John 5:39-You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. NKJV
We’ve been looking at the witnesses that testify to the truth of Jesus as the Son of God. First, we looked at John the Baptist’s testimony, how he emphatically stated that as the forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus was the person he was told was the Son of God. Then we learned how the works Jesus performed were a witness to His Sonship. Lastly, we looked at the affirmation of the Father to His Son. Today, we will search the scriptures and see how they testify of Him!
The scriptures hold a multitude of witnesses to the Christ, but because this is a blog and I try to limit my posts, I will only touch the surface.
The prophet Isaiah spoke of the birth of Jesus long before He was actually born. In a most familiar verse, Isaiah wrote these words:
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
Every Jewish person knew of this prophetic word. Maybe every Jewish girl hoped to be the one who be that virgin. But God sent His angel to Mary, a virgin contracted to be the wife of Joseph. When he found out about the pregnancy, he was not thinking that she was the chosen virgin who would give birth to the Messiah. No! He was thinking he was being played for the fool.
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Matthew 1:19-23 NKJV
Joseph and Mary pushed their wedding date up, and Mary began to show not long after that. If she was alive today, people would be counting the months just as they most certainly did back then. But before they could settle down to married life, they had to take a trip to Bethlehem, because prophecy stated that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Micah 5:2 NKJV
This scripture was fulfilled when God caused Ceasar Augustus to take a census of his people requiring that everyone return to their own city. Mary and Joseph were living in Galilee in the city of Nazareth. So they had to travel to Bethlehem, despite the fact that she was heavy with child:
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:4-7 NKJV
I found a site that stated it was a 1 in 300,000 chance that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
Jesus told the Jews that Moses had written of Him, and if they had believed Moses, they would also believe Him, but apparently they didn’t actually believe the writings of Moses because they didn’t believe Jesus.
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
John 5:46-47 NKJV
What are some of the things that Moses said about Jesus that the Jews should have believed?
“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:16-18 NKJV
Confirming that this reference is to Jesus, Paul wrote:
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
Galatians 3:16 NKJV
People around the world experience the blessings of God through the grace of His Son Jesus. If Jesus hadn’t died for us, giving us access to God, to His grace, to forgiveness, we would still be lost in our sins. But because of His gift of salvation that He has offered to the world, we get to experience the blessings of God!
Remember the bronze serpent that Moses made when the children of Israel were in the wilderness?
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Numbers 21:8-9 NKJV
I don’t need a reference to understand that Moses was referring to Jesus on the cross because we all know that when we look to Calvary and the shed blood of Jesus, we receive life!
My personal favorite scripture from Moses is found in Deuternomy:
I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
Deuternomy 18:18 NKJV
Jesus was often referred to as a Prophet. But what made Him a prophet like Moses is the truth that He was the great deliverer. As Moses led the children of Israel from natural bondage, Jesus led us from spiritual bondage!
Paul stood before King Agrippa in the book of Acts to give an account of why he believed he was being kept in prison. He gave his testimony in a nutshell and summed it up nicely with these words:
Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
Acts 26:22-23 NKJV
I could go on about the scriptures and their testimony regarding Jesus, the Son of God, but I will stop here. If you have never looked at the prophecies surrounding the life, death, and works of Jesus, I encourage you to take some time to do that. It will certainly encourage your faith!
On the day that Jesus was put on the cross, they say He fulfilled over 30 prophetic words! Mathematically speaking, Jesus had a 10^17 (that’s 1 with 17 zeros following behind it) chance of fulfilling eight prophecies in His life, let alone 30 in one day. Mathematically speaking it would be impossible, and yet He did! (see Empower International, the Mathematical Probability that Jesus is the Christ)!
The article ended with the statement:
Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact, proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world.
Empower International
I would rest my case! But I have one other witness that can’t be ignored. Wonderful Jesus!
Wonderful Jesus! 