What Are the Odds?
Christmas is behind us, and the New Year is rapidly approaching. This is a good time for some personal reflection. January is the first month of the year in the Gregorian calendar. Julius Caesar changed the Roman calendar, and January 1, 45 AD, became the year’s beginning in the new Julian calendar. The Romans named “January” after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings. Janus’s name means “door” or “gateway,” and he is depicted as having two faces, one looking forward, the other back, symbolizing the transition from the old to the New Year.
In light of this symbolism, we can review the past year and consider our accomplishments and how we can do even better in the upcoming one. As we look back, don’t forget to include those sacred God moments where He wholeheartedly expressed His presence.
After God first gave the promise of the Savior, He began revealing specific truths through His prophets about the King who was to come. More than 680 years before the birth of Jesus, God told the prophet Isaiah that the Savior would have a virgin mother and would be God Himself in the flesh. The accuracy of this claim alone is miraculous, especially given how many years the world waited for the fruition of the promise. But this prophecy is only one of at least 108 that were fulfilled through the birth and life of Jesus.
In 1958, renowned mathematics and astronomy professor Peter Stoner studied and calculated the chances of fulfilling Messianic prophecies. He concluded that the probability of even eight of those 108 prophecies coming to pass is, conservatively, one in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (one hundred quadrillion, 1 with 17 0s). Just EIGHT out of 108! This makes the birth of Jesus one of the most significant miracles in history.
We have celebrated this extraordinary event at Christmas. Now, as we enter the New Year, let’s consider more than the birth of the baby Jesus. Let’s begin wrapping our heads around God's remarkable abilities to carry out His will. It is impossible to fully comprehend His capabilities in orchestrating the necessary actions of Jesus. Like the shepherds, after hearing the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth, our only logical response is worship—in gratitude and total awe. The Word tells us there is no limit to God’s power, and the odds of His prophetic fulfillment prove it. He is worthy of our wonder.
There are many verses on worship, but here are a few emphasizing our adoration of the LORD (NKJV):
• Psalm 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
• Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
• Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
• Daniel 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.
• Job 1:20-21 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
• Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Our forefathers and mothers had respect and awe of God. They attended worship services and lived their faith as a way to worship Him. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are considered the least religious of our early leaders. Franklin listed topics and doctrines that he considered of vital importance to be shared and preached:
That there is one God Father of the Universe. That He [is] infinitely good, powerful, and wise. That He is omnipresent. That He ought to be worshipped, by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving both in publick and private. That He loves such of His creatures as love and do good to others: and will reward them either in this world or hereafter. That men's minds do not die with their bodies, but are made more happy or miserable after this life according to their actions. That virtuous men ought to league together to strengthen the interest of virtue, in the world: and so strengthen themselves in virtue. That knowledge and learning is to be cultivated, and ignorance dissipated. That none but the virtuous are wise. That man's perfection is in virtue.
Thomas Jefferson attended church services in the US Capitol as VP and President. When asked why, he said,
"Sir, no nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man, and I, as chief magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example."
In a letter to Captain John Thomas on November 18, 1801, Jefferson stated:
"The liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will is a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support."
Pastor Robert Hunt read Psalm 22:27-28 (NKJV) at the founding of Jamestown.
All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the LORD,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD’s,
And He rules over the nations.
When I was a young preacher, I thought by the time I got into my fifties, I would have mastered the Bible. I hope you are laughing with me right now. The longer I live, the more I study, the more I realize that the Bible masters us and we will NEVER get to the end of what we can learn from it. Sometimes, the Bible speaks so profoundly that I can’t take it all in and must stop and worship the God who inspired the book.
We can only stand in awe when we consider how great God is and how He has worked in our lives. We must look back even further when considering the odds of Jesus fulfilling all of the Messianic prophecies. What are the odds that the God of the Universe would become incarnate to take on the sins of humanity? The pagan gods required human sacrifice to them. Our God gave Himself for us.
Let’s close with a powerful reading emphasizing God’s gift to us, John 3:16-17 (NKJV).
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Keep The Light of Our Awe of God Burning!
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