Effie Darlene Barba

The last post discussed the miraculous way that Jesus Christ’s birth fulfilled so many prophecies; yet, I want to take that same discussion a little further.  By doing so I hope that you may recognize God’s absolute Sovereignty over every detail.  He really does work all things according to His will.  No matter what! He reigns supreme. Even when all that surrounds us appears to have fallen into shambles and our hearts are bleeding from the pains.  From the beginning, He knew that without the freedom to say no to His love and righteousness, we could never really know the depth of His love, His Grace, or His Magnificent Glory.  Before the foundations of this world were laid, He knew that many would reject Him.  Although His desire was that all would come, He knew there would only be the few.  Yet, He loved each one with such an intensity.

Willing to suffer all the agonizing pain of His creation’s rejection for the sake of all those who would become His Children.  He knew that Satan would try to thwart His plans.  Furthermore, he knew men and women’s desire for self-exaltation would cause them to chase after frivolous attempts to find glory.  Immediately after Adam chose to sin against God, the plan of salvation was revealed.   And the Lord God said unto the serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:14-15).  The first revelation the Savior would be born of a Virgen, for it was the seed of a woman only.

According to His Will

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Scripture validates scripture, while events in history validates the veracity of it all.  God spoke His Word through many men; yet, He inspired each word.  How was it that Isaiah foretold of Cyrus the King of Persia freeing the people more than 200 years before Cyrus gained the empire of Persia, defeating Babylon as foretold?  (Isaiah 44:8, 45:1).  And all this at the precise year foretold of by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:10). Can we use scripture to show the validity that Jesus is the Christ?  Christ means “the anointed one”, the savior and redeemer.  Are there scriptures throughout the Old Testament that proves Jesus is the Christ beyond any shadow of doubt?  That is precisely what Jesus Himself did along the road to Emmaus that day.  Unlike the Koran, supposedly written by one proclaimed prophet, the Bible was written by many hands; although one God directing each word.

With the scripture being written over centuries of time and through many prophets, psalmists and historians; the possibility that all would predict different elements of Christ’s birth, life, and resurrection with such accurate detail would be utterly impossible.  Indeed, those very ones looking for Him might have said there was some controversy in the prophetic statements.  How was it that He would come out of Bethlehem as predicted by Micah, be called out of Egypt, be the source of weeping over Rama and be called a Nazarene all at the same time? Yet, that is precisely what Matthew lays out is the case in Matthew 2.  And this, after the case was presented in Chapter 1 regarding the lineage of Christ being that of David as foretold, who was of the lineage of Judah. His lineage of Kingship was intact both through Mary His mother and through Joseph her husband.

The Christ

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For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder: His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.  (Isaiah 9:6-7). When Isaiah spoke of the Savior to come, hope grew within the remnant of true believers.  Israel had for the most part turned away from God chasing after idols.  Proclaiming themselves righteous, they had abandoned all righteousness. So, the few true worshipers longed for the Savior to come and establish His Kingdom. Hence their confusion, was Jesus the Savior they waited for?

Amid such evil times, where it appears that evil wins; they clung tight to the promise that one day there would be the final victory. God would establish His Kingdom. Justice and righteousness will prevail.  Evil will be cast into eternal hell.  They clung tight to the truth that one day, there would be no need for another sacrifice; because, God’s laws would be written on their hearts as foretold in Jeremiah 31:33.  Longing for that day, they wanted it to be now! Although they were told by Isaiah that Emmanuel would come to first be the suffering servant who would take upon Himself our sins.  This is clearly outlined in Isaiah 53.  Then in Isaiah 54, the church was foretold. We the Gentile Believers would be grafted into God’s Family.  He will return to establish His Kingdom in Israel; but that is yet to come.

Jesus the Savior they Waited For

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The Jewish nation had awaited and even longed for their messiah to come.  They desired to be rescued from their sorrow and affliction.  Their Messiah was to come, establish His Kingdom and save them from all their enemies.  Certainly, they wanted to be a Part of all His Glory!  But they did not see the whole picture.  The sacrifices up until then made by the priests had not made their hearts clean.  These years under the law and the sacrificial system were merely like a band aid to cover a wound far too deep.  God was Holy, Perfect Justice and Righteousness and they were not.  From the time of Adam’s first sin, it had been necessary that the blood of animals be shed to cover the sin of mankind.  But the sacrifice did not transform their hearts, which would continually through the ages revolt against God.

How many times did God’s hand of mercy save a remnant of true worshippers?  Meanwhile the rest would go on to corrupt the land, bent on having their way and never willing to accept God as Lord over all?  Thinking themselves to be clever, they sought after other idols.  Wanting to fulfill every desire of their heart with counterfeit joys, they denied the only source of true joy.  Yes, the Messiah must come to establish His Kingdom, one day; but first He had to come to be the final sacrificial lamb.   Only He could pay the price to cover our sins for an eternity.

For Him to truly release them from bondage, He would have to release them from the bondage of sin that held their hearts. Otherwise, it was futile to merely release them from the human bondage their own sin had led them into.

A Much Bigger Story of His Glory

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Were I to tell you that hidden deep under the Oak tree near my old farm in Missouri lay a treasure so large that you would never have to worry again?  In fact, you could enter a perfect peaceful rest, if only you went to claim it.  Yet, if I did not tell you which oak tree nor give you an idea of where that farm was or how to obtain the right to dig on the farm, you would never be able to find it.  Furthermore, you would be more forlorn than ever as you desired to know all the truth; because, partial truth only leads to more despair. No worries, there is no treasure hidden in my old farmland; but you get the idea.

The two disciples who were walking along the Emmaus road were in despair.  They knew that scripture was true.  Also, they believed in God.  Furthermore, they knew the prophets foretold of a Messiah who would come to save His people from all their affliction, bondage and pain.  With all they knew being truth, they were forlorn because they did not know all the truth.  Believing with all their heart that Jesus was that Messiah. That is until the day the chief priests accused Him before the court, He was rejected, hung on the cross in utter humility and disgrace. How could they have been so fooled?  Afterall it was now the third day, and even though the body was missing from the grave, He had not appeared in flaming Glory to sit up His throne. Hours had passed, it now was evening, and nothing had changed.

Oh yes, they knew a lot of truth; but they did not know all the truth.  Knowing only part of truth is as perilous as not knowing any.

All the Truth

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