Jesus performed both physical miracles and the miracle of accurately predicting future events. Moses and all of the great Hebrew Prophets accurately predicted many historical events in the life of Jesus the Messiah many centuries before he was born. What other religion can claim such miraculous evidence to confirm its valitity? For much more information proving that Jesus is the predicted Messiah of the Hebrew Prophets see our book entitled, “The Reliability of Bible Prophecy” Part 1. May the reader carefully search all of the detailed Messianic prophecies listed in the Hebrew Scriptures in the chart below. The testimony of history and scripture prove that Jesus was crucified under the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate and that a Roman Soldier thrust a spear in his side to make sure he was dead (John 19:34). If Jesus had failed to escape death by stoning on several occasions, his untimely death would have disqualified him from fulfilling predictive prophecies to qualify him as the true Messiah (John 8:59; 10:31). On several occasions some Jews who rejected Jesus attempted to stone him to death but he miraculously escaped. Had Jesus died by the common method of capital punishment employed by the Israelites [stoning] he could not have been the true anticipated Messiah. Yet even in death Jesus did fulfill all of the Hebrew prophecies in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets. The Roman soldiers parted Jesus’ garments and cast lots for his vesture. King David had predicted this event as recorded in Psalm 22:18 one thousand years before it actually occurred. Here are a few examples of the many detailed predictive prophecies proving Jesus to be the anticipated coming Messiah as foretold by Moses and the Prophets: OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY NEW TESTAMENT FULFILLMENT Genesis 3:15 Seed of Woman Matthew 1:20 Isaiah 7:14 Virgin Birth Matthew 1:18 Genesis 49:10 From the Tribe of Judah Luke 3:23,33 Micah 5:2 Born at Bethlehem Matthew 2:1 Psalm 72:10 Presented with Gifts Matthew 2:1,11 Jeremiah 31:15 King Herod kills Children Matthew 2:16 Isaiah 7:14 Called Immanuel [God with us] Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 40:3 Preceded by a Prophet Matthew 3:1,2 Isaiah 35:5,6 Ministry of Great Miracles Matthew 9:25 Zechariah 9:9 To enter Jerusalem on a Donkey Luke 19:35-37 Psalm 16:10 Resurrected after Death Acts 2:31 Psalm 68:18 Bodily Ascension to Heaven Acts 1:9 Psalm 41:9 Betrayed by a Friend John 13:21 Zechariah 11:12 Sold for 30 Pieces of Silver Matthew 26:15 Zechariah 11:13 30 Pieces of Silver Thrown into Temple Matthew 27:5 Zechariah 13:7 Forsaken by His Disciples Matthew 26:56 Psalm 35:11 Accused by False Witnesses Matthew 26:59,60 Isaiah 53:7 Silent Before Accusers Matthew 27:12 Isaiah 53:5 Wounded and Bruised Matthew 27:26 Isaiah 50:6 Smitten and Spit Upon Matthew 27:30 Psalm 22:7,8 Mocked Matthew 27:31 Psalm 22:16 Hands and Feet Pierced John 20:25 Isaiah 53:12 Crucified with Thieves Matthew 27:38 Psalm 22:18 Garments Parted and Lots Cast for Vesture John 19:23,24 Psalm 22:1 His Forsaken Cry Matthew 27:46 Numbers 9:12 Bones Not Broken John 19:33-36 Zechariah 12:10 Side Pierced John 19:34 Amos 8:9 Darkness Over the Land Matthew 27:45 Isaiah 53:9 Buried in Rich Man’s Tomb Matthew 27:57-60 The Hebrew Prophets accurately predicted many historical events in the life, ministry, and death of Jesus the Messiah. Many of these predictions were totally out of Jesus’ control to fulfill. Therefore we can accurately conclude that Jesus must be who He said He was, the true savior of the world as foretold by Moses and all of the Hebrew Prophets. Can any other world religion measure up to this kind of prophetic evidence? MUHAMMAD FAILED THE TEST OF A TRUE PROPHET Jesus and Moses fulfilled the test of true Prophets of Allah according to revelations in Allah’s Word but how does Muhammad stand up to the test of a true Prophet by these same standards? Since Muhammad claimed that the previous revelations were from God, we must test the truthfulness of Muhammad’s Words by comparing them with the previous Scriptures revealed in the Bible. Muhammad himself declares that all true Prophets must judge and speak in harmony with “what Allah has (already) revealed.” If not, then Muhammad calls them “unbelievers.” Surah 4:163 “We have revealed to you, as We revealed to Noah and the Prophets after him. And We revealed to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes; and to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron and Solomon; and We gave David a Book [Psalms].” Surah 5:43,44 “. . . they are in possession of the Torah, which contain Allah’s judgments . . . We have indeed revealed the Torah wherein is guidance and light. By it the Prophets who submitted themselves [to Allah] did judge among the Jews, as did the rabbis and the masters, according to what they were made to guard of Allah’s Book . . . Whoever does not judge according to what Allah has revealed, those are the unbelievers.” Muhammad failed the main test for true Prophets of God by failing to produce accurate prophetic utterances. Muhammad spoke inaccurate information when he declared that the earth is flat and that the sun sets in a muddy spring. Muhammad also spoke inaccurately about past historical data such as a giant wall made of iron and brass to keep out northern invaders. Muhammad repeatedly spoke inaccurately about the Torah, other Hebrew Prophets, and the Gospel of Jesus. Muhammad wrote, “. . . and We gave David a Book.” King David wrote the Prophetic Book of Psalms. This God inspired book of Psalms declares the Messiah to be God’s Son (Psalm 1:7) and that this Messiah would be publicly crucified (Psalms 22:14-18). Yet both of these prophecies contradict Muhammad’s Qur’an which states that God does not have a Son and that Jesus the Messiah was not crucified. Muhammad’s Qur’an also contradicts the fulfillment of many Hebrew Prophecies which were fulfilled in the Gospel of Jesus. How then can Muhammad claim that the previous scriptures are in harmony with Islam? How then can Muhammad claim to “judge according to what God has (already) revealed?” True Christians carry and read the Torah of Moses and the writings of the Hebrew Prophets along with the writings of the New Covenant Scriptures because they can clearly see that Moses and the other Hebrew Prophets predicted the coming of Jesus the Messiah and the establishment of a New Covenant for all of mankind to follow. This is why the apostle Paul (An Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin) declared: “ . . . according to the way called heresy, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law [of Moses] and the Prophets.” In contradistinction, Muslims do not carry and read the writings of Moses and the Prophets along with the Qur’an because the previous revelations are not in harmony with the Qur’an. Muslims cannot believe all things written in the law of Moses and the other Hebrew Prophets because they contradict and oppose many teachings of the Qur’an. True Christianity was built upon the testimonial evidence of hundreds of friendly and hostile eyewitnesses. How could so many different people all claim to have seen Jesus’ miracles if He never did any miracles? On one occasion Jesus miraculously changed His appearance and stould with Moses and Elijah in front of His disciples (both Moses and Elijah had already died over 1,000 years ago). And on another occasion Jesus was gloriously taken up into heaven from Mount Olivet in front of over five hundred eye witnesses all at once. Could all five hundred eyewitnesses have all been mistaken? No other founder of one of the world’s religions can claim so much documented supernatural and historical evidence to back up its authenticity! Yet most Muslims erroneously believe that the Qur’an harmonizes with and confirms the previous revelations of Moses, the Prophets, and Jesus. This so called seal of the prophets [the last and greatest of all prophets] performed no miraculous signs, nor did he speak any miraculous prophecies like the former prophets had done. How can Muhammad be the greatest of all prophets when there was no demonstrative supernatural element to his ministry? How can Muhammad be a great prophet when his Qur’an blatantly contradicts the writings of the former prophets? How can Muhammad be the greatest of the Prophets when he spoke inaccurately about past historical events and repeatedly declared the earth to be flat? How can Muhammad be the greatest of the Prophets while repeatedly breaking and contradicting his own Qur’anic Law as well as the commandments of God in the previous scriptures of the Torah and the Gospel? If the Qur’an is truly the Word of God then how can the All-Knowing, Almighty, All-Wise God have been mistaken or misinformed about the historic past? No Biblical Prophet ever made inaccurate utterances like Muhammad had done but he remains the founder of a religion with a modern day constituency of well over one billion people. The Prophet Jesus literally fulfilled hundreds of prophecies recorded in the Law of Moses and the Hebrew Prophets during his lifetime. Muhammad and all other founders of world religions could not claim to have fulfilled detailed predictive prophecies recorded hundreds of years before their lives. Muhammad, Buddah and other founders of the world’s religions could not claim to have performed any irrefutable miracles, nor the miracle of detailed predictive prophecies. How then can Muhammad be the seal of all the previous prophets? How then can Islam, Budism, Hinduism, Shintoism etc., be true religions? If these religions were really true religions then they would have some major miraculous evidence to support their claims. Since the Biblical Monotheism of Moses, Jesus, and the other Apostles and Prophets (of the Bible) performed many major miracles, including the miracles of detailed predictive prophesies which have been fulfilled, Biblical Monotheism has to be the One True Religion above all religions of this world. What other religion can claim that its founders performed many major miracles along with many miracles of detailed predictive prophesies? Since Jesus peformed many great miracles and fulfilled hundreds of Bible prophecies (written before He was born) - He had to be who He said He was. All other founders of the world’s diverse religions cannot claim to have fulfilled many detailed predictive prophecies written before they were born! The apostles followed Jesus because they were convinced by many infallible proofs that He was the founder of the world’s one true religion. Moses and all of the great Prophets spoke of the coming of Jesus the Messiah to save the world! THE BIBLE, EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS, AND EARLY JEWISH AND PAGAN WRITERS ALL DECLARED THAT JESUS WAS THE SON OF GOD WHO WAS CRUCIFIED The New Testament Scriptures repeatedly declare Jesus to be the Son of God who was crucified (Luke 24:1-7/Matt 27:50,51/Mark15:37-39): The Jewish Talmud provides us with some interesting corroborative historical information about Jesus and the birth of Christianity. The following quote was written by Jews who were opposed to Christianity some time between 70-200AD: "They hanged Yeshua [Jesus] on the Sabbath of the Passover. But for forty days before that a herald went in front of him (crying), "Yeshua is to be stoned because he practiced sorcery and seduced Israel and led them away from God. Anyone who can provide evidence on his behalf should come forward to defend him." When, however, nothing favorable about him was found, he was hanged on the Sabbath of the Passover." Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a. Notice that this ancient Jewish Talmudic writing also acknowledges that Jesus was hanged (agrees with New Testament account of being hanged on a cross) on the Passover. The information provided in this ancient Non- Christian Jewish writing amazingly coincides with the New Testament Gospel Narrative which states that Jesus was crucified on the Feast of Passover. Notice also that the Jews who rejected Jesus as their Messiah admitted that he performed some notable miracles. Why else would they call Jesus “a sorcerer?” They could not hide the historical fact that Jesus really performed miracles. All they could do was dispute the source of His power. There are no Jewish or Pagan writings in the first two centuries that deny Jesus performed miracles. Nor did the Jews or Pagans write anything in the first few centuries to disprove Jesus’ death and resurrection. There is no mention in the first few centuries stating that the body of Jesus was paraded around Jerusalem for all to see. Had the unbelieving Jews had this kind of evidence, surely they would have heralded it everywhere! The Roman historian Tacitus wrote: “Christ, who was executed under Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius.” This perfectly corresponds with the New Testament Gospel Narrative in the Christian Bible. Another Roman writer Phlegon wrote about “the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified.” Phlegon goes on to mention, “the great earthquakes which then took place.” The Pagan Historian Thallus admitted in the year A.D. 52, only about 20 years after the death of Christ, that there was “darkness which accompanied the crucifixion of Christ.” Thallus goes on to write that it was just a coincidence that a natural solar eclipse had occurred during the crucifixion of Jesus, who is called Christ. The non Christian Pagan writings agree with the first century New Testament Gospel Narration: Matthew 27:45,50,51 “Now from the sixth hour [12 Noon] until the ninth hour [3:00 PM] there was darkness over all the land. . . . And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.” This darkness from 12 Noon to 3:00 pm in the afternoon was so great that the early Pagan writers, Thallus and Phlegon, tried to explain it away as a naturally occurring solar eclipse. But how could this be a naturally occurring solar eclipse when it occurred during the Feast of Passover which was a time when there was a full moon? It is not possible for a solar eclipse to occur during the time of a full moon. Therefore this darkness over the land had to be a supernatural, rather than a naturally occurring event! The God of Heaven peformed many signs in the Earth and in the Solar System at the exact same time of Jesus’ crucifixion in order to prove that Jesus is the founder of the world’s one true religion. Even Pagan writers confirmed a massive Earthquake and Solar Eclipse which occurred at the time of Jesus’ death. What other world religion can claim such wonderful evidence of Divine approbation? Phlegon also mentions “the great earthquakes which then took place.” The Gospel narrative of the Apostle Matthew states that “the earth quaked, and the rocks were split” when the Prophet Jesus died on the cross. Only very great earthquakes will cause rocks to split! This historical evidence from non Christian sources gives the world sufficient corroborative proof that the Prophet Jesus was really crucified under the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate and that the early first century Gospel of Jesus is amazingly accurate. Another Pagan manuscript mentions the execution of Jesus. This manuscript was written by Mara bar Serapion which dates from the first century AD: “What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their King? It was just after that their Kingdom was abolished.” The first century Jewish Historian Josephus also records the execution of Jesus. This record is noteworthy because Josephus was not a Christian: “. . . there was a wise man who was called Jesus . . . Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die.” Many believe that the words of Josephus might have been tampered with in the surviving Greek translations. But one is hard pressed to refute an ancient translation of the writings of Josephus in this ancient Arabic Manuscript which states: “Jesus . . . was a wise and virtuous man who had many followers from different nations. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, but his disciples reported that, three days later, He appeared to them alive. . . Jesus may have been the Messiah whom the prophets had predicted would come.” Any unbiased historian having proper knowledge of the rules of evidence to test the historical accuracy of past events could not deny the fact that Jesus Christ was indeed crucified under Pontius Pilate and that there really was an earthquake and a solar eclipse accompanying his death. There is to much eyewitness testimony to back up the New Testament Gospel Narrative of Jesus’ death to deny the accuracy of the Biblical account. To deny the crucifixion of the Prophet Jesus would be the equivalent of denying that Pontius Pilate was the Roman Governor of Judea during the lifetime of Jesus, or the equivalent of denying that the Romans actually destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem in 70 AD. How can the Prophet Muhammad or any other religious leader deny the historical accuracy of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus with all this array of historical evidence to corroborate the Biblical Text? How can Muhammad deny that Jesus was called the Son of God? How can the world accept Islam as a true religion of God when the Qur’an repeatedly denies so much proven historical fact? And how can the world accept a Prophet who declares that the previous revelations of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures are also from God but then goes on to contradict and deny so much of the contents of these previous revelations? No other world religion can compare with the infallible inspired scriptures of the original first century Apostolic Christian Faith! The Apostles of Jesus the Messiah gave the world the greatest exposition of the one true religion that the world has ever heard. No other world religion can claim the miraculous evidence of so many Bible prophecies written many hundreds of years before they were fulfilled, supernatural healings and miracles in front of multitiudes of eye witnesses, and so much historical and archaeological evidence to back its authenticity. Most of the world thinks of the Christian Faith as it was displayed through the tyranny of Catholic and Protestant Denominations. Yet the true Christian Faith of the original apostles did not use the force of arms or terror tactics to expand its following. The true Christian Faith is found in the Biblical writings of the first century apostles of Jesus. These writings never mention persecuting other religions, nor prayers to saints, nor many idolatrous doctrines which have been added to Christian Denominations and Sects through the centuries. The true Christian Faith is the Apostolic Faith of the first century Christians. To find out information about the True first century Christian Faith please read our book entitled, “The Rock of Revelation.”
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 11:45:27 +0000
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