The Case for Jesus! | Article by Rustan Hicks

Rustan Hicks; Great Awakening Ministries

I surrendered my life to the lordship of Jesus as a teenager knowing nothing about the overwhelming evidence provided by God to substantiate His program for man’s salvation. As I became a serious student of the Bible, I became totally impressed that faith in the loving, saving work of Christ was anything but a blind faith. Anyone who will take even a superficial look at the evidence for the reality of Christ’s claims as to His identity as the resurrected Savior who is the creator of all things will find it undisputable. He is the infinite lover of mankind who was willing to take upon Himself humanity and then on the cross take the totality of humanity’s sin. As stated in an earlier article, only the infinite God could pay the infinite price for man’s sin but also, only a member of the human race could be mankind’s substitute before the Father.

It seems very logical that if God was going to send one man to be the savior of mankind from his sin that He would well document who this man would be. God would make it so clear that those who refuse to see it would be absolutely without excuse. Paul wrote that when those who reject Him stand before Him, every mouth will be silent (Romans 3:19).

The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 5:14-15, that the sin of humanity originated with Adam, the man, yet it was Eve who was the first to sin. Paul explains in I Timothy 2:14 that the woman, Eve, being quite deceived fell into transgression. For this reason, the curse on Eve was not passed on to her children through her. However, Adam was not deceived, he knew exactly what God had said and what was at stake. Thus, the sin nature common to all Adam’s descendent came from him, not from his wife. Thus, Jesus by the Holy Spirit could enter the egg of Mary and become fully human yet without the curse of the sin nature.

And so it is, in the Old Testament there are more than 300 references to the Messiah all pointing to Jesus in His first coming. There are over 60 very specific passages that point to His first coming so God made it abundantly clear who this Messiah would be. This One would be the son of Abraham, the son of Isaac, the son of Jacob (Israel), the son of Judah, the son of David. This lineage of Jesus is documented in Matthew showing His legitimate claim to the throne of David through His legal father, Joseph. It is also, however, documented in Luke through the lineage of His mother, Mary, whose father could also demonstrate his right to the throne of David. In 70 AD Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome and all such historical documentation meticulously maintained in the Temple was lost forever so that no one born after this could conclusively substantiate their legal claim to the throne as can Jesus.

There are over 60 specific prophesies that clearly give identification to the Messiah. For example, He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), He would teach in parables (Psalm 78:2), He would be preceded by a messenger (John the Baptist) (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1). The Old Testament Scriptures state that He would enter Jerusalem on an unbroken donkey colt (Zechariah 9:9), that He would be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9), betrayed for specifically 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:2), this silver would be thrown down in the Temple and yet also would be used to buy a potter’s field (Zechariah 11:13), that He would be forsaken by His disciples (Zechariah 13:7), that He would be falsely accused, silent before His accusers, beaten by His enemies, struck in the head (Psalms 35:11; Isaiah 53:7; 50:6, 53:5; Micah 5:1). David in Psalm 22 gives a graphic description of crucifixion invented by the Romans about 800 years later. We are informed that the Messiah would be executed with thieves yet buried in the tomb of a rich man (Isaiah 53:12; 53:9). In His death we see that not one of His bones will be broken (Exodus 12:46; Isaiah 34:20). The Bible actually pinpoints the day He would officially present Himself to Israel, which was the first day of the Passover week, the day the Temple priests would chose the Passover lamb as prescribed in the Law of Moses. Also, the Day of the Passover is the day Moses had laid out that the Passover lamb would be killed by the High Priest at exactly 3:00 PM. This was the day Jesus would be killed and at 3:00 PM is when Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” and died just as the High Priest was cutting the throat of the Passover lamb. Three days later was the day of the Feast of Firstfruits, which is the day He was resurrected. His miraculous resurrection is the most documented and verified event of ancient history. You get the point.

Years ago a group of mathematicians, conservatively using the formulas for determining probabilities, took only eight of these major prophesies. They determined the mathematical probability that any one man could accidentally fulfill all eight. This research has never been disputed. They discovered that the probability factor is 1 X 10 to the 16th power. That is a 1 X 10 with 16 zeros behind it. Being impossible to grasp the significance of this number, they made it more tangible. As they described it, if you covered the entire state of Texas 3 feet deep with silver dollars and then took one more silver dollar and painted it with red fingernail polish, sent someone out to hide it among all the other dollars, then you set out throughout Texas so that at some spot, you closed your eyes, reached down and grabbed one of the dollars; the chance of getting the one painted coin is about the likelihood that anyone could have fulfilled just these eight prophecies by chance.

It’s undeniable, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save it! (John 3:16-17). When a person surrenders his or her life to Jesus this one becomes “born again.” This means that three things happen immediately. First, every sin that this one has or will ever commit is paid for in full by Jesus’ death. This person cannot sin a sin that will ever be held to his account before God because Jesus has already paid for it in full. Secondly, God will transform one’s innermost nature from self-service, selfcenteredness, to God-service in a bond of eternal love. This one is now made “holy unto God.” The last thing is that the Holy Spirit of God actually enters into the new saint to guide and enable in everything this one experiences in life. The one who experiences this “new birth” does not need the evidence presented above. He or she knows now that this is true and eternally life changing. If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus, the God of all love, wouldn’t this be a great time? It only takes you, in sincerity, telling Jesus, “Yes, Jesus, I do want you to be the LORD of my life in all things.”