So, Why Jesus?

Many people question Christianity, as well they should.  It’s good to be an informed believer.  I welcome questions from skeptics, especially since I was one.

So, could anyone with enough will power, determination and some special effects have pulled off the claim to the title of Messiah?  Let’s look at that.

There were thousands of prophecies that the Messiah needed to fulfill.   Many of the prophecies no one could control.

  

One is that the Messiah needed to be a descendent of King David.   

Jesus would have had a claim to the throne in 2 ways.   His step father Joseph was a descendant through the main line that had the direct heir lineage.   Also, His Mother Mary was descended via a different line.  This was important because the direct line of heirs was told by God that they would never rule again.   Joseph was descended from Jechonias, Jesus could not rightly claim the throne (see Jeremiah 22:30) had he been Joseph’s natural son, but through His mothers line there was no such problem.  Jesus, would have been King had the rule continued.

Here are eight examples of prophecies that were out of human control (by Jesus):

1.  Place of Birth (Mic 5:2), 

2.  Time of Birth (Dan 9:25; Gen 49:10),

3.  Manner of Birth (Isa 7:14),

4.  Betrayal (Ps 41:9; 55:13), 

5.  Manner of Death (Ps 22:16),

6.  The reactions of people (mocking, spitting, etc),

7.  Piercing (Zech 12:10),

8.  Burial (Isa 53:9)

Peter Stoner explains how the science of probability rules out coincidence in his book "Science Speaks." The chance of someone else meeting just these 8 requirements is 10^17.  Stoner gave this illustration:

If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 10^17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They'll cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would've had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom (Idem, 106-107).

To add to the problem of manipulation, there are 456 characteristics that the Messiah had to have.  It not only impossible to fake, it shows us God is in control. 

My friends, you may not want to believe in or understand why God has made the decisions that He has, but He is real and He has provided us the bail for our offenses to Him.   He loves us.

Now let’s thank Him.