A thought by David Jeremiah, from his book, Why the Nativity?: 25 Compelling Reasons We Celebrate the Birth of Jesus (p. 1). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)
Yes it is but what is David's point?
He says, "We live each day immersed in it, so we cannot imagine a life outside of it, looking in. Time marches by us, moment by moment and year by year. It leaves its mark upon us more than we leave our mark upon it."
He goes on, "Imagine standing several miles from a great mountain range. You admire the majestic chain from its foothills in the west to the last outcroppings in the east. But if you didn’t have that separation—if you were standing on one of the mountains—you would see only the scenery that was right around you.
"God watches over us from outside the straight mountain range that is time. He sees past, present, and future in one unbroken line. And as long as we are travelers through this life, climbing from one slope to the next, we lack his perspective—with one exception, that is: the men and women known as the prophets.
"God gives many amazing gifts. To some he gives a surplus of wisdom, to others a specially loving heart. And some have received from him the sight to perceive certain shapes in the mist of the future. Those with this gift have always been people obedient to God and to his purposes. Why would he let them see what was to come? Because he loves us, and he wants us to know what lies ahead, whether for our encouragement or as a sober warning. A prophet’s central mission, as a matter of fact, is not to predict but to preach. He speaks more of the present than the future."
He continues, "Even so, the Old Testament prophets spoke frequently about a coming champion. Every page, from Genesis to Malachi, seems to tremble with the wondrous anticipation of his coming. The books were written by many different writers, at various times over many centuries. What bound the readers and writers together was their identity as a special people that God truly cherished. Through that particular nation, a small one called Israel, God’s plan was to let the whole world know of his love."
He later says, "Throughout the words and work of the prophets, there were glimmers of a Savior—a king who would rescue his people and restore them to God. In fact, there were more than three hundred specific prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures about the promised 'Messiah,' as they called him."
He says, "Nearly all of the more than three hundred prophecies have already come true (a few remain for our future). Jesus was all that had been foretold, and so much more. One mathematician determined that the odds of one person’s fulfilling even sixty specific prophecies are 1 in 1 plus 157 zeros.
He then says, "Why the prophecies? They show us that even as Jesus was fully a human being like us, he was also 'one whose origins are from the distant past. By reading the prophecies we see the entire mountain range in a breathtaking glance; we behold a magnificent God who works his purposes out through the march of time, patiently but faithfully, down to the smallest detail. We know that this is a God who can be trusted, and this is a Messiah who fulfills every hope in our hearts."
And that is a great place to start. Yes, yes! #continuethought
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