The Tomb is Empty

Jesus – the reason.

Lets start with a few highlight of Jesus’ life:

• Born of a virgin: Matthew 1:18-25 – This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.  As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:  “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!  She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”  When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.  But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Jesus grew up just like each one of us.  He faced temptations, trials and everything you & I deal with on a daily basis, yet, He did not sin or waiver on His beliefs.  In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Jesus was 30 years of age when His ministry began. On the day it began, the Holy Spirit entered Him.  This happened in Luke 3.

Luke 3:21 & 22 (AMP): Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, the [visible] heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “You are My Son, My Beloved, in You I am well-pleased and delighted!”

Jesus preformed approximately 38 recorded miracles throughout the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

In the Old Testament we find over 300 different prophecies, or inspirations about Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection. Keep in mind, Google was non-existent at this time!  The writers could not collaborate with one another.

 

Take for example what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53:5 and 6: But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.  He was beaten so we could be whole.  He was whipped so we could be healed.  All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.  We have left God’s paths to follow our own.  Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

 

Talking to Abram regarding his seed in Genesis 12:3: I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

 

Let’s go back to the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 53:3-5: He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.  We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.  He was despised, and we did not care.  Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.  And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!  But he was pierced for our rebellion,    crushed for our sins.  He was beaten so we could be whole.  He was whipped so we could be healed.

According to a blog I read recently….

If you were to simply run the odds on any one man fulfilling just 48 of these, what exactly are the odds?
Professor Peter Stoner (1888-1980) was Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953, and Chairman of the Science Division of Westmont College from 1953 to 1957. Stoner calculated the probability of one man fulfilling just 48 of the 300-plus Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament.

In 1944, he published his research in a paper titled, “Science Speaks: Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible.” Stoner figured that the odds of one man fulfilling 48 of these prophecies was 1 in 10 to the 157th power.

As far as true statistical analysis, the American Scientific Affiliation gave Stoner’s work its stamp of approval saying the, “…manuscript for Science Speaks has been carefully reviewed … and has been found, in general, to be dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented. The mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound and Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way.

Now, I’m not a scientist, but seems a tad beyond human comprehension. Wow!

 

 

Jesus’ sole purpose for coming to earth was to die…for you & I.

John 17:3: And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.

The truth us, we all deserve hell.

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is only one way to be Saved from death, hell and eternal separation from God.

Acts 4:12: There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

In closing.

Do you have a personal relationship with the person who loves you the most?

Have you drifted away from Him?

If you died in the next 5 minutes, where would you go?  Heaven or hell?