Skip to main content

Prophecies #2

             When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’” (I Chronicles 17:11-14)

            But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)

 

          Yesterday, we considered the prophecies stating that the Messiah had to be a son of Adam and Eve, Abraham, Jacob (Israel,) and of those who came out of Egypt. In today’s passages we learn that the Messiah also had to be a son of David while at the same time, have origins from ancient time and rule over Israel forever. To suggest that this only means that his heritage goes way back and that someone from his household would always sit on the throne doesn’t fit with the specificity with which God speaks of David and his descendants being on the throne. He told David that if David’s descendants were obedient, they would keep the throne. In these verses, there is no behavioral standard for the one about whom God spoke.

          Now, to be clear, saying that one of the descendants of Adam, Abraham, Jacob, and David still leaves a lot of room – between the number of children born in a family the length of time – we’re talking about millions of people. At the same time, some estimate that more than 50 billion people have lived on this planet, and a billion is a thousand times a million, eliminating more than 95% (or even 99%) of all the people who have ever lived. And, since Scripture keeps saying “son,” that reduces it by about another half.

          There’s one more point made in today’s passages. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Remember that these prophecies were written hundreds of years before the described events. Some will protest that outside of the New Testament claims (which they insist might have been fabricated to match the prophecies), nothing confirms that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies. There is also no direct evidence that He didn’t, nor even claims that any of the others they suggest as parallels fulfilled them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more