The Messiah has come... and He is coming again!

Bethlehem

1 Corinthians 15:1-6

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep."

1 Corinthians 11:26

"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."

Not only was Jesus born over two thousand years ago in Bethlehem... Jesus is coming! He is coming to judge the world in righteousness. His coming should not be something fearful for the believer; but it should motivate us to holy living and witnessing. One in every twenty-five verses in the New Testament refers to the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

While there were hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in Christ’s coming long ago, many more Old Testament prophecies speak of His second coming than His first. Just as the prophecies of His first coming were fulfilled, those of His second coming will also be fulfilled to the letter.

In the Old Testament in the song of Moses they sang of the LORD as the King: "The LORD shall reign forever and ever" Ex 15:18. In the Psalms His kingship is mentioned frequently: "the LORD sitteth King forever" Ps 29:10; "The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all" Ps 103:19; "They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations" (Ps 145:11, 13). King Hezekiah praised the Lord saying of Him--"thou art the God, even thou alone, of all of the kingdoms of the earth" (2 Kings 19:15).

In the Old Testament, the LORD’s second coming often comes into view, as when Isaiah wrote of the time "when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously" (Isaiah 24:23). Daniel prophesied that there would be given to the Son of Man “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, ...and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" (Daniel 7:14). Zechariah wrote "And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one." (Zechariah 14:9).

The Kingdom of God came to earth when Christ came. The Kingdom began when the King came the first time. It had its beginning as a spiritual kingdom and is made up of those who have been born into it; as the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). In Matthew 12:28 Jesus said, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.”

The full manifestation of the Kingdom of God will be Christ’s Second Coming. As the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). In Matthew’s Gospel it is also recorded, "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34). At the Lord’s table we remember His words to His disciples: "But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:29).

Those who are born into the Kingdom should not think that they are bound to the past or constrained by the present when it comes to how they should live. Rather, knowing the will of God for us is our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:4), and that the Holy Spirit strengthens the believer to obey the Lord, we should live by faith toward the higher calling of God. The Lord not only knows us as we were or simply as we are now; He knows us as we will be in a glorified body for a thousand years in his coming, earthly kingdom and throughout eternity future when heaven and earth will be joined. We should, by faith, prayerfully ask Him for strength to live toward what we will be. Pray for the coming physical manifestation of the kingdom of God.

The King has come and He is coming again to Rule all the nations! We need to get ready for His coming (sanctification), we need to proclaim His coming, and we need to help the nations prepare for His coming. “And He shall reign forever, and ever…” Jesus is coming!

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Time to Question the Scientific Establishment)

If you haven't seen Ben Stein's documentary yet [Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed] then you are missing out on why so many blogs are busy trying to do damage control. Richard Dawkins, atheist extraordinaire and one of the leading proponents of Neo-Darwinian thought, believes in Intelligent Design... at least that some intelligent aliens may have seeded our world with the first living cells... [blush, uncontrollable laughter, attaboy!].

Crystals?? Aliens?? Is this New Age mumbo jumbo or is it what "real" scientists think? You really have to see it to believe it.

In this documentary, Stein rightly lays the sins of Hitler at the feet of Charles Darwin. Darwin's theory fills Hitler's magnum opus, Mein Kampf, and was the blueprint for the systematic genocide of the Nazis. While others have made this connection for decades, it is quite powerfully and convincingly made in this film.

The fear... almost panic of the Neo-Darwinian web community is breathtaking. Blogs favorable to evolution went to defcon one. Whole websites were put up to counter the film. Dawkins himself quickly moved to try and rewrite what happened, all the while resorting to ad hominem attacks on Ben Stein (see: http://richarddawkins.net/article,2394,Lying-for-Jesus,Richard-Dawkins). Watch the documentary and see if you believe Dawkin's version of what happened in this interview.

On April 18th Dawkins wrote a piece on the eve of the film's debut to try and buffer what he knew was coming. He wrote, "Nevertheless, despite their [proponents of ID] notorious dishonesty, I sometimes hand an olive branch to these people by pretending to take their 'space aliens' political ploy seriously" (http://richarddawkins.net/article,2480,Gods-and-earthlings,Richard-Dawkins). In this article, Dawkins cited other evolutionists who had offered the theory that he put forward to Stein in the interview:

The distinguished molecular biologists Francis Crick and Leslie Orgel advanced a version of the notion, probably tongue in cheek, called "Directed Panspermia." Life, they argued, could have been "seeded" on the early Earth by a spacecraft packed with bacteria.

During the interview with Dawkins, he reads from his own book to clarify his hostility toward the God of the Old Testament:

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Regarding the film, I find myself in basic agreement with L. Brent Bozell:

Now that the film is complete, the evolutionist prophets featured in the film are on the warpath inveighing against it, and the alleged idiots who would lower themselves to watching it. Richard Dawkins laments how the film will solicit "cheap laughs that could only be raised in an audience of scientific ignoramuses." Minnesota professor and blogger P.Z. Myers predicts the movie is "going to appeal strongly to the religious, the paranoid, the conspiracy theorists, and the ignorant —— which means they're going to draw in about 90 percent of the American market." Myers and Dawkins now both complain they were "duped" into appearing in the movie (for pay).

Everyone should take the opportunity to see "Expelled" — if nothing else, as a bracing antidote to the atheism-friendly culture of PC liberalism. But it's far more than that. It's a spotlight on the arrogance of this movement and its leaders, a spotlight on the choking intolerance of academia, and a spotlight on the ignorance of so many who say so much, yet know so very little. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20080418/cm_uc_crbbox/op_235852).

Stein's film will be a classic in my opinion. It is a wake up call for America and the rest of the world. In the west, the sleeping dragon of Social Darwinism may fully awaken in the next generation. What is taught in the classroom today will influence the philosophy of the government tomorrow. Abortion and euthanasia are just the first steps in the logical application of this godless, materialistic philosophy.

Which side of the wall are you on? The side that receives research grants and the accolades of academia... or the side vilified, despised, ridiculed, and relegated to academic oblivion? I hope that tens of millions heed Stein's call to question the scientific stranglehold that exists today.

Please see the movie... (and bring your biology teacher!): http://www.expelledthemovie.com/

Oh, and ask your friends to read a book that is not an ad hominem attack on any evolutionist, but has real substance:

Spetner, Lee M. Not by Chance: Shattering the Modern Theory of Evolution[http://www.amazon.com/Not-Chance-Shattering-Modern-Evolution/dp/1880582244/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208928582&sr=8-1].

Also, here's an interesting ecard: http://www.buzzplant.com/illustra/ecard2/

The movie Expelled is a must see (http://www.expelledthemovie.com/); and Spetner's book does what the title indicates.

The "Servants of the LORD" in the Scroll of Isaiah

Who is the "servant" of Isaiah 53? Is it Cyrus? Is it Israel? Or is it Messiah? Early Christians claimed this passage pointed to Jesus. The Gospels (Mark 15:28, *Luke 22:37, John 12:38) and the book of Acts (8:30-35) in the New Testament highlight this text as a prophecy of Jesus.

Isaiah 53 paints a portrait of "the Servant Who Will Be King." He is depicted as Servant, High Priest, Sacrifice, Sin-bearer, and King of Kings. The prophecies of Isaiah (~700 BC) presented several called "servants of the LORD." This provokes the question in Isaiah 53: "Of whom does the prophet speak?" Below is a survey of those referred to in this way by Isaiah.

Servant Cyrus

In the text of Isaiah this servant is spoken of (third person) by the LORD. There are not any first person speeches. The servant is always spoken of in the singular.

• Called "the righteous man from the east" [41:2]; but also the "ravenous bird from the east ... the man that executes my counsel" [45:11].


• The LORD makes him the ruler over // conqueror of many nations [41:2].


• His conquest will be marked by peace and possibly rapidity [41:3].


• Though hailing from the east he attacked Babylon from the north [41:25] and Likened to the potter treading clay [41:25].


• Likened to a shepherd from the LORD [44:28].


• He performs the desire of God to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple [44:28].


• Name called before birth [45:1].


• Name prophesied toward the end that he may come to know the LORD [45:3-5].


• Called the "anointed" of the LORD [45:1].


• His right hand the LORD holds [45:1].


• The LORD will go before him making the "crooked places straight" so that the doors of Babylon will open to him [45:2-3].

Servant Israel

This servant is also spoken of by the LORD (third person) only without any first person speeches. The servant is addressed both as an individual and as a collective (group).

• Called Israel, Jacob, and Jeshurun [44:1-2]; "worm Jacob" and "men of Israel" in a parallelism [41:14] and called the "seed of Abraham, My friend" [41:8].


• The LORD has "taken them from the ends of the earth" [41:9]. Israel called "chosen" [41:8]. The LORD has chosen Israel as His servant not to be cast away or forgotten [41:9; 44:21].


• Upheld by the LORD's righteous right hand [41:10]//the LORD holds Israel's right hand [41:13].


• The nations which were Israel's enemies to be destroyed [41:11-16]; Israel will thresh them like wheat [41:15-16].


• Called blind and deaf [42:18-20 and 43:8].


• Called a people robbed, spoiled, and imprisoned; given over to robbers and spoilers by the LORD because of their sins [42:22-25].


• Called by name due to creator/king ownership [43:1].


• From Abraham their "first father" to the teachers of Israel, all have sinned against the LORD [43:27].

Servant Messiah

This servant is spoken of by the LORD and also speaks in first person. When the LORD speaks, this servant is always spoken of in the singular.

• First and last poems both begin with "Behold" [42:1//52:13].


• He is called "My Chosen" [42:1].


• God will put His Spirit upon Him [42:1].


• He "shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" [42:1]; but His judgment will be "truth" and will extend over the whole earth. [42:4].


• Called by God "in righteousness" [42:6].


• The LORD will hold His hand // strengthen & protect [42:6].


• Will be given as a covenant for the Jews and a light for the Gentiles [42:6; 49:8-12].


• This servant will open blind eyes of Jews and Gentiles [42:7].


• He will lead prisoners to freedom [42:7; 49:9].


• His name called before birth [49:1].


• Called "Israel" in one place [49:3]; yet, in this context as an individual formed in the womb He will be used of God to regather Jacob/Israel.


• He will be "My S/salvation" for both Jew & Gentile to the ends of the earth [49:5-6].


• This one will be despised by Gentiles and abhorred by Jews [49:7]; a "Man of Sorrows" from whom the Jews will turn away [53:3].


• Though a "servant of rulers" [49:7]--Kings shall bow down and worship[49:7 & 52:15].


• He will be given the "tongue of the learned;" and in turn will "give His back to the smiters ..." [50:4-6].


• In spite of the knowledge of His impending suffering, He would "set His face like a flint" [50:7].


• God will vindicate Him [50:7-8].


• Though He will "be lifted up" [52:13], He will also "lift up" sicknesses and sins [53:4 & 12].


• His face was to be severely marred beyond comparison [52:14].


• By this He was to "sprinkle" many nations [52:15].


• The report of Him would be believed by some and not by others [53:1].


• He was to be wounded, bruised, beaten, and die for the sins, transgressions, and iniquities of those who believe [53:5, 6, 8, 12].


• He would die with wicked men but be buried as though rich [53:9].


• Though the LORD would "make His soul an offering for sin" in death, He was to live after death [53:10].


• He was to intercede as a priest [53:12]