20 THE
BIBLE
The BIBLE… Common??? Absolutely, I say this not that the BIBLE
is treated as common… However, lets face facts by much of todays standards the
BIBLE has become exactly that…
The proof if your asking is easy, most Americans have several scattered
about the house… Common in that fact… How often is it picked up in a given week???
Does that not make it common as well???
Of course, I am aware of the ability to download it on the
computer, the tablet, and today’s cellphone… Its common there in that fact as well,
so easy it can be obtained… Gone are the days that few had the BIBLE and where
at one time in history it was literally chained to the pulpit…
How about the absence of today in this fact of those living the
BIBLE??? Is that not common as well??? When in our world today in the ever-increasing
murder rates, rioting, violence, and crime??? What about the breakdown of the
family??? The voice on the radio spoke of the opioid use now has become a 500
billion dollar problem in America today… Pornography this is something that
America leads in as the world’s leading exporter… What of wars and the talk of
war that is so prevalent, we see it, and hear it everywhere…
At this writing, it is said that Iran is now in route to place
their war ships off the coast of Mexico, with some South American countries as
well even with the possibility of being given safe harbor… That is very close
to us…
This should bring to our attention the word of GOD… The BIBLE
has become way to common in this present generation…
When the BIBLE can make such boasts throughout history…
· Over 40
authors of 66 books of the bible… Thirty-nine OT books 27 NT books… A 1500 year
span in its recording… 5,000 NT manuscripts found of the NT translations…
· The NT boasting
5,000 manuscript copies which were being produced no later than 50 years after
the NT was written… No other can say it
of another book… The word of GOD is TRUE…
Prophecies of the old testament that foretell of Jesus…
·
Biblical scholar J. Barton Payne
cited 574 Old Testament verses
containing messianic prophecies…
Josh Mcdowell points out…
·
The Messiah would: reconcile men to God at
painful cost to Himself; come from the seed of a woman (Genesis 3:15)…
·
Be a Semite (Genesis 9:26);
·
Descend through Abraham (Genesis 22:18),
·
Isaac (Genesis 21:12) and
·
Jacob (Numbers 24:17)
·
Be from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10);
·
Be a prophet, like Moses (Deuteronomy
18:15),
·
A priest (Psalm 110:4),
·
The judge (Isaiah 33:22) and
·
King (Psalm 2:6);
·
Descend from Jesse's line (Isaiah 11:1) and
·
David's line and be eternal king (2 Samuel
7:13);
·
Be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
·
Be given gifts (Psalm 72:10; Isaiah 60:6);
·
Be called Lord (Psalm 110:1);
·
Be announced in advance (Isaiah 40:3);
·
Begin his ministry in Galilee;
·
Heal the blind, deaf, dumb and lame (Isaiah
35:5,6);
·
Teach in parables (Psalm 78:2);
·
Enter the Temple (Malachi 3:1);
·
Enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah
9:9);
·
Be a stumbling block to the Jews (Psalm
118:22, 8:14);
·
Be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 60:3);
·
Be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:19) and
·
Sold for 30 pieces of silver, which Judas
would throw into the Temple and which would be given for the potter's field
(Zechariah 11:12-13);
·
Be struck, causing his disciples to scatter
(Zechariah 13:7), which Christ affirmed and repeated (Matthew 26:31);
·
Be falsely accused (Psalm 35:11);
·
Stand silent before His accusers (Isaiah
53:7);
·
Be wounded and bruised for people's sins
(Isaiah 53:5),
·
Smitten and spit upon (Isaiah 50:6) and
·
Mocked (Psalm 22:7);
·
Be crucified with thieves and plead for
those killing him (Isaiah 53:12);
·
Be thirsty (Psalm 69:21);
·
As flesh would pray God why He had forsaken
Him (Psalm 22:1);
·
Be buried in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah
53:9).
·
Darkness would fall over the land (Amos
8:9);
·
His hands, feet (Psalm 22:16) and side
(Zechariah 12:10) would be pierced, but none of His bones would be broken
(Psalm 34:20);
·
His own people would reject Him (Isaiah
53:3)
·
Be hated without cause (Psalm 69:4);
·
His friends would witness His ordeal from
afar (Psalm 38:11); and
·
People would cast lots for his clothing
(Psalm 22:18).
McDowell notes
that the Old Testament was completed in about 450 B.C., but if you won't accept
that, you can verify that the Septuagint (Greek translation) was begun during
the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.), which means the Hebrew
version had to have been completed at least 250 years before Christ was born.
He also notes
that while it's true that Jesus could have arranged to fulfill some of these
prophecies, He could not have orchestrated the place, time and manner of His
birth… Jesus would be betrayed, the manner of His death, people's reactions to
His crucifixion, the piercings and the burial.
The statistical
odds that any man might have fulfilled all eight of those prophecies, let alone
61 (or 574) of them, are 1 in 10 to the 17th power… This in our BIBLE…
Note what the Prime
Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said, “there is no Jewish existence without the Bible; it doesn’t exist,”
he went on to say, “in my opinion
there is also no Jewish future without the Bible…”
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu practices what he preaches his son 2010 won 1st
Pl. in the national Bible quizzing he went on to win third-place
internationally…
It was stated in
the news that in Washington an American school when compared on the first day
of classes nothing will be said about the Bible, but in Israel and their public-school
system… Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met 200 students, urging them to be
serious about Bible study…
He told them be
all you can be… Doctors, attorneys, physicians all these and more… Yet, hear
what Benjamin Netanyahu said in their learning; “first of all learn the Bible… Study the Bible…”
Note this event in Prime Minister Netanyahu life… “On Wednesday afternoon in Baghdad, a few thousand kilometers away
from the Prime Minister’s Jerusalem Residence, the world powers known as
the P5+1 — the US, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany
— sat down for much anticipated talks with the Iranians about their
nuclear program.
At the same time, just
a few hundred meters away from the Prime Minister’s Residence, 100 or so people
loudly demonstrated for the rights of Ethiopian immigrants and against
discrimination.
And while this and more
was going on, for two hours on a mild afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu — with a small black kippa on his head — sat in the
covered courtyard of his home with 16 rabbis, academics, Bible
scholars, archeologists and linguists, and discussed the meaning of the
Book of Ruth… His wife, Sara, sat next to him, and his two sons sat on a
bank of chairs set to the side.
“There was something at
once heartening and slightly humorous about Netanyahu setting aside precious
time in the late afternoon to talk about Biblical figures Tamar, Naomi
and Boaz, Ruth and David…
This is what took precedent in
the life of Benjamin Netanyahu while Iran loomed so large, and domestic issues
beckoned so seriously.
NOW--- OF ALL THINGS THAT BECKONED A
WORLD LEADER---THE IMPORTANCE WAS BIBLE STUDY… GOD’S WORD…
I don’t know what it must take for the word of GOD to once again to be so
important that like in its past it’s taught and revered again… At
least respected for what the Bible is, “THE WORD OF GOD…”
Consider Israel today that if in their own words that their existence is
tied to the Bible as stated… See their past in all their times of war and times
of such hatred against them… From the Egyptians, the Philistines, Assyrians,
Babylonians, and others… Consider from the New Testament times, Rome, wars of 70
A.D. the destruction of their temple… Beyond even the BIBLE and modern history…
In 90 A.D. Then 116 A.D. and again in 135 A.D. On and on we can look and see
they never forgot who they were…
Hitler and the Holocaust; 6 million Jews dead and such awful treatment that
words can’t even capture the magnitude of such human ugliness, and demonic
forces at work… Yet, in our day in the words of Benjamin Netanyahu says they
stand today and into the future because of the bible…
Consider the gods of so many of the past…
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Numbers 25:03
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Moabite regional variation/aspect of Baal.
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Luke 11:19
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Philistine/Ekronian regional variation/aspect of Baal.
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I Kings 18:18
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Canaanite gods (“lords” or “masters”), a collective of the
different aspects of Baal.
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Isiah 46:01
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Assyrian/Babylonian/Sumerian god (“lord” or “master”) aspect
of Baal.
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I Kings 11:07
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Moabite war god.
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I Samuel 05:02
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Philistine/Ekronian/Babylonian god of grain and agriculture.
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Acts 19:35
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Ephesian moon and nature goddess, (equivalent of the Greeks
Artemis).
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Acts 14:12
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King of the Roman gods.
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Acts 14:12
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Roman god of communication and travel, and messenger of the
gods. Also known as Mercury.
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I Kings 11:05 & 07
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Ammonite god of fire (also known as Moloch, Molech, Molekh, or
Molek).
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The question is where are they now??? Nonexistent and yet, the GOD of
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel still stands and is worshipped today, even with the
misaligned and scattered through history…
The BIBLE is right… The BIBLE is true… The BIBLE is coming to pass as it
always has… See it, feel it, know it… Let the times awaken THE BIBLE AGAIN IN
ALL OF US…
Israel is studying… Israel is looking for their Messiah… They know who they
are their identity is tied to the BIBLE… Look at them today… See them hold to
who they are all due to the BIBLE…
Deut 11:18 Therefore shall ye lay up
these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon
your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19
And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when
thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the
door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21 That your days may be multiplied,
and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your
fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
22 For if ye shall diligently keep all
these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God,
to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
KJV
We as Americans teach our kids to play ball, get them in every sport, every
activity we possibly can… We teach them how to catch and throw a ball, play golf,
the boys how to hunt and the girls how to cheerlead… We buy them the latest of
iphones, and game systems… We pressure them about school, college and career… I
just ask, one question with Jesus’ soon return… WHERE IS THE BIBLE IN THE LIVES
OF OUR CHILDREN, OUR MARRIAGES, OUR HOMES???
WHERE IS THE BIBLE??? SEE ISRAEL… SEE THEIR DESIRE… THEY GAVE US THE BIBLE,
THEY GAVE US JESUS AND SOON THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH… WHERE IS YOUR BIBLE???
Ps
119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. KJV
