51; 8:51,55; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Eph 1:19-23; 1 Tim 2:4,5; 2 Pet 3:9; Rev 5:2,4,9,12) and (b) the sufficiency of Jesus Christ – Acts 4:12; Heb 10:14; Rev 5:2,4,9,12 and the Scriptures just mentioned in (a). For how this message is to be conveyed, we can take note of Scriptures such as Mk 8:38; Rom 1:16,17; 2 Tim 1:7,8; and Rev 3:16.

Discussion

The Bible is self-proclaimed as the inerrant Word of God – 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Gal 1:11-12.  (Refer to the meditation “The Bible”). In this Word of God, it is repeatedly stated that only in the authority and name of Jesus Christ can any man be called a child [son] of God and that every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father and that only Jesus Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God and is in fact God! (Jn 5:19-40; 8:32,36; 14:6,23-26; Eph 2:10; Col 1:13-20; Heb 1:3; 1 John 1:12; and so on, examined further on in this meditation). Jesus touched lepers (Mt 8:3), and the very being of people expelled by religious legalists (Mt 9:9-12; Lk 8:1-3; Jn 9:22-41).  This is only achievable through the Love, grace and righteousness of God (Jn 1:17).  Consider here Jn 5:20-24,37-40; 1 Jn 4:8.

Note, by the way, that John the Baptist was born six months prior to Jesus yet stated that Jesus existed before he did – Mt 1:30 (Jn 1:1-4,14,17; Col 1:17).

Read the gospel of John and after each chapter, ask this question again.  Read with this author through a few Scriptures in the other meditations on this website as well.  Then, again, answer the question “Who is Jesus Christ?” …

Was Jesus really a historical figure?

 All historical figures have verifiable references to them made in the time they lived.  This is, for example, one aspect that points to the fallacy of Mohammed (see meditation on “Mohammed and the Quran vs Jesus Christ” by the author).  There are over 5 000 Greek; over 10 000 Latin and over 9 300 other manuscripts pointing to Jesus Christ by such credible writers as dr. Luke in Acts (Lk 1:1-4; Acts 1:1), also historian records by other such as Josephus, Cornelius Tacitus, Hadrian, Phlegon, Mara Bar-Serapion, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, Suetonius, Lucian of Samasota, and The Jewish Talmud.  Some scholars claim over 60 000 credible references.  The extend of evidence of the New Testament of the Bible compare unparalleled to any of the other to offer in the world (such as work by Herodotus with only 8 copies written in 488-228 BC but with an earliest copy 900 AD; Thucydides also 8 copies only for the same period; Tacitus with no more than 20 copies written 100 AD but copied in 1 100 AD; Ceasar’s Gallic war of 58-50 BC with perhaps 10 copies dating 900 AD; and Livy’s Roman history with tops 20 copies surviving from 59 BC to 17 Ad and only copied 900 AD.  The NT was written 40 AD to 95 AD with a span of less than 300 years to the earliest copies).  The Bible is unparalleled in all aspects.  Fragments of John’s Gospel can be seen in the John Rylands library in Manchester; and so many other early “Bible” manuscripts in care of various custodians, verifiable today.

Comparing Scriptures such as Phil 2:6; Col 1:13-17; Jn 10:30; with 2 Cor 5:16-19, we note that Christ is God. Through His incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension He also proved His deity.  As Man, Jesus did not become less than deity (Jn 10:30; 15:23). Jesus made radical claims that make nonsense of the patronizing statements by other religions that Jesus Christ was merely “a good human being” or “a great teacher” or a mere “great prophet”! Jesus Himself never left any such option available!  He said that to receive Him was to receive God (Mt 10:40); to welcome Him was to welcome God (Mk 9:37); to see Him was to see God (Jn 14:9). Jesus forgave people their sins against God and other humans and proved it by deeds (Mk 2:5).  Jesus also said that He would judge the world (Mt 25:31,32,40,45) and that anyone’s position depends on how we treat Him and His followers (His Church, not Jews or Israelites!)! Jesus is the only one Who can still the hunger of any man for love, security, significance or immortality; for Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life (Jn 6:32-36,48; Rev 2:17).  He is the Truth and Word of God.

The Muslim Dr. Zakir Naik is a champion when it comes to misquoting the Bible with selective verses completely out of context. He, and some critics, for example, claims Jn 5:30 says Jesus was a mere hapless man that could do nothing on His own. Well then, let’s read what Jesus was really saying in John 5, shall we? The context is that the Jews wanted to know who “worked” [healed] on the Sabbath and instructed this man (that was healed by Jesus) to pick up his bed and walk (Jn 5:8-12). When the Jews found out Jesus was the one who healed this man, they persecuted Jesus (Jn 5:15-16) and wanted to know by what authority Jesus could do this. Jesus replied that God (His Father) has worked up to then and in fact has never ceased working and therefore Jesus the Son of Man, the Son of God also must be at [divine] work. (Jn 5:17). This made the Jews more determined than ever to kill Jesus because He was not only violating the Sabbath but was making it clear to them that God was His Father in a special way, other than the Father of all re-born Christians (Mt 6:9; Rom 8:14) but making Himself equal to God the Father (Jn 5:18). To clarify that Jesus was not saying He was a separate God than God the Father and that He [Jesus] is one [Triune] God with God the father, Jesus practically spelled it out by saying that He and the Father is one God (as in Mk 12:29; Jn 10:30), and therefore that He, for this reason, could no nothing on His own accord without the Father doing it as well, doing only what He sees His Father do and then doing it in the same way. A mere mortal cannot make this claim (refer to Gen 1:1-27; Jn 1:1-4; Col 1:16-17), to be able to do all what God the Creator can do. Just as God the Father can give life, so Jesus can do as well (Jn 5:21; Jn 1:1-4; Col 1:16-17). Furthermore, God the Father judges no one, for He has given all judgement (the final judgement and the whole business of judging) entirely into the hands of the Son (Jn 5:22,27-29) and in fact the Son is the resurrection power, having Himself been resurrected from the dead (Dan 12:2; Jn 11:25-26; 1 Cor 15:12-28; 1 Thess 4:13-17). Note that Jesus as our representative, as the Lamb of God, as our Saviour, the Son of man, the Son of God, does not judge us as unbelievers [in Jesus Christ as Lord] bring judgement upon themselves (Jn 3:17-21; 16:8-11; 1 Cor 1:18-25). Note that Jn 16:7 speaks of Jesus’ then still coming crucifixion, resurrection and ascension (Jn 14:16-17,24-26); but for us today has been done (Jn 19:30; Col 2:15) and He will return as our Judge with His second coming and that will prove to be a terrible prospect for unbelievers. Jesus is self-existent but one with the Father (Jn 5:26). Now we get to Jn 5:30 and hear Jesus reiterating and summarizing that He is not independent from God but one with Him (Jn 5:31-34, 37-40).

Note at Mt 19:17 (Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19). This question is not, as critics want to believe, Jesus renouncing His deity. Jesus was addressing what was in the young ruler’s mind that was regarding Jesus as a mere man (1 Sam 16:7; Jer 17:9-10; Rom 8:27a).  The question asked by Jesus, “Why do you call me good?” was addressed to this covetous rich young ruler as a perfect example of a great teacher’s way of leading a pupil to analyze [examine] his motif and understanding. Only God [Jesus Christ] is perfectly good (Lk 18:19) and Jesus tested this understanding and insight of this brazen young man that Jesus is God [one with God; Jn 10:30] and the young man flunked the test, missing the logic and truth in Mt 6:24; Lk 16:23 (Ex 20:3; 23:13; Jer 25:6). Note further that Jesus in Mt 19:18; Mk 10:19 and Lk 18:20 pointed to this young man’s focus on the “horizontal” rules (applying to fellow humans) and saying, tongue-in-cheek, that he only lacked one more thing, namely, to follow Him (while Jesus knew this young man was unlikely to have always obeyed all the Laws – Rom 3:23; Ps 14:132; Jer 17:9-10). Jesus was demonstrating to this young ruler that the Law was given to prepare men to receive Christianity and salvation is not in proportion as man can observe the Law (Mt 5:27-28; Jn 1:17; Rom 3:20,28; Gal 5:4; Phil 3:9! The meditation “The covenant and the Law” refers). We can inherit the life in Christ (Rom 8:17; Phil 3:9) but only by accepting the deity of Jesus Christ (Rom 10:9-10). Without faith in Christ as God this man could not give up material possessions and follow Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour (Lk 10:28). Unless this rich young man had believed in Jesus’ divinity, he would only regard Jesus as a prophet, a teacher, a man. Jesus was therefore reproving this over-confident young ruler for using a form of words without realizing its full ingress and significance. The real question then, as read in manuscripts such as א B,D,etc., Vulgate, and other versions (Refer to the meditation “The four Gospels”), read, “Why askest thou me concerning the good?” This is how this passage is rendered in the Amplified Bible as well. “There is none good but one” implies God Triune when including Jn 4:23-24; 14:16,26.

Note at Eph 5:1. It states that we must be followers of God.  The word “God” here, is θεός (Theos, G2316), of uncertain affinity but certainly [a] deity.  This can imply Rom 8:14 (Jn 4:24) but in context, as in the next verse, specifically Christ in us (Jn 17:15,20).  How else can we be imitators of God if we had never witnessed Him on earth in contact with people as Man with God’s Spirit inside as Guide (Heb 1:1-8)?  Hence, Scriptures such as Jn 5:17-23; 10:31; 14:6-11; 15:5; and Phil 2:5-11; even Eph 1:5-12,17-23; 2:13-22; 4:6-16.

God was not heard by carnal man (Is 59:2), and so He approached carnality [self-righteousness] of man with a carnal  body (Jn 3:15-21; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Pet 3:9), that could be touched (Mk 5:31; Lk 24:39) and seen (Mt 28:10; Lk 13:35; Jn 14:6-12,16-27; 16:16-19; that is, that they that saw Him and us today [Jn 17:20-23], may follow by His example as in Jn 14:12-14; Rom 8:14-17; Col 1:9-20; or Col 3:1-14).  We have to renew our minds to line our thought-life up with God [repent] and this is the only way to be more than conquerors (Rom 8:29-39; 13:14; Phil 4:13; 1 Jn 5:4; Rev 3:5) and to see 1 Jn 1:4-6; otherwise, it’s mere empty religiousness as referred to in Mt 7:15-23; 15:6-9!

As also noted in the meditations “Genesis to Revelation” and “The bottom line” by the author, we very briefly and superficially, observe the following:

Jesus was not sent to be a religious leader (Mt 12:6) or a political leader (Jn 6:15); He was sent by the Father (Ps 43:357:3Jn 3:16-21,365:22-256:468:1817:18Mt 11:27Jm 1:17).  Peruse the following Scriptures: Is 9:6Lk 2:11Eph 1:173:15Mt 28:18Jn 1:186:468:23;10:3014:920:28Acts 4:125:317:5910:42Tit 2:3Rom 9:5Phil 2:5-11Col 1:15,172:9Heb 1:1-512:9 (Jn 1:1-5Col 1:15-17); 1 Jn 5:201 Cor 8:6; to name a few…

Jesus gave His Spirit, Christ died (Rom 5:6,8), but Christ never left – He is the omnipresent Spirit of God Who indwells us, His ecclesia, His Church, His Bride, His heavenly Jerusalem, the True Israel (Jn 1:12Eph 2:193:5-6Heb 12:22Mt 21:43Rom 9:7-9Gal 4:25-31) – on earth.  Jesus is not an angel – Heb 1:5Col 1:13-15.

Ps 45:7Heb 1:9Phil 2:6-8Jn 10:30; and 2 Cor 5:16-19 deals with the deity of Jesus Christ.  It is clear that Christ is equal to God.  In manifesting in the flesh through a woman, He did not [certainly not permanently, and even not momentarily leaving His role as for example, Sustainer] relinquish His deity – see Jn 10:29,3014:6-15,20-27.  Read Heb 2:9 and note the following:

We know that Adam was also referred to as a son of God (Lk 3:38) and hence also those men referred to in Job 1:6; but again, as far as the deity of Jesus Christ is concerned, consider Ezek 21:27 and Dan 3:25 with the title [recognition as the] Son of God in Mt 8:2914:3316:1627:43,54Mk 1:13:115:715:39Lk 1:354:418:28Jn 1:34,495:259:3511:4,2717:20-2419:720:31Acts 3:13,268:379:20Rom 1:4,175:9,108:3Gal 2:204:4,6,7Eph 4:131 Cor 1:92 Cor 1:19Heb 4:146:67:310:291 Jn 4:9,155:5,9,10,12,13,202 Jn 1:3Rev 2:18. Jesus is our intercessor (even just 1 Jn 2:1 and Rev 12:10).

Jesus’ statement in Jn 1:18 is saying what He said in Jn 4:24, namely that God as a Spirit is invisible and was greatly misunderstood until Jesus could reveal His image (Col 1:15-18).  Εικών (1504). Ikön, “image” always presumes a prototype, not merely a thing it resembles.  Paul was telling the Colossians that Jesus Christ has a “prototype”, God the Father Who is invisible. Another significant word, πρωтотόκος (4416) prötŏtŏkŏs, translates as Firstborn (Jn 3:16Heb 2:9-18) that is from (4413) that means foremost in place and importance and that Christ holds the same relation to all creation as God the Father (Col 1:15-18).

  • Jesus, as Son of Man, God in the flesh, who had a body that was liable to death (Mt 2:13-23; Heb 2:7,9 for a little while, that is, until He has suffered physical death for us to legitimately and really represent us), but as [Son of] God which He never ceased to be as our triune God. His Spirit is not liable to death (Mt 27:50; Jn 1:1-4; 5:26; 10:17,18). Jesus, as Son of Man, our representative, had a body that was apparently liable to death up to His resurrection (Mt 2:13-23), but as Son of God He is eternal (Mt 27:50). See a possible separation in Mt 27:46? Also contemplate the Spirit [Life, Jn 6:33] of Is 53; 1 Pet 2:24 with Heb 2 (especially vs. 8-17; Col 1:15-17); 1 Cor 15:26Rom 8:11Jn 3:1611:26… As our one true representative (referred to as Son of Man not son of God), ponder Ezek 21:27 and Is 9:6 with 1 Tim 2:5Jn 1:49,516:27Acts 7:56Dan 7:9,3-14 (Rev 5:1-10); Lk 12:822:69Eph 4:8-10,13Jer 35:19 and Jn 5:24,25 (Jn 6:48-51,58Col 1:17-20). The reference “Son of Man” thus proves the deity of Jesus Christ.
    References to Jesus Christ as the Son of Man occur some 1,233 times in The Bible, note especially Dan 7:13 in the OT and Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22; Rev 1:13 and Rev 14:14 in the NT. Here are a few more from the NT: Mt 7:9; 9:2,6; 10:23; 11:19,27; 12:8,32,40; 13:37,41; 16:13,27,28; 17:9,12,22; 18:11; 19:28; 20:18,28; 24:27,30,37,39,44; 25:13,31; 26:2,24,45,64; Mk 2:10,28; 8:38; 9:9,12,31; 10:33,45; 13:26; 14:21,41,62; Lk 5:24; 6:5,22; 7:34; 9:26,44,56,58; 11:30; 12:8,10,40; 17:22,24,26,30; 18:31; 19:10;21:27,36; 22:22,48; 24:7; Jn 1:18,51; 3:13,14; 5:27; 6:27,53,62; 8:28; 12:23,34; 13:31.
  • Contemplate the Spirit [Life, Jn 1:1-4; 4:24; 6:33] of Is 53; 1 Pet 2:24 with Heb 2 (especially Heb 2:8-17); 1 Cor 15:26; Rom 8:11; Jn 3:16; 11:26… The meditation “The Testimony” expands on this. Jesus is therefore our only representative before God. It is vital though, to understand that Jesus had to be truly man [also] to legitimately [genuinely] represent mankind as ransom [Lamb of Heb 10:14] and not be a farce (Jn 8:32,36; 14:6)! We note then, statements such as Lk 2:52 and Eph 4:13-16. Jn 5:19 is one of many scripture references where Jesus stated that he as man was not able to anything of his own accord, but only by His father and His Spirit inside Him [as Jesus a man]. If He demonstrated this to us (Eph 2:5-11), we should accept it is not us then, that can have a supernatural ability whatsoever in ourselves, but only in the right relationship with God can we truly fulfil the commission of Gen 1:28 and Mt 28:19-20 (note Lev 25:46; Eph 4:3-6).  If Jesus performed those miracles as God and not man, it would be unattainable for us.  The distinction between His humanity and ours is that He had no sin to separate Him from The Father whereas our sins are only cleansed by His Blood shed for us all – hence Rom 8:14,17, 29-39; 12:1-3; Jn 1:12-13; 14:11-15… Note how often, in hearing “Christianese” one hears the very popular reference to [quote of] “The blood of Jesus”; but when you ask for an explanation why the blood of Jesus was so powerful, you are met with a blank stare.  Why, at the very least, the blood from a being claiming and proving deity (even just Mt 10:40; Mk 2:5; 9:37; Jn 1:1-4; 8:23-24; 14:9; Col 1:13-17), would be absolutely remarkable, for it would prove that the Creator has indeed manifested in a human body.  For more, consider Ex 4:14,21-26; and compare Lev 17:10-12 with Jn 6:53–58.  Confused?  Astounded? Then consider Rom 3:20-29 and find incentive to consider the rest of this website, if you will? We have to admit that our own superficial reading and careless attitudes regarding Jesus Christ and His precepts [the depth and effectiveness of our discipleship] are easily exposed by just a little real examination. By the way, Num 23:19 contains no contradiction to the fact that Jesus is God Triune and simultaneously was Son of Man. Num 23:19 is only saying that God is not corruptible like man and that He does not break His Word (Heb 13:8). As confirmed in 1 Jn 1:9-10, if we trust in God’s grace and mercy and we humbly repent with no secret lust, greed and self-righteousness, then God is faithful and true to forgive our sins. In context, Num 23:19 implies that Balak had no hope of ruining Israel, and Balaam showed that he had more reason to fear being ruined by them. Though there are many devices in man’s heart, God’s counsels still stand. (Paragraph 5.37 in “Apparent controversies in The Bible” refers as well.)
  • As Son of law, He bore no fruit on record, and we have no reference to Him, as if He dead for 18 years. He then suddenly appeared when submitting Himself unto God (Jn 4:24) in Mt 3:13-17.  Holy Spirit (Jn 4:24) came over Maria and is thus the Father (Lk1:35-38).  The Word that Mary accepted, became the Seed that impregnated her (Jn 1:14; ).  We have 2 Cor 5:17; 1 Pet 1:18 and 1 Cor 15:43-51.  Note 1 Cor 15:51 with 1 Thess 5:23 (Jn 11:26)!!…
  • Jesus never partook [consumed, ate, lived by] the tree of knowledge between good and evil and blessing and calamity [was never under law Himself. The woman He entered through, was], so He was indeed dead to law as a “repentance” (Mt 3:14; Acts 19:3,4) declaring that no works can be any means of righteousness; but the Tree of Life revealed Rom 8:14 to us.
  • Son of God. The moment He took the decision to submerse Himself under Holy Spirit [His Father] only and be buried to the law (Rom 7:4,6), with the symbolism of Baptism, God declared Jesus His Son. Consider here Heb 1:1-6; Col 1:13-22; Jn 1:1-4; Rev 1:8,11,17-19. Angels are unlikely to worship anyone else than God (Heb 1:6). Jesus also allowed people to worship Him, as in Mt 15:25. Compare Mt 4:9-11 (Dt 6:13); Mt 15:9; Acts 24:14-15; Rom 1:25; Rev 5:14; 7:11; 22:8-9 (Heb 1:14). Jews worshipped Christ immediately after he ascended (Lk 24:52-53) that would have been unheard of had Jesus only been human. We read of Jesus Christ on God’s throne and being worshipped in Rev 4:8; 5:12-14 as well. Note that baptism is a sign of obedience and a decision that was taken and not the means to be saved. Now His ministry started, He bore fruit with signs, miracles and wonders following… By the way, in case you are thinking of Jesus as a lamb or a babe in a crib, that lamb was a year-old ram with horns and the disciple John that was well acquainted with Jesus (Jn 13:23; 19:25-27; 21:20) was so in awe of Jesus Christ as the Judge that he fainted seeing Him at Patmos (Rev 1:17).
  • Remember, we are talking of one God (2 Jn 1:9)

From the meditation “The Gospel”, we can summarize it as follows:  God Almighty is above the natural (Jn 4:23-24) and if you understand He is your [genuine] Father, then you will know that His will for you is to be above the natural as well (1 Thess 5:18-23; Eph 1; Rom 8:19)!  Do you believe Heb 8:13 and Rev 21:5 (Rev 16:17 with Jn 19:30)?

God as Spirit materialized in a human body as Jesus Christ (Joshua Messiah), for at least these reasons:

  • To undo the work the devil had done in the beginning (1 Jn 3:8). See the meditation by the author entitled “Genesis to Revelation” and “Mixing Old and New” for a better exegesis of “self” vs “Jesus Christ”.
  • Jesus had to legitimately [truly] represented mankind and so had to be born of a woman (1 Cor 15:45). Note that He was sent, not created (Jn 1:1-3; Col 1:12-20) as a Seed [Word of God] – Jn 1:14; Gal 3:16. Yet, he was truly man (Dan 7:13-14; Rev 5:1-10; consider and ponder with Ezek 21:27 Gen 49:10; 1 Sam 2:35; Is 9:6; 11:1-4; and Lk 1:31-33 as well). The Truth cannot be a farce (Jn 1:14,17; 8:32,36; 14:6; Acts 2:36; 4:12; Rev 7:14)!  Note Lk 2:52 with Paul’s revelation in Eph 4:13.
  • Jesus had to pay for all sin of all mankind (Jn 1:29; 3:15-16; 1 Tim 2:5; 1 Thess 5:9 and so on)
  • Jesus had to be buried (Heb 9:16-18; Jn 8:17 with Rom 8:17; Heb 2:8-18; 9:11-14,10:7-14…)
  • Jesus had to rise from the dead to show (a) our sins are forgiven (Mt 6:12,14-15; Jn 20:23; Rom 6 with 12:19); and (b) that Jesus Christ is everlasting Life (Jn 1:4; 5:37-47; 14:6; Rev 2:7; 22:2,14); and (c) that He is our Advocate/Intercessor/Friend (1 Jn 2:1-2; Heb 7:25; 9:24; Jn 3:17-21; Rom 8:2…)

Ponder the “disappearance” of Jesus for about 18 years after He had become a bar mitzvah. (i) This should not be problematic for the believer, as no single aspect of Jesus could be illegitimate, therefore if a teacher (rabbi) had to traditionally be 30 years of age, Jesus would have to “wait” another 18 years in “obscurity” [unrevealed] before starting His ministry; (ii) As Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature before man and God” (Lk 2:52), we can reasonably assume that He truly had to make the choice and commitment to His mission (Lk 14:28; Heb 12:1-3)!  We observe statements by Jesus of His experience Jn 1:9-18, (Note John the Baptist’s declaration in Jn 1:34-36); 3:6-14 (note Jesus using the word “we” when He referred to experience and knowledge in Jn 3:11-12); Jesus was there in the desert also and before (Jn 1:1-4; 8:58; Gal 3:8; Col 1:12-20).

Consider then, also scriptures such as 1 Cor 15:41-45 with Rom 8:11 as discussed in the meditation “The Testimony”.

Note that our [world-wide standardised] Gregorian calendar was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.  In A.D. 532, however, Dionysius Exiguus invented the calendar of the Christian Era based upon the time of the building of the city of Rome, and this kind of time was called ab urbe condita, or A.U.C. (or simply, U.C. time).  Dionysius placed the birth of Christ U.C. 753.  Later when it was ascertained that Herod had died in U.C. 749, Jesus’ birth was moved back to the latter part of U.C. 749, a little more than three years before A.D. 1.  Therefore, Jesus was 30 years of age in A.D. 27.  The “Child” had been born in Bethlehem (4 B.C.); the “Son” was given 30 years later at the Jordan (Is 9:6,7) and Jesus crucified when He was 33 in 30 AD!  Read Mt 28:11-15 to see desperate Jews covering prophecies fulfilled. (The meditation “The Bible” expands a little more on the dates associated with The Bible and its contents.)

Note on “is come” used in 1 Jn 4:1-3 (KJV). Some (such as “Apostles”) argue that “is come” in verse 2 means the opposite of what it in fact does!  It reads that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (Ἱησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα).  This literally translates to Jesus Christ having come. The whole phrase forms the direct object of the verb confesseth. “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” is in fact a twofold truth confessed, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is come (the Greek perfect tense implies not a mere past historical fact, as the aorist would, but also the present continuance of the fact and its blessed effects) in the flesh (“clothed with flesh”: not with a mere seeming humanity, as the Docetæ afterwards taught: He therefore was, previously, something far above flesh). His flesh implies His death for us, for only by assuming flesh could He die (for as God He could not), Heb 2:9, 10, 14, 16; and His death implies His LOVE for us (Jn 15:13). Even just a few obvious Scriptures confirming Jesus came in the flesh are thus Jn 1:1-4,14; Rev 1:5; 5:9; 7:14; 12:11; 19:13 (compare Rev 17:6; 18:24; 19:2; even Lev 17:11-12). To deny the reality of His flesh is to deny His love, and so cast away the root which produces all true love on the believer’s part (1Jn 4:9-11, 19). Rome, for instance, by the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, denies Christ’s proper humanity. How else could Jesus represent all of humankind in His sacrificial death if He did not appear in human form (Jn 1:1-4,12-15)?

His virgin birth (From footnotes in the KJV Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, p.860-862)

Before pondering the infamous Is 7:14, we must first bear in mind that “Isaiah was, ironically, commissioned to speak to obstinate people who rejected God.  The words of Isaiah’s commission (Is 6:9-10) were used repeatedly by Jesus to explain why He taught in parables (Mt 13:14,15; Mk 4:12; Lk 8:10).  John also referred to them when he explained why so few Jews had responded to Jesus’ message (Jn 12:40), and Paul used them to explain why he had switched the emphasis of his ministry from the Jews to the Gentiles (Acts 28:26,27).

The famous prophecy of Christ’s virgin birth is contained in Is 7:14. The events of this chapter occurred about 734 B.C.  Isaiah was sent to king Ahaz with a reassuring word (Is 7:4-9), but Isaiah’s word also challenged him to exercise faith in God during this crisis (cf. Hezekiah’s response in Is 36-38).  The Lord generously offered to grant a sign to Ahaz to bolster his faith (2Ki 16:7-9).  His reply, “I will not ask…” was pure hypocrisy (Is 7:12-14).

Few passages have provoked such controversy as Is 7:14, even among those who hold to a conservative viewpoint.  Recent studies have a tendency to downplay the miraculous aspects and rationalize that this verse is a prophecy that some young woman would shortly bear a child in the normal way, and the brief time of this youth would see the downfall of those countries now threatening Judah and King Ahaz.  It is believed that these approaches do not do justice to the text, and some reasons are summarized below.

  • The meaning of the Hebrew word ’almāh (5959). It has become commonplace to suggest that  ’almāh does not mean virgin, and that in fact, had Isaiah meant “virgin” he would have used the Hebrew word bethūlāh (1330).  The facts on language are otherwise.  ’Almāh is the clearest word Isaiah could have chosen to convey the idea of virginity.  There is no appearance of ’almāh in the OT where the meaning “virgin” cannot be used.  bethūlāh, on the other hand, often needs qualification to clarify whether or not “virgin” is intended (e.g., Gen 24:16, where Rebekah is described as a “virgin [bethūlāh], neither had any man known her.”  Note that ’almāh, which occurs later in the same context [Gen 24:43], needs no such qualification.  The qualification is doubtless needed because bethūlāh, unlike ’almāh, can sometimes refer to a married woman [Dt 22:24; Joel 1:8].)

It is evident that ’almāh ought indeed to be translated “virgin” on the basis of Hebrew usage.  But this is not the extent of the argument.  The Greeks, who translated the OT into their language hundreds of years B.C., had no question; they translated Is 7:14, in the Septuagint, with the Greek word parthēnós, the word for “virgin”.  Finally, the Holy Spirit affirmed this as the meaning when He guided Matthew (2 Tim 3:15-17) to use parthēnós when quoting Is 7:14 in Mt 1:23.

  • The meaning of the word ’ōth (224), “sign.” Those who suggest that the birth mentioned in Is 7:14 would be a normal birth contradict the significance of ’ōth.  This word never refers to ordinary events, but always to special or distinctive actions or things.  With reference to God, it is commonly translated as, or understood to refer to, “miracle.”  This is particularly true of its uses in Isaiah, which, aside from this context, are concentrated with reference to God’s miraculous sign of the sundial (chaps. 55-56).  Therefore, the “sign” (37-38), and with God’s miraculous dealings with Israel (55-56).  Therefore, the “sign” would need to be something extraordinary, not merely the normal birth of a male child who would live to see the downfall of Syria.  It certainly would not be the defeat of Syria and Israel by Assyria!  That was the very thing Ahaz was scheming to do without God’s involvement!
  • The specific reference of the prophecy. One must note that after Ahaz refuses a sign, God does not address him again. Verse 14 is addressed to the whole “house of David.”  This immediately takes us beyond a rigid focus on the current scene.  Moreover, the language of the announcement “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth…” is reminiscent of pagan phraseology used to announce the birth of “gods”.  It is not suggested that Isaiah is likening Christ’s birth to that of some pagan idol, merely that the idol-worshipping Ahaz would recognize the significance of the prophecy.  Note also that both “virgin” in verse 14 and “child” in verse 16 have the definite article.  It is agreed that these are articles of general reference, and that “a virgin” is the proper translation in v 14.  But note what happens if we translate “a child” in verse 16.  That prophetic verse makes excellent sense on its own as a statement about the length of the crisis, with no reference to verse 14.  One must also observe that the Hebrew word ben (1121), which means “son”, is used in verse 14, while a completely different Hebrew word, na’ar (5288), meaning “young man,” appears in verse 16.
  • The child born. The name is “Immanuel,” or “God with us.” He cannot be just any child for in Is 8:8 (and probably 8:10), “Immanuel” is presented as the true owner of the land (cf. the implications of Lev 25:23), and the one who will vanquish Assyria.  Further, the “son” to be born is mentioned again in Is 9:6 and 11:1-5 and is clearly seen there to be a divine Person.  No child of normal parentage could be so understood; certainly not the child of Isaiah or Ahaz, as some commentators have suggested.
  • The nature of messianic prophecy. Throughout the OT, passages of messianic importance are presented without chronological separation or distinction.  Peter explicitly states that the prophets were ignorant regarding when the messianic prophecies would be fulfilled (1 Pet 1:10-12).  It was indeed this prophecy of Is 7:14 itself which was to be a sign.  Its mysterious reference to a virgin birth would remain (as it did) to challenge students of God’s word (Jn 1:10-17) until the proper time came for it to be fulfilled.”

It is the conception of Jesus that is miraculous, not His birth per se.  The totally non-Christian “Christmas” portrays a baby in a crib and so he is said to be adored. This is not Jesus the Lord described in Jn 1:1-4,14; 14:6; Eph 1:19-22; Col 1:17 et al.

There are apparently about seven documented “virgin births” amongst humans but are all girls. It is called “parthenogenesis” and happens when a female egg spontaneously divides and produces and individual without having been fertilized (common in the vegetable world and not unheard of in the animal world, as with Komodo dragons, for instance). This means there are the following possibilities for Jesus’ conception: –

  • God could have created a complete initial fetus and planted it in Mary’s womb, but this would make God the Father but Mary a surrogate mother, not having contributed to the fetus.
  • The difference between male and female is a chromosome. Changing that would mean Mary was the mother but God would then be a modifier like a scientist but not the Father.
  • God sent our Saviour, in the form of a male sperm having the DNA of divinity, that fertilized one of Mary’s eggs that would mean that God is the father and Mary the mother and that Jesus would be both divine and human together, but still sent not created at conception. Jesus chose His own birth as a human voluntary to legally represent us as humans before God the Father. For this reason we don’t celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Hear Paul in 1 Cor 1:18-25, 30-31; 1 Cor 2:2. 1 Jn 1:1 that John received from Jesus at Patmos, made him stipulate that in the beginning the logos was… that is, before our creation, space and time.

Note that we cannot, therefore, have the exact DNA of Jesus Christ (God), as some teachers claim.

This Word is Logos in Greek (G3056, λόγος) from G3004, something said (Gen 1:3; Col 1:15-23) also by thought and reasoning (the mental faculty), the divine expression Jesus Christ that tabernacled amongst us (Jn 1:14).

Mary is not [an] “eternal virgin”

Jesus had brothers and sisters after His virgin birth, thus showing that Mary did not stay a virgin [after Jesus was born].  Those half brothers and sisters of Jesus (they were normally conceived by Joseph and Mary, not born of God [sent] like Jesus – Lk 1:31-35), are listed in Scripture as James, Joseph, Simon and Judas, and also at least two sisters (Mt 13:55,56; Mk 6:3; Jn 7:5).

Note in Doctor Luke’s account (Lk 1:1-4), we read of yet another significant fact in Lk 2:25-40 where Simeon pertinently addressed Mary (Lk 2:34).  This is, in context and according to Jewish tradition at the time, highly irregular as the address were to have been made to the father of the child, which strongly indicates that (a) Holy Spirit was the Father (Lk 1:35) not Joseph, and (b) Holy Spirit is God as the child was to be called Son of God (Lk 1:35).  See the meditation entitled “Trinity doctrine” for more on God’s trinity.

His date of birth

 The exact date of birth of Jesus Christ is today for us uncertain.  This is remarkable and likely just as supernatural as His delivery (Lk 1:31-35; Jn 1:13-14; 3:15-18).  The deity of Jesus Christ (discussed further on and expanded on in the meditation “The Trinity”), is unparalleled by any religion’s claim.  Consider then, the eternity of our Lord and Savior with even just Jn 1:1-4,14,17; Col 1:15-20 (compare Jn 1:30 with Jn 1:1-4 and Col 1:17); Heb 2:9-10 et al and why Paul made the statements of 1 Cor 1:23; 2:2; Gal 1:6-9!!!  Jesus pre-existed prior to His birth and so was sent and not created [started life] like us. His arrival as Son of Man was different to ours yet Jesus legitimately represents all humans via His special birth. Selah.

The Meditations “The Trinity” (p.5/14) and “Apparent Controversies in The Bible” (Example # 5.2) will show that the apparent controversy between Ex 33:11 and Ex 33:20 is only explainable satisfactory in context of a Triune God with Jesus Christ as the Word of God (Jn 1:14; Col 1:14-21).  The fact that the Lord could speak to Moses’ face to face in verse 11 yet is told in verse 20 that no man could see God’s face and live, superficially seems incongruous; but closer examination – of the whole Bible – will reveal the unparalleled magnificence of the Bible’s one, progressive, unfolding revelation of God’s grace and righteousness in Jesus Christ! (Refer to meditations)

It is remarkable to think that Jesus represents us all and his exact date of birth could be mine or yours? No other religious person has these claims.  Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha, etc. all are said to have had normal human fathers and offer no certainty of salvation. We will later in this meditation shortly discuss the fact that Jesus was sent, not created (Heb 1:5; 9:1-28; 1 Cor 3:11; Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:20; Rev 13:8; etc).

The uncertainty of the exact date of birth of Jesus Christ (of Nazareth) might be further mystified if we consider the apparent pre-incarnation of Jesus Christ!  Study Heb 7 (contemplate Josh 13:33; Gal 3:8; also Ex 17:6 and Num 20:11 with 1 Cor 10:4; Jn 7:38) and we observe verses 11, 15 and 21 correlating to Ps 110:4 (Heb 5:10); we read Ps 102:27 even just with Heb 1:10-12; Jn 1:1-4; Col 1:17; and contemplate the enigmatic identity of Melchizedek of Gen 14:18-20 (1 Cor 1:30; Eph 2:14) or even the “Angel of the Lord” or “of God” or “of His presence” in Gen 22:11 that can be identified with the Lord Jesus Christ (Gen 16:11,13; 22:11,12; 31:11,13; Ex 3:1-6 and so on). This is a distinct person in Himself from God the Father (Gen 24:7; Ex 23:20; Zech 1:12,13, and other passages).  Nor does this “Angel of the Lord” appear again after Christ came in human form, hence of necessity the One of the “Three in One” Godhead (refer to the meditation “The Trinity”).  It is possible that this “Angel of the Lord” of the OT could be the visible Lord of the OT as Jesus Christ is to the NT.  The deity of this Person is clearly portrayed in the OT.  The Cambridge Bible observes, “There is a fascinating forecast of the coming Messiah, breaking through the dimness with amazing consistency, at intervals from Genesis to Malachi.  Abraham, Moses, the slave girl Hagar, the impoverished farmer Gideon, even the humble parents of Samson, had seen and talked with Him centuries before the herald angels proclaimed His birth in Bethlehem”… Refer with Gal 3:8, to 1 Pet 1:10-12; Jn 14:23-26; Eph 1:17-23; 3:1-23; and with Eph 1:10, compare “the fullness of time” or “full consummation of the ages” or “the end of the world” (depending on the translation), to Heb 9:26; and then to Jn 1:1-4; Col 1:12-20.

This author believes that Jesus did not order, neither wants [expect] for us to celebrate His birth as “Christmas” – that is what Communion is for [Commemorating the Lord’s birth/supper/sacrifice/return].  This seems to correlate to the early church who apparently had no “Christmas” celebration, neither focused on the birth of Jesus Christ but rather on what Jesus Christ accomplished and provided on His cross (1 Cor 1:17-2:2).  See also the meditations “A short Christmas Message” and “The Lord’s Supper”.

Consider the fact that the exact date of His return is also unknown to us – as was His 18 years under Law – with all else about Him very certain (Tit 3:9; Acts 1:11; 24:15; 1 Cor 1:7; 15:51-54; Phil 2:10-11; 3:20-21; 1 Thess 4:13-17; 5:23; Mt 24:13; Jn 14:6; Rom 10:9-10; and so on).  Note that no other religious founder or leader even remotely has a genealogy spanning 4 000 years such as Jesus Christ so well documented (summarized from the Bible in Appendix B).  These points will again be raised briefly further during this short discussion.  Consider Hebrews 7, especially Heb 7:3,24…

There are different schools of thought about the birth date of Jesus Christ but none of these dates is absolutely certain to us.  The reader can research this (even on Wikipedia), but let’s look at two of these.  Bear in mind that we are discussing here a God-Man that is eternal (Jn 1:1-4; Col 1:13-20; Heb 1:12).

In theory, if one could pinpoint the day on which Zechariah and Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist, one could extrapolate an approximate date of Jesus’ birth. Elizabeth was “in her sixth month” of pregnancy when the angel Gabriel came to Mary (Lk 1:26-33). Therefore, approximately fifteen months after Elizabeth conceived (Lk 1:23-24), Jesus was born.

The priests were divided into twenty-four courses, serving for one week at a time from Sabbath to Sabbath (1 Ch 24:7-19; Josephus Ant. 7:14:7). In addition, there were three weeks of the year when all of the courses were on duty: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Dt 16:16). Twenty-four divisions each serving two weeks per year, plus the three additional weeks, makes up the fifty-one weeks of a standard Jewish year. (About every third year, an intercalary month was added to the Jewish year to bring it back into alignment with the solar year.) Assuming John was conceived around July 1-7, this gives a date of the Annunciation around December 30-January 5, 3 BC and a date for the birth of Christ around September 22-28, 3 BC, during the feast of Tabernacles. The Jews had a strong tradition that the Messiah would come in the feast of Tabernacles (booths, Lev 23:41-43; Dt 16:13-15; Zech 14:19-21. This feast was celebrated for seven days in the fall, the Jewish month Tishri 15-21, which co-insides with September/October), also later seen in the taunting of Jesus’ [half] brothers because they were skeptical that He could be the Messiah (Jn 7:2-6).

Other assumptions from Luke 2:1-18 that seems to affirm this are the following: (i) Note at Lk 2:1. The word “taxed” (Gr. apographo) means “to register”. “All the world” here reflects on the extent of the Roman Empire of the time.  Caesar Augustus was preparing to celebrate his 25th anniversary (silver jubilee) as Roman Emperor in 2 B.C. and sought an official declaration of political allegiance.  These registrations were typically conducted in the fall of the year when the weather was mild for travelling to the place they were originally from, whether this could temporarily disrupt the economy [workplace] or not.  (ii) Note at Lk 2:2. Cyrenius was governor (Gr. Hegemon meaning “commander”) of Syria in 6 A.D. (9 years later) when a second registration took place. The “first” registration that refers to the time that involved Joseph and Mary was made in 3 B.C. when Cyrenius was first tasked to command this registration process.  (iii) Note at Lk 2:3-5. Two old Aramaic scripts record “… that they might be enrolled, because they were both of the house of David.”  1 Sam 16:1-4 states that David was from Bethlehem and Micah 5:2 that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.  Joseph and Mary were descendants of David.  Interestingly the word “espoused” is not used in the Aramaic text, but “wife”, that would be more accurate.  (iv) Note on Lk 2:6-7.  It was time for Mary to deliver the baby.  This Word (Lk 1:31,35) that became the Seed (Jn 1:13-14; Gal 3:16) was the first and only time that God would – and had/have to do this in order to offer salvation to all mankind – sent His Spirit [Word] to manifest in the natural realm as a Man, hence “The only begotten Son of God”. Mary and Joseph had other children after Jesus, so Mary did not stay an “eternal virgin” (Mt 13:55,56; Mk 6:3; Jn 7:5), but this was God’s promise through Mary.  See the short discussion a little further on in this meditation, on the concept of “only begotten”. The “Inn” in v 7 was a khan or lodging house for caravans. It would have had an inner courtyard and stables with each a manger to feed the animals along the perimeter wall. Jesus was born there not because Joseph and Mary were poor but because the Inn was already full of people that came to be registered.  The “swaddling clothes” that Mary wrapped Jesus in, was also not because of destitute.  When the son of a king or a prince was born, that child was being washed gently with water with a small content of salt in it that symbolized qualities of truth, honesty and healing so that that child would grow up speaking “salted” words. These swaddling clothes were narrow strips of fine linen cloth, about two inches wide, which were wrapped around the newly born baby’s’ body from head to foot with only a part of his face left uncovered to safely breathe. The baby’s body and limbs were thus held straight, symbolizing growing up free from crookedness and waywardness and as a king would walk straight and tall.  These swaddling clothes were left on the baby for only a very short time while the parents took time to pray and make their commitment to God concerning the upbringing of this child. This, as we will later see, left a small window of opportunity for visitors to see Jesus in swaddled clothes.  (See also the insult in Ezek 16:4 if a noble baby was not “salted” or “swaddled” implying he would be unreliable and dishonest and that his parents did not raise him properly). Mary and Joseph therefore complied with this custom of the time indicating that Jesus was of royal lineage as God’s Son and eternal heir to the throne of David (Mt 2:1-2; Num 24:17; Jer 23:5; Zech 9:9). (v) Note on Lk 2:8. Some scholars feel that we find here another indicator that Jesus was born in September/October as shepherds would typically abide with their flock using a cultivated fold for the sheep in the fall of the year and not in December when it was too cold.  During the colder time owner-shepherds used to hire temporary shepherds to keep their flocks in his field overnight so that the sheep’s manure would fertilize the field. Verse 8 clearly reads that the owner-shepherds were “abiding in the field”. It must be said though, that (a) these were sacrificial lambs brought for the Jewish feast of Passover on Nisan (April) 14th and (b) could anyway have been an exception to the rule. (vi) Note at Lk 2:9-11.  The words “came upon” are translated from epeste in Greek which means “stood by”. The angel was probably not flying over them, he was – as a messenger (Heb 1:14) – standing beside them, and most likely appeared without wings and did not sing but spoke God’s Word and said what God wanted said.  The dramatic depictions by artists often resulted in teachings based on such depictions and many a “Christian” is being emotionally influenced by it – all while none of it accurately reflect the Word of God! (Contemplate warnings such as seen in Rom 10:2; 2 Tim 4:4; and so on).  (vii)  Note at Lk 2:12. God’s timing (Kairos) is perfect, mostly we only know chronos.  The shepherds had a small window of opportunity to find Jesus in His swaddling clothes, and it is highly unlikely that another baby in Bethlehem was then to be found in a manger in swaddling clothes. Almost 1 000 years before, David was a shepherd in those same fields.  It is very noticeable that shepherds – not religious priests – then had “ears to hear” and was sent to Jesus (Jn 10:10-11). Only those willing to hear God’s Word will find and know Jesus Christ the Person in real life (Mt 11:25). They were the only ones that showed up.  (viii) Note at Lk 2:13-14.  It does not read that they sang, the Aramaic text says that these messengers suddenly appeared with the angel and the shepherds and that they together delivered the message of God’s hope for mankind.  It was surely impressive, but they did not necessarily sing. (ix) Note at Lk 2:15,16-18. The angels disappeared again into heaven (the realm), and the shepherds wasted no time saying that “… let us go now…” (vii. above). In vv. 16-18 we again see that “… they came with haste… and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger…”  This could then, according to this school of thought, have been September/October 3 B.C. See footnote 4 after the Appendix to this meditation regarding the Gregorian calendar in use today.

December 25th as the birth of Jesus Christ was claimed by people such as Hippolytus in the second century A.D. while the Eastern Church at the same time claimed December 6th.  But both these dates are probably the least likely option of all and rather fit with heathen practices (See “A Christmas message” and “Church part 2”).

(b) Another school of thought on the birth date of Jesus is based on early writers such as John Chrysostom (347-407 AD) that claimed that Jesus was born on December 25th, but if Zachariah announced the birth of John the Baptist on the day of reconciliation (Heb 9:7 but vv. 1-28) in September/October it actually means Jesus would have been born in March/April that could place the birth of our Savior nicely in the time when we know He was later crucified as The Lamb of God…  Again, contemplate 1 Cor 1:17-2:2 (and Heb 7:1-3,24)!

December 25th as the birth of Jesus Christ was claimed by people such as Hippolytus in the second century A.D. while the Eastern Church at the same time claimed December 6th.  But both these dates are probably the least likely option of all and rather fit with heathen practices (See “Church part 2”).

A more exact certainty than the precise day is the actual year of the birth of our Savior and Lord as Jesus Christ, because He was born before Herod died (Mt 1:1-22; 14:1-6; Mk 6:14-22; 8:15; Lk 1:5; 3:1,19; 8:3; 9:7,9; 13:31; 23:7-15; Acts 4:27).  The death of Herod is recorded by Josephus as being just prior to an eclipse of the moon that occurred March 12th or 13th, 4 B.C. and also just before the Passover of 4 B.C.  This Passover feast happened on April 11th. Other writings of Josephus place the demise of Herod between March 29th and April 4th in the same year.  As explained in our footnote 4, did Pope John 1st  in 525 A.D. order the monk Dionysius to produce a standardized calendar for the Western Church. This the RCC did but obviously misplaced the real BC/AD transition by four years!

As far as the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity goes, see the meditation “Church 2” by this author.

For the purpose of this meditation, we will therefore leave this discussion on Jesus’ exact day of birth, and in light of the introduction to this discussion on His birth (the first two paragraphs starting at “His Birth” above) namely (a) the supernatural aspect of this carnation of God in Jesus Christ and (b) our One True Representative before God the Father in Jesus Christ; and therefore our uncertainty about the exact date – and so for now in view of the principle in Tit 3:9 and 1 Cor 1:17-2:2, move on…

Carpenter or mason?

Why could this be important?  Surely the specific technical skill that Jesus was practicing as a work would make no difference to the fact that Jesus Christ was the prophesied Messiah. The importance of this aspect of Jesus’ life could be affected, however, if some “scholars” were really intent to discredit Jesus Christ and the Christian Faith and The Bible with its prophecies fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  This would be opposed to merely giving a fresh [deeper] meaning to references such as found in Mt 7:9; 21:42,44; Lk 20:17-18 (Ps 118:22); Acts 4:11-12; 1 Pet 2:4,6,7; and even Mt 3:14!

The claim is that the word Τέκτων was translated wrong because some scholars point out that a huge rock quarry was only three kilometers from Nazareth and many stone masons were needed due to a massive development project in Zippori (also known as Stepphoris) at the time. The apparent fact that trees were scarce around Nazareth and had to be imported should pose no problem, though, as instead of slaving away as a stone mason in a quarry, Jesus would then have performed a more “sophisticated” and gentler task of manufacturing furniture, perhaps even be of assistance in roof structures, scaffolding, and so forth. Either are equally possible.

References to the mysterious 18 years unrecorded in Jesus’ life have been touched on in this meditation above, already, and is again mentioned on page 18/27 below. The question that emerges at Mt 3:14 is what could Jesus possibly have repented from (Acts 19:2,3; Heb 2:8-18; 9:8-14)?  It appears to be only one thing, namely that Jesus turned from Law to His Father (Jn 5:19; Gal 3:19), even though Jesus never ate from that tree, was He a bar-mitsvâh then.  God used angels (Acts 7:38,53; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2) to deliver the Law because of man’s stubborn persistence in self-righteousness [religion] on this planet He gave to us.  Men wanted a king (1 Sam 8), men wanted religion (rules, ceremony, tradition), men want structures with men in charge (Acts 7:48; Eph 1:22; 4:5; Gal 5:20?); men wanted more than one wife simultaneously (Gen 2:24; Mt 5:27,28) … So quite possibly could Jesus also have had in mind His days [18 years] studying the Law up to the point that He decided to get up and have Himself Baptised [submitted with an outward sign of His internal decision and total faithfulness and commitment] so that all righteousness could be fulfilled (Mt 3:15; Heb 5:11- 6:5; Jn 1:17)! This image could well be portrayed by slaving away in a quarry for 18 years, but why not as a carpenter as well? Again, both equally possible.

The fact remains that this is God’s mature Son! Jesus had a task to fulfil since before the foundation of the world (Ps 104:5; 2 Cor 3:10-11; Eph 1:4; Jn 17:24; Heb 11:10) and could still very possibly [later] have experienced a “Father with open arms” on the other side of His cross and sadly also compare the jealousy and blind pride of self-righteous Israelites/Jews – even the religious and many false preachers today – claiming salvation on the basis of their own lineage and good works and futile attempts at following a Law originally chiseled on [hearts of] stone (Rom 3:20-28; Gal5:4,18)!

We can associate some 192 scriptures in The Bible with the word stone; especially the Law, if we wanted to (expanded on in the meditation “The covenant and the law”). Consider for example, Mt 3:14 with Mt 18:6; 2 Cor 3:3 (Ex 24:12; 31:18; 32:15,16; Jer 31:33); Rev 2:17 (Is 62:2; Jer 51:63,64; Ezek 26:21); and Rev 18:21-22 (Is 24:8; Ezek 26:13). Or for that matter, the following: Mt 27:60,66; 28:2; Mk 12:10; 15:46; 16:3,4; Lk 4:3,11 (Ps 91:11-12); Lk 11:11; 23:53; 24:2; Jn 1:42; 11:38,39,41; Acts 17:29; Eph 2:20; Rev 21:11 (KJV); and even Ech 3:9-10; Hab 2:11 (Hab 2:8-14,19-19) and Jn 1:48-51 (Gen 28:12; Dan 7:13; 9:24-27; Acts 7:54-59; Heb 4:16)!…

Whatever the scholar’s motive is, does this author want to humbly point to the following:

In Mt 13:55, traditional reference is made to the fact that Jesus’ father (Joseph) was a carpenter.  Then in Mk 6:3 that Jesus was a carpenter as well.  This if the word ‘carpenter’ is translated as the interpretation from a combination of the following words:

 G5045 – Τέκτων, tektōn, tek’-tone.  From the base of G5098; an artificer (as producer of fabrics), that is, (specifically) a craftsman in wood: – carpenter.

G5098 – τιμωρία, timōria, tee-mo-ree’-ah.  From G5097; vindication, that is, (by implication) a penalty: – punishment.

G5097 – τιμωρέω, timōreō, tim-o-reh’-o, From a compound of G5092 and οὖρος ouros (a guard); properly to protect one’s honor, that is, to avenge (inflict a penalty): – punish.

G5092 – τιμή, timē, tee-may’, From G5099; a value, that is, money paid, or (concretely and collectively) valuables; by analogy esteem (especially of the highest degree), or the dignity itself: – honour, precious, price, some.

G5099 – τίνω, tinō, tee’-no, Strengthened for a primary word τίω tiō (which is only used as an alternate in certain tenses); to pay a price, that is, as a penalty: – be punished with.

Now consider Is 41:7. “…So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer [encouraged] him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved…”   Also, Is 44:13 that says  “… The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.” Consider also Ps 24:1 that says that “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”  Add it all up and you could read that this “Carpenter” had men from the East bring Him gold (it all belongs to Him – Col 1:13-20) and on His cross (wooden stakes) He paid the ransom for all mankind.

We ought to think carefully ( 2 Cor 10:5) and perhaps note above all, that the Bible should not be taken lightly.

Gnosticism

This is a term derived from the Greek word gnόsis (1108) meaning “knowledge”.  This heresy was repudiated by the writers of the NT epistles as well as the early church “fathers”.  Gnostics separated matter from thought and concluded that matter was evil and so formulated the idea that the possession of knowledge was the only requirement for salvation.  This is why they did not want to attribute humanity to Jesus Christ because to them, material things were evil. Docetism resulted, which taught that the body of Christ was something that only appeared material [physical] but in reality, was only spiritual.  This led to their immoral life for they separated their physical bodies [actions] from responsibility for actions done in the body (1 Cor 6:14-20).  Now contemplate Jn 1:14.

Gnostics ignored or diminished the significance of the historic facts of the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as not being real but apparent.  To them, the secrets of God were in the mind, or appearing in an immaterial identity.  The result was a complete denial of sexual and other bodily appetites (one being virtual asceticism and the other a practice of unrestrained indulgence (Col 2:20-23).  Paul countered the teaching of asceticism by emphasizing that spirituality is not achieved by self-righteous efforts to control lust and greed, but by putting on Christ (Rom 13:14; 2 Cor 10:5).

 

The “Only Begotton” Son of God (Jn 1:18; 3:16)

Jesus is God and never ceased to be God but was Man [Son of Man] as well to bore our sins in His body, the only man that could pay on behalf of all mankind with His Blood (Rom 5:9; Col 1:19-20; 1 Pet 3:18; 2:24; Jn 3:15-21). As that centurion, we can cry out, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Mk 15:39). However, the death of Jesus’ body on His cross at Golgotha is a mystery (Eph 1:17). We can expect that for what exactly all happened at that cross Jesus had to bear on our behalf, we will probably never know. Jn 3:16 says clearly Jesus was the only begotten (unique) Son of God. However, Adam was also referred to as a son of God (Lk 3:38). Jesus taught us to address our Father which is in heaven (Mt 6:9; Rom 8:14,17). We also read Heb 1:5; 2:8-13; Rom 8:17,29-39; Eph 2:6-8; 4:12-15; and so on.

However, Adam was also referred to as a son of God (Lk 3:38). Jesus taught us to address our Father which is in heaven (Mt 6:9). We also read Heb 1:5; 2:8-13; Rom 8:17,29-39; Eph 2:6-8; 4:12-15; and so on.  Interestingly, God referred to Isaac as Abraham’s only son in Gen 22:2 (the story in Gen 22:1-18 is an analogy for God the Father and Jesus His Son), yet Ishmael was in fact Abraham’s [first] son (with Hagar, Gen 16:2-4,15-16) that was 14 years old when Isaac was born. Isaac was probably called Abraham’s only son because Ishmael was not the son of promise from God (Gal 4:21-31).  One part was dust [from below, man’s idea, religious, not acting out of faith/trust in God’s word], the other like stars [light, from above].  Gen 22:17,18 (Heb 6:13-14; 11:12) with Gal 3:16,29. Adam and even re-born Christians (Rom 8:14) may be called sons of God as well but certainly not a son as Jesus Christ that is the only Son who could pay for all mankind’s sin (Rom 5:12; 8:2; 1 Cor 15:45).

The words “only begotten” in Jn 3:16 can trigger a false idea of Jesus being generated/created by God the Father.  Jn 1:18b declares a “unique Son” or “unique God” in some manuscripts, Who has always been part of God the Father as a Spirit unseen (Jn 4:24).  He was sent, that is, made capable of death for a little while visibly and really operating as a Man in the Person of Jesus Christ as a demonstration of His love for us when we apply Rom 8:14 (Eph 2:4-7).  Jesus Christ is a unique Son as He was/is self-existence [Life Everlasting] and eternal and infinite (Jn 1:1-4; Col 1:15-17; Jn 5:26,37-47).  Jesus Christ made God the Father [Spirit, Love] understood by becoming visible as our legal representative whilst legitimately simultaneously representing [presenting] God the Father to us. God, as the Source of Righteousness, could not just take back the authority on earth that man gave away unnecessary to mankind’s [own] detriment (Gen 1:26-28; Js 4:7; Ps 115:16)!   Only Jesus could on behalf of all of us – i.e., Jesus as God – legally enter the natural realm though a woman [as a Son of Man, born from a woman under the Law, Lk 1:27-38 (Jesus was not under the Law, the woman was). See the meditation “The Covenant and the Law” explaining why it is important to understand why Jesus was not under the law, but Mary was] and so pay on behalf of all of us who accept, our sin whilst being without sin Himself (Heb 4:12-16). Looking at Ps 15:4; 89:34 closely, we’ll notice why only one representative of mankind could rightfully (“legally”, Num 23:19; Rom 3:4; Tit 1:2; Ezek 21:27) win [deserve, earn] spiritual authority back on earth that could manifest in good physical results (Mk 16:16-20; Mt 10:8; Lk 10:17-19; Phil 4:13).  Hence Ez 21:27; Jn 1:12-14; Rom 5:12-21 and this was God’s restoration plan for us since the beginning (Rev 13:8), there is no other way (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12) for man[kind] to be saved from the loss of spiritual authority [anointing, power in Christ] that man brought unto himself [us] through Adam.  Then, in His righteousness and Grace alone, He gave our perfect Representative as described in 1 Cor 15:45; Jn 1:17; even Rom 8:2. God created by speaking His infallible Word (Is 45:18,19; 55:10-12; Lk 1:37) and so Mary conceived Jesus proving that God’s Word is a Seed (Gal 3:16; Jn 1:14; Lk 1:34,35).  This Word can be – for the reborn (Jn 3:3; Rom 8:17) – be possible to speak with supernatural results but we do not have the attributes that God have. We cannot speak things into existence as Jesus (God) alone can. God did give us authority when in Christ (Jn 14:12-14. Mt 19:26 is followed by Mt 28:18; Lk 16:16-20; Heb 2:8 (note our unbelief that makes this provision ineffective in 2 Cor 5:17; 1 Pet 1:23; Mk 11:23 – observe the word “say” in Mk 11:23 that clearly indicate we can speak in Christ Jesus and see results, but we cannot speak things into existence as God does, we can only declare what is already declared so in heaven (Mt 18:18 with Mt 6:10). This does not imply we should become lazy and useless doers, but that we should be followers [true believers, powerful demonstrators] of God’s Word – Jesus Christ – that will show results overpowering what unbelievers see as naturally impossible!

He took our sin on Him and had us all forgiven (Lk 23:34; Mt 6:14,15; 2 Cor 5:18) – that is why His soul [self] could escape hell and be risen from the dead in bodily form (Mt 28:1-18 – note He won authority back for us in v. 18 “… and on earth”; Ezek 21:27; Jn 1:12,13; 14:6; Phil 4:13). Only Love (1 Jn 4:16) could escape hell.  His Spirit was with the Father (Jn 19:30) and is as Christ [in] the Father; His soul went to hell (1 Pet 3:18-20); and His body was buried (Mt 27:50-66).  At His resurrection, He was again demonstrating to us Life eternal as a Spirit with a soul in a body.  This Christ is the Head of His church/city/bride (Eph 1:17-23; 2:4-3:6; 1 Pet 2:4-10) Who after His ascension was again above all and everything, including His church (Eph 1:19-23; Phil 2:9-11).

He is resurrected, Jesus came to save us from ourselves (1 Pet 1:2 with 1 Jn 3:20; 2 Pet 1:2-10)! We are utterly incapable of saving ourselves by anything we do or offer (Rom 3:20,23,24-28).  His pre-existence is clear from Jn 1:1-18; Col 1:15-17; He is Emmanuel (Mt 1:23); He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2)!  He is the only way to the Father and Life (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12)!

This is Rev 1:1.

Note. The NT only starts at the soonest, at Jesus’ cross (Heb 9:16-18; with Heb 8:13…)!  Thus falls many doctrines that overlook the fact that Jesus was, in Jn 14, still talking to an OT people of what He was soon to accomplish [prepare in us as a place in Father’s house, the Church] – Jn 14:23-27. It is repeated in Jn 14:16,17; 15:26 and Rev 21:3.  Individually we are temples (1 Cor 6:19,20) and collectively we are supposed to be His city who’s Light [Life, Jn 1:4] shines to all the world (Is 60:14; Mt 5:14; Rev 21:2-3) …

 

Arguments that non-believers pose regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Let’s first recap the immediate events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection, starting at Jn 20:1. Remember that the apparent different accounts recorded in the four Gospels are due to the different eye-witnesses and sources having observed at different times and incidences (explained in the meditation “The four gospels”). We find the following in Jn 20:

  • Mary Magdalene (who was healed by Jesus [Lk 8:2] and present at His crucifixion [Mt 27:55-56,61; 28:1; Mk 15:40]) was the first to see Him after His resurrection (Jn 20:11-18).
  • Mary Magdalene as well as Peter, was evidently at the sepulchre twice on that morning of the resurrection. The first time of her going was some short time before her companions, the other Mary and Salome (Mt 28:1).
  • Early the first morning of the week a small group of women proceeded to the grave to balm Jesus’ body (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:1-2; Lk 24:1,10; Jn 20:1a)
  • Jesus’ body was not in the grave. Instead, they saw an angel that told them Jesus was risen (Mt 28:5-7; Mk 16:5-7; Lk 24:3-7).
  • The women rushed to Jerusalem to inform the other disciples. Most do not believe them (Mt 28:8; Lk 24:8-11,22-23; Jn 20:2). While these women returned to the city, Peter and John went to the sepulchre, passing them at some distance, or going another way, followed by Mary Magdalene, who stayed after their return.
  • Peter and “the other disciple whom Jesus loved” (John, Jn 21:7) goes to the grave and found it empty and then returned to the city (Jn 20:3-10; Lk 24:24).
  • In the meantime, the other Mary and Salome came to the sepulchre, and saw the angel, as recorded by Matthew and Mark.
  • Mary Magdalene followed them to the grave on her second journey there that morning and stayed when they left for the city. This was when Mary Magdalene saw two angels, and then Jesus himself first after His resurrection (Mt 28:8; Jn 20:11-18). And then Jesus appeared to the other women, as they returned to the city (Mt 28:9-10). In the meantime, Joanna and her company arrived at the sepulchre, when two angels appeared to them, and addressed them as the one angel had done to the other women (Lk 24:1-10). They immediately returned to the city, and by some means found the apostles before the others arrived and informed them of what they had seen; upon which Peter went a second time to the sepulchre, but saw only the linen clothes (Lk 24:12). The stone is mentioned in Mt 27:60,64-66; Mt 28:2; Mk 15:46; 16:3-4 but we will not go into that part now.
  • So, on the same day Jesus then appeared to Peter (Lk 24:34; 1 Cor 15:5), to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-32; Mk 16:12-13) and then to all the other disciples in Jerusalem except Thomas (Jn 20: 19-23; Lk 24:36-43; Mk 16:14). Other appearances outside the scope of this investigation are described in the four gospels, the book of Acts and 1 Cor 15. Jesus could now appear at will and only showed Him to His followers.

Now, let’s think about Jn 20:14 (why Mary Magdalene at first sight did not recognize Jesus) and about Jn 20:17 (why Jesus told Mary Magdalene, “touch me not”). As to the first, a reasonable deduction can be made that Jesus’ physical appearance must have been “normal” so that Mary thought he could have been the keeper – no shining or glimmer but ordinary to the eye. Why she didn’t recognize his face could be that her tear-filled eyes simply did not look at his face, not expecting this man to be Jesus. Who knows and why would it be important or useful to know, except that we as humans are often blind [insensitive] to Christ like Manoah (Judges 13:16) and at times, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel and many more such as Cleophas and his friend that could not see what Paul saw on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:7) and even the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. We found in Lk 24:15-16 that some doubted the resurrection even though others were led to worship (Mt 28:16-17). Perhaps, what is more useful for us to know is whether we are also spiritually blind [insensitive to Christ] at times? Is He right here to assist but we not only deny, but ignore Him?

Then, two points as far as Jn 20:17 is concerned, (1) Jesus was on His way preparing greater things than carnal (Jn 4:23-24; 14:16-17,26; 16:13-16,23), so even an innocent, joyful and customary (but reverent) embrace by clasping someone’s legs below the knees was then not excluding the possibility that Mary wanted physical proof. Here Jesus was not ascended yet while Thomas was later allowed to verify what he would not believe (Jn 20:26-27). Christ ascending first had to accomplish what He had to as part of God’s unfathomable salvation plan for us, the dispensation thereafter changed for NT followers of Jesus Christ [re-born Christians]. The great statement for us as well thus follows in Jn 20:28-29. Then, (2) Jesus made a distinction between His Father and Mary’s [our] father (as in the analyses of Jn 5:30 above, scrutinizing Dr. Naik’s false suspicion about Jesus’ deity). Jesus has a Father by His nature as part of one triune God while we (Mary) have a Father by His grace alone. Similarly, Jesus also referred to “My God” as Christ not speaking from the throne of glory (Rev 3:2,12; Is 62:2). Compare Mt 6:9 where Jesus is included in the trinity. His human consciousness of God has throughout been unique (Heb 2:9-15); his eternal consciousness of the Father’s love dignified all his human relations with the Father and became the true inspiration of all consciousness of God possessed by his disciples. “He appears in the presence [before the face] of God for us,” (Rom 8:26-27; Heb 4:14-16; 1 Jn 2:1) and so we have access unto one Father and draw near to one God. Nevertheless, he did not say to “our God,” any more than to “our Father” In John 20:17. As pointed out throughout this meditation, is the deity of Jesus Christ not under any suspicion for He allowed people to worship Him as we have seen in even just the paragraph prior to this one referring to Mt 28:16-17 and the section further on highlighting this fact. To summarize this, the fact that Jesus healed people as was prophesied (Mt 11:4-6; Is 35:4-5; 61:1), forgave their sins and allowed people to worship Him, shows His deity, all while simultaneously representing us [perfectly] as man to God (1 Cor 15:45) to pay for all our sins [confessed and repented of, laid down, by us], making Jesus Christ the “Begotten Son” other than us mere mortals that can only be saved by Him. “My God” and “My Father” is indeed different for Jesus Christ than for us even though we have Rom 8:15,17,29-30; Gal 4:6. Ponder Mt 22:43-45 carefully. Jesus is both our beloved Son of Man and beloved Son of God, He is our Triune God and can therefore distinguish between His Father and our Father, His God and our God. Amen?

Note at Jn 14:28b. “For my Father is greater than I” is not Jesus comparing His nature with that of the Father, but his condition. Thus The Father not greater in essence (as Arians and Socinians would have it) for many times have Jesus asserted the contrary. This is not a comparison of natures, or of persons, but of states and conditions: now he was going to the Father to partake of the same happiness and glory with him, to be glorified with himself, with the same glory he had with him before the foundation of the world; wherefore on this account, his disciples ought to have rejoiced, and not have mourned. God the Father begat the Son (see examination above of “The only begotten Son”). The Son proceeded from the Father by eternal generation. Jesus was our Mediator sent by The Father, making Jesus taking the role of a Servant and the true reason for joy must have been because Christ in His glorious state of exaltation would be much more cheerful than he had been in his state of humiliation. As a matter of fact, the Father and Son would come and take up their abode in the loving and obedient heart (Jn 14:23; 2 Tim 1:14; Rev 21:3). But the Lord does more – he bids them not only to dismiss their fear and harassment, but even to “rejoice” – a supposition involving uncertainty with a prospect of decision. Perfect love would cast out fear because He “go to the Father”. Professor Stuart feels that the object of this expression is to console the disciples in view of his absence. This he does by saying that if he goes away, the Holy Spirit will descend, and great success will attend the preaching of the gospel (Jn 16:7-10). In the plan of salvation the Father is represented as giving the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the various blessings of the gospel. As the Appointer, the Giver, the Originator, he may be represented as in office superior to the Son and the Holy Spirit. The discourse has no reference, manifestly, to the nature of Christ, and cannot therefore be adduced to prove that he is not divine. Its whole connection demands that we interpret it as relating solely to the imparting of the blessings connected with redemption, in which the Son is represented all along as having been sent or given, and in this respect as sustaining a relation subordinate to the Father. “Because my Father is greater than I” sounds in fact strange speech from Christ and therefore presuppose a teaching on His part for them to not think He could gain anything by departing to the Father, but His sacrifice as representative of us was for believers. Jesus therefore explicitly said that there was a sense in which He could do so. Thus, this startling explanation seems plainly intended to correct such misapprehensions as might arise from the emphatic and reiterated teaching of His proper equality with the Father. As an Exalted Son of Man, Jesus as a Person of The Godhead were incapable of any accession by transition from this dismal scene. By assuring them that this was not the case, He wanted to make them forget their own sorrow in His approaching joy (2 Cor 9:7).

[True] Christianity is different from all other religions also on this point, that our starter and finisher of our faith is still with us for direction, guidance, help, intercession, etc. every moment of every day [in His Holy Spirit, anointing, Christ in us]. All the other has is a [now] dead foundation member.

The somewhat boring attempts at refuting Jesus’ resurrection (another unique separation in Christianity that proves Jesus’ real deity in overcoming death in a human body), of course only attempt an understanding in terms of naturalism (only accepting humanly observable natural laws). This of course totally excludes the possibility of a supernatural miracle easily done by God.

By the way (pardon the pun, thinking of the via Delarosa), the grave of Joseph of Arimathea was a well-known address (Jn 19:37-42) that could have been disputed as having been used for Jesus’ grave if it were not so. There is no record of any successful disputes regarding the historical accuracy of any of the facts about Jesus Christ surrounding His evidence as being the Messiah (Mt 11:2-6; Lk 1:26-55; 2:25-38; with Gen 49:10; Num 24:17; Is 35:5,6; 61:1), His crucifixion, His resurrection and His ascension.

Logically speaking, can there only be the following options as explanations for the empty grave:

  1. Jesus’ body was stolen by His disciples. So then, eleven scared and uncertain disciples that scattered when He was crucified, somehow managed to get by hardened Roman soldiers and probably Jews observing this grave as well [to prove the prophecy regarding His resurrection would not materialize] and quietly applied an approximate sixty-ton force to break the Caesar’s seal? This in itself would be signing their own death warrant, yet it is nowhere recorded that any of them were prosecuted or suspected of breaking this Roman seal.  They then also found an exact look-alike that could perform miracles with the same Voice.
  2. The Jews took His body and hid it. This makes no sense either, for the Jews would use His body as proof that He did not raise from the dead by displaying it openly.
  3. Jesus tricked everyone by not being dead/buried. If Jesus was merely “swooned” as some critics say, the problems with this attempt at denying Jesus’ death becomes rather feeble at closer examination.  For instance, would He (a) have to make a miraculous recovery after His beating and profuse bleeding in a cold grave without any medical help (just surviving a full embalming would have been impossible if a miracle had not been performed), (b) fooled the experienced Roman soldier who stuck his spear in His side with an unnatural amount of blood and water gushing from His side and by not reacting to this [on its own a fatal wound], (c) in this weakened state escape from within rolling this stone away with about 60 tons of force and then (d) escape past the Roman guard?  He gave His Spirit alright, and his body died. Jews and Romans made sure of it and observed it and recorded it (Jn 19:30-35) and saw His body buried, sealing the grave that was carved from rock.  This grave was a gift from Joseph of Arimathea (Jn 19:37-42).  It was not His own people who had Him crucified!

A few things that happened are recorded in Mt 27:50-60.  We also note the recording of the Jews’ mock hearing of Jesus Christ because (a) the Sanhedrin did not have a quorum, (b) the hearing was after-hours during the night, (c) The Jewish Sanhedrin paid for false witnesses against Jesus (Mt 26; Mk 14:56; Lk 23; Jn 19); and crucified Jesus with their temple police after the Romans declared Jesus not guilty (Jn 19:7,13-18; Acts 2:22 onwards; 3:13-15; 4:1).

  1. It was real. See 1 Cor 15. There were hundreds of eyewitnesses and Jesus’ resurrection was openly confirmed while many had the chance to prove otherwise.  Instead, Jesus appeared to His disciples over 6 weeks at least 11 times and for the next four Sundays after His resurrection He appeared publically where many saw Him preach and witnessed His ascension in fulfillment of the feast of the Pentecost [50 days after His crucifixion].  Also see Mk 16:9-20; Mt 28:11-15; Acts 4:15-20; Jn 21:14-25; and so on.  The mentioning of Jesus’ burial clothes that were found in the empty grave are also fascinating (Jn 20:6-8).  He seems to have transcended through his clothes.  Other prophecies fulfilled are noted below.

The people who suggest that the witnesses were hallucinating are plainly not knowledgeable about this phenomenon. Hallucinations are not contagious and it’s highly unlikely that hundreds of different people all hallucinated and continued to hallucinate for 50 days.

One person who wanted to know what happened was English journalist and skeptic, Frank Morison who began research for a book to prove that Jesus’ resurrection was a myth. However, as he examined the evidence, Morison’s views changed as well as the theme of his book. What was it that changed Morison’s mind as well as his book?

Morison discovered Jesus’ death was verified by both Jewish and Roman historians. Morison then wondered if the disciples had conspired a plot to make it appear Jesus had risen. However, there are three main problems with that theory:

  1. The tomb was secured by a large stone and a 24-hour trained Roman guard. It would have been impossible for the disciples to roll the stone away and remove Jesus’ body without notice.
  2. A resurrection plot would have died out as soon as someone discovered Jesus’ body, yet that never happened. Tom Anderson, former president of the California Trial Lawyers Association, explains, “With an event so well publicized, don’t you think that it’s reasonable that one historian, one eyewitness, one antagonist would record for all time that he had seen Christ’s body? … The silence of history is deafening when it comes to the testimony against the resurrection.”
  3. The disciples changed from being cowards into men who were willing to be tortured and martyred for proclaiming the risen Jesus. Professor J. N. D. Anderson, author of Evidence for the Resurrection, reasons, “Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence – and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication … That simply wouldn’t make sense.”

It was the dramatic transformation in the disciples’ behavior that convinced Morison the resurrection really happened. He writes, “Whoever comes to this problem has sooner or later to confront a fact that cannot be explained away … This fact is that … a profound conviction came to the little group of people – a change that attests to the fact that Jesus had risen from the grave.”

In a reversal of his skepticism, Morison changed the title of his book to, Who Moved the Stone, which documents the evidence that persuaded him the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a true historical event.

Jesus was our Ransom.  He was the once for all Sacrifice that paid for the most horrendous sins of anyone who accept His redeeming offer.  The bigger the sin, the more the grace and forgiveness!  He gives us remission (Heb 10:17, 18) and reconciliation at conversion (2 Cor 5:18;1 John 2:2,4).  His crucifixion and resurrection are historical facts confirmed by the historical writers mentioned above.  Note that, just like 1 Cor 15:4, were these claims preached and published while any protestation to the contrary had all opportunity to disprove these claims. It never happened and so today you have the Bible in more than 1 700 languages as still the world’s bestselling book.  Do a Google search for your own study on any of the reports made by historians.  Jesus Christ is absolutely real.  His life, works and exaltation place every man in front of an eternally important decision (1 Cor 15:12-21; Heb 2:9; Phil 2:9; 3:22; Acts 1:22; 2:31,32; 3:15; 4:2,33; 10:40; Rom 8:11; and so on).

The resurrection of Christ means that He really is the Son of God, the atoning death of Christ is accepted, we have a high priest in heaven who understands us, He was able to send the Holy Spirit to us, our bodies will also be made alive, there is life provided for us that man stooped in religion stubbornly refuse to believe.   There can only be one Jesus.  Jesus is our Savior and Lord.  He sent the Holy Spirit as our Comforter, Teacher, Counselor, Guide and Strength (John 14:16, 26; 2:22; 12:16; 16:13; 1John 2:20, 27).  He made radical claims such as Jn 3:16; 14:6,23-26…. Then Jn 5:37-47; 8:51; 11:26; 12:47-50…

Note that Jesus Christ as Savior, was [is] infinitely more than any human could ever be.  Man has an element of risk involved in a rescue attempt [uncertainty of lasting life after the deed is done].  Consider here the following: Mt 25:34; 26:31-32; Jn 1:1-4; 14:6; 1 Cor 15:45 and so on.  This act of unfathomable Love by our Creator (Col 1:13-20) was His plan to recover what He foresaw we would do to ourselves (Is 5:18-21).  God [Love] does never manipulate!  Contemplate Jn 2:19-21; Acts 7:48; 1 Cor 16:19-20; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 1:3-4; 1 pet 1:20; 2:4-10; Heb 10:5-14…  Jesus followed [perfectly executed] a definite plan (Jn 5:19,30; 8:28; Rom 8:29-39).  Note also, the immense weight in Mt 6:12,14-15; Lk 23:34 (Jn 11:42) with the fact that He rose from the dead [escaped hell with all our sin because He – and only He – had all our sin forgiven as His price paid on our behalf].  The yet tragic fact remains that we as the “church” miss the revelation that Jesus did this out of His righteousness and grace so that we can continue to live as long as He [Life, Jn 1:1-4,17; 3:16-21], dwells within us (Rom 8:11)!  Many “Christians” think the enemy of God is the devil but fail to grasp [believe!] Col 2:15 or see the plural form “enemies” in Heb 1:13; 10:13 and the fact that Jesus is waiting on us to return!!! The enemies of Jesus Christ are all the supposed “church denominations” [people of 1 Jn 2:4]!!!  For a better exegesis on this shocking subject, consider the meditations “Church” part 1 through part 3…

Some critics raise doubt as to the three hour darkness “over all the land” when Jesus was hanging on His cross, at that stage for three hours already (with His mental and spiritual agonies probably at their height), mainly because they say no other outside reference to this can be found than in the three scriptures Mt 27:45; Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44 (even the gospel of John has no reference to it). To this we can argue that (1) the credibility of The Bible is supreme compared to other writings (the meditations “The Bible” and “The four Gospels” refer), and (2) even an eclipse caused by a thick [cumulonimbus]cloud could be a possibility as in Josh 10:12-14 (refer to “Apparent controversies in The Bible”, paragraph 5.3); but it certainly could not have been an ordinary eclipse caused by the moon as the time of Paschal was during full moon and such an eclipse would at any rate only have lasted a few minutes. Nor had it any geophysical connection with the subsequent earthquake (Mt 27:51); however, we will shortly consider the effect of such supernatural events as having an influence on the realization that a most terrible, yet profound thing in history was done. These were no ordinary events, and we can therefore safely assume that these events were supernatural, for how can we fathom the Love of our beloved Creator that came to earth to pay for our sins [confessed, laid down and repented from] to set us free from our self! The historical accuracy of this darkness must be equally true than the death of Jesus, our beloved Lord, our Creator, our Saviour, itself. The lack of gentile reference on record may imply that the darkness was confined to Palestine; but one can also reason that this darkness (used 32 times in the NT as G4655, σκότος, skotos, from the base of G4639); was used to describe shadiness, that is, obscurity (literally or figuratively): – darkness, as in for example, Mt 4:16; 6:23; Jn 3:19; 8:12; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:18-19; 13:12; Eph 6:11; Col 1:13; and so on. In 1 Thess 5:5 night (G3571, νύξ, noox) is used different in meaning as darkness G4655, σκότος in the same sentence. Note at Lk 1:79 that σκότος is used in the same context as Col 1:13 et al. The strongest reproach to this interpretation could be that clearly obscurity in the world history was present outside of those three hours as well. However, the uniqueness of that darkness that fell on the world, or that region of the world, as a form of obscurity or shadiness would be the realization that men had done a horrible thing in crucifying the Son of Man, the Son of God (Mk 15:39). This would fit the account given of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus in Lk 24:13-31 and even the chief Jewish priests that wanted Jesus’ resurrection suppressed and that Jews to this day deny that they crucified the Messiah (Mt 28:11-15; Acts 5:30-33; 7:51-54).

Poignantly, the ninth hour (Mt 27:45) was about the time of the evening sacrifice.

His Name

Jewish people say that our Lord Jesus’ real Hebrew name is Yeshua. If it is true, then why are people worshiping him in the wrong name?

Some religious movements have argued that we worship the wrong Savior if we do not call him by his Hebrew name, Yeshua.  It is correct saying Yeshua is the Hebrew name for the Lord. It means “Yahweh [the Lord] is Salvation.” The English spelling of Yeshua is “Joshua.” However, when translated from Hebrew into the Greek language, the name Yeshua becomes Iēsous. The English spelling for Iēsous is “Jesus.”   Basically, what this means is Joshua and Jesus are the same name. One is translated from Hebrew into English, the other from Greek into English. It is also interesting to note, the names “Joshua” and “Isaiah” are essentially the same names as Yeshua in Hebrew. They mean “Savior” and “the salvation of the Lord.”

GotQuestions.org gives this practical illustration:

In German, our English word for book is “buch.” In Spanish, it becomes a “libro;” in French, a “livre.” The language changes, but the object itself does not. In the same way, we can refer to Jesus as “Jesus,” “Yeshua,” or “YehSou” (Cantonese), without changing His nature. In any language, His name means “the Lord is Salvation.”

Those who argue and insist we call Jesus by his correct name, Yeshua, are concerning themselves with trivial, non-essential matters. English speakers call him Jesus, with a “J” that sounds like “gee.” Portuguese speakers call him Jesus, but with a “J” that sounds like “sjeh,” and Spanish speakers call him Jesus, with a “J” that sounds like “hey.” Which one of these pronunciations is the correct one? All of them, of course, in their own language.

The Bible doesn’t give pre-eminence to one language (or translation) over another. We are not commanded to call upon the name of the Lord in Hebrew only. Acts 2:21 says, “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” God knows who calls upon his name, whether they do so in English, Portuguese, Spanish, or Hebrew. In fact, God knows whoever calls Him even by His Jewish name in falsity – Mt 7:21-23 (even Rev 2:9; 3:9; Rom 9:8,25-26)!  But He is still the same Lord and Savior. What is of vital importance, however, is to know who He [Jesus, God] is and who He is not (1 Jn 2:4; Jn 14:6) …  See the meditation “The Gospel” for more on this subject.  And for those claiming to have a “simple” faith, remember that Satan also believes Jesus is God and resurrected from the dead (Js 2:19-26) …

APPENDIX C expands on the etymology of the name. For our purposes, the original reference was in Aramaic: Joshua (Mt 1:21, translated “Iēsous” in Greek“and Jesus” in English).  It means “Savior, Redeemer”, of whom Joshua (Josh 1:1-3) was a foreshadow (prophecy) – Heb 9:8-10:23. It might be enlightening to contemplate Gen 49:10 with the statement that “… the sceptre will be with Judah until Shiloh [The Messiah, the Peaceful One] comes to Whom it belongs, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.”  (Emphasis mine; consider also 1 Tim 2:5; and Num 24:17 and Ps 60:7 with Gal 3:19. Read the meditation “Israel-Racism” by the author).  Now contemplate Ez 21:27; Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:45 with Gen 1:26-28 and Mt 11:27; 28:18 with Phil 4:13. Do you get it? This is why the Bible have claims such as Mt 11:27-30; 28:18; Jn 14:10-15; Phil 2:9; Col 3:15-18; Rev 2:13; 3:8,12; 14:1.

Jesus means Savior, the One who rescues from sin, who has taken the full punishment for sin by suffering physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and dying on the cross, by shedding or pouring out His blood and, thus, giving His lifeThe Lord means Jesus Christ is the Master and Ruler [maximum authority] of those who accept Him as Savior, as Son of God and what He did for us on the cross – He took the place of execution for those who will accept [believe] Him because He is Love and will never manipulate.  He is our King of Kings and should be allowed full authority over our lives.  Jesus Christ is the only way to God – John 14:6; 15:13; Acts 4:12; 15:11; 20:28. Important points from these Scriptures are that Jesus Christ is the only way and the one Name by which we are able to come to the Father.  This one way, Jesus Christ, leads to salvation, now and forever.  His blood was the purchase price.  Grace means God gives us what we do not deserve.  His miracle-working power has been made available for our salvation.  Love in its greatest form, lay down His life for His friends (still His enemies then!), indicating the cost of salvation for us.

(See pages 5 onwards in the meditation “The Jehovah’s Witnesses” and “Trinity Doctrine” by the author for a little deeper exegesis on this subject).

Christ” is not a surname, but rather a title, “Messiah” in Hebrew, meaning “anointed”. Christ means the one chosen and singled out to be anointed and equipped to do the task; the one who has the approval to give [in righteousness and grace] Life that lasts forever (Study “The Testimony” by the author).

So, when someone appeared on your doorstep after a long travel through a harsh and barren landscape, you had the polite [affable and gracious] opportunity to welcome this person by anointing him. To anoint [oil] has a symbolic value while, physically, it could at least achieve three purposes: (1) Give a pleasant aroma [make acceptable]; (2) Heal (medicinal value for cuts on skin); (3) Give flexibility [elasticity, pliability, resilience] and relief to a dry and sunburnt skin. Contemplate these properties and meanings and it is easy to see the analogy and symbolical meaning.  The anointed of God is ultimately only in the only One Who’s right it is (Ezek 21:27) – that leads to the authority God intended for us on earth (1 Cor 15:26)!!!  Follow a trace of anointing just in 1 Sam 2:10; 24:6; 2 Sam 22:51; 1 Chron 16:22; Ps 2:2,6; Jn 16:9; 14:26; 1 Jn 2:27-28 and get to Dan 9:25.  Then read Jn 1:1-4, 6:48-51; 11:26; 16:9 with the meditation called “The Testimony” by this author, if you will.  What a shame for NT “believers” to miss how Mt 19:26; Lk 1:37 connect to Heb 11:6; Gal 6:7-8 and Jn 5:37-47; 8:51; 11:26; Rom 8:2; 1 Thess 5:23…  Yes, that anointing is available (Rom 13:14) only through the one and only Way [one Jesus, one Savior] and one Anointed [Messiah, Christ, power, life everlasting] – Jn 3:16; 14:6. But, alas, have we been given a response+ability that we, in our conceited and bloated self-righteousness (religion) fail to see as our full authority + inheritance on earth!  The “merit” in Heb 11:6 is a result of our own action [choice/will, given by our Source of Love]. There is in all eternity no name above that of Jesus Christ – whatever language you choose.

Again, I know my Father-Creator-God is fluent in [and have all knowledge of] all languages, so I have no problem in calling my Savior and Light, Life and the only Way, in English, Jesus Christ.

How logical is this belief in Jesus Christ?

For those set in the argument that Jesus is a fallacy, the following might be a consideration:

There are numerous religions all across the globe; but there is only one saving Faith based on a relationship with a God that is a Person (only one claims to have a Savior and His Spirit residing in them who follow Him), the rest have rules/laws by which they attempt to save themselves.  Religion consists of rules, ceremonies, and tradition whilst faith speaks of trust and fellowship – a relationship/real dialogue.  Only Christianity offers the answer to overcoming evil with an internal locus of control.  All other religions rely on an external locus of control with things such as fate, luck, certain influential people, rituals, ceremonies, empty monologues of croons or chimes.  A true Christian in contrast has an internal locus of control that is the Person that is God the Creator, Savior and Redeemer, Guide, Counsellor, Advocate, Friend – the Christian’s inner conviction has its origin in Christ… His Faith, His Love, His Life, His Person inside, the more I do this the more His image will be revealed in my life.  I therefore need not try to conquer my weaknesses and desire towards wrong in my own strength, but by concentrating on my personal relationship with the living Jesus Christ Who paid for all our sin and resides through His Spirit inside Who then strengthens me.

Study the meditations by the author entitled “Covenant and Law” and “Mixing Old and New”, if you will.

There are, logically speaking, limited options and therefore only one choice between these few.

  • Jesus is a myth. Too much well documented evidence exists.  Also, today the supernatural healings in His Name – the author’s own son was certainly saved from death because of life spoken in Jesus’ Name.  Contact the author on jannie@bygracealone.co.za.
  • Jesus lived but was a fraud. If He were a liar, He would not be resurrected from the dead and if this was not so, all civilizations are mad to base all morality and constitutions on what Jesus Christ taught and Unbelievers are up against evidence impossible to refute or ignore. Let’s get our facts right and stop repeating like a parrot the ignorance of others.
  • Jesus lived, was honest, but demented, thinking He was God. Again, if Jesus was demented, so are all the civilized people following His morals today. They would still be drinking blood, be cannibals, woman would still be regarded inferior (Jesus changed that!).
  • Jesus was exactly who He claimed He is.

Any human brazen enough to challenge the Source of creativity, intellect, logic, righteousness, holiness, etc., must at the very least acknowledge the weight of all the overwhelming evidence.

Prophecies Jesus Christ fulfilled

 The apostle Paul placed above the eyewitnesses to Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor 15:1-8), the more than 300 prophecies Jesus fulfilled – Rom 16:25-27; Rev 19:10; Jn 5:39,46,47.

Paul used to be Saul, a Pharisee, prior to his re-born experience on the way to Damascus (Acts 26) with the intent to wipe out this new “Christian sect” for good! (Jn 16:1-3).

Anyone arguing against the fact that Jesus has fulfilled all the OT prophecies regarding the [then] coming Savior, must be fair in this reasoning:  taken on its own, a single fulfilment can be argued; but when all prophecies have the claim and possibility of fulfilment all taken together, the evidence is too strong to ignore!  The question is why one would resist such overwhelming evidence, except in pride and self-righteousness – the very things that sets humans up against the very God they claim to trust [believe, follow]!  Anyone rejecting God’s salvation plan, is unsaved (Rom 9).  This plan is called Jesus Christ.  The meditation by this author entitled “Israel-Racism” expands on this point.  See the reference in Scripture regarding “a stiff-necked people” who claim to believe [merely in] God, while they refuse to accept His salvation plan for all who accept!

(Ex 32:9; 33:3,5; 34:9; Acts 7:51; Rom 9:1-8,25-27…)

Anyone who thinks his own DNA from his [own] forefathers can save him by means of his own lineage is in for a surprise (Jn 14:6)! It is the Blood of the Lamb of God alone that was sacrificed on that final feast (Day of Atonement) about 2 000 years ago!  His Name is Jesus Christ.  You might be waiting for something that has happened long ago.  Don’t be retarded and unsaved by unbelief!

Poignant also, is it to note that Barabbas (Mt 27:16-26; Mk 15:7-15; Lk 23:18; Jn 18:38-40), is called “The son of Father” in Greek.  Barabbas is described in the Greek lexicon as Βαραββᾶς (G912), an Israelite of Chaldean origin that means son of Abba; Bar-abbas, an Israelite.  In Hebrew, we then find H1347, גּאון, gâ’ôn from H1342; the same as H1346: – arrogancy, excellency, majesty, but also pomp, pride, proud, that hints at self-righteousness.  The point is that Barabbas essentially had the same name as Joshua Messiah [Jesus] that compared to Jushua bar abba – both the son of the Father.  In Jewish tradition one would then be used as a scapegoat for the other on the Day of Atonement. Both identical (similar, representative and in effect thus transferred unto the other) so that one can pay for the other.  The one “becomes” the other as Jesus became Man to represent us.  So, Jesus specifically took our sin just as He was the atonement for Barabbas specifically, (also a son of the Father, representing us each in person).  Note however, in the meditations “The will of man, the will of God” and “Apparent controversies in The Bible”, that an exegesis is offered of how God did/does not make an innocent man [Barabbas] to become bad for His purposes, but that He just foresaw that Barabbas would be yet another symbolical example (as Isaac for Ishmael, for us really, in Gen 22).  And that that was the perfect time to pay [atone] for us all individually on His cross at Golgotha.  This is expanded on in the meditation “The Gospel”.

Answer this:  what on earth can a future saviour fulfil more than what Jesus Christ has already done?

Remember that the peace Jesus brought is between man and God, not between men/nations!

(Is 9:6,7; Lk 2:14; Mt 10:34!; Jn 14:26,27; 15:18-24; 16:33; Phil 4:6-9; Col 3:15; Rom 5:1; 8:6-14; 1 Cor 1:18-2:8; 7:15; Eph 2:14,15; 1 Tim 2:5; Acts 4:12; and so on).

 Luke 24:26,27 alone points at least to the following:

Genesis 3:15; 12:3; 22:18; 49:10

Numbers 21:9; 24:17

Deuteronomy 18:15,18,19

2 Samuel 7:12-14

Psalm 2; 16:10; 22 (verses 1 and 31 were uttered by Jesus on the cross, also saying Ps 22 is fulfilled [finished].  Verse 16 described a crucifixion 1 000 years prior to its invention by the Romans[1]); Psalm 34:20; 78:2; 69:9,21,23; 89:34-37; 110:1

Proverbs 11:30

Isaiah 7:14; 8:14; 9:1-7; 11;12; 28:16; 40:10-31; 42:1; 50:6; 52:13-53:12; 61:1; 63:1-6

Jeremiah 23:5,6; 33:14-16

Ezekiel 21:27; 34:2-6,23; 37:25

Daniel 9:24-27

Hosea 11:1

Jonah 1:17

Micah 5:1,2

Zechariah 9:9; 11:12,13; 12:10; 13:7

Malachi 3:1; 4:2

In the book “The New Evidence That demands a Verdict” by Josh McDowell, in the section entitled “Credentials of Jesus as the Messiah through fulfilled prophecy”, p.168 – 198, it is shown convincingly how at least 61 prophecies are fulfilled by Jesus Christ and that the probability of Jesus being the [only] one to fulfil all those prophecies are at least 1 x 10151.  But if you add the prophecy of Dan 9:27 fulfilled also in Acts 7:56 with what was fulfilled in the 3.5 years from Jn 1:29-36,51 to Jn 19:30 and the 3.5 years from Jn 19:30 to Acts 7:56 [7 years from Jn 1:51 to Acts 7:56]; with the possibility that Jesus was “sold” for a woman slaves’ cost (probably to pay for His Bride, the Church and not Himself), you’ll get a figure of probability closer to 1 x 10181.  (This means a one with 181 noughts behind it)!  It is such an overwhelming probability that it can be said in plain language to be absolutely absurd to claim that Jesus of Nazareth of the New Testament is not this very Messiah. No other religious leader can even remotely compare to the Biblical prophecies fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Note at Is 7:14. The prophecy regarding the virgin birth of Jesus is fulfilled as recorded in Matthew 1:18,24,25; Lk 1:26-35.  The word “virgin” in Hebrew is denoted by the two words (a) bethulah (a virgin maiden as in Gen 24:16; Lev 21:13; Dt 22:14,23,28; Judges 11:37; 1 Ki 1:2); and (b) almah (veiled), a young woman of marriageable age. Almah is used in Is 7:14, possibly because Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16,17) “… wanted to convey both the idea of virginity and marriageable age combined in one word to meet the immediate historical situation and the prophetic aspect centering in a virgin-born Messiah” (Unger, UBD, 1159).  “Virgin” in Greek is denoted by the word parthenos (Mt 1:23; 25:1,7,11; Lk 1:27; Acts 21:9; 1 Cor 7:25,28,33; 2 Cor 11:2).  Translators of the Septuagint translated Is 7:14 into parthenos. Note also, that Jesus’ virgin-birth was recorded by the medical doctor Luke in Lk 1:26-35.  For more information and your own research on fulfilled prophecies, feel free to Google.

It is also noteworthy to point out that no psychic has ever been even vaguely close to Biblical prophetic standards.  So little as one false prophecy by an OT prophet would have him stoned to death while the best the world could present was presumably Nostradamus (who made a lot of false predictions and who did not even foresee a number of radical historic events.  Most of his “true” predictions were very vague and lacked specifics such as seen in the Biblical prophecies – much like “horoscopes” today – and filled in by others post-mortem in retrospect with desperation to mystify their false claims).  Psychics collectively have proved to score around 8% accuracy while Biblical prophets had 100% of their prophecies fulfilled.

But there is more!

You will notice that Jesus had (has) this way of revealing parrots that are merely talking about Him with no real personal dialogue with Him, that are unable to sensibly and plainly explain what He said in Scriptures such as Mt 6:13 (Js 1:13-14); Mt 17:17-21 (Js 4:7); Lk 16:1-8; and so on…

Note on Mt 6:13. Check where you are, Adam.  Are you challenging God to explain out of suspicion of His character and nature [redeem Himself before you], or to know Him better (Js 1:5)?  If you believe that He as a Person really indwells you, and you know that He can never be a murderer, thief, liar, manipulator, etc.; you will realize that He guides you when you allow Him to (Jn 4:24; 14:23-27; Rom 8:14; 1 Cor 6:14-20), and then from where you are.  So don’t you go where it would be necessary for Him to lead you from a bad place where you should not have been…

Note on Mt 17:21. This verse does not appear in all old manuscripts.  Nevertheless, verse 17-20 reveals a short burst of faith, not an insufficient amount of faith.  We all received the same ability/capacity to trust God (believe) by faith (Rom 12:3, even Lk 17:6).  The degree by which we return this gift of faith, is called “believe”.  This varies greatly between individuals – not only in value [amount, degree] but in duration.  So what Jesus was referring to by His words of “…Ye of little faith…” was probably a referral to a short burst of faith.  Note the situation when Peter started walking on water but then allowed a second thought to start him sinking (Mt 14:28-31; Jm 1:6-8) …

Note on Lk 16:1-8.  See # 26 in the meditation called “Apparent Controversies in the Bible” by the author.  In short, and in context, was Jesus asking how it is that the wicked can use a wicked system to their advantage while we [His followers?] are unable to use His Kingdom principles to our advantage?  We claim to be all wise and informed but still misunderstand grace and self-righteousness.  We scoff at and reject everlasting Life and instead cling stubbornly to mere after life!  Jesus was not commending [approving] dishonesty [wickedness, self-righteousness]; Jesus was probably asking about the unnecessary and amazing stupidity of the “sons of Light” (Jn 1:4,11-13; 3:18-21).  Study the meditation “The Testimony” by the author, if you will [if you dare].

Revelation by God’s Spirit (Jn 14:23-27)

There is, however, typically more than black letters on white meditation.  This confirms Scriptures such as Jn 4:24; Is 55:8-11; 2 Tim 3:16; and so on.  As an example, might you wonder why the prophecy that Jesus would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver ( Zech 11:13) was fulfilled (Mt 26:14,15; 27:3-10) while the scribes knew that it would be very unusual for a male (usually sold for 20 pieces – Gen 37:28), to be sold for the price that female slaves fetched (they probably fetched more – typically thirty pieces – because she could bear more slaves.  Ex 22:32 can mean (a) the higher price of the male and the female “maid servant” – v. 32; or (b) 20 pieces of silver for the male slave + 10 pieces for the ox. This reveals a deeper secret in God’s omniscience… what if Jesus were sold for a female slave’s price because He paid not for Himself (Heb 4:15-16; 9:10-18…) but for His Bride (Jn 3:3,29; Eph 5:28-32; Rev 21:2,3,9,10,27).  Now see 1 Pet 2:4-10; Eph 1:18-23; 2:4-9,13-3:7,15-21…

See what Jesus (of John 1:1-3,14,17; Col 1:13-21) have to say in Jn 5:39, 46,47 (1 Cor 10:4; Ex 17:6; Num 20:11).  Then there is Balaam who, after opening his heart, saw Num 24:17, about 1 050 years before Jesus was born into the world (Phil 2:15).

Actually, as one, unfolding, progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, we see the Bible revealing more than one might originally have thought.  Look for example at the Bread of Life (Jn 6:32-36, 48-50) and the fact that He was born in Bethlehem that means “The place of bread” and again, ancient prophecies such as Ex 16:15; Neh 9:15; Ps 78:24. Now see Rev 2:17.

Note at Lk 15.  Read verse two carefully, then note the “So He told this parable…” in verse three. This is later to be part of the revelation in our church history noted in Acts 10:10-17 and Eph 3:1-7.  We observe Lk 15 then in three parts where (a) a sheep is lost outside in vs. 4-7; (b) a silver coin is lost inside the house in vs. 8-10; and (c) a son went lost and then decided to go back to his father.

As for (a), we can read Jn 10.  As for (b), a person can be lost while heating a pew every Sabbath or Sunday inside [what he might consider as] church when there is no lasting and continual personal relationship with Christ, just like those of Rom 9:6-8,25-33 or Lk 18:9-14 (Is 64:6; Phil 3:9; Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12). But then we get to part three (c).  Here we observe that Jesus taught on a son that left his Father’s house and squandered his portion (v. 13) in reckless and loose living; and forced himself on people like a useless beggar (v. 15); to this behaviour our Lord and Savior could never be guilty!  But careful observation will show that Jesus has probably told all of His parables with reference to what He had observed and sometimes even experienced!  (Think about the Samaritan on the road to Damascus, and so on). We are soon to see a connection to Mt 21:23-46 and Gal 4:21-31; Jn 5:37-47; Rom 9:7-16,23-27; thus Jn 1:9-13,16,17; 3:17-21.  Note also, that to “squander” a portion, could include “wasting” it on useless things – see Rom 3:20-28.  None could be such a useless endeavor as a man’s own attempts to be [achieve] his own righteousness before God, hence Paul’s statement in Phil 3:9; and Jesus in Jn 3:16-21; 14:6.

Then the question at Mt 3:14 emerges: what could Jesus possibly have repented from (Acts 19:2,3; Heb 2:8-18; 9:8-14)?  Only one thing, that Jesus turned from Law to His Father (Jn 5:19; Gal 3:19), even though Jesus never ate from that tree, was He a bar-mitsvâh.  God used angels (Acts 7:38,53; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2) to deliver the Law because of man’s stubborn persistence in self-righteousness [religion] on this planet He gave to us.  Men wanted a king (1 Sam 8), men wanted religion (rules, ceremony, tradition), men want structures with men in charge (Acts 7:48; Eph 1:22; 4:5; Gal 5:20?); men wanted more than one wife simultaneously (Gen 2:24; Mt 5:27,28) … So quite possibly could Jesus also have had in mind His days [18 years] studying the Law up to the point that He decided to get up and have Himself Baptized [submitted with an outward sign of His internal decision and total faithfulness and commitment] so that all righteousness could be fulfilled (Mt 3:15; Heb 5:11- 6:5)!  This is God’s mature Son! Jesus had a task to fulfil since before the foundation of the world and could still very possibly [later] have experienced a “Father with open arms” on the other side of His cross and sadly also compare the jealousy and blind pride of self-righteous Israelites/Jews – even the religious and many false preachers today – claiming salvation on the basis of their own lineage and good works and futile attempts at following a Law (Rom 3:20-28; Gal5:4,18)!

We (1) observe that the oldest (first born like Ishmael) is often of human intervention [out of distrust] and not recognized by God as the promised child (Is 55:8-11) and that God recognizes His stars from above (Gen 26:3-5,24 and note Gal 3:17 with Gal 3:14-19,29; Ps 8; Phil 2:15; Mt 5:14; Num 24:17) over the dust (Gen 22:17).  The devil eats the dust [religious, earth-bound, self-righteous that want laws, ceremonies and tradition – Mk 7:13; 12:24] of the earth (Gen 3:14; Lk 10:5-12; Acts 13:51,52). Even Esau thought little enough of his position to sell it for red soup (Gen 25:32; Is 1:18).  Then, (2) do us find the law in Dt 21:15-17 that is reflected in Lk 15:12 that points out that that father’s inheritance was divided between both sons.  Both got their share, but the first born seemed to have forgotten that in vs. 29,30.  Even though, in staying on with his father with his paid-out lot, in effect probably had double (Dt 21:17).  Observe here in comparison, the first Adam vs. The second [last] Adam (Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:45) and only two kinds of righteousness (Phil 3:9).

So, because Ishmael was not the child of promise but Isaac; do we instead of Abraham, Isaac and Esau, find later reference to the OT God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Likewise did the Jews [as a nation/people] reject Jesus but gentiles [also] became His Church/City/Bride [together with believing Jews, hence “whosoever”].   Us today have a Father (Rom 8:14-17) but only in Christ (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12; Jn 15:1-5).  Note that the “world” that Jn 17:9 refers to is the religious self-righteous play-acting that Jesus is not King of but that He came for-, and so loved the world [anyone who believes in Him as Savior, Jn 3:15,16] …  These are two “worlds” apart.  The end of the “world” Jesus was crucified at (Heb 9:26) signifies the Law-world as a means of trying to obtain righteousness by own good works, hence Gal 3:14,16,19,29; 5:4,18; Heb 8:1; etc.  The other “world” includes all.  Study the meditations “Mixing Old and New” and “Israel-racism” by this author for a better exegesis, if you will.

We must see that God as a Perfect Father wants children (sons like Eph 4:12-15) in a close relationship; hence a son Adam and a Savior-Son Jesus with all who – in Christ – follow His Spirit inside of us – not Moses or self, Jn 9:28, or any other man (Lk 14:26,27).

But as Love, God will never manipulate, so the first Adam gave God’s sons’ authority (Gen 1:26-28) away to one that compares to beasts (a beast has no spirit that is God-conscious, only a soul that is self-conscious and a body; Gen 3:1).  Since then, men seem to want a king or human leader for themselves as opposed to Jesus as King (God as a Father) in a personal relationship.  Even today mankind, 2 000 years AD, go to men and wants to go through [certain] men and not directly to God Himself (Heb 4:16; Jn 14:23-26; 15:1-27?).  Note, for example, at a marriage reception how a master of ceremonies will typically apologize to the minister/pastor present for a vulgar joke but totally neglect to say, “Sorry Jesus” (or apply Rom 12:1-2,9)! This proves that Jesus Christ is not real to any of the so-called Christians there [that is ignoring 2 Tim 1:7; 4:2; Rom 1:16; Mt 12:31-37].

More about Jesus Christ should be evident in serious study of the different meditations on this website, but mostly by your own personal dialogue with Him (Jn 10:27, 28).  You might also find # 24 in the meditation “Apparent controversies in the Bible” enlightening.

Epilogue

Suffice for now to realize the enormity in Jn 1:1-4,12-14,17; 3:16-21; 5:37-47; 6:48-50; 11:26; and Col 1:13-17; Eph 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3-16…  Are we as NT Christians waiting on God [to act] or is He waiting on us to start living out the authority He won back for us as Son of Man 2 000 years ago?

(Heb 10:13; Rom 8:19-22)

May we know and experience 1 Thess 5:23 because we know and follow Christ continually…

May we know and demonstrate Jn 10:27,28…

Amen

APPENDIX A

                                                                             

                                                               Jesus’ genealogy[2]

 

Note at the Amplified Bible’s commentary [k] on Gen 5:28-31.  This comment makes the sorry claim of doubt due to intentional gaps in these genealogies (such as the three kings Ahaziah, Jehoash, and Amaziah omitted in Mt 1:8 indicating that Joram begat Uzziah, who was his great-great-grandson); and deduct from this that compressed genealogies has been misleading; and then reach the disappointing supposition that OT events are [all] “… altogether speculative and relative, and the tendency is to put them farther and farther back into antiquity.” (sic)

Meanwhile, we can safely assume that at least the four genealogies given in The Bible in Gen 5:3-32; 11:10-32; Mt 1:1-17 and Lk 3:23-36 were for different purposes (Gen 12:1; Heb 11:8-10). Omissions are known because the information is found in The Bible (Refer to the meditation “Apparent controversies in The Bible”)!

The two genealogies in the Gospels, for instance, are probably one physical, and one legal. The genealogy in Matthew is from Abraham to Jesus while Luke traces Jesus’ ancestry from Jesus all the way back to Adam. The genealogies are the same from Abraham to David, but from David to Jesus, they are following different paths. Both these genealogies were accepted by the early church despite their apparent differences, which is proof enough of their accuracy. The answer appears to be that Matthew traces David’s line through Solomon (Mt. 1:6), while Luke traces the royal lineage through Nathan, another son of David (Lk. 3:31; 2 Sam. 5:14). This would by-pass the curse on Jechonias’ seed listed in Jeremiah 22:24-30. The justification for two genealogies is that Matthew records Joseph’s line as a Levi, focusing on Jesus’ Messiahship, presenting Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  Thus, Matthew traces the legal line (as a Jew would) through David, then through Solomon to Joseph (the legal father of Jesus).  This while Luke as a physician focuses on Jesus’ humanity and presents Jesus as the Son of Man through the records of Mary’s line. Luke does say Joseph was the son of Heli, which would appear that Luke is also tracing Joseph’s lineage, but that would not have to be the case. There is Scriptural precedent for a man’s first son to be reckoned to the mother’s genealogy if her father had no sons (Num. 27:1-11 and 36:1-12 with Ruth 4:6) and the daughter married within her tribe.  Heli was Mary’s father and she married Joseph from the tribe of Judah (Mary apparently had no brothers).  This could explain the substitution of Joseph’s name for Mary’s in Luke’s account. This is especially appropriate since Jesus was the Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), not the seed of man – see Paul’s explanation in Gal 3:16.

Also noteworthy is that Mathew 1:1 refers to Jesus’ generation (singular, not plural), saying Jesus is the son of David, who is the son of Abraham!  Then in v 17 Matthew refers those generations (plural), as if revealing God’s perspective on His overall plan – He needed an Abraham… then a David…  then Christ Jesus (Anointed Savior).  So, if you, like all those peripherals, fall in between such men of God, just trust God’s promises and praise & glorify Him, ruling here on earth with Him in this kingdom.

Note at Mt. 1:5: It is interesting to note that it was not customary to mention women in a genealogy (1 Chr 1), and yet there are four women mentioned in this genealogy: Thamar (Tamar), Rachab (Rahab), Ruth, and Bathsheba (Mt 1:6 – “of her that had been the wife of Urias”). Tamar committed incest with her father-in-law, Judah (Gen 38:25-26). Rahab was a harlot who aided the Israeli spies at Jericho (Josh 2:1). Bathsheba committed adultery with King David (2 Sam 11:2-5). Only Ruth was a “virtuous woman” (Ruth 3:11). Luke does not record any women in his genealogy.

So, Mathew gives the decent of Joseph and Luke that of Mary.  Mathew traces Jesus’ genealogy back through David to Abraham for Jews that would only accept the Messiah if through the promised line of descendants (Ps 132:11; Is 11:1; and so on).  Luke trace Jesus to Adam to show the perfect Savior Who came to seek and find the lost (Lk 19:10).   Note how amazing revelations are also hidden in these genealogies.  For example, Mt 1:6, mentioning Uriah seemingly out of place and context, but actually showing how God honours loyalty (2 Sam 11:11).  Some names are omitted, others mentioned, even numerical patterns, all for a specific purpose. Note at Mt. 1:8: Three kings are left out between Jehoram and Ozias (or Uzziah); Ahaziah (2 Kings 8:25-26), Jehoash (2 Kings 12:1), and Amaziah (2 Kings 14:1-2). Note at Mt. 1:17: The reigns of three kings have been omitted to make these three equal segments of fourteen. This was done in Old Testament genealogies (1 Chr. 1-9). Some kings’ periods of reign also overlapped, as generally each city had a king.  For this reason, it is very difficult [inaccurate], to determine a time span by merely adding up the different kings’ times of reign, without careful examination.

Let’s move on

The chronology with the most widely accepted date for the division of the kingdom, is 931 BC. However, this date is by no means universally accepted. Some date the schism as early as 976 BC. However, 99% of Bible historians date Solomon’s death within a few years of 931 BC. This division of the kingdom was probably 935 BC. Because of the uncertain nature of the exact time of that kingdom’s split we will start this chronological reckoning using a far more certain date, one that all historians and Bible scholars accept as being accurate – the date of Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon. Historians have absolutely no doubt that Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon in either 587 or 586 BC. The debate only involves a matter of one year. Most reference works cite the date 586 BC which Edwin R. Thiele also preferred, the scholar who popularized the 931 BC date for the division of the kingdom. So, we’ll use the date 586 BC for Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon to start off.
– The Bible tells us Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem began two years earlier. (2 Kings 25:1,2) Thus the       siege began in 588 BC.
– Ezek. 4:1-5 indicates that Solomon’s 40th year, at which time Jeroboam began “the sin of the house of Israel,” took place in the 390th year before Babylon besieged Jerusalem. (This is not to say that the kingdom was divided at that time. The Bible tells us that after Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon he fled to Egypt and remained there for an unmentioned period of time until after Solomon’s death. – 1 Kings 11:40) So we add 389 (“390th” = 389 years had passed) years to 588 BC and we arrive at 977 BC as Solomon’s 40th year.
– If 977 BC was Solomon’s 40th year than 1016 BC was his 1st year.
– If 1016 BC was Solomon’s 1st year then 1013 BC was his 4th year, in which we are told Solomon began to build his[3] temple for God (1 Kings 6:1).
– 1 Kings 6:1 equates the 4th year of Solomon with “the 480th year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt.” This verse says “the 480th year” not “480 years.” Thus, we add 479 years to 1013 BC and we come to 1492 BC as the year the Jewish civil year began in which the Exodus occurred.
– As discussed earlier, Gal. 3:16,17 tells us that God’s promises to Abraham were given 430 years before the Law was given. 430 years before 1492 BC brings us to 1922 BC as the year in which Abraham left Haran, entered Canaan and then received God’s promises (Gen:12:1-7)
– Abraham left Haran when his father Terah died at age 205. (Gen. 11:32) Thus we can date Terah’s birth 205 years before the year 1922 BC. That would be in 2127 BC.
– Gen. 11:24 tells us Nahor was born 29 years before Terah. That was in 2156 BC

  • 11:22 says Serug was born 30 years before Nahor. Thus 2186 BC.
  • 11:20 says Reu was born 32 years before Serug. Thus 2218 BC.
  • 11:18 says Peleg was born 30 years before Reu. Thus 2248 BC.
  • 11:16 says Eber was born 34 years before Peleg. Thus 2282 BC.
  • 11:14 says Shelah was born 30 years before Eber. Thus 2312 BC.
  • 11:12 says Arphaxad was born 35 years before Shelah. Thus 2347 BC.
  • 11:10 says Arphaxad was born two years after the flood. So the flood began in 2349 BC.
  • 7:6 tells us that, “Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters came on the earth.” That puts Noah’s birth 600 years before 2349 BC, in 2949 BC.
  • 5:28 tells us that Noah’s father Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born. That tells us Lamech was born in 3131 BC.
  • 5:25 tells us that Lamech’s father Methuselah was 187 years old when Lamech was born. So Methuselah was born in 3318 BC.
  • 5:21 tells us that Methuselah’s father Enoch was 65 years old when Methuselah was born. That tells us Enoch was born in 3383 BC.
  • 5:18 tells us that Enoch’s father Jared was 162 years old when Enoch was born. So Jared was born in 3545 BC.
  • 5:15 tells us that Jared’s father Mahalalel was 65 years old when Jared was born. That tells us Mahalalel was born in 3610 BC.
  • 5:12 tells us that Mahalalel’s father Cainan (aka Kenan) was 70 years old when Mahalalel was born. In other words, Cainan was born in 3680 BC.
  • 5:9 tells us that Cainan’s father Enosh was 90 years old when Cainan was born. And so Enosh was born in 3770 BC.
  • 5:6 tells us that Enosh’s father Seth was 105 years old when Enosh was born, that means Seth was born in 3875 BC.
  • 5:3 tells us that Seth’s father Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born. So that this means that Adam was created in 4005 BC, that gives us 4,000 years from Adam to Christ[4].

And yes, the creation [with no human death prior to Adam[5]] was six days prior to Adam!  Yes, most “scientists” are ignoring God’s Word as Truth, even the flood in Noah’s time!  You might find Christian creationist’s websites – showing a young earth and cosmos – enlightening.

“Universe” is a compilation of “uni” (one) + “verse” (spoken sentence).  Thus, “universe” means “One spoken sentence”. Now read Genesis 1-2.  God’s grace and peace to you.

 

APPENDIX B

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR A YOUNG WORLD

If we are “scientific” (examine facts and real observations that are repeatable by experiment), why not give scientists who believe in a young world an honest chance to explain the “clocks” they base this observation on?  The reader will most likely be utterly shocked to find that hard scientific evidence for a young world abounds overwhelmingly while those obstinately claiming only very long periods (more than 10 000 years) base this mostly on pre-disposed assumptions!  It is understandable that one would want to grab at assumptions that would “prove” the Bible wrong if you want to not be accountable to a Creator but only to yourself – if you choose to accept only that you have merely developed by chance from slime – a ridiculous scientific improbability. Examine for once, true facts.

On your own, dare to honestly and carefully peruse www.trueorigin.org to debunk Darwinism, Neo-Darwinism and dispensationalism once for all.  Also see “It’s a young world after all” by Paul D. Ackerman in  www.creationism.org/ackerman/. Do it “scientifically” – that is, not with pretence or a pre-determined idea but with an open mind that genuinely examine convincing facts and evidence.

 

Trees.  There are trees mentioned in the creation account in Genesis and also by Jesus Christ who compared men to trees.  Consider the meditations by this author that discusses this in the meditations “Worldly philosophies vs the Word of God”, “ABC Myths, legends, lies”, “Genesis to revelation”, etc.

Interestingly, the oldest living thing on earth is identified by scientists as either an Irish oak or a Bristlecone pine. If we assume a growth rate of one tree ring per year, the oldest trees date 4 500 to 4 767 years old.  Because they are living still, can we not know yet how old they will get before they die. It also strongly suggests that something happened around 4 500 years ago which caused the immediate ancestors of these trees to die off.  The Biblical flood was 2 349 BC. Note also (a) that it is a known fact that trees often produce more than one ring per year (evidence point to cycles such as being temperature or moist [drought] related, rather than years); and (b) that apparently no evidence can be found that any fossil trees could thus far be found with more than about 1 500 rings (one claim says 1 700).  This is significant since the Bible claim that God made the earth and all that is in it, and its rather easy to deduct – as in Appendix A – that this creation happened 1 651 years before the flood (around 4 000 BC).

People.  The earth’s population was determined to be one billion in the 1810 A.D. census.  Credible estimates guess the world population in the time of Jesus’ ministry at around a quarter billion.  Taken all known factors into account (disasters, wars, average population growths, etc) and projecting this rate back, brings us to a very plausible scenario of eight people at about 2 349 B.C. (the year of the Biblical Flood). At any rate MUCH more reasonable than the 3 million years nonsense that evolutionists suggest! If Darwinists were right in that we have been on earth for 3 million years, we should have had about 150 000 people per square inch at present. Incidentally, note how some evolutionists have casually dropped their timespan for human existence to 50 000 years – is their ridiculous range of inaccuracy credible?  Is there no doubt on a belief system that alters their time spans and estimates by millions of years without blinking an eye? And you want to compare this to the one Book that has proven to be the most credible [by far the most ancient manuscripts, and most consistent] literary work on earth?  This Book is called The Bible (comprising 66 books).  It is about God and His salvation plan for us – Jesus Christ.  Read it.

Two examples of dating methods

 

  1. Radiometric dating. Here the following is used as indicators:
  • Uranium into lead
  • Potassium into argon
  • Rubidium into strontium

The idea is that, when molten rock cools and solidifies, any radio-active parent element is supposed to decay to daughter elements at a known rate and that the amount of each in a rock will then give an indication of the age of that rock.  Well, this is only true with the following assumptions:

  • The rate of decay must have been constant.
  • None of the daughter element must have been present when the rock solidified.
  • No parent or daughter elements were added or leached out of that rock over time.

Bear in mind that unstable, soluble minerals in rocks cannot withstand erosion and leaching for even a few years and thus makes any clock based on their presence useless.

  1. Carbon dating. This was introduced by Dr. Libby in 1949.  It has since been proved sufficiently embarrassing to exclude any confidence in this method to try and date great periods of time.

 

This test is used to determine how long ago something died and is based on the radio-active decay rate in organic matter because every living thing absorbs cosmic radio-active carbon -14 from the atmosphere.  At death the intake begins to disintegrate.  The remaining C-14 is then used to calculate how long ago the organism died.

For this test to be valid the following assumptions are required:

  • The amount of cosmic radiation must have remained constant at all time and at all places
  • The sample tested has not been contaminated by any microbes or bacteria at any stage
  • There was no exchange with the outside world.

The honest observer here will immediately spot the obvious. It depends on too many assumptions and that science per se cannot deal effectively (absolutely) with the past due to assumptions that are not irrefutable! Let’s look at results that are being withheld from the casual reader of these so-called scientific findings, shall we? Then ask yourself why it is not published widely and why so selectively?

Conclusion

To avoid unnecessary repetition, this author invites you again, to consider the meditations on this website entitled “Evolution”, “Worldly philosophies vs the Word of God”, “ABC Myths, legends, lies”, “Genesis to revelation”, etc. And then, why not honestly and openly contemplate creation-scientists’ observations? Go in peace – the real peace only obtainable by the One Who Loves you and paid for your sins.  His is Name is Jesus Christ.

Amen?

 

APPENDIX C

Jesus (name)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Jesus (disambiguation).

Jesus
Pronunciation /ˈdʒiːzəs/
Gender Male

The name Jesus /ˈzəs/ used in the English language originates from the Latin form of the Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), a rendition of the Hebrew Yeshua (ישוע), also having the variants Joshua or Jeshua. In a religious context the name refers to Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.

Jesús is a popular personal name in the Hispanic Christian sphere of influence (where it is spelled with an accented ‘u’ Jesús and pronounced [xeˈsus]). In Mexico, persons with that name are often called by the nickname Chuy.

Etymology and origins

Etymology

The word Jesus used in the New Testament comes from the Latin form of the Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), a rendition of the Hebrew Yeshua (ישוע), also used as Joshua or Yesua. The name is thus related to the Hebrew consonantal verb root verb y-š-ʕ (to rescue or deliver) and the Hebrew noun yešuaʕ (deliverance). There have been a number of proposals as to the origin and etymological origin of the name Jesus (cf. Matthew 1:21). The name is related to the Hebrew form [Yehoshua`] יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Joshua, which is a theophoric name first mentioned within the Biblical tradition in Exodus 17:9. This name is usually considered to be a compound of two parts: יהו Yeho, a theophoric reference to YHWH, the name of the God of Israel, plus Hosea a form derived from the Hebrew triconsonantal root y-š-ʕ or י-ש-ע Numbers 13:16 “to liberate, save”. There have been various proposals as to how the literal etymological meaning of the name should be translated, including: YHWH saves, (is) salvation, (is) a saving-cry, (is) a cry-for-saving, (is) a cry-for-help, (is) my help. This early Biblical Hebrew name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Yehoshua` underwent a shortening into later Biblical יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua`, as found in the Hebrew text of verses Ezra 2:2, 2:6, 2:36, 2:40, 3:2, 3:8, 3:9, 3:10, 3:18, 4:3, 8:33; Nehemiah 3:19, 7:7, 7:11, 7:39, 7:43, 8:7, 8:17, 9:4, 9:5, 11:26, 12:1, 12:7, 12:8, 12:10, 12:24, 12:26; 1 Chronicles 24:11; and 2 Chronicles 31:15 – as well as in Biblical Aramaic at verse Ezra 5:2. These Bible verses refer to ten individuals (in Nehemiah 8:17, the name refers to Joshua son of Nun). This historical change may have been due to a phonological shift whereby guttural phonemes weakened, including [h].[Usually, the traditional theophoric element Yahu יהו was shortened at the beginning of a name to יו Yo-, and at the end to יה -yah. In the contraction of Yehoshua` to Yeshua`, the vowel is instead fronted (perhaps due to the influence of the y in the triliteral root y-š-ʿ). During the post-Biblical period the further shortened form Yeshu was adopted by Aramaic and Hebrew speaking Jews to refer to the Christian Jesus, however Yehoshua continued to be used for the other figures called Jesus.In both Latin and Greek, the name is declined irregularly:

Latin Greek
nominative Iesus Ἰησοῦς
accusative Iēsum Ἰησοῦν
dative Iēsū Ἰησοῦ

By the time the New Testament was written, the Septuagint had already transliterated ישוע Yeshua` into Koine Greek as closely as possible in the 3rd-century BCE, the result being Ἰησοῦς Iēsous. Since Greek had no equivalent to the semitic letter ש shin [sh], it was replaced with a σ sigma [s], and a masculine singular ending [-s] was added in the nominative case, in order to allow the name to be inflected for case (nominative, accusative, etc.) in the grammar of the Greek language. The diphthongal [a] vowel of Masoretic Yehoshua` or Yeshua` would not have been present in Hebrew/Aramaic pronunciation during this period, and some scholars believe some dialects dropped the pharyngeal sound of the final letter ע `ayin [`], which in any case had no counterpart in ancient Greek. The Greek writings of Philo of Alexandria and Josephus frequently mention this name. It also occurs in the Greek New Testament at Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8, referring to Joshua son of Nun.

From Greek, Ἰησοῦς Iēsous moved into Latin at least by the time of the Vetus Latina. The morphological jump this time was not as large as previous changes between language families. Ἰησοῦς Iēsous was transliterated to Latin IESVS, where it stood for many centuries. The Latin name has an irregular declension, with a genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative of Jesu, accusative of Jesum, and nominative of Jesus. Minuscule (lower case) letters were developed around 800 and some time later the U was invented to distinguish the vowel sound from the consonantal sound and the J to distinguish the consonant from I. Similarly, Greek minuscules were invented about the same time, prior to that the name was written in Capital letters: ΙΗCΟΥC or abbreviated as: ΙΗC with a line over the top, see also Christogram.

Modern English Jesus derives from Early Middle English Iesu (attested from the 12th century). The name participated in the Great Vowel Shift in late Middle English (15th century). The letter J was first distinguished from ‘I’ by the Frenchman Pierre Ramus in the 16th century, but did not become common in Modern English until the 17th century, so that early 17th century works such as the first edition of the King James Version of the Bible (1611) continued to print the name with an I.

From the Latin, the English language takes the forms “Jesus” (from the nominative form), and “Jesu” (from the vocative and oblique forms). “Jesus” is the predominantly used form, while “Jesu” lingers in some more archaic texts.

Biblical references

The name Jesus appears to have been in use in Palestine at the time of the birth of Jesus. Moreover, Philo‘s reference in Mutatione Nominum item 121 to Joshua (Ἰησοῦς) meaning salvation (σωτηρία) of the Lord indicates that the etymology of Joshua was known outside Palestine. Other historical figures named Jesus include Jesus Barabbas, Jesus ben Ananias and Jesus ben Sirach.

In the New Testament, in Luke 1:31 an angel tells Mary to name her child Jesus, and in Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph to name the child Jesus during Joseph’s first dream. Matthew 1:21 indicates the salvific implications of the name Jesus when the angel instructs Joseph: “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins”. It is the only place in the New Testament where “saves his people” appears with “sins”.[18] Matthew 1:21 provides the beginnings of the Christology of the name Jesus. At once it achieves the two goals of affirming Jesus as the savior and emphasizing that the name was not selected at random, but based on a Heavenly command.

Other usage

Medieval English and Jesu

John Wycliffe (1380s), used the spelling Jhesus, and also used Jhesu in oblique cases, and also in the accusative, and sometimes, apparently without motivation, even for the nominative. Tyndale in the 16th century has the occasional Iesu in oblique cases and in the vocative; The 1611 King James Version uses Iesus throughout, regardless of syntax. Jesu came to be used in English, especially in hymns.

Jesu (/ˈz/ JEE-zoo; from Latin Iesu) is sometimes used as the vocative of Jesus in English. The oblique form, Iesu., came to be used in Middle English.

Other languages

In East Scandinavian, German and several other languages, the name Jesus is used. Some other language usage is as follows:

Language Name/variant
Afrikaans Jesus
Albanian Jezusi
Arabic `Isà عيسى (Islamic) / Yasū`(a) يسوع (Christian)
Aragonese Chesús
Azerbaijani İsa
Bengali যীশু
Bosnian Isus
Breton Jezuz
Catalan Jesús
Chinese 耶稣 (Simplified), 耶穌 (Traditional) – Yesu (Mandarin), Yasu (Cantonese)
Cornish Yesu
Croatian Isus
Czech Ježíš
Dutch Jezus
Estonian Jeesus
Filipino Hesus/Hesukristo
Finnish Jeesus
French Jésus
Galician Xesús
Garo Jisu
Georgian იესო (Ieso)
Greek Ιησούς (Iisoús modern Greek pronunciation)
Haitian Creole Jezi
Hawaiian Jesu
Hebrew Yeshu ישו (Jewish, secular) / Yeshua יֵשׁוּעַ (Christian)
Hmong Daw Yexus
Hungarian Jézus
Icelandic Jesús
Indonesia Yesus (Christian) / Isa (Islamic)
Irish Íosa
Italian Gesù
Japanese イエス (Iesu)
Kazakh Иса (Isa)
Korean 예수 (Yesu)
Kurdish Îsa
Latvian Jēzus
Ligurian Gesû
Limburgish Zjezus
Lithuanian Jėzus
Lombard Gesü
मराठी-Marathi येशू – Yeshu
Malayalam ഈശോ – Eesho, യേശു – Yeshu
Mirandese Jasus
Maltese Ġesù
Neapolitan Gèsù
Norman Jésus
Occitan Jèsus
Piedmontese Gesù
Polish Jezus
Portuguese Jesus
Romanian Isus
Russian Иисус (Iisus)
Sardinian Gesùs
Serbian Исус (Isus)
Sicilian Gesù
Sinhala ජේසුස් වහන්සේ – ‍Jesus Wahanse
Scottish Gaelic Ìosa
Slovak Ježiš
Slovenian Jezus
Spanish Jesús
Swahili Yesu
Tajik Исо (Iso)
Tamil இயேசு – Yesu
Telugu Yesu
Thai เยซู – “Yesu”
Turkish İsa
Turkmen Isa
Ukrainian Ісус (Isus)
Uzbek Iso
Venetian Jesu
Vietnamese Giêsu
Welsh Iesu
Zulu uJesu

[1] Note Jesus was crucified by the Jewish temple police, not by the Romans who found no guilt in Him (Jn 7:32; 10:29,31; 11:8,53,54;19:7,12-18;Acts 2:22,23,36c; 3:12,14-16; 4:1).  The two next to Jesus were tied with ropes to their crosses, as Romans used to do; but Jesus was nailed to His cross.  Why do you suppose this was?

[2] Comparing the accounts in Mt 1 with Lk 3:22-38.   Consider also reading the short meditation by the same author, entitled “The four gospels”.

[3] Is 66:1,2; Ps 127:1; Acts 7:47-51; 1 Pet 2:4-10; Heb 9:11; 11:16; Rev 21:22 (Job 4:19; 1 Cor 15:42-49; and so on)

[4] Our [world-wide standardised] Gregorian calendar, which was decreed by pope Gregory XIII in 1582.  In A.D. 532, however, Dionysius Exiguus invented the calendar of the Christian Era based upon the time of the building of the city of Rome, and this kind of time was called ab urbe condita, or A.U.C. (or simply, U.C. time).  Dionysius placed the birth of Christ U.C. 753.  Later when it was ascertained that Herod had died in U.C. 749, Jesus’ birth was moved back to the latter part of U.C. 749, a little more than three years before A.D. 1.  Therefore, Jesus was 30 years of age in A.D. 27.  The “Child” had been born in Bethlehem (4 B.C.); the “Son” was given 30 years later at the Jordan (Is 9:6,7)!  Read Mt 28:11-15 to see desperate Jews covering prophecies fulfilled.

[5] Rom 5:12; also # 5.4 in “Apparent Controversies in The Bible”.