IS JESUS COMING BACK - PART 3

                                             IS JESUS COMING               BACK?
                                            PART THREE

  (copied from
    Y-Jesus.com)


Has Jesus kept other promises ?

How do we answer scoffers such as Bertrand Russell, who accused Jesus
 of breaking His promise to return ? 


First, we might ask, how did Jesus know 2,000 years ago, that the gospel would indeed be preached throughout the world. How could He have known that unless He knew the future?

Second, we need to look at other promises Jesus made, to see if they were kept. Let us look at three other major things Jesus promised:
 
       1.  He is the fulfillment of Messianic
         promises.
   2.  Jerusalem would be destroyed.
   3.  He would die and rise again 
         3 days later.

Did Jesus fulfill ancient prophecies ?

Let us look at whether or not Jesus fulfilled Old Testament Messianic prophecies 

The Bible is the only book that 
contains a large body of specific prophecies relating to nations, Israel and the coming Messiah.  Nearly 
300 references were made in the Old Testament, about the coming Messiah. They told of His lineage, His birth 
place, His betrayal and His death, and His resurrection. These references 
were written 500 to 1000 years before Jesus was born and He fulfilled every one.

Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls proves that the prophecies were written at least 100 years before Christ making it impossible for them to have been staged. The odds that one person could fulfill each of these prophecies without 
error are statistically impossible. 
Jesus' fulfillment of so many specific prophecies is compelling evidence that He truly was the promised Messiah.

Was Jesus Right about Jerusalem ?

Second, Let us examine Jesus' prophecy  of Jerusalem's impending destruction, a prophecy that seemed impossible at the time, and shocked those who heard it. Jesus warned the Jews that their rejection of Him would result in a horrible ending for Jerusalem and for the destruction of its magnificent Temple.

Tragically Jesus' words came true. One million Jews were killed forty years later, as Titus and the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem. The Jewish historian, Josephus recorded these unusual signs during Jerusalem's fall in 70 AD. 

1.  "A meteor, resembling a sword , hung 
       over Jerusalem one whole year.
2.  " A light equal to the brightness of the 
        day continued for half a hour."
3.  "Chariots and armed men were seen
        in the air."

Josephus writes of other unusual 
things that occurred during the Roman siege as well. What did these signs mean ?  Some scholars believe 
Jesus return in the clouds was 
fulfilled figuratively by these signs 
in 70 AD . However, the actual 
fulfillment of Jesus' literal return to Jerusalem has not yet occurred.

Was Jesus Right about His 
Resurrection ?

The third significant prediction Jesus made was that He would rise from the dead after being crucified. Of that claim, Bible Scholar, Wilbur Smith argues: 

"When He said that He Himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if He expected longer the 
devotion of any disciples - unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared to say a thing like that."

Jesus' prediction put everything else He said in jeopardy. If He didn't 

rise from the dead as 
promised, why would 
anyone continue                 
believing in Him?  Yet 
His followers 
enthusiastically did. 
In a New York Times article, Peter Steinfel's 
cites the startling events that occurred three days
after Jesus' death.

"Shortly after Jesus was executed, His followers were suddenly galvanized from a baffled, cowering group, into people whose message about a living Jesus and a coming kingdom, 
preached at the risk of their lives, eventually changed an empire. Something happened..... But exactly what? 

So, what did happen, that turned the 
first century world on its heels?  Is there evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead?  Skeptic Frank Morrison originally began writing a book to disprove the
resurrection. After examining the evidence, he reversed himself and wrote a different book  on why he believed it to be true.

Another skeptic, Dr. Simon Greenleaf, founder ofbHarvard Law School, 
scoffed at Jesus' resurrection to 
some law students. When challenged
 to investigate, Greenleaf began 
applying his famous rules of 
evidence to the case.
After a detailed evaluation of the evidence, he became convinced 
that the resurrection really happened, primarily because of the radical 
change in the disciples. 
(see "Did Jesus really rise from the dead?)

So, if Jesus fulfilled numerous messianic promises written hundreds
 of years before His birth, predicted the fall of Jerusalem and kept His incredible promise to rise from the dead as the evidence suggests, would any reasonable person doubt His promise
 to return? 


next post 20th December