The Story Holds True You Can Trust Him

I follow twitter.  I always like to see what is trending on twitter and the other day a well-known minister was trending for delivering a prophecy. Now he has done this several times before and always been wrong. It was quite specific towards ends times and it started with Donald Trump winning the election, civil unrest, the beginning of the end, and so on.  It was quite specific and I thought to myself wow if one of these things are wrong (and more than one thing was wrong already) it would bring discredit not only to him but also to Christ that we serve.

There is nothing wrong with prophecy in fact the bible says…

¹⁶ Rejoice always,¹⁷ pray without ceasing,¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit.²⁰ Do not despise prophecies,²¹ but test everything; hold fast what is good.²² Abstain from every form of evil.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Prophecyverb (used with object), proph·e·sied, proph·e·sy·ing.

to foretell or predict.

to indicate beforehand.

to declare or foretell by or as if by divine inspiration.

to speak as a mediator between God and humankind or in God's stead.

The word "prophet" occurs about 150 times in the New Testament.

But the Old Testament is where the Christmas Story really starts, with the prophets.

How our Father inserted the prophetic—the foretelling of hope coming to all mankind – centuries (CENTURIES!) before it came to fruition astounds me.

And there are many.

Just a handful of prophecy that Jesus fulfilled:

- Micah prophesiedhe would be born in Bethlehem

Old Testament:“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” (Micah 5:2)

New Testament:  “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem  (Matthew 2:1)

-Isaiah prophesiedhe would be born of a virgin.

-Zechariah prophesiedhe would enter Jerusalem on a donkey,

Old Testament:“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).

New Testament:“And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as He rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As  he was drawing near — already on the way down the Mount of Olives — the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen” (Luke 19:35-37).

-Jeremiah prophesieda massacre of children would happen at the Messiah’s birthplace

-David prophesied that the Messiah would be rejected by his own people

-Hosea prophesied that the Messiah would be resurrected from the dead.

Old Testament: After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him. (Hosea 6:2)

-Amos prophesiedthere would be a darkness over the land for three hours

-was betrayed by a friend who received thirty pieces of silver,

-was silent before His accusers,

-He is the anointed one

Old Testament:  “For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). 

-and died in the manner Romans used for criminals (before the crucifixion),

-during which they pierced His hands and feet.

Peter Stoner, in his classic book Science Speaks, calculated the chance of any man fulfilling these prophecies, even down to the present time, to be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 17th power). How can anyone think that Jesus just “happened” to be in the right place at the right time? Clearly, we can’t consider coincidence.

To help us visually comprehend the staggering odds of this probability, Stoner proposed that we take that many silver dollars and lay them across the state of Texas. In doing so, we’d find they would stack up across the state two feet deep. But wait; there’s more! Now mark one of the silver dollars, and stir up the entire mass of coins. Then blindfold an enthusiastic volunteer and tell him that he can travel as far as he likes across Texas, but that he *must* pick out the marked silver dollar. THAT is how difficult it would be for one man to fulfill these prophecies. Unless, of course, he did so because of divine appointment.

https://image.slidesharecdn.com/jesusthechristsermon10-25-15-151025231953-lva1-app6892/95/jesus-the-christ-sermon-10-2515-22-638.jpg?cb=1445815327

Just this morning I was reading Isaiah 53. (700 years before the birth of Jesus)

The entire chapter talks about Jesus as Christ.

53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lordbeen revealed?
² For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by men,
    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lordhas laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lordto crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lordshall prosper in his hand.
¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

If the prophecy is true, and it is.  You can trust Him.

If the prophets speak truth and they do.  You can trust Him.

If the story holds, and does, you can trust Him.

In your unbelief you can trust Him.

Nothing else might stack up in your life right now, but He does. 

The Story holds true you can trust Him.

In your going astrayness you can trust Him.

In your grief and in your sorrow you can trust him.

In your broken dreams you can trust him

In your sins and transgressions, you can trust him.

The story is real, it checks out over and over again.

It is worth abandoning your life for, following when no one else does.

The Story Holds True You Can Trust Him.