Why Jesus Part 2 Series

Why Jesus – Part 2

Scriptures: Zechariah 9:9; Matt. 21:1-11; Psalm 41:9; 109:8; 118:26

Introduction

My message this morning is part two of my series “Why Jesus?”

When I last stood before you I told you that with five pieces of information I could mail a letter around the world to another single person. There are over seven billion people living on the earth today that would be eligible to receive my letter, but with five simple pieces of information placed on the front of an envelope all of them would be excluded except for the one person for who the letter was intended. Five pieces of information guarantees, with an almost certainty, that a letter will be delivered to the person for whom it was intended. What are the odds? The odds are 1 to 1. I shared with you previously that this term, “odds” is a numerical expression reflecting the likelihood that a particular event will or will not take place. I told you that a mathematician name Peter Stoner estimated that the chance of any one man fulfilling all eight prophecies pertaining to the Messiah was one in ten to the seventeenth power, or one in one hundred quadrillion. The odds are so high against one man fulfilling eight of the prophecies pertaining to the Messiah, let alone a hundred of them, that if one man did it we’d have to believe that he was the Messiah. Yet, we have Jesus who did fulfill the eight plus many more and yet many still do not believe.

Let me share with you what this unbelief would equate to in the world today. Let me go back to the five pieces of information on an envelope example. Whenever we move to a new address, we go through processes of updating our information so that we will continue to receive mail that is supposed to be sent to us. We go to the post office and have our mail forwarded until we can get all of our family, friends and creditors updated on our new address. We go to the utility companies and have all of the utilities turned on in our name. We go to the banks and have new checks printed with our name and address listed on them. We do all of these things to establish our identity as the owner/renter of the home in which we now live. We establish that we are truly the person who is supposed to be in that house. Now imagine this scenario: the postman has been delivering mail to that address for years when he notices someone else new living there. He/she greets you and gets to know you. After seeing you for weeks in the house and accepting the mail, he/she accepts the fact that you are now the new owner. When they see mail with your name and address on it they know it is going to the right person. Then one day you order something on line and it is delivered by UPS with a signature being required. They knock on the door and ask if you are the person the package is addressed to. You confirm your identity and show proof that you are the person the package is supposed to be delivered to – yet the UPS person does not accept the proof. You go in the house and get more proof to include your driver’s license with your picture, social security card, checks, mail, and the contract where you purchased the home and still the person refuses to give you the package because they want more proof. You show them your birth certificate, marriage license, insurance cards from your car and still they refuse to give you the package because they want more proof. Finally several of your neighbors come over and they tell the UPS person that you are the person for whom they are seeking and the person still refuses to give you the package. Not willing to accept any of the proof you have shown them, they turn around, take your package and drive off telling the company it could not be delivered because the person could not prove to them that he/she was in fact the person who had ordered the package. Sounds ridiculous? This is what people are doing when they choose to deny Jesus! He has provided all of the proof we could ever need and still some require more. Some choose to believe that the proof is not proof at all so therefore they continue to seek Him or believe that there is no God.

In part one I shared with you two prophecies pertaining to the birth of the Messiah. I told you about His virgin birth as prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 and the town he would be born in, Bethlehem as was prophesied in Micah 5:2. This morning we will examine some prophecies pertaining to the last week of His life. Next week we will examine the prophecies pertaining to His death and resurrection. Please turn with me to Zechariah 9.