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Questions & Answers
I am just learning about Christianity, why should I
believe in Jesus Christ more than Buddha or Mohammed?
That is an excellent question. First let’s look
at some reasons that are factual and known by
everyone today.
When we talk about the calendar
we do not say BB, before Buddha or BM, before
Mohammed. We say BC, before Christ. In fact
when we look up Buddha in the dictionary we find
he lived 563 years BC. Doing the same with
Mohammed we find he lived and died 600 years AD,
or Anno Domini, in the year of the Lord of the
Christian era. When we look up Jesus the
dictionary does not mention either of the other
two.
When we look at our money it does not say
In “Buddha we trust” or “In Mohammed we trust,”
it says “In God We Trust.”
Both Buddha and
Mohammed lived and died. Jesus was born of a
virgin, lived, died for our sins, was buried and
rose again on the third day. The other two just
died. Now let us consider the fact there are no
authentic books telling us about Buda or
Mohammed thousands of years before they were
born. We are told about Jesus thousands of
years before He was born by many different prophets many of which can be
confirmed by historical data other than the Bible.
Let’s take a little time and look at some of the
writings in the Bible that tell us about the
coming of Jesus before he was born. We will
begin in Genesis 3:15 which is about 4000 years
before Jesus was born. This is also the first
prophesy in the Bible. God is talking to
the serpent who is the devil. And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel. Careful
study will show this is speaking of Jesus on the
cross having His feet bruised or nailed to the
cross. It also shows Jesus overcoming death and
dealing a death blow to the head of Satan at the
Great White Throne Judgment.
Now go to Genesis
22:18 speaking of the Adamic seed line through
which Christ would come. And in thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed.
Exodus 12 tells of the sacrificial lamb which is
symbolic of Jesus being our sacrificial lamb.
Numbers 24:17 was written 1450 years before
Christ and refers to Him as a Star that shall
come out of Jacob.
Isaiah 7:14 that was written
630 years before it happened declares
Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a
sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a
son and shall call His name Immanuel.
Immanuel means God with us.
Again in Isaiah 9:6
we find: For unto us a child is born, unto us
a son is given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of
the increase of his government and peace there
shall be no end, upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish
it with judgment and with justice from
henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the
LORD of hosts will perform this.
We find more in
Isaiah 40:10, 11 and 50:6. Let’s read Isaiah 53
where we see what he would do for us on the
cross over 600 years before it happened. Verse 4
Surely He hath borne our grief’s and carried
our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. 5 But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are
healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all.
If we read on we find more information
about His death and what He did for us.
Now
let’s go to Jeremiah 23 written 489 years before
the fact. Verse 5 Behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch and a King shall reign and
prosper and shall execute judgment and justice
in the earth. We find the same message
beginning with Jeremiah 33:14 written 477 years
before Christ.
Micah written over 600 years
before the fact tells us in chapter 5:2 But
thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee
shall He come forth unto me That is to be ruler
in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of
old, from everlasting.
We find in Zechariah
the Lord referred to as The BRANCH. This was
written 410 years before it happened. Zechariah
9 says Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King
cometh unto thee: He is just, and having
salvation: lowly and riding upon an ass and upon
a colt the foal of an ass. Zechariah 12:10
tells of the one that was pierced. 13:7 refers
to Him as the Shepherd that was smitten.
Malachi written 374 years before the fact tells
about the messenger that will be sent before Him
to prepare the way.
Now
let’s go to Psalms 22 where we find one of the
most amazing pieces of evidence spoken by David
1000 years before it took place. These are the
words of Jesus as He hung on the cross. I will
quote the first and last verse and strongly
suggest you turn to this Psalm and study it for
yourself. Verse 1 My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from me,
and from the words of my roaring? In
verse 6 we see where He is despised and laughed
at.
In verse 14 we find that His bones are
pulled out of joint from hanging on the cross. In verse 16 we find His hands and feet are
pierced. In verse 18 we see the solders casting
lots for His vesture. In verse 31, which is the
last verse we see the words in English That
He hath done this. If we go to the Greek we
find the meaning to be It is finished.
The first and last verses are quoted in the
Bible as Jesus having spoken them. However,
careful study will indicate He quoted the entire
chapter and is proof positive that Jesus was the
Son of God.
Now only God could arrange for
these things to be told about thousands of years
before they happened, even as to what the Roman
Solders would say, and have them come to pass
exactly as written. Only God could arrange for
our dating system to be BC or AD. Only God
could arrange for our money to say IN GOD WE
TRUST.
So the answer to your question is there
is much evidence to support that Jesus is the
Son of God and your believing and accepting Him
is not only a matter of faith but also of fact.
All others are a poor substitute to place the
trust of your future upon.
To read more on this, please refer to: Understanding GOD'S
Overall Plan Chapter
12 - Man’s Salvation
Order your
Copy of Understanding GOD'S Overall Plan
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