If you are over 40 years of age, you might notice a change in the the questions presented to the lay people often brought up as a puzzling question about faith.
We have dropped questioning the Virgin Birth of Christ Jesus. In the 1970 and 80's this was repeated so often people got loud and opinionated.
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (which means 'God is with us').
My father and I had the debate. He said how would that be possible. I said if the blind see and deaf hear and Jesus walks on water, why not if God's Word goes forth? My father said that was a complete summary and did bring definition. Eventually, this calmed the nationwide debate.
What else was the contributing factor?
The most amazing collection of Archaeology ever found. The very House of David has been questioned to be of fable.
Found:
A steele telling of David.
The Biblical directions to David's Palace found his home. The prison cell found a bulla of the Biblically accurate account of Jeremiah and Baruch in the prison cell.
The stables of Solomon.
The water wells of Hezekiah, seals backing up the amazing prosperity of Hezekiah.
Pontius Pilate was found to exist in records in Rome and two archaeological finds in Israel. He had been said to be fiction.
A pottery shard linking Goliath to David in Goliath's home town.
The sarcophagus of Caiaphas and of Herod. The house of Caiaphas.
The census of Jesus' birth in Luke 1 found in Rome.
The earthquake stone geologists said occurs in the right year.
The very Hittite nation with the library backing up all the Biblical accounts.
The Ipuwer Papyrus found at the base of the Pyramids follows exactly in eyewitness account of the Plagues of the Exodus. Is now housed in Holland in the Leden Museum.
The Babylonian Chronicles identical to the details of the Babylonian exile with dates and records feeding the House of David.
The King Uzziah's leprosy archaeological tomb warning.
The foreigner's pool found at the Temple mound.
Eyewitness letters, two of Jesus' miracles.
Prison Maritime records of Peter and Paul.
The Archeological find of Peter's bones researched for 80 years and the graffiti matching Peter's home in Capernaum.
The History of the Roman Empire showing the fear of the miracles continuing from the Acts of the Apostles.
The end of the fiction the New Testament was written in 400 A.D with 104 Chapters as clear as if written yesterday, see above. This is possibly written during the life of John the Disciple with the sacred name style of papyrus coding.
And as the finds continued to add up - faith has increased in the veracity of God's Word.
There is one wonder of God rarely considered. The lack of bones found in Israel. Recently a Canaanite cemetery was found to great rejoicing. World wide news recorded the find. And unfortunately no skeleton has been found to explain the giants recorded in the Bible. However we know Goliath existed. And then we can believe in faith, Goliath was 9 feet tall.
A little something "Og" from the Bible:
Deuteronomy 3:11
Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.
Rujm el-Hiri same age as Stonehenge in the U.K.
This is a 13 foot bed. And a tomb about the same age and shape as Stonehenge is supposed to be the burial ground of Og. And, like most of Israel, contains no bones. The weather of Israel would keep bones.
So let's draw some vast conjecture about Matthew 27.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
What Biblically repeats this action of God?
Ezekiel 37
37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
What happened to these resurrected saints?
The New Testament has an idea.
Hebrews 11: 5
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
Now here is our wild conjecture piecing together John 21 - the conjecture - the guess of what happened when John said the world could not contain all of the stories around Jesus Christ.
Picture three men who have experienced not only the hearing of the Disciples seeing the Living, Victorious Jesus. But have encountered the living saints.
One man tells the others his Uncle Fred had returned. For a time. The other two men are incredulous. Suddenly they have little to say. The man who has spent time with his late and sainted Uncle Fred is uncomfortable and indignant the others don't believe him. He sputters the Good News his Uncle Fred had told him about the Kingdom of Jesus at hand. And repeats the story again more loudly.
The second man interrupts him and says, "I'd never say this to anyone, but I remember Uncle Fred clearly. I - om - I had a weekend with The Elijah."
The third man says, "My entire family had Sabbath with ... Moses."
The three men say, "Peter and the apostles are actually going to the Temple today to talk about Jesus the Son of God." And all agree not to tell others about Uncle Fred, The Elijah and The Moses, but they do agree all of them to see Peter at the Temple.
And what happened to Enoch and all these bones? There is no Ascension. Probably like John in The Book of Revelations - the dimension opened. Suddenly they were in Heaven. And Jesus ascended to make sure we knew Jesus had gone to His Father and our's.
The Multitude had seen our Living Jesus do His Ministry. But imagine if the living bones had borne witness to the multitudes who flooded the Temple itself?
Our Abba,
David told us in Psalm 40
Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
John 20:30
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.
Job 26:14
See, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard
Thank You, Father for the Wonders of Your Ways.
We lift up to You, the ones we love and their cares. Our neighborhoods and Churches. Work places and Nation.
We rest securely remembering Your Love, Mercy, Power and Joy. You are our Father and have great Love.
1 Chronicles 13:8
David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets.
Our God is a God of Love and Joy. Alleluia in Jesus. We bless and bless and bless Wonderful Jesus for the people of His heart who give us the love and joy of Jesus. I have several friends who just hearing a small text from them, or a call, makes my heart tender and the prayers flow forth. Thank God for the people who do know Jesus dwells within them. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †
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