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"Science Speaks" by Dr. Peter Stoner
Take a look at the research referenced in the program Postpartum Prophecies. Bonus Questions & Answers from the Program Click any link to view or hide the answer. Q: I loved your comment about not letting math over-shine the faith but as you are sitting here talking about these prophecies, there's a part of me saying, "Aha! I can use this when I'm witnessing to people to give them proof, to give them a logical explanation." And yet I don't want it to over-shine the faith part. Should we use this for witnessing? Answer Woodrow Kroll: I think we can as long as we don't become too pedantic about it and say, "Hey, let me throw all the evidence out there and you're really dumb if you don't believe all this." The fact of the matter is One would be foolish to look at the kind of probability we're talking about in the faith and not believe. But you don't believe based on probability. You believe based on the Spirit of God calling you. So I think sometimes we can win the battle with probabilities and lose the war. And the goal is not to win battles. Our goal is to win people to Jesus. Q: From Judah to Jesus' birth, roughly what is that timeframe? Answer Woodrow Kroll: If you go to the Book of Matthew and to the genealogy in Matthew, you will see listed representative names listed throughout that entire genealogy that will take us all the way from Abraham right down to the Lord Jesus. And in some cases, it may make a reference to 14 generations from this person to this person; 14 generations here and 14 generations there. But the important thing though is that the names are listed there. We can actually go back and check the genealogy of Jesus to make sure He fits the bill. My family, for example, on my father's side, I can trace my ancestors all the way back three generations. Not very far. On my mother's side, a little farther. Some of you can go back a long way. On my wife's side (I've never told her this; my son discovered this but we decided to keep it from Linda), my son has traced Linda's family back to Joseph of Arimathea. Now we're going to talk more about genealogies as the week goes on but what I want you to see is this: Genealogies are important because genealogies prove that you are the right person that the prophecies relate to and in Jesus' case, they are extremely important. We don't have to guess whether or not Jesus is the Messiah. The Bible clearly lays Him out as the Messiah. We don't know if today is the day Jesus is born. We're just celebrating His birth today, but we're celebrating the birth of the right Person today. Q: On the Scripture about the scepter not departing from Judah, there are those who would say that only applies to David. How would I answer that? Answer Woodrow Kroll: Actually, I haven't gotten to David yet. He's up--well, he's not next but he's in my list of people to look at because you're right; the scepter does not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. Shiloh is apparently a reference to Messiah. And David doesn't fit that because David was still looking for his Messiah. So it has to be in the line of David. Q: Is it possible for someone who has a wrong concept of who Christ is to be saved? Answer Woodrow Kroll: There are certain things that have to be understood and believed in order to bring about salvation. And a lot of them are not the things that have a tendency to divide us as people, our own theological concepts of things. But to understand that God provides a Savior by providing Himself as Savior I think is key to understanding that there is the benefit, there is the possibility of salvation. So I would say, "Yes, a person has to come to understand who Jesus is before they can understand that God has provided Jesus as their Savior." They can't say, "Look, I'm going to follow another religion but I'll be saved through Jesus." Jesus is very exclusivistic in the way He approaches His being the only Savior. Audience Member: But what if I believe in Jesus but I just don't believe He is God? Woodrow Kroll: Well, you don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible then and that's my point. It's not what you believe about Jesus that's important; it's what's true about Jesus that's important and how much of that you believe. So for a person to say, "I believe in Jesus but I don't believe . . . " and then list all the things the Bible says about Him are true, that's not genuine belief in Jesus. That's kind of a personal trumped up belief, picking and choosing the things we want to believe about Jesus, not sufficient for salvation. Q: I notice that both of these genealogies mention Joseph. And if Joseph wasn't Jesus' physical father, isn't it more important that Mary is of the line of David? Answer Woodrow Kroll: It is and when you actually get to the Luke genealogy, we'll talk about why it's important that Mary be of the bloodline of David as well as Joseph be of the bloodline of David. But you are right; very good point. Tracing the genealogy to Joseph doesn't get us all the way home. We have to also trace it through Mary. Note: There are 2 genealogies for Jesus. You'll find them in Luke 3 and Matthew 1. They are similar until they arrive at David's sons. Mary's lineage (Luke 3) is from David's son, Nathan. Joseph's line comes from David's other son, Solomon (Matthew 1). |
