Supernatural mysteries in God’s Word
The Bible is a wonderful 2 part story. Part 1 - the Old Testament (OT) is the Story of a Nation - Israel (or the Jewish people). Part 2 - the New Testament (NT) is the Story of a Man - Jesus - who came from Heaven and claimed to be the Son of God! The amazing thing is how the man in the NT, Jesus - the long promised Messiah - is featured in patterns & shadows all through the OT. God, spoke through his prophets in the OT, showing us what would happen hundreds and even thousands of years ahead of time. With hindsight we can now see how things did indeed unfold, exactly as foretold, against all the odds, or laws of probability. This proves the authenticity of their writings, and the supernatural origin of the information!
Supernatural authentication
In fact there is a further supernatural level of authentication contained within the text of these historic writings in the Bible. Now that we have computers we can search for hidden messages using 'equidistant letter spacing'. And many significant messages have been revealed 'beneath the text'. For instance, you start with a letter, then skip to the 7th letter from there - in the ancient Hebrew text - then choose the following 7th letters to find a word, name or message. In this way, in the famous passage of Isaiah ch 53, which foretells many things about the coming Messiah - Jesus, are found the names of all Jesus' friends who gathered at the cross as He died! All these names are hidden from normal view, and were written hundreds of years in advance, encoded beneath the text. Talk about the supernatural mysteries in the Bible! So Jesus was put to death on a wooden cross, but 3 days later His body disappeared from the sealed tomb and He was alive again, witnessed by many people. See how this amazing event is recorded by Matthew
“ After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
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Some days later, after his resurrection Jesus walked with 2 Disciples along the road to Emmaus, explaining to them all the ancient scriptures (which they would be familiar with), which all pointed to Him, and to this event. They really should have known to expect Jesus at that time, and not be surprised, but tragically no one did. See how Luke records this
“He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself. ”
Just as Jesus' first coming as a baby in Bethlehem was fully detailed ahead of time throughout the scriptures of the OT, amazingly there are 7 times as many references to his coming back a second time - His Return! So we can have confidence in what is written, and what is about to happen. The Door is still open for people to turn to Jesus, to be saved from the penalty of their sin (rebellion against God), and the terrible chaos, lawlessness and destruction that is fast approaching on the earth. See '3 Choice's page But time is running out, the door is closing. Things are about to get much uglier. All this turmoil and uncertainty we see now was predicted in the Bible. The inflation we now see, the wars, and food shortages were all warned about! Christians are not surprised, they are getting ready! See what Jesus said as recorded by Matthew
“You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth-pains. ”
And again in Luke's Gospel
“‘There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’ ”
Jesus is about to activate His amazing escape plan for those that love and follow Him. This is the most exciting of all the mysteries. Read on.
