Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world

Christian Meditations – A Chris Hansen Column

December 13, 2007

Historical Evidence For The Virgin Birth Of Jesus Christ? – A Series Part 3

Christ Hansen

Jacob knew that someone like Jesus would come through his son Judah.  In our story, Jacob is on his death-bed.  2200 years have passed since Adam and Eve were given the Promise.  Abraham was given the same Promise.  Jesus is still some 2000 years away.  This is what Jacob said about Judah: "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until He comes, to whom it belongs, and the obedience of the nations is His."  (Genesis 49:10) 2000 years after Jacob died, it looked as though this prophecy would not come true!  The Romans had come!  They had forbidden capital punishment without their permission.  This meant that Judah no longer held the ruler's staff!  It had been taken away from between his feet!  In fact, there was a day of national mourning.  Rabbis led the procession through the streets of Judah weeping and crying out, "The scepter has been taken from between his feet, and He has not come!"  All was not lost!  A hundred miles north, in an obscure town called Nazareth, a small boy ran about the town with his playmates.  The rabbis had no idea that He had come!  Soon they would know, in another 20 years or so.  Yes, they would know.

In order to fulfill prophecy, Jesus had to come at just the right time; not too early, not too late. Gabriel came to Daniel and told him exactly when the anointed Messiah would complete His work:  "Seventy "sevens" are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring an everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy."  (Daniel 9:24.)   Within a 490-year period of time, Jesus would have to do all that!  He did atone for wickedness after this 490-year period.  "Know and understand," Gabriel continued, "from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Anointed One, the Ruler comes, there will be seven "sevens" and sixty-two "sevens" ... After the sixty-two "sevens" the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.  The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary."  (Daniel 9:25-26.)  When does this period begin its countdown?  Ezra tells us in 7:7.  The first 6 chapters of Ezra record a number of false starts to issuing this decree.  Then, at last, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, things get going!  We know this happened in 458 B.C.  That means that after 69 "sevens" or 483 years, the Anointed One would arrive.  That puts us at about 26 A.D.  Right on time so far!  Since Christ was born about 4 B.C. because of a mistake in our calendar, Jesus would have been about thirty years old and just beginning his ministry.  That leaves one seven left.  The Anointed One would be cut off, or killed, and the coming ruler would then destroy Jerusalem after this time.  This means that Jesus had to die before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.   Amazing as this is, Jesus did come right on time, he died right on schedule, and the temple was indeed destroyed after this time period!  Thank you Gabriel and Daniel for helping us see God's visible prophecy footprints walking through history.

If God Almighty walked around in a flesh and blood body, just how would He behave?  Luke chapter 5 gives us some idea.  Jesus is teaching in a very crowded room.  Suddenly, a man on a stretcher is lowered right through the roof!  Everyone stopped to see what Jesus would do.  "Son, your sins are forgiven," Jesus said quietly.  That was not what the Pharisees expected!  If Jesus had said, "Be healed!" that would have been expected.  The religious leaders were furious!  "Only God can forgive sins!" they shouted at Him.   Just who did Jesus think He was!  Then, Jesus turned to the religious leaders and said sternly, "Which do you think is easier?  "Your sins are forgiven," or "Rise and walk!"  Now then, so that you will all know that I the Son of Man do have the authority to forgive sin, I say," Then, turning to the paralyzed man, Jesus said firmly, "Rise and walk!"  His entire ministry hung in the balance.  Suddenly, that's just what the man did!  He walked!  Was this kind of activity prophesied?  Definitely.  (Psalm 103:2-3)  "Praise the Lord 'o my soul and forget not all His benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,”  We would expect God Almighty in a human body to do just that-forgive sins and heal diseases-and that is exactly what Jesus did!

Consider Matthew Chapter 14.  How would God Almighty behave in a human body?  Jesus was tired.  He had just been rejected by his home town folks.  He had just heard that John the Baptist had been executed.  He had miraculously fed thousands-fulfilling yet another prophecy in Psalm 146.  Jesus needed some time away from the crowds.  So he sent the disciples ahead of Him.  He stayed behind to pray on a mountainside.  The disciples rowed across the lake intending to go to the other shore and wait for Him there.  A terrible storm arose, fulfilling yet another prophecy in Psalm 107.   Just when all seemed lost, the disciples saw what they could not believe!  They saw Jesus walking on the wave-tossed water!  It couldn't be Him!  It had to be a spirit!  Jesus reassured them that it was really their beloved Master.  Peter still needed a little more persuading.  "Lord," he said, "If it is you, let me come to you!"  (Lord is yet another name for God, and Jesus did not correct Peter's theology.)  "Come!" Jesus invited.  So, incredibly, Peter also walked on the water!  Peter lost his faith for a moment and began to sink. Peter cried out, "Lord, save me!"  Jesus caught Peter by the hand and gently scolded him, "Why did you doubt!"  Matthew tells us that when Jesus entered the boat, and the storm died down, they worshipped Him.  (Worship is only appropriate for God, and again, Jesus did not correct their theology.)  The disciples exclaimed, "Truly you are the Son of God."  (Human fathers have human sons.  Isn't it reasonable then to believe that God's Son would be God?) 
Why did Jesus walk on water?  It was fulfilling yet another prophecy written two thousand years before!  (Job 9:8)
"He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea."  This can refer to none other than God Almighty!  As a man, Jesus walked.  As God Almighty He walked on water!

Did Jesus really behave as if He were God Almighty?  (Psalm 146:5-9) "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea-and everything in them-The Lord, who remains faithful forever.  He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  ... the Lord gives sight to the blind.  "
Did Jesus behave in this way?  Jesus did speak out for the oppressed.  Matthew Chapter 23 and Chapter 25, et al.  Did Jesus feed the hungry and heal the blind.  Yes, all in one chapter, Mark chapter 8.  Can there be any doubt that Jesus did behave as God Almighty?

Just how would God Almighty behave in a human body?  Luke 8:22-25 gives us some idea.  One day, Jesus said to His disciples,
"Let's go over to the other side of the lake."  This lake was about thirteen miles long and about three miles wide.  So they got into a boat and set out.  As they sailed He fell asleep.  God in a human body got tired and fell asleep.  A terrible squall came down on the lake.  Sometimes, when winds blew through the narrow opening between hills and then down on the lake, the winds were compressed into a terrible gale.  The boat was being swamped, and they were in terrible danger!  Frantically, the disciples woke Jesus up!  At this point He didn't appear much like God Almighty.  He appeared very human.  "Master!  Master! We're going to drown!" they exclaimed.  Jesus woke up, got up, rebuked the wind and raging waters in a loud voice, and there was an instant calm!  "Where is your faith!" Jesus asked His disciples.  Now Jesus was acting very much like God Almighty.  In fear and amazement, the disciples asked one another, "Just who is this?  He commands even the winds and the sea!  And they obey Him!"  Who was He?  He was an ordinary man.  Yet, He was God Almighty too!
A thousand years before this ever took place, Psalm 107:23-30 gave a dramatic picture of this event:
"Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters.  They saw the works of the Lord, His wonderful deeds in the deep.  For He spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.  They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in the peril their courage melted away.  They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits' end.  They cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress.  He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.  They were glad when it grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven."  Just who is this Jesus that even the wind and sea obey Him?  God Almighty!  Just who are we tiny mortals who dare disobey Him!  Sinners in need of His forgiveness!  Join the wind and the sea and obey his mighty voice!

Why did Jesus turn water into wine?  (John chapter 2.)  Was He simply trying to help a groom out of an embarrassing situation?  That was only part of the story.  Once, again, Jesus was simply behaving as God Almighty would.  John makes this observation: "This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee.  He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him."  (John 2:11.)  Jesus was once again revealing that He was God Almighty. 
A thousand years before Christ, Psalm 104 makes this observation about God almighty:
"He makes grass grow for the cattle-bringing forth food from the earth-wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart."  (Psalm 104:14-15.)  Sometimes, Jesus reveals His divine nature in very subtle ways indeed!

Just how would God Almighty look if we saw Him?  Psalm 104:2-3 tells us:  "He wraps Himself with light as with a garment; ... He makes the clouds His chariots and rides the wings of the wind."
Did Jesus look and behave that way? Luke 9:29 says: "As He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning."
Then, Luke 24:51 says: "While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven.  Then they worshiped Him." 
Yes, Jesus really did wrap Himself with light and yes He really did ride the wings of the wind!  Worship is the least we can offer!