Do You REALLY Need Proof About Jesus??

Jesus Christ is the Promised Messiah, the Son of Man, the Anointed One, the Holy One of God, He who is Faithful and True, KING of Kings and LORD of Lords… the list goes on and on. It is not the intent of this article to list all the names that Jesus possesses; you can Google ‘titles of Jesus’ and receive literally millions of hits.

There is the evidence of Jesus’ own words:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
-John 3:16-18

Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
-John 5:22-23

“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
-John 5:36-40

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
-John 6:27

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
-John 6:29

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out: “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
-John 7:28-29 

In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
-John 8:17-18

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”
-John 8:23-24

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
-John 10:25-30

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came – and the Scripture cannot be broken – what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
-John 10:34-38

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
-John 11:25-26

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
-John 11:41-42

Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
-John 12:44-46

“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
-John 13:19-20

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
-John 14:6-7

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
-John 14:23-24

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
-John 17:1-5 

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
-John 17:17-18

Do you believe in Jesus Christ as the One God sent to die in your place and pay the penalty of death for your sins? Or is your heart as hard as the stone?

Too many times, I have heard the absolute nonsense that Jesus Christ is not the One whom He claimed to be, along one or another line such as… ’Oh, he is a great moral teacher, but I don’t believe in him as the Son of God.’ An able refute to this lunacy is offered by world-renowned Oxford Professor and writer C. S. Lewis, who wrote:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [Jesus], ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic, on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg, or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.”
-Mere Christianity, pg. 52

Jesus Christ is my Lord and King, Messiah and Savior. He is the Lord of my life, and my personal belief is that, apart from Jesus Christ, I have no life worth living or possessions worth having. All of Holy Scripture declares Jesus Christ: the Old Testament points forward to Him in the New Testament, and the New Testament points backward to Him in the Old Testament. I believe in Jesus Christ as the one and only Son of God, the One who took place my place on the cross and paid the penalty of death for my sins so that I could be with Him forever in eternity. I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe in God the Father who sent Him and raised Him from the dead as the first-born from among the dead, and I believe in the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent after His ascension to glory.

At this point… are you still not convinced? OK, I will assume that you are of a mathematical turn of mind, and would be more than open to believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God if that can be proven beyond the shadow of a statistical doubt. Grateful regard is accorded to the Raptureready website.

Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled in One Person: (prophesy; fulfillment)

1. Betrayed by a friend.  (Psalm 41:9; Matthew 26:49).
2. Thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:15).
3. Betrayal money cast to the floor of the temple (Zechariah 11:13; Matthew 27:5).
4. Betrayal money used to buy the potter’s field (Zechariah 11:13: Matthew 27:7).
5. Forsaken and deserted by his disciples (Zechariah 13:7; Mark 14:50).
6. Accused by false witnesses (Psalm 35:11; Matthew 26:59-60).
7. Silent before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12).
8. Wounded and bruised (Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 27:26).
9. Hated without a cause (Psalm 69:4; John 15:25).
10. Struck and spat upon (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67).
11. Mocked, ridiculed and rejected (Isaiah 53:3; Matthew 27:27-31 and John 7:5, 48).
12. Collapse from weakness (Psalm 109:24-25; Luke 23:26).
13. Taunted with specific words (Psalm 22:6-8; Matthew 27:39-43).
14. People will shake their heads at Him (Psalm 109:25; Matthew 27:39).
15. People will stare at Him (Psalm 22:17; Luke 23:35).
16. Executed among “sinners” (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38).
17. Hands and feet will be pierced (Psalm 22:16; Luke 23:33).
18. Will pray for his persecutors (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34).
19. Friends and family will stand afar off and watch (Psalm 38:11; Luke 23:49).
20. Garments will be divided and won by the casting of lots (Psalm 22:18; John 19:23-24).
21. Will thirst (Psalms 69:21; John 19:28).
22. Will be given gall and vinegar (Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34).
23. Will commit Himself to God (Psalm 31:5; Luke 23:46).
24. Bones will be left unbroken (Psalm 34:20; John 19:33).
25. Heart will rupture (Psalm 22:14; John 19:34).
26. Side will be pierced (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34).
27. Darkness will come over the land at midday (Amos 8:9; Matthew 27:45).
28. Will be buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60).
29. Will die 438 years after the declaration of Artaxerxes to rebuild the temple in 444 BC (Daniel 9:24).
30. Will be raised from the dead (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:31), ascend to heaven (Psalms 68:18; Acts 1:9) and be seated the right hand of God in full majesty and authority (Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:3).

Professor Peter W. Stoner, who authored “Science Speaks”, stated that the probability of just eight particular prophecies being fulfilled in one person is 1 x 10 to the 17th power; i.e. 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000).  The eight prophecies used in the calculation were:

1. Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; fulfilled in Matt. 2:1-7; John 7:42; Luke 2:47).
2. Messiah is to be preceded by a Messenger (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; fulfilled in Matthew 3:1-3; 11:10; John 1:23; Luke 1:17).
3. Messiah is to enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; fulfilled in Luke 35-37; Matthew 21:6-11).
4. Messiah is to be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9; 55:12-14; fulfilled in Matthew 10:4; 26:49-50; John 13:21).
5. Messiah is to be sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; fulfilled in Matthew 26:15; 27:3).
6. The money for which Messiah is sold is to be thrown “to the potter” in God’s house (Zechariah 11:13; fulfilled in Matthew 27:5-7).
7. Messiah is to be silent before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; fulfilled in Matthew 27:12).
8. Messiah is to be executed by crucifixion as a thief (Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 53:5,12; fulfilled in Luke 23:33; John 20:25; Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27,28).

This statement was validated by the American Scientific Affiliation.  This number has been illustrated as follows:

If 1 x 10 to the 17th power silver dollars are laid on the face of Texas, they’ll cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one?

Professor Stoner went on to consider 48 prophecies and says, “… We find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 x 10 to the 157th power.” 

This is a really large number and it represents an extremely small chance. Try to visualize it. The silver dollar, which has been used in a previous illustration, is entirely too large. A smaller object must be selected. The electron is about as small an object as is generally understood. It is so small that it will take 2.5 x 10 to the 15th power of them laid side by side to make a line, single file, one inch long. If the electrons were to be counted in this line one inch long, and counted 250 each minute, and if the count continued day and night, it would take 19,000,000 years to count just the one-inch line of electrons. If there was a cubic inch of these electrons and it was counted it would take, counting steadily, 250 each minute, 19,000,000 times 19,000,000 times 19,000,000 [nineteen million times nineteen million times nineteen million] or 6.9 x 10 to the 21st power years. 

This is approximately the total number of electrons in all the mass of the known universe.  In other words, the probability of Jesus Christ fulfilling 48 prophecies is the same as one person being able to pick out one electron out of the entire mass of the universe.

Such is the chance of any one man fulfilling all 48 prophecies. Yet Jesus Christ fulfilled not just 48 prophecies, not just 61 prophecies, but more than 324 individual prophecies that the Prophets wrote concerning the Messiah.  A statistical projection representing the possibility of Jesus Christ fulfilling all 324 prophecies has not yet been found, but it doesn’t matter given the illustrations set forth above. 

Does it really take faith to come to salvation through Jesus Christ?  Absolutely, but that faith is not a blind faith as some would want you to believe but instead, it is a faith based upon facts.  How much faith? Maybe not very much if one really takes the time to look at the facts and take into consideration the statistics and probability of the prophecies concerning the Messiah.

When people insist Christianity is a religious faith based upon ignorant acceptance of certain precepts that have no basis in fact, they are sadly mistaken.  Christianity only makes sense.  It is a faith that not only can be an emotional faith, but an intellectual faith as well.

If after these mathematical proofs (which completely eliminate any statistical possibility that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God) you still deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then you are not only mathematically challenged, but you are intellectually dishonest as well. 

If you do not know Jesus Christ, but want to know Him because you find that your heart has been convicted by the Holy Spirit, pick up your Holy Bible. Start with the gospel of John in the New Testament, which is the most theological of the four Synoptic Gospels, concentrating on the things that Jesus said. Then read the book of Romans, followed by the book of Hebrews. Then read every book in the entire New Testament in order, and finally read the books of the Old Testament in order to begin to understand the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and God’s magnificent plan for humanity.