Why Jesus Over All Other Religious Leaders?
Posted: Friday, September 14, 2007
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
It is obvious that everyone has reason(s) to believe in and follow whoever they do. So why then, are Christians so adamant that theirs is the only one worth following? It is necessary that we consider a few things first. Why believe in any one to the degree of following them? There must be some compelling reason for following any religious teacher or leader. In other words, what would move a person to follow Buddha? Muhammad? Joseph Smith? Confucius? William Miller? Mary Baker Eddy? Baha'u'llah?
To my knowledge, not one of these people profess to be divine, God, or anything other than a normal human. Yes, I know that some claim to have received direct revelation from God, and others claim to be a special envoy for Him. Not one of these men can forgive me of my sins. Not one of them can assure me of eternal life in heaven. Not one of them can give you any evidence of his being chosen of God to do the work he claims to do. Not one of them lived a sinless life. Not one of them have early prophecy of his coming and his purpose. I have no desire to learn more of their teaching, because they have nothing I want.
But Jesus of Nazareththat is another matter. Born of a woman without the use of a man to cause her to conceive. Over 300 Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled by His birth, His sinless life, His teaching, His death, His burial and His resurrection. This was a feat that no man could possibly have schemingly done. One statistician states that it would have been impossible for a person to have even fulfilled eight of those prophecies under some subterfuge.
Jesus claimed to be Deity. He was Deity. Aside from His miraculous birth, He was able to perform any miracle that He desired. He could raise the dead. He lived and died under the Mosaical Law, a difficult law that the children of Israel could not completely satisfy. Yet, He lived his 32 years in sinless perfection. If He had failed to do this, you and I would have no means of reconciliation to God.
He had the opportunity to become a literal king over the Jewish people and then would have been able to conquer the world. That is what the Jews expected and wanted of Him. Yet, His mission was to establish a spiritual kingdom (His church) and He readily accomplished that mission. His kingdom came into being via the Holy Spirit, recorded in the second chapter of Acts. He did not have to submit to death on the cross. But to accomplish His mission, it was necessary.
Many will say that I am only telling what the Bible says about Him and they ask how do we know any of it is true. Easy question, the Bible contains it own verification as to it's inerrancy. It's infallibility. This verification, or proof, is extensive and requires much explanation. It is not possible for us to try and cover all aspects of the evidence but perhaps we can place before you enough reasoning to cause you to investigate.
The entire Bible is centered upon the coming, the life, the death and the resurrection of a messiah who would save mankind. There are subtle prophecies of this coming throughout the Old Testament. The serpent in the garden of Eden was a manifestation of Satan and after he deceived Eve into partaking of the forbidden fruit, here is what God said to him: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel". (Genesis 3:15) This is a prophecy, not of enmity between women and snakes, but the seed of woman (not man) who would bruise Satan's head, destroy his power of death over man. A passage of commentary from Adam Clarke, an 18 th century scholar who spent 40 years researching and writing a commentary on the entire Bible, gives us a thorough description of the meaning of this passage.
Verse 15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman
This has been generally supposed to apply to a certain enmity subsisting between men and serpents; but this is rather a fancy than a reality. It is yet to be discovered that the serpentine race have any peculiar enmity against mankind, nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals. Men have much more enmity to the common rat and magpie than they have to all the serpents in the land, because the former destroy the grain, to do men mischief, flee his approach, and generally avoid his dwelling. If, however, we take the word nachash to mean any of the simia or ape species, we find a more consistent meaning, as there is scarcely an animal in the universe so detested by most women as these are; and indeed men look on them as continual caricatures of themselves. But we are not to look for merely literal meanings here: it is evident that Satan, who actuated this creature, is alone intended in this part of the prophetic declaration. God in his endless mercy has put enmity between men and him; so that, though all mankind love his service, yet all invariably hate himself. Were it otherwise, who could be saved? A great point gained towards the conversion of a sinner is to convince him that it is Satan he has been serving, that it is to him he has been giving up his soul, body, goods, he starts with horror when this conviction fastens on his mind, and shudders at the thought of being in league with the old murderer. But there is a deeper meaning in the text than even this, especially in these words, it shall bruise thy head, or rather, hu, HE; who? the seed of the woman; the person is to come by the woman, and by her alone, without the concurrence of man. Therefore the address is not to Adam and Eve, but to Eve alone; and it was in consequence of this purpose of God that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin; this, and this alone, is what is implied in the promise of the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent. Jesus Christ died to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and to destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. Thus he bruises his head-destroys his power and lordship over mankind, turning them from the power of Satan unto God; Acts 26:18 . And Satan bruises his heel-God so ordered it, that the salvation of man could only be brought about by the death of Christ; and even the spiritual seed of our blessed Lord have the heel often bruised, as they suffer persecution, temptation, all that is intended by this part of the prophecy.
The account of the creation, life in the garden and of Eve's encounter with Satan was recorded by Moses through inspiration between 1400-1500 years before the birth of Christ. There is absolutely no way that he could have made such a wild, although subtle, prophecy without inspiration. The Jewish nation throughout the Old Testament, looked and longed for the coming of the Messiah but they misunderstood the prophecies from God to mean one who would reign on the literal throne of David over all Israel, conquer all of their enemies, etc., when in reality they pointed to the coming of the Son of God who would establish a spiritual kingdom, His church, and that all nations would flow unto it, not just the nation of Israel. (Isaiah 2:2)
The prophet Micah foretold that the Messiah would come from a small town called Bethlehem. This about 700 years before it occurred. (Micah 5:2)
One of the more detailed and precise prophecies comes from Daniel 9:24-26 where he tells of the beginning of the Messiah's public ministry would begin 483 years after the issuing of a decree to rebuild Jerusalem and that He would be "cut off" (killed) before the second destruction of Jerusalem. This prophecy by Daniel was about 500 B.C. Look up the historical accounts. You will find that King Artaxerxes issued the decree to rebuild Jerusalem in 458 B.C. and Jesus ministry began 483 years later. Jesus was crucified in about 32 A.D. and the second destruction of Jerusalem came in 70 A.D. Statisticians report that either of these dates probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10 5
Bearing in mind that there are some 300 more such prophecies of the coming Messiah, His life, death and resurrection, all fulfilled to the letter by Jesus. The manuscripts these come from are known to have been written during the times mentioned, the writers could not possibly have known or guessed the times of these occurrences, and that no other person, although some claimed to be the Messiah, could fit the prophecies exactly as did Jesus.
No other religious leader, whether mentioned here or not, can produce any evidence whatsoever that they are deity or that they had any revelation from God whatsoever. Some claim that but they have no evidence, much less proof. Proponents of Islam say that the references in the New Testament that Jesus would send another comforter to the apostles, was referring to Muhammad. This cannot be true because Jesus told them that some who was listening to His voice would not taste death until that comforter came. Also the promise was made to the apostles not someone 500 years later. This comforter was to guide them into all truth and bring to their remembrance all that He had taught them. Read Acts chapters 1 and 2 to see the coming of the Holy Spirit (the mentioned comforter). Besides, they deny that Jesus was the son of God. See here what 1 John 2:22 says: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."
This article is written to show why Christians are often called bigots when usually it is the ones who call them such who are the bigots and intolerant of Christianity. No criticism is intended nor is there any animosity on the part of this author towards other religions. I cannot accept them and I wish I could show every living soul how they could inherit eternal life through Jesus Christ. However, I grant wholeheartedly that man is a free moral agent and has every right to accept or reject any religion he desires. But I have the duty, as a Christian, to warn those of the consequences that their choice may bring upon them according to the Bible. My desire and prayer to God is that all might come to Him before it is too late.
Footnote: All biblical scriptures listed are from the King James Version.
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