The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to do three things. He came to have my past forgiven, you get a purpose for living and a home in Heaven. (Rick Warren)
Thinking about the musings from Day 33: The Basics Of Christianity…
I would submit to you that due to the historical impact of Jesus of Nazareth, it is necessary to expand even more upon his birth and life, and of course, the impact of his death. It is possible however, that you may still perhaps be in doubt as to the validity of the existence of Jesus of Nazareth. Luckily for us, the evidence is quite conclusive regarding the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
In the year 2010, it was estimated that there were at least 2.2 billion followers of Christianity, or almost a full third of the population at that time on planet Earth. What makes that number all the more impressive is the fact that the 2.2 billion followers in 2010 are about three times the number of Christians estimated to have been living around the year 1910.
Why the three-fold growth in the number of followers of Christianity in 100 years?
Again, it goes back to the man who started it all, Jesus of Nazareth. It is important to examine the birth, the life, and the death of Jesus of Nazareth.
First, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
In Day 33: The Basics Of Christianity, I introduced four bible verses, two from the Gospel of Matthew, and two from the Gospel of Luke. Together, these four bible verses document the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Or do they?
There are some in the world today that deny that Jesus of Nazareth ever existed. Those who deny the existence of Jesus of Nazareth have several claims that they believe help to justify their position, with perhaps the most compelling argument being:
The original New Testament authors are vague on the early life of Jesus of Nazareth.
This claim matters because we need to account for the fact that perhaps Matthew, being a friend of Jesus of Nazareth, and Luke, (along with the other two Gospel writers, Mark and John), were writing for their own benefit.
Perhaps it could be possible that Matthew, was enhancing some of the facts regarding the birth, life and death of Jesus of Nazareth, to make himself look better, so that he could be seen as a famous writer. (Remember, they did not have the New York Times bestseller list back then, and writers did not make much, if any, income from their writings.)
Perhaps it could be possible that Matthew, was writing in such a way regarding Jesus of Nazareth, to financially gain for himself and his own family.
At the end of the day, perhaps Matthew was using the events surrounding Jesus of Nazareth as a means to an ends.
Maybe the intent of the writings of Matthew was for the best interest of Matthew.
Perhaps you could take out Matthew in the statements above and plug in Luke, Mark and John, and come to the same conclusions.
Maybe.
Then again, maybe not.
In Day 33: The Basics Of Christianity, I introduced the idea that there was “outside, independent corroboration that records the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in this region”. This is not merely my opinion. This corroboration is backed up in two different ways:
1) In the Old Testament and;
2) Authors outside of the region, both geographically and religiously.
First, let’s focus on the “outside, independent corroboration” of the coming of Jesus of Nazareth with evidence from the Old Testament.
Historians agree that the writings of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, was authored most likely by Moses during the 13th century BC. The rest of the Old Testament, Joshua through Malachi, were written over a period of centuries, most likely all the way up until the 3rd century BC, with the completion of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
One of many themes penned throughout both the Torah and Old Testament was the idea of a savior for the Jewish people who would eventually come and release them from their bondage and wandering. If you look closely, it is quite possible that the birth of Jesus is foretold in the following 5 Old Testament verses:
From Genesis 49:10 (KJV):
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
(According to the Patrilineage of Jesus, Abraham begot Isaac, who begot Jacob who begot Judah…then 37 generations after Judah, Jesus was born.);
From Isaiah 9:6 (KJV):
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
(Jesus has been referred to over the centuries as one, some, or all of these titles.);
From Isaiah 11:1 (KJV):
11 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
(According to the Patrilineage of Jesus, Jesse, who is 12 generations after Abraham and 28 generations after Jesse, Jesus was born.);
Jeremiah 23:5 (KJV):
5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
(According to the Patrilineage of Jesus, David, who is 13 generations after Abraham and 27 generations after Jesse, Jesus was born.);
From Micah 5:2 (KJV):
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
(Jesus, the descendant of Judah, was born in Bethlehem);
I decided to type in the following into a search engine, “How many old testament prophecies of Jesus.”
On just the first page alone, the numbers, from smallest to largest, were the following:
5, 7, 9, 16, 40, 44, 55, 68, 351, and 356.
So what?
Regarding the 5 verses that I selected, they are all from the Torah and the Old Testament. That is not considered “outside, independent corroboration”.
Agreed.
So how about we go to this “outside, independent corroboration”, that is actually outside of both the Old and New Testaments?
That is an excellent idea.
That is exactly where we will go after some rest.
Do not feel discouraged if you are having a difficult time understanding the validity of the birth of Jesus. Do not feel discouraged if you are still undecided as to the validity of the birth, of Jesus. Instead, embrace the idea that after learning a little bit more of the birth of Jesus, perhaps the nudge became a little more apparent. Is there more to learn? Absolutely. Embrace the idea that you cannot, nor should not, ever stop learning.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? (John 11:40 KJV)
Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?
Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 33: The Basics Of Christianity.
If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.
Please feel free to go back to where all of this began: