STAND & COMFORT Newsletter
Email NEWSLETTER #33 (Vol 2 No 18)
By Ed Tarkowski

"CHRISTMAS":
Fulfilling The Words Of The Prophets

Opening notes:

I don't want to go into the many physical difficulties I have been going through the past 2 weeks or so, but I have almost stopped sending out emails for now. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Though I believe Jesus was born on the feast of Tabernacles and not in December, I find the following message appropriate for this time of year. (See Jesusx' Birth)

Jesus came the first time as a babe in a manger.
He will come a second time
as Lord of lords and King of kings

"Some seeking to prove the validity of the rnessiahship of Jesus, have mathematically demonstrated that only Jesus fulfills all the messianic prophecies. In his book, ‘Evidence That Demands A Verdict,' Josh McDowell points out that it is unthinkable that the fulfillment of all the precise messianic prophecies were a mere coincidence. He quotes Peter Stoner, who, upon examining only 48 of more than 300 messianic prophecies, wrote: ‘We find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be one in 10 to the 157th power.' This means that the probability of only 48 prophecies out of several hundred to be fulfilled in one person is the number 10 with 157 zeros after it. Others have said that, if in this group of prophecies there appeared the prediction of both when and where the Messiah would be born, the probability of all of this occurring in one person goes beyond our ability to express in numbers. Not only have these prophecies concerning the Messiah been fulfilled in the person of Jesus, but literally scores more have been fulfilled in detail" (Zion's Fire, Oct 2002).

These prophecies of Jesus coming as Messiah to the Jews are important to us for four reasons. First, they prepared the way for Him so that the Jews might believe on Him as their Messiah, and later that the Gentile world would also believe on Him as Savior. Second, they show God's sovereignty over the future. Third, they give us a confident hope that all that God has promised will come to pass. Last, the fulfillment of these prophecies written down by the prophets of old show God's word to be truly just that, and that what He says will surely happen according to what He has spoken (paraphrased from Zion's Fire).

There are prophecies that paved the way for Jesus to come from heaven to die as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. There are also prophecies that said He would be raised from the dead, and that God's Spirit would be sent to indwell all who believed in Him. These are works of God which bring joy to the hearts of those who realize that God indeed provided what man could not: a sacrifice which would justify man in God's eyes. He did this as a free gift; all men have to do is believe on Him whom He sent.

Jesus is the Son of God, having forever existed at the Father's right hand, yet He came to earth through a virgin to become that all-important sacrifice for us. That is a joyful thing. Since Jesus Christ is indeed God's only Son, to ignore the work God did through Him is an abomination before God. We don't know what it would be to be free of all sin and sickness and death, but Jesus did for all eternity before He came. Yet He laid aside His glory to become a man like us, so that He might be the perfect sacrifice for our sins and be raised to exercise the power of His resurrection towards all who believe. When He returns, we, too, shall be forever freed from the plagues of sin and sickness and death - if we believe on Him and follow Him in His word. Jesus said that if we love Him, we will do what He has said. To do that, we need to read His word. If we don't, He said we don't love Him at all.

Jesus' first coming was meant by God to be a time of rejoicing for those who looked forward to His coming. But those who would not believe on Him were cut off, forever. He sent the Holy Spirit, not only to indwell all who believe and mark them as His, but so that the gospel of His shed blood and resurrection would be announced to all men till the end of time. All men would have the opportunity to reject Him or believe on Him.

God has given other prophesies that He will fulfill as sure as He fulfilled the ones concerning Jesus' first coming. Just as His birth and life on earth brought joy to some and sorrow to others, so it will be at His second coming. God has said He is going to send Christ back one day, when He will judge the world by one simple fact: whether or not men believed on Him as the Scriptures said. Though He came the first time through the womb of the virgin Mary, He will come a second time in the power and glory of the Father for salvation (changed/resurrected) and wrath (lake of fire). Jesus will judge the world in righteousness and reign on earth from Jerusalem.

Eternal life is just that. All who have believed on Jesus will live with Him in His glorious kingdom forever, never more to see sin, sickness, tears, mourning or death. But those who rejected Him as the foundation of their life now, will experience eternity in the lake of fire. Eternity is forever, and so are the consequences of either believing on Christ or rejecting Him. God has warned us - through prophecies to be fulfilled in the future - of what He is going to do. He made it so simple, just as He made it so simple to avoid the consequences of rejecting Christ as His offer of a free salvation. It is by believing Him, not by our own efforts to be spiritual or religious. It is by placing faith in the person of His Son alone, for God has spoken:

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

There is salvation in no one else. God has done a great work in sending His Son into the world. He told us of it in prophecies past and present and we are to believe and live according to it because every word will be fulfilled.

JESUS CAME A FIRST TIME

Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

JESUS IS NO LONGER A BABE IN A MANGER

Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

JESUS WILL COME A SECOND TIME

Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

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This newsletter will be sent out whenever I think there is something the body of Christ needs to consider, to build it up, to give it encouragement or comfort in hard times.

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