Sunday, March 18, 2007
Dealing with the annual search for the "real" Jesus that springs up each Easter is getting to be fun. Every year another special is rolled out that attempts to explain away the miraculous and turn Jesus into a 1st century guru or something. One positive I take from that is at least they finally recognize He was a real person and not a myth. Stripping away the miraculous though, is very hard to do.
First there is the fact of His execution be predicted 570 years before it happened. Sometime around 535 BC a Jewish captive in Babylon penned a prophecy that dated the year Jesus would be nailed to the cross. It was actually two predictions in one. The first prediction was that a degree would be made by the King to rebuild Jerusalem restoring it to the Jews. The second is from the date of that degree to Messiah's execution would be 483 years. It was that prophecy was what brought the Magi to King Herod (Matthew 2) looking for the "One born king of the Jews."
The prediction is clear and it's meaning was understood before the fact. That is hard to ignore and maintain objectivity. It also supports the believable nature of scripture. Step one in determining the truth of scripture is the accuracy with which it predicts and relates history.
If scripture is accurate, then the claims of Christianity based on scripture are reliable as well.
First there is the fact of His execution be predicted 570 years before it happened. Sometime around 535 BC a Jewish captive in Babylon penned a prophecy that dated the year Jesus would be nailed to the cross. It was actually two predictions in one. The first prediction was that a degree would be made by the King to rebuild Jerusalem restoring it to the Jews. The second is from the date of that degree to Messiah's execution would be 483 years. It was that prophecy was what brought the Magi to King Herod (Matthew 2) looking for the "One born king of the Jews."
The prediction is clear and it's meaning was understood before the fact. That is hard to ignore and maintain objectivity. It also supports the believable nature of scripture. Step one in determining the truth of scripture is the accuracy with which it predicts and relates history.
If scripture is accurate, then the claims of Christianity based on scripture are reliable as well.
