Not Why but How?

by Rick Thompson

One of the questions I get asked a lot goes something like this:

"Why did God have to pay such a high price for my sin? I know I am sinful, but does it really require that Jesus die on a cross to forgive? Why couldn't God just say 'I forgive you' and that be the end of it?"

It really is a perplexing question if we don't think through our understanding of the nature of God. We all have a tendency to place human-like qualities onto God to help us embrace our understanding of Him. But this is not possible when trying to understand a Holy eternal creator God. God is so much greater than us, so much "other than we are" that to try to describe His qualities is a little like an ant at a picnic trying to ascertain human philosophy.

In our world people forgive all the time. If someone offends me and comes to me and says "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?" It is very easy for me to say "Of course- you are forgiven!"

But I am not God.

To just "let sin go" would make Him less than a Holy and Just God. And if we really thought about it and admitted to it, we would all have to say that none of us wants any less than a purely Holy and Righteous God who is not like us.

Last week I reread the book "Why I am Christian" by John R.W. Stott and found this great passage that explains this truth much better than I could:

The cross of Christ is the only basis on which God can forgive sins. By why, an impatient critic will immediately object, should our forgiveness depend on Christ's death? Why does God not simply forgive us, without the necessity of the cross? "God will pardon me" Heinrich Heine protested, "that is His metier (specialty). After all, the objecter might continue, if we sin against each other, we are required to forgive one another. So why should God not practice what He preaches? Why should He not be as generous as He expects us to be? (The answer) was given by Anselm, the arch bishop of Canterbury at the end of the eleventh century. He wrote in his magnificent book, Why God Became Man, "You have not yet considered the majesty of God". To draw an analogy of our forgiveness of each other and God's forgiveness of us is very superficial. We are not God but private individuals, while He is the maker of the heavens and the earth, creator of the very laws we break. Our sins are not merely personal injuries but a willful rebellion against Him. It is when we begin to see the gravity of sin and the majesty of God that our questions change. No longer do we ask why God finds it difficult to forgive sins but how He finds it possible. As one writer has put it, "forgiveness is to man the plainest of duties; to God it is the profoundest of problems."

Why weep when we view the cross?

Here is a great quote by Charles Spurgeon about weeping for Jesus as we picture him hanging upon the cross, suffering for our sake.

You need not weep because Christ died one-tenth so much as because your sins rendered it necessary that He should die. You need not weep over the crucifixion, but weep over your transgression, for your sins nailed the Redeemer to the accursed tree. To weep over a dying Saviour is to lament the remedy; it were wiser to bewail the disease. To weep over the dying Saviour is to wet the surgeon's knife with tears; it were better to bewail the spreading polyps which that knife must cut away. To weep over the Lord Jesus as He goes to the cross is to weep over that which is the subject of the highest joy that ever heaven and earth have known; your tears are scarcely needed there; they are unnatural, but a deeper wisdom will make you brush them all away and chant with joy His victory over death and the grave. If we must continue our sad emotions, let us lament that we should have broken the law which He thus painfully vindicated; let us mourn that we should have incurred the penalty which He even to the death was made to endure ... O brethren and sisters, this is the reason why we souls weep: because we have broken the divine law and rendered it impossible that we should be saved except Jesus Christ should die.

At the Cross

At the cross....

…We see God’s SOVEREIGNTY—reigning with absolute control over humanity’s greatest sin.

…We see God’s PURPOSE—making known the mystery of His will prepared before time.

…We see God’s PLAN—to unite all things, on heaven and on earth, in Him.

…We see God’s JUDGMENT—requiring recompense for guilt.

…We see God’s HOLINESS—demanding the perfect sacrifice.

…We see God’s POWER—crushing the Son of God according to the purpose of His will.

…We see God’s WRATH—punishing the wretchedness of sin.

…We see God’s SORROW—wailing as only a forsaken son can.

…We see God’s MYSTERY—the Son, as God, separated from the Father, committing His Spirit to God.

…We see God’s COMPASSION—pleading to the Father to forgive the ignorant.

…We see God’s GIFT—His one and only Son, bruised and broken on our behalf.

…We see God’s MERCY—making unrighteous sinners righteous.

…We see God’s LOVE—Christ dying for sinners.

…We see God’s RESCUE OPERATION—delivering us from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of His Son.

…We see God’s PROPOSAL—pledging Himself to His bride forever.

…We see God’s REVELATION—the Word of God speaking His last so He might speak on behalf of many.

…We see God’s VICTORY—disarming His enemies, putting them to shame, and triumphing over them.

…We see God’s GLORY—the name of the Father being magnified for the sake of all peoples.

Christian businessman and writer,
Chris Tomlinson – www.cravesomethingmore.org

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus as written by David Dykes

David Dykes, Pastor, Green Acres Baptist Church, Tyler, TX wrote the following:

If there is one prevailing theme that runs through Matthew’s narrative, it is that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Matthew used the phrase “to fulfill what was spoken about him by the prophet” fifteen times. He quotes the Old Testament writers several dozen times. As I am preparing this Sunday’s message about how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, I don’t have time to develop EVERY Old Testament prophecy, so I wanted to provide a list of fulfilled prophecies for those who want access to them.

Sometimes people ask for “proof” that Jesus really was who He claimed to be - the Messiah, the Son of God. Pure faith doesn’t need evidence – but that doesn’t mean it has to be a blind faith. Our faith is based on TRUTH and there is an insurmountable volume of EVIDENCE that Jesus is the Messiah. There were dozens of meticulous prophecies predicting the details of the Messiah’s life made in the Old Testament. These prophecies were written between 500 and 1,500 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. That is a historical literary fact not challenged by any reputable literary scholar. And when you study the life of Jesus of Nazareth, you can’t argue with the fact that He fulfilled all of these Messianic prophecies. Some of these prophecies He could have intentionally fulfilled (like riding on a donkey into Jerusalem). But most of them were beyond His control (I doubt He told the Roman soldiers not to break His legs).

Christian mathmetician, Dr. Peter Stoner, wrote a book several years, Science Speaks, in which he calculated the odds of one person randomly fulfilling just EIGHT of these prophecies. His results were that a person had one chance in 10 to the 28th power. That's 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 chances!

Here's a commentary from Dr. Stoner's book. Unless you have a college degree in math and statistics, you'll probably get lost, but it's interesting nonetheless.

"What are the odds that any man living from the day of these prophecies down to the present time? To get this answer, we divide our 10 to the 28th power by the total number of people who have lived since the time of these prophecies. At the time this book was published we come up with 88 billion people or 8.8 X 10 to the tenth power.

To simplify it let’s round it off to 10 to the 11th power. The odds of any one man who lived from the the the prophecies were made until the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10 to the seventeenth power.

Can we visualize this with an illustration? Suppose we took an atheistic professor, blindfolded him and covered the state of Texas two feet deep with silver dollars. Then we put a check on one of those silver dollars and mixed them up. The odds of one person fulfilling just these eight prophecies would be the same as this atheistic professor selecting the silver dollar upon which we have placed a check, in his first try.

There are some 300 - 350 prophecies which were written in the Old Testament to help us identify which person is the promised Messiah. Suppose we add eight more prophecies to our list? And assume that their chance at being fulfilled by just one man is the same as the eight prophecies just considered. Those odds would be 10 to the 28th power X 10 to the 17th power or 1 in 10 to the 45th power.

How big would a ball of silver dollars be using this number? Its diameter would be thirty times the distance from the center of the earth to the sun. Let’s take that same atheistic professor, put a space suit on him, place a check on one of those silver dollars and shoot him out into space. Do you think he would pick the silver dollar with a check on it the first time? Maybe if we left his blindfold off.

Now let’s keep the same odds and chose 48 prophecies. The odds of one person fulfilling them all would be 1 in 10 to the 157th power. But now the silver dollar pile is too large to make a comparison, so let's change from silver dollars to electrons.

It takes 2.5 X 10 to the 15th power of electrons laid side by side to make a line single file ONE INCH long. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Suppose we made a solid ball of electrons extending all directions from the earth to the distance of 6 billion light years. Dr. Stoner continues, “Suppose again we had this great amount of electrons, 10 to the 157th power of them, and we were abler to make 500 of these tremendous balls, 6 billion light-years in radius, each minute. If we worked day and night it would take us 10 to the 10th times the 6 billion years back to creation to use up our supply of electrons.” (p. 111) Please put a check on one of these tiny electrons.

Now lets take this same atheistic professor and ask him to find the marked electron on his first try. Remember, these are the odds of one man fulfilling just 48 of the 300-350 Messianic prophecies. Whom among us can deny Christ’s credentials? The universe is not large enough to contain the evidence!

Stoner adds, “Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world.” (p. 112)


A former agnotic attorney, Lee Strobels, became a Christian after seriously studying Dr. Stoner's book regarding these prophecies and the astronomical improbability of any fulfilling them randomly. Today, Strobels is one of the leading spokesmen for intellectually stimulating faith in Jesus.

So here’s the incontrovertible truth: Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the Messianic prophecies predicted hundreds of years before He was born. How can any honest, intelligent, thinking person ignore this body of evidence? To me, it’s not faith that is blind, it is UNBELIEF THAT IS BLIND.

37 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES FULFILLED BY JESUS:

1. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem.
Old Testament Prophecy: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.” Micah 5:2
New Testament Fulfillment: “Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod.” Matthew 2:1

2. The Messiah will be a descendant of Judah.
Old Testament Prophecy: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will obey.” Genesis 49:10
New Testament Fulfillment: Luke 3:23-38 and Matthew 1:1-17 confirm that Jesus is a descendant of Judah.

3. Foreign kings will present gifts to the Messiah.
Old Testament Prophecy: “The western kings of Tarshish and the islands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts.” Psalm 72:10-11
New Testament Fulfillment: “About that time, some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his as it arose, and we have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2
“They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him.” Matthew 2:11

4. The Messiah will be a descendant of David.
Old Testament Prophecies: “The Lord swore to David a promise he will never take back: ‘I will place one of your descendants on your throne. If your descendants obey the terms of my covenant and follow the decrees that I teach them, then your royal line will never end.” Psalm 132:11
“‘For the time is coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will place a righteous Branch on King David’s throne. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right through the land.” Jeremiah 23:5-6
“At that time I will bring to the throne of David a righteous descendant, and he will do what is just and right throughout the land.” Jeremiah 33:15
New Testament Fulfillment: “He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” Luke 1:32-33

5. The Messiah will be born of a virgin.
Old Testament Prophecy: “All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel – ‘God is with us.’” Isaiah 7:14
New Testament Fulfillment: “But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancee, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly. As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’” Matthew 1:18-21

6. Innocent children will be slain in an effort to kill the Messiah.
Old Testament Prophecy: “This is what the Lord says: ‘A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah – mourning and weeping unrestrained. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted – for her children are dead.” Jeremiah 31:15
New Testament Fulfillment: “Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill al the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier. Herod’s brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah.” Matthew 2:16-17

7. The Messiah will be taken to Egypt.
Old Testament Prophecy: “When Israel was a child, I loved him as a son, and I called my son out of Egypt.” Hosea 11:1
New Testament Fulfillment: “That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: ‘I called my Son out of Egypt.’” Matthew 2:14-15


8. The Messiah will be called the Son of God.
Old Testament Prophecy: “The king proclaims the Lord’s decree: ‘The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today, I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession.” Psalm 2:7-8
New Testament Fulfillment: “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him.’” Matthew 3:17

9. The Messiah will be preceded by the messenger of the Lord.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Listen! I hear the voice of someone shouting, ‘Make a highway for the Lord through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God. Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all the people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!” Isaiah 40:3-5
New Testament Fulfillment: “In those days John the Baptist began preaching in the Judean wilderness. His message was, ‘Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.’ Isaiah had spoken of John when he said, ‘He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: ‘Prepare a pathway for the Lord’s coming! Make a straight road for him!’” Matthew 3:1-3

10. The Messiah will be anointed by the Holy Spirit.
Old Testament Prophecy: “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.” Isaiah 11:2
New Testament Fulfillment: “After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him.’” Matthew 3:16-17

11. The Messiah will be a light in Galilee.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will soon be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light – a light that will shine on all who live in the land where death casts its shadow.” Isaiah 9:1-2
New Testament Fulfillment: “When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. But instead of going to Nazareth, he went to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.” Matthew 4:12-16

12. The Messiah will preach good news to the poor, comfort the broken hearted, and announce the year of the Lord’s favor.
Old Testament Prophecy: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Isaiah 61:1-2
New Testament Fulfillment: “When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll containing the messages of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he unrolled the scroll to the place where it says: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.’ He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at him intently. Then he said, ‘This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes!’” Luke 4:16-21

13. The Messiah will be hated without cause.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Don’t let my treacherous enemies rejoice over my defeat. Don’t let those who hate me without cause gloat over my sorrow.” Psalm 35:19
New Testament Fulfillment: “Anyone who hates me hates my Father, too. If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be counted guilty. But as it is, they saw all that I did and yet hated both of us – me and my Father.” John 15:23-25

14. The Messiah will heal the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the mute.
Old Testament Prophecy: “And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will shout and sing!” Isaiah 35:5-6
New Testament Fulfillment: “John the Baptist, who was now in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, ‘Are you really the Messiah we’ve been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?’ Jesus told them, ‘Go back to John and tell him about what you have heard and seen – the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him: ‘God blesses those who are not offended by me.’’” Matthew 11:2-6

15. The Messiah will enter Jerusalem riding a donkey.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey – even on a donkey’s colt.” Zechariah 9:9
New Testament Fulfillment: “Jesus sent two of them on ahead. ‘Go into the village over there,’ he said, ‘and you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord need them,’ and he will immediately them.’” Matthew 21:1-4
“The two disciples did as Jesus said. They brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and other cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting, ‘Praise God for the Son of David! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in the highest heaven!’ The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. ‘Who is this?’ they asked. And the crowds replied, ‘It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’” Matthew 21:6-11

16. The Messiah will arrive in Jerusalem at a specific time.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes.” Daniel 9:25
New Testament Fulfillment: “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.” Galatians 4:4


17. The Messiah will enter the Temple with authority.
Old Testament Prophecy: “‘Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 3:1
New Testament Fulfillment: “Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves. He said, ‘The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a place of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!’” Matthew 21:12-13

18. The Messiah will be despised by the people.
Old Testament Prophecy: “He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.” Isaiah 53:3
New Testament Fulfillment: “And Pilate said to the people, ‘Here is your king!’ ‘Away with him,’ they yelled. ‘Away with him – crucify him!’ ‘What? Crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the leading priests shouted back.” John 19:14-15

19. The Messiah will be silent in front of his accusers.
Old Testament Prophecy: “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7
New Testament Fulfillment: “Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?’ But Jesus remained silent.” Matthew 26:62-63

20. The Messiah will be rejected by the Jews.
Old Testament Prophecy: “The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous to see.” Psalm 118:22
New Testament Fulfillment: “Yes, he is very precious to you who believe. But for those who reject him, ‘The stone that was rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone.’” 1 Peter 2:7

21. The Messiah will be betrayed by a friend.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me.” Psalm 41:9
New Testament Fulfillment: “The Scriptures declare, ‘The one who shares my food has turned against me,’ and this will soon come true. I tell you this now, so that when it happens you will believe I am the Messiah.” John 13:18-19
“Jesus said, ‘It is the one to whom I give the bread dipped in the sauce.’ And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him.” John 13:26-27

22. The Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
Old Testament Prophecy: “And I said to them, ‘If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.’ So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.” Zechariah 11:12
New Testament Fulfillment: “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, ‘How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?’ And they gave him thirty pieces of silver.” Matthew 26:14-15

23. The 30 pieces of silver will be thrown in the potter’s field.
Old Testament Prophecy: “And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potters’ – this magnificent sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potters in the Temple of the Lord.” Zechariah 11:13
New Testament Fulfillment: “When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and other leaders. ‘I have sinned,’ he declared, ‘for I have betrayed an innocent man.’ ‘What do we care?’ they retorted. ‘That’s your problem.’ Then Judas threw the money onto the floor of the Temple and went out and hanged himself. The leading priests picked up the money. ‘We can’t put it in the Temple treasury,’ they said, ‘since it’s against the law to accept money paid for murder.’ After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter’s field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners. That is why the field is still called the Field of Blood.” Matthew 27:3-8

24. The Messiah will be accused by false witnesses.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Malicious witnesses testify against me. They accuse me of things I don’t even know about.” Psalm 35:11
New Testament Fulfillment: “Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other.” Mark 14:56

25. The Messiah will be beaten, mocked, and spit upon.
Old Testament Prophecy: “I give my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pull out my beard. I do not hide from shame, for they mock me and spit in my face.” Isaiah 50:6
New Testament Fulfillment: “Then they spit in Jesus’ face and hit him with their fists. And some slapped him, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?’” Matthew 26:67

26. The Messiah will be beaten, bloodied, and disfigured.
Old Testament Prophecy: “See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted. Many were amazed when they saw him – beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know he was a person.” Isaiah 52:13-14
New Testament Fulfillment: “Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head, and they put a royal purple robe on him. ‘Hail! King of the Jews!’ they mocked, and they hit him with their fists.” John 19:1-3

27. The Messiah will be mocked and challenged to save himself.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, ‘Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!’” Psalm 22:7-8
New Testament Fulfillment: “The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders also mocked Jesus. ‘He saved others,’ they scoffed, ‘but he can’t save himself! So he is the king of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him! He trusted God – let God show his approval by delivering him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ And the criminals who were crucified with him also shouted the same insults at him.” Matthew 27:41-44

28. The Messiah’s hands and feet will be pierced.
Old Testament Prophecy: “My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet.” Psalm 22:16
New Testament Fulfillment: “Carrying the cross by himself, Jesus went to the place called Skull Hill (in Hebrew, Golgotha). There they crucified him.” John 19:17-18

29. The Messiah will be given vinegar to drink.
Old Testament Prophecy: “But instead, they give me poison for food; they offer me sour wine to satisfy my thirst.” Psalm 69:21
New Testament Fulfillment: “They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.” Mark 15:23

30. The Messiah’s enemies will throw dice to divide his clothes.
Old Testament Prophecy: “My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my clothes among themselves and throw dice for my garments.” Psalm 22:17-18
New Testament Fulfillment: “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said, ‘Let’s not tear it but throw dice to see who gets it.’” John 19:23-24

31. The Messiah’s bones will not be broken.
Old Testament Prophecy: “The righteous face many troubles, but the Lord rescues them from each and every one. For the Lord protects them from harm – not one of their bones will be broken!” Psalm 34:19-20
New Testament Fulfillment: “The Jewish leaders didn’t want the victims hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath at that, because it was the Passover), so they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead already, so they didn’t break his legs.” John 19:31-33

32. The Messiah’s heart will be poured out like water.
Old Testament Prophecy: “My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me.” Psalm 22:14
New Testament Fulfillment: “One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out.” John 19:34

33. When the Messiah is struck down, His disciples will be scattered.
Old Testament Prophecy: “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, the man who is my partner, says the Lord Almighty. Strike down the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the lambs.” Zechariah 13:7
New Testament Fulfillment: “‘Tonight, all of you will desert me,’ Jesus told them.” Matthew 26:31
“At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.” Matthew 26:56

34. The Messiah will be buried in a rich man’s grave.
Old Testament Prophecy: “He had done no wrong, and he never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.” Isaiah 53:9
New Testament Fulfillment: “Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled the great stone across the entrance as he left.” Matthew 27:59-60

35. The Messiah will be raised from the dead.
Old Testament Prophecies: “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your godly one to rot in the grave.” Psalm 16:10
“But as for me, God will redeem my life. He will snatch me from the power of death.” Psalm 49:15
New Testament Fulfillment: “Then the angel spoke to the women. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples he has been raised from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee.’” Matthew 28:5-7

36. The Messiah will bear our sins and intercede for sinners.
Old Testament Prophecies: “Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6
“From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people realized that he was dying for their sins – that he was suffering their punishment?” Isaiah 53:8
“But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and fill him with grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of what he has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.” Isaiah 53:10-12
New Testament Fulfillment: “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26

37. The Messiah will ascend to heaven.
Old Testament Prophecy: “When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives.” Psalm 68:18
New Testament Fulfillment: “While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven.” Luke 24:51

Who we as a church - good witness

Beginning tomorrow, I have posts scheduled for this blog to cause us to daily meditate on this week leading up to Resurrection Sunday. I pray you enjoy them.

For the last "regular" blog, I saw this and loved it. I know nothing about this church, but I love their video....

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Grace Community Church of San Antonio, Texas from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Feelings do not define truth

"My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God's word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And sometimes--many times--my feelings are out of sync with the truth. When that happens--and it happens every day in some measure--I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the truth.

That's the way I live my life every day. I hope you are with me in that battle."

- John Piper, Finally Alive, pages 165-166

Last Sermon from Daniel

Sorry, but I just realized I had not posted the sermon notes from this past Sunday, March 21 which was the last sermon from the book of Daniel entitled "A Final Word for End Times." Here are the notes.

Rejoicing over the Word of God

Author: Joseph Randall - Desiring God blog

My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right. (Psalm 119:171-172)

When was the last time your lips poured forth praise and your tongue sang because you possess the very words of God in the Scriptures? For me, this kind of joy in God and his Word does not come often enough. I take it for granted that I have multiple copies of the Scriptures at my fingertips every day.

I have a friend, Katie, who serves in Malawi, Africa. She was able to distribute Bibles to a village there, and when they received these Bibles, they ecstatically broke out in thanks, praise, and dance over their new possession of God's Word! See for yourself:

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I love the description of God's Word printed in the Gideon Bibles:

THE BIBLE contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's charter. Here Paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.

CHRIST is its grand subject, our good the design, and the glory of God its end.

It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

God's Word is a precious, wonderful gift. May we, like those villagers in Malawi, dance and sing about it and the glorious Christ it reveals to us. May we know it well, hide it in our hearts, and labor to spread its message of our glorious Christ to the nations ... a glorious Christ who mercifully forgives those who repent of taking his Word for granted and trust in him as their most valuable treasure!

Public Reading of Scripture

In April when we opened our new building, God let me see the power of the pure reading of the Word of God. Ever since that weekend, we have read the Word of God in every service. Oh, the power of the Word. I will encourage our membership to commit to read through the Bible next year, but as far as the church itself; we'll continue reading the Scriptures.

Let me share a quote with you from a pastor in 1840. He said,

“‘It was a common thing, as soon as the Bible was opened, after the preliminary services, and just as the reader began’ — here, you will observe, it was the simple reading of the word without preaching; yet such was the power upon the minds of the people that ‘it was a common thing, as soon as the Bible was opened, after the preliminary services, and just as the reader began, for great meltings to come upon the hearers. The deepest attention was paid to every word as the sacred verses were slowly and solemnly enunciated. Then the silent tear might be seen stealing down the rugged but expressive countenances turned upon the reader. ‘. . . The word of the Lord was precious in those days.”

Eaten by worms or cannibals, it doesn't matter.

Recently, J.D. Greer posted this following story about John Paton, the missionary to the New Hebrides a century ago.

The primary problem was that the New Hebrides islands were inhabited by cannibals who had a history of eating any foreigner who came on shore. The other problem was that no one knew their language. What exactly do you do to start a church in a place like that? You can't pass out pamphlets that say "Easter sunrise service this Sunday: come and bring a friend."

Many tried to discourage him from going. In one of my favorite episodes from his life, Paton recounts this:

“I was besieged with the strongest opposition on all sides. One of my divinity school professors told me that I was leaving certainty for uncertainty. I was leaving work in which God had made me greatly useful for work which I might fail to be useful and only throw my life away for the cannibals. One dear old Christian deacon said to me: ‘The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!’”

I replied, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms. I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms. And in the great day, my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.”

“Indeed the opposition was so strong from nearly all, and many of them warm Christian friends, that I was sorely tempted to question whether I was carrying out the divine will or only some headstrong wish of my own. This caused me much anxiety and drove me close to God in prayer. But, again, every doubt would vanish when I clearly saw that all at home had free access to the Bible and the means of grace with gospel light shining all around them while the poor heathen were perishing without even the chance of knowing all God’s love and mercy to me.”

Paton's ministry there was both brutal and exhilarating. The only thing he really loved in his life was his wife, and she died bearing their first child on that island. He had to sleep on their graves for 3-4 nights to keep the cannibals from digging them up and eating them. He was under constant siege day and night, always on the lookout for his life.

Eventually, he saw a breakthrough. One of the chiefs who came to Christ asked him, "When you first got here, who was that army that guarded your hut each night?" Apparently the angels of God surrounded his family each night to preserve this Gospel witness.

When Paton died 35 years later on that island, he recounted that he did not know a single islander who had not professed faith in Jesus Christ.

Shining like the stars of Heaven

I am finishing the series of messages from Daniel today. As we look at Daniel 12, the Scripture in verse 3 says, "And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." (ESV).

David Dykes, Pastor, Green Acres Baptist Church, Tyler, TX said this concerning that verse. Since I won't be sharing it today in the message, I thought I would give it here.

Let me give you three ways in which sharing Christ and stars are alike.

(1) Stars shine only when it’s dark. Well, we know stars actually shine during the day also, but nobody can see their light because of the brightness of our sun. When do you need to let your light shine for Jesus? Wherever there is spiritual darkness. It’s easy to let your light shine here at church when you are gathered with thousands of brothers and sisters but you need to let your light shine at school, at work, at your home, in your neighborhood, wherever there is darkness.

(2) Stars shine modestly but faithfully. You never have to be obnoxious or rude when you shine for Jesus. You don’t have to be the loudmouth who is always hitting somebody over the head with a 10-pound Bible. Like the stars, just shine–modestly but faithfully–day after day.

(3) Stars shine to give direction. For thousands of years, mariners and other explorers depended on the stars for navigation. Before the advent of sophisticated satellite navigation, a sailor looked for either the North Star (in the northern hemisphere) or the Southern Cross (in the southern hemisphere). They took a bearing on those stars and then know they were going in the right direction. That’s the way we ought to be. It’s great for us to wear the bracelets and ask the questions “WWJD?” But most people without Jesus aren’t looking at Jesus; they are looking at US! Our lives should be like the North Star, which constantly and consistently directs people to God.

So we are to be God’s stars in this misguided and perverse generation. There is one big difference between you and the stars shining in the sky. Daniel 12:3 says we will “shine forever!” It doesn’t just say “forever,” it says “forever and forever.” All the stars in the sky, including our own sun will one day burn out. They will be snuffed out like a candle. But when you are one of God’s stars shining forever, you will outshine the sun and the moon and the stars! Are you letting your light shine for Jesus, leading others to Christ?

We will stumble, but God is still able to pick us up

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His gory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen."

Now that verse clearly teaches God is able to keep us from stumbling, but it doesn't mean we won't ever stumble. When we do stumble, it's not God's fault.

But we can also know that if we do stumble, it won't be so badly that God cannot pick us up and complete His plans and purposes in us.

And ALL for His glory and praise!!

David Livingstone

(Author: John Piper)

Today is David Livingstone's birthday. He was born March 19, 1813. He gave his life to serve Christ in the exploration of Africa for the sake of the access of the gospel.

On December 4, 1857, he spoke the sentence that has made the greatest impact on me. It is one of the clearest applications I have seen of Jesus' words in Mark 10:29-30. Jesus said,

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

Here is what Livingstone said to the Cambridge students about his "leaving" the benefits of England:

For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . . . Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.

(Cited in Samuel Zwemer, "The Glory of the Impossible" in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement,Ralph Winter and Stephen Hawthorne, eds. [Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1981], p. 259. Emphasis added.)

Is God immoral and pro-choice persons are not?

We have just completed a three-week lecture series on atheism as part of our "Developing Daniels." One of the resources was Ravi Zacharias' book "The End of Reason." On pages 59-60 he is making an argument for moral absolutes being the foundation of an existence for God. There he reveals this episode:

"Some years ago, the well-known astronomer Hugh Ross and I were taking part in a radio talk show at Ohio State University. We were discussing some theme related to the origin of the universe when an irate woman called in and began to attack us with a volley of words. Her charge was that our conversation was really nothing more than a smoke screen for reversing Roe versus Wade and taking away a woman's right to an abortion. Remember, we were taking about the origin of the universe. Throughout her tirade she repeatedly insisted, 'It's my moral right to do what I choose to do with my body!'

Finally, when she paused for a breath, I said, 'All right ma'am, since you brought it up, I'd like to ask you a question. Can you explain something to me? When a plane crashes and some die while others live, a skeptic calls into question God's moral character, saying that he has chosen some to live and others to die on a whim; yet you say it is your moral right to choose whether the child within you should live or die. Does that not sound odd to you? When God decides who should live or die, he is immoral. When you decide who should live or die, it's your moral right.'

There was a pin-drop silence.

A person may dismissively say that he or she does not see a moral order. But I strongly suspect that the real issue is not an absence of moral order in the world but the insistence on determining for oneself what is good and what is evil, in spite of what we intuitively know to be true. Let's be honest. To believe that there is no moral order, one must assume knowledge of what a moral order would look like, if there were one."

What Does Luck Have to Do With It?

by Jim Elliff

Joni Eareckson Tada is one of the most gracious and effective Christians in the world. She has lived with the results of a diving accident that broke her neck during her teen years. In her 50's she continues to radiate Christ to a listening world. Joni is known by thousands of Christians, perhaps millions, through her books, radio program, and conference speaking.

Once my brother asked Joni how she made it through the difficult battle with her paraplegia. I later heard her give the same answer in a large conference in Orlando. Her reply will surprise you. "I suppose what helped me get through this more than any other thing" she said, "was reading Loraine Beottner'sReformed Doctrine of Predestination."

Now that caught you off guard, didn't it?

What she was saying was that she came to understand through this book that God is in control. And if God is in control then her accident wasn't just a fluke, but a purposeful arrangement by a loving God. She could trust a God like that. That accident cost her freedom and brought chronic suffering. But to Joni, that diving accident was a huge gift from God—a platform for speaking to the world about her favorite subject, Christ.

I know that it might seem insensitive to say that God is in control. But this is what the Bible teaches, like it or not. When we analyze national tragedy we sometimes recoil from the notion that God could be in control of His world. We seek to protect God from such an accusation. But the Scriptures don't do this.

The Bible teaches that all good things, as well as all tragic things, come from God. (See Lam. 3: 37-38) They usually come via secondary sources, that is, they are delivered on your doorstep by other people or through the convergence of events and complex connections. Without being a tempter or evil (James 1:13), God determines all things, while still leaving men responsible for their actions.

Complicated? Sure. But true nonetheless.

A clear illustration of this can be seen in the death of Christ. Is the death of Christ a good thing? Of course. Did God just "hope" that everything would work out to accomplish the greatest event of the universe? Did God feel lucky that it all worked out as He projected?

The early Christians did not think it was luck that brought about Jesus' redemptive death. Here's the way they put it in a prayer meeting:

For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. (Acts 4:27-28)

We can think of all events, tragic or good, under two categories. They are either for the punishment or for the benefit of the person, but they're all in the end for the glory of God.

Now think carefully. First, realize that everything that happens to a non-believer is a tragedy. Even mercies from God, if sinned against, work out for the worse to the non-believer. Every apparently good thing coming to a person who will finally reject God, only serves to make his judgment more severe. (See Rom. 2: 4-6)

But for the child of God, life works out exactly the opposite. The Bible says, "All things work together for the good of those who love God, the called according to His purpose." (Rom. 8:28).

So, when a difficult thing comes into the life of a believer, as in Joni's swimming accident, then the end result is good. It is for a loving purpose. Even discipline from God toward true believers is for the good. And when sinful people are involved, we can say with Joseph, "You meant it for evil; but God meant it for good." (Gen. 50:20)

As one theologian said, "Tragedy is anything that happens to a non-believer." And we can add, "Good is anything that happens to a true Christian."

This can only be said because God is in control. And luck, well, it isn't even there.

Copyright © 2003 Jim Elliff

Christian Communicators Worldwide, Inc.
Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in unedited form
including author's name, title, complete content, copyright and weblink.
Other uses require written permission.

www.CCWtoday.org

Sermon Notes from the past two Sundays

Here are the sermon notes from the past two Sundays:

March 7 - "A Battle of the Ages" Part III Daniel 10

March 14 - "The Spirit of the Anti-Christ" Daniel 11

History of Daniel 11

This morning in my message from Daniel 11, I mentioned an article that would give great detail to the historical accounts of this chapter. This article was written by Wade Burleson on September 10, 2009. You may read it here.

Al Mohler writes on "In God We Trust" court ruling

by Albert Mohler

The famous words “In God We Trust” and “under God” are safe . . . for now. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled yesterday that those phrases from the national currency and the Pledge of Allegiance do not represent a governmental establishment of religion.

The court, one of the most liberal among the Federal courts, ruled against Michael Newdow, a Sacramento atheist known for previous suits against the phrase “under God” in the pledge.

Here is how the Los Angeles Times summarized the decision:

Joined by other Sacramento-area parents opposed to the pledge, Newdow, a physician with a law degree, brought an identical challenge against the Rio Linda Union School District practice of leading daily pledges and secured a ruling in his favor from U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton. The judge cited the 9th Circuit’s holding that Congress rendered the pledge unconstitutional when it added the words “under God” in 1954, in a Cold War-era gesture against the godless communism of the Soviet Union.

Thursday’s ruling brings the 9th Circuit in line with other federal appeals courts in upholding a school’s right to conduct the patriotic ritual. That unity among the circuit courts makes it unlikely that the Supreme Court will again review the decision, both Newdow and those in favor of preserving the “under God” reference said.

This decision is good news, and comes as something of a relief — especially considering the fact that the Ninth Circuit is involved. There is no substance to the claim that these two phrases violate the Constitution. Furthermore, they represent only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to such questions. This kind of language pervades official discourse - extending even to the phrase “the year of our Lord” in the dating of many government documents.

But, what does it mean? Christians should pay close attention to the logic employed by the court in these two decisions. Consider this section of the court’s opinion in which it cites its own precedent in the case Aronow v. United States:

It is not easy to discern any religious significance attendant the payment of a bill with coin or currency on which has been imprinted ‘In God We Trust’ or the study of a government publication or document bearing that slogan. . . . While ‘ceremonial’ and ‘patriotic’ may not be particularly apt words to describe the category of the national motto, it is excluded from First Amendment significance because the motto has no theological or ritualistic impact. As stated by the Congressional report, it has ‘spiritual and psychological value’ and ‘inspirational quality.’

In other words, the phrase “In God We Trust” as our national motto is theologically and religiously meaningless, having “no theological or ritualistic impact,” but only a “spiritual and psychological value.”

In the decision on the Pledge of Allegiance the court used similar logic and language:

We hold that the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the Establishment Clause because Congress’ ostensible and predominant purpose was to inspire patriotism and that the context of the Pledge—its wording as a whole, the preamble to the statute, and this nation’s history—demonstrate that it is a
predominantly patriotic exercise. For these reasons, the phrase “one Nation under God” does not turn this patriotic exercise into a religious activity.

The court is arguing that the phrases in question are not really theological statements at all, presumably because if the court found theological significance in the phrases it would have been led to rule otherwise.

This legal logic is recognizable, but so is the theological dimension of all this. The court has ruled, in effect, that the language of these contested phrases represents what is rightly called “civil religion.” In essence, civil religion is the mass religion that serves the purposes of the state and the culture as a unifying force — a rather bland and diffused religiosity — an innocuous theology with little specificity.

Christians must never confuse civil religion with the real thing. When our fellow citizens recite the pledge, it is not to be taken as a statement of personal faith in God. In that sense, Christians are rightly concerned that we make clear what authentic faith in God requires and means. Confusing civil religion with Christianity is deadly dangerous.

On the other hand, Christians are well aware of the constant danger of idolatry, and no entity rivals a powerful government in terms of the idolatrous temptation. In that sense, it is healthy and good that we employ language that relativizes the power and authority of the state. It is both important and healthy that our motto places trust in God, and not in the state. And the knowledge that the nation exists “under God” is no small matter.

So, we should welcome the decision of the Ninth Circuit panel but not read too much into the decision or the language at stake. Another legal challenge is always right around the corner. The task of defining true faith in God falls to us right now.

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I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at mail@albertmohler.com. Follow regular updates on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/AlbertMohler.

Carol J. Williams, “Pledge of Allegiance’s God References Now Upheld by Court,” the Los Angeles Times, Friday, March 12, 2010.

The opinions in the cases are available in PDF form from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Set your clocks up one hour this Saturday night

Don't forget to set your clocks up one hour this Saturday as we "SPRING AHEAD."

Worship

John Piper:

The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness of God;

the fire that makes the fuel burn white hot is the quickening of the Holy Spirit;

the furnace made alive and warm by the flame of truth is our renewed spirit;

and the resulting heat of our affections is powerful worship, pushing its way out in confessions, longings, acclamations, tears, songs, shouts, bowed heads, lifted hands, and obedient lives.

—Desiring God, p. 82 (my emphasis).

Stephen Meyer on Intelligent Design

For our discussions that we are having in our "Developing Daniels" which includes the "Truth Project" and lecturers on atheism, here is an fascinating interview done by R. C. Sproul of Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, on philosophy, evolution, education, Intelligent Design, and more. The interview is about 45 minutes in length:

Videos below:

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C.S. Lewis: Compelling Story of Conversion from atheism to theism to Christianity

In light of our studies on these Sundays about atheism, you would be interested to watch this video about C.S. Lewis and his story of conversion from atheism to theism to Christianity.

Do Not Be Afraid

This Sunday we are looking again at Daniel 10 and the record of Daniel's understanding and interaction with spiritual warfare. When Daniel discovers by the angel of the warfare that was occurring in the heavens while he prayed, the angel immediately said to Daniel, "O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!" (verse 19)

The number one message that angels give when they interact with man is this, "Don't be afraid."

Oh, how we need that message today. No matter what is happening in your life, "Don't be afraid."

This prayer below seems to describe well what we need to affirm today.

Lord Jesus, how timely, stunning and encouraging to know that the most repeated command throughout the whole Bible is “Do not be afraid”. The angels spoke these words to startled shepherds at your birth, and you repeated the command to a devastated Mary on the morning of your resurrection, and now you speak these liberating words to my heart and conscience, “Do not be afraid!”

Because you are the First and the Last, Jesus, I don’t have to be afraid of anything in between. You are God, and I am not. You will never say “Oops” about anything in world history or in my own life. You never “try” to do anything. You never have to scratch your head in confusion. You never have to resort to plan B. You are perfectly executing your sovereign will, from naming the stars to numbering my hairs. Glory!

Because you are the Living One, who was dead and who is now alive forever, I don’t have to be afraid of judgment Day or this day. For your death on the cross is my judgment Day and your resurrection from the dead is my assurance of being eternally and fully accepted by God. Constantly sung over me by my Father, and all my brothers and sisters in you, is the most liberating of all lyrics, “There is now and forevermore NO condemnation for those who are in Christ!” Not only is there no condemnation, there is only full delight! Oh my goodness!

Because you hold the keys of death and Hades, Jesus, and to everything else, I don’t have to be afraid to die, or to live. You have robbed the grave of its victory, you have removed the sting of death, and you have defeated the devil and all the powers of darkness! I don’t have to be afraid of people. I don’t have to be afraid of failing. I don’t have to be afraid of getting old. Yes, yes, yes!

Place your right hand on me today in the gospel, that I might be freed more fully from my fears and live more fully to the praise of your glorious Name. Amen and Amen forever!

Sermon Notes from Sunday, February 28, 2010

Here are the sermon notes from this past Sunday's sermon "A Battle for the Ages" Part II from Daniel 10. Click here