Organization: Virginia Department of Health
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Thu, 17 Dec 1992 20:03:48 EST
From:         "Michael A. Kline" <MKLINE@VDH.BITNET>
Subject:      Advent Foretold

    Advent Foretold: A December Devotional for All Ages.

    This is the devotional that my family is using. We follow these
little short items, and follow up with reading of 5 PSALMS and 1
PROVERBS.

    Prophecy:
         Dec  1 - Only God can accurately foretell the future.
         Dec  2 - Would be the seed of a woman.
         Dec  3 - Would come from Abraham.
         Dec  4 - Would come from Isaac, Jacob, and Judah.
         Dec  5 - Would come from Jesse, Throne of David.
         Dec  6 - Would have a forerunner.
         Dec  7 - Mother would be a virgin.
         Dec  8 - Would be called Lord.
         Dec  9 - Would be called Immanuel.
         Dec 10 - Would be born in Bethlehem.
         Dec 11 - Would be rejected.
         Dec 12 - Would be a Light to the nations.
         Dec 13 - A star would rise.
         Dec 14 - Kings would bring gifts.
         Dec 15 - Would live in Egypt.
         Dec 16 - Mothers would mourn.

    Fulfillment:
         Dec 17 - Likelihood of One Man fulfilling the prophecies.
         Dec 18 - Born to line of David.
         Dec 19 - Forerunner.
         Dec 20 - Born of a Virgin.
         Dec 21 - Called Lord.
         Dec 22 - Called Immanuel.
         Dec 23 - Born in Bethlehem.
         Dec 24 - Rejected by His Own.
         Dec 25 - Birth to woman announced.
         Dec 26 - Seen as Light to Gentiles.
         Dec 27 - Identified by a star.
         Dec 28 - Kings bring gifts.
         Dec 29 - Lived in Egypt.
         Dec 30 - Herod kills Children.
         Dec 31 - Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega

    Dec 17 - Likelihood of One Man Fulfilling the Prophecies ----------->

    The coloring picture is that of a man blindfolded and searching
through a huge pile of coins. The scripture at the bottom of the picture
reads "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are
possible." Matt 19:26 NKJV

                               December 17

    Take 18 pennies, shake them in your hands and throw them to the
floor. Did you get all heads? Let someone else in the group try. Was
anyone able to get all 18 at one time?

    Think of those pennies as the 18 prophecies we've studied about the
birth or advent of Messiah, 6 of which related to family lineage. Could
it have been an accident or a coincidence that anyone fulfilled all these
prophecies?

    Peter Stoner in SCIENCE SPEAKS applies the law of probability to
Messianic prophecy. He selected 8 specific prophecies and showed that the
likelihood of any man down the present time fulfilling just these 8
prophecies would be one in a hundred thousand trillion. That number is so
staggering that Stoner helps us visualize it. He says,

------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Suppose that we take (a hundred thousand trillion or 10 to the 17th
    power) silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They cover
    all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars
    and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a
    man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must
    pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What
    chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance
    that the prophets would have had of writing these 8 prophecies and
    having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the
    present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A number of years ago the Christian Victory Publishing Company of
Denver offered a reward of $1000 to anyone who could find someone, other
than Jesus, either living or dead, who fulfilled the 60 major prophecies
of Messiah. No one has collected the money. No one ever will.

    Could the prophecies have been written after the fact? History tells
us otherwise. The Old Testament which contains the prophecies we have
studied was completed in 450 BC. The Hebrew Scriptures were translated
into Greek (the Septuagint) during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus
(285-246 BC). THERE HAD TO BE AT LEAST 250 TO 450 YEAR GAP BETWEEN THE
PROPHECIES AND FULFILLMENT. AMAZING!

    Let us realize that Christmas is more than an elaborate myth or an
imaginative fable. Consider some of the New Testament verses explaining
the role of prophecy. READ: Mt. 5:17, 26:56, Luke 24:27,44;; Acts 10:43;
Romans 1:2-4, etc., etc.

    MAKS> Well that's one day, and the Table of contents. Like I said
after the daily program, we each read 1 chapter of Psalms, and we divide
the chapter of Proverbs by 3 and the girls each read a section.

    Last night, ON HER OWN, my oldest, Rachel, 14, said, "I think we
ought to pray at the end as well. It just seems like the right thing to
do."

    So dad led, and all but Susy each prayed, ON THEIR OWN, THEIR OWN
WORDS, and I concluded.

    I can almost see Jesus smile as my children grow, "Taught in the ways
of the Lord." As Chuck Smith says, "Do your best, and commit the rest."

    As most know, I ought to be committed. :-)

Maks.
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