Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill— while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. (Daniel 9:20-25 – NIV)

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As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” (Matthew 21:1-3 – NIV)


They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.

When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. (Mark 11:4-7 – NIV)


Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 – NIV)


A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. (Matthew 21:8 – NIV)


When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:37-38 – NIV)


“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Mark 11:10 – NIV)


Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” (Luke 19:39 – NIV)


“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” (Matthew 21:16 – NIV)


“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40 – NIV)


As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19-41-44 – NIV)


“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:37-39 – NIV)

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After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” (Daniel 9:26-27 – NIV)

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I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelations 19:11-16 – NIV)

Rejoice, for your King has come!


James :)

Conspiracy

I am amazed at how quickly people are willing to believe in lies and conspiracy over accepting the simple truth:

• Crop Circles – Even though the perpetrators behind a large number of crop circles have confessed to making them and have even demonstrated how, people still believe that some crop circles are caused by extraterrestrials.
• 9/11 Terrorist Attack – Despite the evidence, there are still a number of people who believe this was not orchestrated by terrorists but by the US Government.
• Origins of Life On Earth – While people continue to deny the possibility that there is a God and that He created life on earth, there are now a number of scientific theories proposing that life was planted here by highly intelligent alien beings.
• Area 51 – Even though many of the stealth airplanes designed, built and tested at Area 51 have been public knowledge now for so long that they are being retired, people continue to spread rumors of UFO crashes, alien autopsies, and reverse engineered extraterrestrial technology.

With Easter coming up I thought I would look into some of the conspiracy theories related to Christ’s death and resurrection.

The biggest lie at the heart of each of these resurrection conspiracies presumes that Jesus Christ was just a man, not God incarnate. Since we know that Jesus is God, His rising from the dead, although miraculous, is not extraordinary or unusual for His abilities. Jesus performed many miracles during His time on earth.

But if Jesus was only a man, could the events of His resurrection be explained under human terms?

• The entire event of Christ’s death and resurrection never really happened, it was all made up – The problem with this conspiracy theory is that there is just too much evidence to the contrary. The birth of the Christian Church and the exponential expansion of its membership coincides specifically with the event of Christ’s death and resurrection. Unlike other religions, the Christian Church wasn’t founded hundreds of years after its story of origin when the facts could not be verified, it formed on the day of Pentecost in the very same year as Christ’s resurrection, and it’s founding members held on to the truth of that resurrection even under the penalty of martyrdom.
• A doppelganger was crucified instead of Christ enabling Him to appear alive after the fact – The problem with this conspiracy theory is two fold, first that a doppelganger would willingly give up his own life just for the sake of starting a new religion, and second that everyone would be taken in by such a trick. The idea that the people plotting to kill Christ would be fooled by a doppelganger is unlikely, and the idea that the Disciples would not immediately recognize a substitute is preposterous. And if the Disciples did know that it was a doppelganger, that again would mean that they defended a lie as truth even under the penalty of martyrdom.
• A doppelganger was substituted as Christ resurrected after He really died – This conspiracy theory is even more preposterous because everyone close to Christ would have to have been in on it, and yet every one of them willingly defended that lie as truth to their graves.
• Despite appearances Christ actually survived the crucifixion and didn’t die – This conspiracy theory suggests that Christ was able to fool those watching into thinking He was dead so they took Him down before He was actually dead, and that He was also able to survive being pierced by the Centurion’s spear and being asphyxiated by the burial spices.

The problem behind all of the conspiracy theories is truth itself. The Christian church was born on the day of Pentecost and has been spreading like wildfire ever since. Centuries of history documented in the archives of churches, kings and even pagans all attest to this unstoppable movement. No matter what the conspiracy theory implies, it cannot hold up to the simple facts. Each and every fact below is documented by secular sources outside of the Bible:

• Belief in a coming Messiah was not uncommon among the Jews at the time of Jesus
• Jesus the person actually existed
• It was believed that Joseph was not Jesus’s biological father
• There was a worldwide census at the time of Jesus’s birth
• John the Baptist’s was beheaded by the order of Herod
• Jesus was known to be a worker of miracles
• Jesus’s trial was instigated by the Jewish religious leaders
• Jesus was tried before Pilate
• Jesus was crucified
• The use of nails for crucifixion is consistent with historical practices of the time
• Breaking of legs of crucified victims is consistent with historical practices of the time
• There was a period of unnatural darkness around the time of the crucifixion
• There was an earthquake around the time of the crucifixion
• The physical descriptions regarding Jesus’s death are consistent with medical expectations of crucifixion
• Taking crucified victims down from the cross for burial is consistent with historical practices of the time
• The location of the tomb is consistent with historical practices of the time
• The accounts of the burial are consistent with historical practices of the time
• Many people of the time believed in Jesus’s resurrection
• Historical records even point to a possibility of Pilate being convinced of the resurrection
• A religion was born based on Jesus’s resurrection
• The Biblical records regarding Jesus’s resurrection date all the way back to the first century

Of course the most prominent and undeniable fact is that the Church of Jesus Christ is alive and well to this very day.

Before you fall for the lie of a conspiracy, I recommend that you should first check the facts. Jesus said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6). He really did rise from the dead, because He really is God.

Happy Easter everyone!


James :)