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Internationally known Christian singer, comedian and songwriter Mark Lowry from the Christian singing group The Gaither Vocal Band, shares a story that explains a song he wrote and sings. A song that asks some questions that many Christians may have wondered.
On the Gaither bus one weekend I handed this lyric to Buddy Greene and he called me on Monday and sang this to me over the phone.
Mary did you know, that your baby boy will one day walk on water? Mary did you know, that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters? Did you know, that your baby boy has come to make you new? This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you. Mary did you know, that your baby boy, will give sight to a blind man? Mary did you know, that your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand? Did you know, that your baby boy has walked where angels trod? When you kiss your little baby, you kissed the face of God. The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again. The lame will leap; the dumb will speak the praises of the
lamb. MARY, did you know, that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary did you know, that your baby boy will one day rule the nation? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb? This sleeping child your holding is the great
I AM.
Have you ever been accused of something and there is no physical evidence that what is stated to have occurred actually occurred? Nobody can provide first hand eyewitness account of what they saw and or heard? There is no material evidence of your existence at the place of question let alone that you were ever there.
Such is the case of a man known by millions but not physically seen or heard or touched by anyone as we would reach out to someone at this moment other than some who say they were with him 2000 years ago.
Acts 1:6-11
So when the Apostles had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” And when Jesus had said this, as they were looking on, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as Jesus went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
On this second Sunday of Advent I ask you, who is this Jesus, this man that we are taking the journey to the cross with this Lenten season? Is He really real or a figment of someone’s imagination that has become a folk tale?
I personally believe in the Bible and, that the Bible is not a folk tale but the truth that God has shared with us through those He has chosen to tell the story from the beginning of creation in Genesis 1:1 to the end of the Bible, Revelation 22:21.
In studying the Bible from the New Testament Gospels we find that Matthew 1:1-2:23 tells the story of Jesus’ birth, visit of the Wisemen and escape to Egypt and to Nazareth.
Upon further examine we learn that the Book of Mark says nothing of Jesus’ birth but begins with John the Baptist’s preparation for baptizing Jesus.
The Book of Luke speaks of Jesus’ birth from Luke 2:1-24, and the Book of John 1:14-18, is a synopsis of Jesus’ birth.
It is estimated that Jesus was born 2000 years ago and as the Bible tells us Jesus is the Son of God and the Virgin Mary. Jesus also had the first stepfather whose name is Joseph who was a carpenter.
We find the Book of Luke 2:41-52, shares with us about Jesus in His adolescence and a story that is familiar to anyone who is living through or has survived their child’s adolescence. And Jesus asked a question that only an adolescent can ask. Jesus asked the question when His mother asked Jesus why did you do this? Didn’t you think your father and I would be worried about you? Jesus questioned, “Why were you worried about me? Didn’t you know I was doing my Father’s business?”
I must ask you at this very second, “Did Jesus Christ really exist or is Christianity built upon a figment of imagination?” Few scholars question Jesus’ existence but those who are opposed to Christianity attempt to prove
Otherwise, such as Luigi Cascoli who was denounced by his priest, Father Enrico Righi in the parish newsletter for questioning Jesus’ existence. Cascoli then filed with the courts who countered the claim, stating that Father Righi must prove to the court that Jesus actually existed with no reasonable doubt.
Then there is Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheist who appeared on Larry King Alive in a show titled, “What happens after we die?” Ellen Johnson stated, “Because the reality is, there is not one shred of secular evidence there ever was a Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and Christianity is a modern religion. And Jesus Christ is a compilation of other gods: Horas, Mithras, who had the same origins, the same death as the mythological Jesus Christ.”
Larry King who is Jewish and normally un-flapped, paused and replied, “So you don’t believe there was a Jesus Christ?” With an air of certainty, Johnson responded, “There was not. It is not what I believe; there is no secular evidence that JC, Jesus Christ, ever existed.” With that, Larry King did not reply and went to a commercial break leaving the television audience wondering as Larry King did not discuss any evidence for or against Jesus Christ existence.
And Fifty years earlier in his book Why I Am Not a Christian, atheist Bertrand Russell shocked his generation by questioning Jesus’ existence. Russell wrote: “Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do not know anything about Him, so that I am not concerned with the historical question, which is a very difficult one.”
How can we be sure that this man, whom many worship and others curse and say His name in vein really lived? How do we know that Luigi Cascoli and Ellen Johnson among a few, do not believe the truth?
I believe the truth can be found in the secular world and in the Bible. For in this truth lies the truth of Jesus Christ’s existence.
I see your faces, they’re saying, “SHOW ME!”
To begin with there is evidence in the secular world of what can be found in the Bible when one takes a tour to Jerusalem and there is also evidence of that which is in the Bible in museums.
So yes, there is evidence in the secular world of Jesus Christ’s existence, as former atheist and hardcore Bible skeptic Ralph Muncaster spent fifteen years conducting research to dispute the Bible. To Ralph it seemed that the Bible could not be consistent with such sciences as anthropology, molecular biology and physics. Armed with an engineering education and a critical, questioning mind, to Ralph’s surprise the more he searched the more evidence he found, evidence that supports the Bible’s claims.
In 1986, Ralph Muncaster became aware of prophetic accuracy of the Bible. Ralph recognized that such precision is “statistically impossible.” Investigating the scientific and historical documentation and its consistency with the Bible, Ralph was startled by his findings: manuscripts written thousands of years ago contain information that
could not possibly have been known at that time without divine intervention.
His name is Flavius Josephus; I introduce him to you because of
Bertrand Russell who I spoke of earlier in this sermon. Bertrand stated “Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do not know anything about Him, so that I am not concerned with a historical question, which is a very difficult one.”
Flavius Josephus was a first century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Listen to what Flavius wrote,
About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed anyone ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.
The Jesus that Flavius wrote of is the same Jesus, the Messiah, who lives among us at this very moment.
In my life, I am glad that people question the validity of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for how else am I to grow in my faith and to teach what I know to another? How else is a Christian to grow if they are not challenged?
In fact is the issue; Did Jesus exist? Have I ever physically seen or spoken with Jesus Christ? No. Then how do I know that Jesus really walked this earth and exist? I have felt Jesus Christ’s presence in my heart and soul. Maybe the issue is not is Jesus Christ real or a folk tale…. Maybe the issue is going beyond blind faith and whom we associate with as believers in Jesus Christ. Maybe the reason some wonder who is He is, because Jesus Christ does not have a grave or bones to acquire DNA samples from. Maybe the reason some wonder who is He is… because they are looking in all the wrong places, seeking an answer that the naked eye cannot see.
A college professor one day asked his class if they believed in Jesus Christ and if they thought Jesus really lived and walked this earth. The class nervously giggled until one student stood up and boldly proclaimed, “I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST REALLY LIVED AND WALKED UPON THIS EARTH. I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS A REAL PERSON, THE SON OF GOD, AND ONLY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST CAN ONE GET TO HEAVEN. The professor became irritated with the student and bluntly replied, SO YOU BELIEVE THAT A MAN NAMED JESUS CHRIST REALLY LIVED AND WALKED UPON THIS EARTH DO YOU?
SHOW ME YOUR JESUS AND EXPLAIN TO WHO IS HE AND WHY DID HE LET MY YOUNG SON DIE? WHO IS HE? I DON’T SEE HIM AND IF I DON’T SEE HIM THEN HOW DO YOU KNOW HE EXISTS?
Calmly the same student stood up and replied, I hear what you are
asking and I hear your pain and anger over your young son dying because the life cycle says we should die before our children. I don’t know why children die before their parents, I just know it happens and the survivors, the parents, are left with their pain and memories while wondering what could have been.
But I need to ask a question of you as our professor, to my classmates. Does anyone here believe our professor has a brain? The entire class replied yes. The student went on to ask, has anyone here ever seen, felt, smelled, touched our professors brain? There was silence as the class sat looking at each other nervously. The student calmly replied, Apparently if none of us can physically see, feel, touch, taste our professor’s brain than our professor does not have a brain for that is what our professor is saying about the existence of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Who is he? Our professor is head smart… Jesus Christ is everything. The class erupted into applause.
As we prepare to enter into prayer, on this the second Sunday of Advent are you head smart or heart smart as to who is He?
Where does your light shine, to show Christ’s presence in your life and in the world?
Luke 8:16
“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.”
Let us pray; Father God there is much discussion and debate as to whether or not your only Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ really existed upon this earth. May all come to see, to feel, to hear Jesus not as the world sees but within their heart and soul. For then and only then may one truly know that Jesus Christ is alive for Jesus Christ lives within my heart and soul.
Amen.
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