Speaker: Dr. Pastor Richard Allis

Scriptures: 
Matt 1:23; Micah 5:1-5; Zech 9:9; Luke 19:35-37;

Scriptures Bible Gateway (NASB & NIV):

Audio Message: 

INTRODUCTION:
Just think for a moment how Jesus is viewed through the centuries and how we can imagine the way He was looked at during His time here on earth. We celebrate His birth in a very different way today than the early church celebrated His life. We look at the Christmas tree lights and many other things that bring the Church to celebrate this one life (Jesus Christ). The literal translation of the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ (mashiyach), commonly spelled in English messiah, which also means "anointed". (messiah) is "anointed". In the Greek the meaning Jesus came to be called "Jesus Christ" (meaning "Jesus the Khristós", i.e. "Jesusthe Messiah" or "Jesus the Anointed"). Why all these acronyms for His name? It is important to you and I to realize He was more than just a man as the Angel spoke to Joseph in a dream to take Mary for his wife. Again another important Name is given “IMMANUEL,” (God is with us) Matt.1:23. We come to the realization that it not only means that God is with us but that He will reside in us at the moment we repent of our sin against God. And what is sin? Sin is rejecting Jesus Christ as our Savior.
 
BODY OF TEXT: Matt 1:23; Micah 5:1-5; Zach 9:9; Luke 19:35-37;

We find in Micah 5:1-5 the Prophecy of the Birth of Jesus for told in Bethlehem 700 years before the actual birth. One reason the Bible’s Old Testament is so important to Christians is that it contains prophesy — over 300 predictions, in fact — that, like the threads of a tapestry, establish the Messianic credentials of Jesus.

Peter Stoner, in his classic book Science Speaks, calculated the chance of any man fulfilling these prophesies, 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. Stoner then upped the ante significantly: he looked at the odds of any man fulfilling even just 48 of the 300+ Old Testament prophesies. The odds jumped to 10 to the 157th power! #yowza  

Jesus entered 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).

Humanly speaking, the Bible was written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the course of 1500 years. Isaiah was a prophet, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a tax-collector, John was a fisherman, Paul was a tentmaker, Moses was a shepherd, Luke was a physician. Despite being penned by different authors over 15 centuries, the Bible does not contradict itself and does not contain any errors. The authors all present different perspectives, but they all proclaim the same one true God, and the same one way of salvation—Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Few of the books of the Bible specifically name their author. 

CONCLUSION:
My conclusion is that even though there are many proofs of Jesus foretold in the Bible there are many who will still not believe in Jesus as the one who can save them for all eternity. This breaks the heart of God. I can’t imagine the heart ache being a father myself and want the best for my children and for them to not receive all that is available to them.