Romans 10:6-9 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way … "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Faith has evidence from many sources, God's creation, prophecy fulfilled and confirmed by archeological and historical records, testimonies of the prophets and patriarchs, miracles, signs, wonders, and the apostle's witness of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. We can vigorously defend our faith with numerous examples of undeniable evidence for those with ears to hear.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen … By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

Creation DNA

Let's start by looking at the evidence for God in creation. If we were to look through a powerful microscope to see the atoms of all living creatures, we would see proof of a divine architect, a designer with infinite wisdom, with all power to create everything out of nothing. We would see the Almighty God.

In 1953 was the discovery of the double helix, the twisted ladder structure of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) that carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth, and reproduction of all known organisms. That and subsequent discoveries only confirm that the universe is not the product of some ongoing chaotic accident but made according to a divine plan and designed by unfathomable intelligence. God wrote the DNA codes and programmed every atom in existence according to His purpose, giving it function, balance, order, and destiny. You cannot honestly look at creation without seeing the creator and intelligent design, and anything to the contrary is inexcusable before God.

Romans 1:20-21 … because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

John 1:3-4 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

God speaks and reveals himself to us universally through nature to all people, from every country, every language, and all generations. Anyone can look at God's handiwork with plants, animals, birds, fish, sun, moon, and stars and hear them screaming that there is a God who created everything!

Psalm 19: 1-4 … The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun.

When God designed everything, he formatted their DNA code, which determined their functions and instincts, equipping them with seemingly supernatural abilities that baffle the scientist. Let's look at a few examples from nature that reveal God, the master programmer who wrote the DNA code that genetically controls the instincts of all birds, fish, and animals.

Bird Migration

Every year with changing seasons, birds migrate, and each generation of birds leave at precisely the correct time, flying on autopilot, taking the same routes to the exact locations every year. The Arctic Tern will fly 44,000 miles in its migration from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and back. The endurance winner goes to the Bar-tailed godwit, which travels 7500 miles from Alaska to New Zealand, flying nonstop for 11 straight days. The physical ability required for such a trip is astounding. They also get the award for navigation because they fly over empty oceans for days with no markers to guide them. Science is baffled by them. Where does this little bird that only lives a few years get the ability and strength to do that? They did not evolve to make the flight over millions of years (theory of evolution) because, in the first attempt, the whole flock would have died somewhere out in the ocean. If we gave you a sailboat with no GPS, maps, compass, food, or water, and you leave Alaska and set sail to New Zealand, could you make it in 7 days nonstop? Or at all? The only valid explanation is that they were uniquely designed and equipped for their migration by God.

Fish Migration

Salmon will spend most of their adult lives in ocean waters and return to fresh waters to spawn. They can migrate up to 7,000 miles, from their saltwater feeding grounds, through ocean migration routes, and then to freshwater rivers. The longest migration river route is 1800 miles from Alaska to British Columbia, Canada, via the Yukon River. When the salmon advance through their home river, with what some call smell memory, they can follow the scent directly to the spot where they hatched so they can spawn their eggs and die. The eggs hatch and the process repeats, over and over, for thousands of years with no change. Again, Scientists are baffled at how salmon navigate and smell with such precision. How? They were designed, programmed, and equipped for a specific task, to take a precise route, by God.

Bears – Hibernation

What happens to bears when winter comes with freezing temperatures, snow, and no available food? Do they Starve? No! First, the bears feast on salmon (we just read about) and other prey to build up their body fat in preparation for the long winter. As the temperatures drop, they prepare a den, a hole, or crevice that fits their body size to retain heat. Then they sleep to conserve energy and slow their metabolism. Their temperature can drop by 5% (other animals by more than 34%), and their heart rate lowers. They recycle their proteins and urine without urinating for months. They stay hydrated with metabolic fat and do not eat or drink during hibernation.

Lowering the body temperature, reducing heart rate, not urinating, eating, or drinking for months are not acquired skills, and it doesn't happen by accident. God designed, programmed, and equipped bears to endure extreme cold, with no food for months, to perpetuate the species.

Clouds

Let’s look at another example of nature, the clouds, but we’ll skip lightning bolts and thunder and only look at the water. In one giant thunderhead cloud, there could be as much as 2 billion pounds of water. Think about millions of pounds of water hanging over your head next time you look up at a cloud. God designed the clouds to release the rain one drop at a time instead of all at once. An average raindrop could fall at speeds of 14 to 20 miles per hour from approximately 2,000 feet, and it could take 1 to 7 minutes to land on your head, depending on its temperature and density.

Job 26:8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

Can you imagine clouds weighing 2 billion pounds dropping all that water as a solid mass? What a disaster that would be. Right? Well, that's what happened during Noah's flood, and it destroyed the world. However, God made a promise not to destroy the earth again by water and put a rainbow in the clouds to confirm that promise. The clouds show us the goodness or severity of God. One little raindrop or snowflake on the tip of your tongue can be fun, but an army of them can destroy cities. The right amount of rain brings bountiful harvests with plenty of food, green plants, full lakes, and rivers. The lack of rain causes droughts and shortages in food and drinking water. Who designed the clouds and controls if they are a blessing or a judgment? God.

Matthew 5:45 … for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

You can easily find hundreds of documentaries that chronicle the marvels of God's creation, yet the world pushes the theory of evolution. They completely ignore intelligent design and a creator because they are either blind or hard-hearted, and the Bible says they are fools.

Romans 1:20-22 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,

The evidence of intelligent design behind the creation reveals the wonders of the Almighty, all-knowing, all-wise, omnipresent eternal God, and should inspire our faith in the invisible God who made everything we see.

The Human Body

God created man in his image as a trinity with a body, soul, and spirit. And all our various mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects make us both unique to nature, and a marvel above all of God's earthly creations. Just the construction and function of the human body are evidence of God. Above all, we possess an eternal spiritual facet that is a mystery to sinful man. God knew us before we were born and before he created the world, and he predestined us to be here by design, so we are not an accident.

Psalm 139:13-18 For you (God) created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

The list below gives just a few statistics about the human body to show how fearfully and wonderfully we are made and we are nothing short of a miracle of God.:

We have 37.2 trillion cells that spread across 200 different types of cells. We can think about 60,000 thoughts a day that gets processed by 100 billion neurons in our brains. We have 127 million retinal cells in our eyes, and we can see over 10 million colors. We have 1,000 olfactory receptors in our nose that can recognize 50,000 smells. We have 30 trillion red blood cells, or about 1.6 gallons of blood, that flow through around 42 billion blood vessels that could stretch around the earth four times. Our heart does 115,000 heartbeats that pump about 2,000 gallons per day! Our lungs process between 17,280 and 23,040 breaths per day. Adults have 206 bones, children have 300 plus bones, and some bones fuse as they grow. Our physical strength comes from 650 muscles connected by 360 joints. We have 100 billion skin cells with 100,000 hair follicles, and our skin can create up to 2.6 gallons of sweat per day to control our body temperature. The human body is a creation of divine intelligence and design.

The Soul and Spirit

Man is a trinity of body, soul, and spirit and is very complex. We can see people's outward physical behavior, but we cannot see their invisible souls with our physical eyes.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Since we live in a technology age and many people live vicariously through their cell phones and tablet screens, we will use a computer analogy. So, we will attempt to show the correlation between spiritual and physical realities by looking at computer hardware and software.

We will compare the software to our soul and spirit. The computer will not function without software, which gets stored in the hard drive, and like the brain, it operates the entire system and does the actual computing, processing, or thinking. The software's presence is not tangible but is an unseen force, and once downloaded, it becomes stored, communicated, or travels between various Wi-Fi and hardware components. Because it is not material, it never wears out and lasts forever.

Our soul and spirit are not tangible but control all our thoughts, emotions, and memories, and they come with a built-in filter called the conscience. And the same way that a computer cannot function without software, our bodies are dead when separated from the spirit.

To show the reality of our souls, let's contemplate this computer question. If a memory stick weighs 1 ounce, and we take a set of library books that weighs 100 pounds, and we download the contents of the books into the memory stick. How much does the memory stick weigh now? Does it weigh 100 pounds? No, it would still weigh 1 ounce.

From all outward appearances, there is no evidence that the books exist on the memory stick, no added weight, and no visible differences. So, sceptics might say there are no books in the memory stick because they can't see them! The books exist, but you cannot see them with your eyes, but you know they are there. The data weighing 100 pounds written on physical paper weighs nothing in the invisible, untouchable digital world.

A spiritual realm exists parallel to the physical world where we live, but we can't see it or touch it physically, but it is there. We are blind to the spiritual beings surrounding us, tempting and influencing our thoughts and actions.

In our analogy, evil computer viruses would be like demons, and antivirus software protection would be like the conscience that should safeguard against evil. Unbelievers cannot perceive the reality of the spiritual kingdoms in conflict. And even believers are blind unless God opens their spiritual eyes to see the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of God and his kingdom. Everyone needs to have a spiritual software download, upgrade, or update.

Ephesians 1:17-20 … that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the EYES of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

What are the chances that a memory stick could evolve by itself from nothing? Someone designed and created the memory stick to retain vast amounts of information and perform complex functions transferring data in collaboration with the computer hardware. Memory sticks are engineered with complicated designs and constructed to meet precise specifications and tolerances within thousands of an inch with microprocessors and many electrical components and connections. Memory sticks are no accident, and their creation or evolution would be impossible outside of an intelligent designer and builder.

The human trinity, body, soul, and spirit are vastly more complicated than anything we can make, and we are the product of intelligent design. And our spiritual software is eternal, requiring new hardware to function in the next life. Our soul is our spiritual memory stick, and everything we see, feel, or think in our entire life gets downloaded to our memory stick. And when our physical body dies, before we get a new eternal body or hardware, God will replay, review, and judge all the data evidence stored in our files or the books and the book of life. Then he will determine which new hardware we get and what will be the new email address for our memory stick.

We stay surrounded by an invisible crowd of witnesses but we can't see them, just like we can't see 100 pounds of books in a memory stick, but they are there, and that should motivate us to run after what is important to our souls.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Word of God

Faith comes from hearing God speak His word to us. We can have complete confidence in God's word because it is 100% truthful, accurate, and reliable. We have many examples from the earliest records of man's history, where scriptures stated facts about the world and the universe thousands of years before scientists knew they existed or could understand enough to verify the information.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Earth a globe, suspended

While the ancient world held to a myriad of mythologies to explain the earth's shape, and saying that it was flat, the Bible said that it is a sphere globe with a circular horizon and also that it is suspended in the sky by nothing. All that information came from the book of Job, the oldest book of the Bible, and Job lived around 4,000 years ago. By comparison, the early Hindus taught that the world sits on the backs of elephants standing on the back of a turtle.

Job 26:7-9 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it. He covers the face of His throne, and spreads His cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness.

Ocean Currents

The Bible mentioned the existence of ocean currents or paths as written roughly 3,000 years ago. In the mid-1800s, Matthew Fontaine Maury, who served in the US Navy, “discovered” ocean currents. Matthew’s grandfather was the Reverend James Maury, who taught Thomas Jefferson. While reading the Bible, he came across a passage written by King David that mentions the paths of the seas. At the time, ocean currents were unknown, and Maury experienced ocean paths that led to his discovery.

Psalms 8:8 The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea that pass through the paths (currents) of the seas.

Ocean Mountains

We all know the story of Jonah, who wrote about his incident with a big fish that happened to him close to 3,000 years ago. Some sailors threw Jonah overboard in the middle of the ocean, he got swallowed by a fish, and in the first submarine ride. He described his journey to the bottom of the mountains in the sea. For all the Jonah fish skeptics, underwater mountain ranges in the ocean were not "discovered" until 1938 and the 1940s, when they began to map ocean topography.

Jonah 2:5-6 … the waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

Springs of the Sea

While speaking of the oceans, starting 4,000 years ago, Job, Moses, and David told of springs of water coming up from the depths of the sea. When they talked about fountains of the deep, that would include deep-sea fountains of water springing from the ocean floor. The word "deep" in Hebrew is t@howm and means an abyss as a surging mass of water, the deep sea, or the underground water supply.

Job 38:16 (God questioning Job) "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains (springs, NIV) of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

Proverbs 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass (circle, reference to round horizon) upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:

Only after they started mapping the sea floor, enabled by the advancement of underwater exploration equipment, did modern scientists "discover" deep-sea springs of water. Evidence for shallow sea springs was first "discovered" in the 1960s in the Red Sea and off the coast of Baja California. The first direct observations of deep-sea springs, or their mineralized vents, appear to have been made on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in 1973.

The Sun’s Orbit in Milky Way

King David stated that the Sun travels in a circle, or an orbit from one end of the heavens to the other. For thousands of years, those facts were not "discovered," proving that the earth revolves around the Sun and the Sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way.

Psalm 19:1-6 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork … In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, Which, is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit (or circle, orbit) to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

In another astronomy note, Jeremiah (and others) said that the stars could not be numbered (by man), and of course, God has them numbered and knows each one by name.

Psalm 147:4 (speaking of God) He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.

Jeremiah 33:22 I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.'" (NIV)

With the invention of the telescope in 1610, Galileo became the father of modern astronomy. Around 1910, astronomers found spiral nebulae (galaxies other than the milky way), and in 1914 they found that the spiral nebula is in perpetual rotation (or orbit). Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the universe, but after 1920 they showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies. The latest scientific estimate in 2021 was that there are roughly 200 billion galaxies, each having an untold number of stars. The same way the earth orbits the Sun, the Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way. Our solar system is moving with speeds of 515,000 mph, and it takes about 250 million years for the Sun to make one complete trip around the Milky Way, according to scientists, but what do they know?

We are amazed at how incomprehensibly vast the universe, galaxies, and solar systems are, but the Bible says that heaven of the heavens cannot contain God! How great is God! And how tiny, insignificant, and frail we are in light of God’s magnificence, majesty, and glory! That's what King David thought about himself when he would look up and stare at the stars at night.

1 Kings 8:27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You.

Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

We have seen different aspects of how the Bible builds our faith through revealing the secrets of creation, but possibly the most profound effect of the word of God for us is how it directly impacts our lives. Here is a brief list highlighting the power that God's word makes available to us by faith.

The Patriarchs

Faith is a relationship of trust, obedience, and dependence on God. Faith is like a journey, and each experience of our faith builds on the previous ones. In the process, we change and grow in our understanding of God and ourselves.

If you want more faith, be ready to be put into impossible situations that force you to depend on God alone for help. Our faith also grows by seeing how God has taken people through impossible situations and has done the miraculous on their behalf. In the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 is what some call the faith hall of fame, with a list of the patriarchs and saints and the great exploits they did by faith. We will start by looking at Abraham.

Abraham

Abraham is called the father of faith, and we are encouraged to follow in the footsteps of his faith. Here's the catch, for faith to grow, the challenges must increase in difficulty. Abraham's first step of faith was leaving the comfort of his hometown of Ur, with its Babylonian idolatry, astrology, and wickedness. Abraham's faith grew step by step until he had complete confidence and trust in God, even to the level of resurrection faith. Let's follow Abraham's challenging journey that took him from faith to faith.

Romans 4:11-12 … that he might be the father of all those who believe though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

Abraham’s journey began when he was 75 years old. God called him to leave the comfort of his hometown and his relatives to go out into the wilderness, not knowing where he was going. Can you imagine the conversations with his relatives? Oh, so you heard a voice, and this voice told you to go and wander in the wilderness? Are you crazy? And yes, faith can appear crazy to unbelievers sometimes, but Abraham obeyed God and went anyway. The steps of Abraham’s faith are like this, 1. God speaks. 2. We obey. 3. Repeat. We do not proceed to the next steps until our obedience is complete where we are now. So, we go from one act of obedience to another and from faith to faith.

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going (by faith).

Romans 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

After Abraham obeyed by leaving and forsaking the idolatrous Babylonian culture, God gave him the next step for faith to grow. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. One problem, Abraham was 75 years old, and his wife Sarah was 65 and unable to have children. That sounds like a big challenge, and apparently, it was not challenging enough. Maybe they were too young for God to get all the credit, so Abraham had to wait patiently for another 25 years for a son.

James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

Hebrews 6:12-15 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

So, after twenty-five years, Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was 90, but Abraham did not waver in his faith but was fully convinced, not in himself or Sarah, but in God's promise and his ability to do miracles. And Sarah's faith increased, her body underwent a restoration, and she received the strength to have a child.

Romans 4:12-22 … who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

Hebrews 11:11-12 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore, sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

God had one more test of obedience for Abraham and told him to offer his son, his only son, as a sacrifice (symbolic of the death of Jesus on the cross). There are different opinions about how old Abraham was when he offered Isaac on the altar. For our example, he was 115, so Abraham had hoped, waited, prayed, and spent 40 years of his life focused on his heir, his only son, and now he is asked to end his life. The unbelieving mind cannot understand that request, but Abraham did. Abraham’s faith had grown to the point that he believed that if God asked him to kill his son, then God would raise him from the dead. Abraham had resurrection faith which is the ultimate goal for all believers.

Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

King David

King David was another hero of the faith, and when he was a young shepherd guarding his flock, a lion and a bear attacked his sheep. David did not run away but ran after them and killed the vicious beast with his bare hands. That gave him confidence and prepared him to face the Philistine giant, Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:34-37 And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.

When David heard Goliath slander the God of Israel, his zeal for God made his anger rise, so he could not restrain himself from answering Goliath's "winner takes all" challenge. King Saul and his son Jonathan were the only two men in Israel who owned a sword. Saul offered his armor and sword to David, but David refused them and went to battle with his trusty shepherd staff and a slingshot.

1 Samuel 17:40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

After Goliath cursed David by his gods, David stated his faith and purpose for engaging in the fight. David was fighting to defend God's honor. Also, David demonstrated to the Israelites that they should not trust in themselves or their weapons, or lack of weapons, but commit the battle to the Lord and trust in God to give the victory by faith.

1 Samuel 17:45-47 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. … And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. "Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands."

The army of Israel had no weapons, so David showed them that they could defeat the enemy's biggest champion with a small rock. Rocks were readily available, were free, and anyone could pick up a rock. With David's victory, he armed all of Israel with swords from the defeated Philistines, but David kept Goliath's sword More important than providing them with weapons, David gave Israel the gift of faith.

1 Samuel 17:50-52 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore, David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines

David's defeat of Goliath is a type of Christ's "winner takes all" victory over sin by his death on the cross. Jesus single-handedly defeated death, hell, and the Devil and stripped them of all their power. And Jesus kept Goliath's sword, the keys of death and hell. Then Jesus equipped all believers with the sword of the Spirit with authority over all the enemy's power. Jesus is our rock (1 Corinthians 10:4), he is our salvation, and praise be unto God who always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus. It's so easy that anyone can believe and pick up a rock and take down the giants by faith.

2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ,

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 10:18-19 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Galatians 3:6-9 … just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed." So, then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

David as the King of Israel foreshadowed the Messiah, Christ the anointed one, the King of Jews and the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Jesus is returning as the conquering king, the son of David, to make war and judge the nations, trample them in the winepress of God's wrath, and then rule the nations from Jerusalem for 1,000 years.

Revelation 19:13-16 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

History, Archaeology, Prophecy

We have proof of the infallibility of scriptures and the existence of God because of the evidence provided by prophecy, archeology, and history. Here's the pattern; God inspires the prophets to foretell the future, things happen as predicted, things are forgotten and buried with time, centuries pass, then archeologist dig up the evidence that prophecy happened as foretold and teach it as history.

God gives details of future events so that after it comes to pass, we can recognize God alone has exact details of the future with 100% accuracy, as revealed by the prophecy of the scriptures. The eternal God created time with the creation of the sun, moon, and stars he made as markers of time, days, nights, months, and years. God is above the restraints of time and observes, occupies, and knows every detail of the past, present, and future. Simultaneously. The same power God used to create time; he will use to end it so that only the eternal things will remain. In John's book recording the Revelation of Christ, Jesus gives his name as the beginning and end. who was. who is. and who is to come. So, prophecy will be fulfilled to the exact detail, vindicating the prophets and the only true eternal God.

Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Isaiah 48:3 I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

Isaiah 44:6-8 "This is what the LORD says Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come yes, let him foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago.

Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Isaiah 45:21 Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.

Let’s look at a few examples of God proclaiming and foretelling future events centuries before they happened. We will see statistical evidence that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were miraculous in their fulfillment to the glory of God.

Prophecy Josiah

The first prophecy we'll consider is regarding the pagan altars built in Bethel by Jeroboam. Jeroboam had just led a rebellion against Judah and incorporated idolatry as a way to establish his kingdom. While Jeroboam was burning a sacrifice on the pagan altar, a man of God appeared and gave a detailed prophecy.

1 Kings 13:1 -4 And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.’ “And he gave a sign the same day, saying, " This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out." So, it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Arrest him!" Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

The first part of the prophecy happened right then, the altar split open, the ashes fell out, and Jeroboam's hand withered. But the second part did not come to pass for 350 years. That part of the prophecy stated that a child would be born named Josiah. The accuracy of the wording is notable in saying "a child shall be born named Josiah" because Josiah was eight years old when he became the King. Josiah was a good king, and he went throughout Judah and purged it from idolatry, and went into the northern kingdom, to Bethel and destroyed and desecrated the pagan altars and idols there. Josiah was the fulfillment of the prophecy 350 years later.

2 Kings 23:16-18 Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed,

Prophecy Tyre

Next, we use an example that includes a verifiable historical figure, Alexander the Great. Both Daniel and Ezekiel prophesied about him. For this example, we refer to the work of a professional statistician. The quotes used are from the book Science Speaks by Peter Stoner, who illustrates the statistical probability of Bible prophecy happening by accident. Going to the prophecy of Ezekiel 26 concerning the city of Tyre, there are seven prophecies contained in the chapter, which Ezekiel wrote in 590 BC:

1). Nebuchadnezzar shall conquer the city (vs. 7-11)

2). Other nations will assist Nebuchadnezzar (v. 3)

3). The city will be made like a bare rock (vs. 4 & 14)

4). Becomes place for spreading fishing nets (vs. 5, 14).

5). Its stones & timbers will be thrown in the sea (v. 12).

6). Other cities will fear greatly at the fall of Tyre (v. 16).

7). The old city of Tyre will never be rebuilt (v. 14).

Four years after this prophecy was given, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Tyre. The siege lasted 13 years. When the city finally fell in 573 BC, it was discovered that everything of value had been moved to a nearby island.

Two hundred and forty-one years later Alexander the Great arrived on the scene. Fearing that the fleet of Tyre might be used against his homeland, he decided to take the island where the city had been moved to. He accomplished this goal by building a causeway from the mainland to the island, and he did that by using all the building materials from the ruins of the old city. Neighbouring cities were so frightened by Alexander’s conquest that they immediately opened their gates to him. Ever since that time, Tyre has remained in ruins and is a place where fishermen spread their nets. Thus, every detail of the prophecy was fulfilled exactly as predicted. Peter Stoner calculated the odds of such a prophecy being fulfilled by chance as being 1 in 75,000,000, or 1 in 7.5×10⁷. (The exponent 7 indicates that the decimal is to be moved to the right seven places.) Stoner proceeds to calculate the probabilities of the prophecies concerning Samaria, Gaza and Ashkelon, Jericho, Palestine, Moab and Ammon, Edom, and Babylon. He also calculates the odds of prophecies being fulfilled that predicted the closing of the Eastern Gate (Ezekiel 44:1-3), the plowing of Mount Zion (Micah 3:12), and the enlargement of Jerusalem according to a prescribed pattern (Jeremiah 31:38-40). Combining all these prophecies, he concludes that “the probability of these 11 prophecies coming true, if written in human wisdom, is… 1 in 5.76×10⁵⁹. Needless to say, this is a number beyond the realm of possibility.

Prophecy Cyrus

Another set of prophecies starts with Isaiah, then branches out and becomes intertwined with predictions from other prophets. Through Isaiah, God foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, that they would be in ruins, and the people would be taken captive. Also (150 years later), God would bring a pagan ruler to power named Cyrus, who would free the Jewish captives and enable and encourage them to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.

Isaiah 44:28 Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid."'

Isaiah 45:1 "Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut: I have raised him up in righteousness, And I will direct all his ways; He shall build My city and let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward," says the LORD of hosts.

Jeremiah’s 70 Years

One hundred years after Isaiah's prophecy, the Babylonians surrounded Jerusalem and laid siege to it for several years. After they conquered Jerusalem, they tore down the walls and burned everything to the ground, including the temple. The majority of the Jews were captured and taken as captives to Babylon. During the siege, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied that Babylonian captivity would last for seventy years.

Jeremiah 25:11-12 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. "But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt," declares the LORD, "and will make it desolate forever.

Isaiah's prophecy had been given 80 years before Jeremiah's, adding 70 more years, so after 150 years, the destruction, captivity, return, and rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple were coming to pass. That caught the attention of another prophet, Daniel, who was in Babylon with the other captives. Daniel was reading Jeremiah's writings and saw the prophecy regarding seventy years, so he went into intercessory prayer for Israel's restoration.

Daniel 9:2 … I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

Command to rebuild Jerusalem

Finally, the Medes and Persians destroyed Babylon (fulfilling Isiah's prophecy), and Cyrus came to power and did everything that was prophesied about him 150 years before. Among those returning to Jerusalem were Ezra the priest, Nehemiah the governor, and two more prophets, Zechariah and Haggai. There was opposition to the Jews, but through the prophesying of Zechariah and Haggai, the work of rebuilding prospered.

2 Chronicles 36:21-23 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.'"

Ezra 1:1-2 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.

Ezra 6:14 So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Daniel’s 70 Weeks

Remember Daniel reading about the 70th year? Daniel had one of the most significant prophecies in the Bible about the coming of the Messiah (Christ) that began from the very day Cyrus gave the order to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Daniel prophesied the exact day that Jesus would make his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the five gentile world empires, and the signing of a seven-year covenant that begins the tribulation and the final global dictator known as the antichrist.

So, Daniel's prophecies reached more than 2500 years in the future. But all his prophecies begin with Cyrus giving the command to rebuild Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:24-26 "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks (7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks); The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. "And after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself

In Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks, he prophesied to the exact day that Messiah (Jesus) would enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 483 years in the future. Daniel’s prophecy said from the command to rebuild the second temple to the Messiah will be 69 weeks of 7 years or 483 years. The command to rebuild the temple came on March 14, 445 B.C., to get the correct date of the appearance of the Messiah we have to convert the Jewish 360-day calendar to the Roman 365-day calendar and account for the leap year differences, according to the language of the prophecy and the Jewish practices. 483 years x 360 days = 173,880 days converted to the Roman Calendar is 476 years & 24 days

From March 14, 445 B.C., plus 483 years ends on April 6, 32 A.D., or the exact date that Jesus had his triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, in fulfillment of the prophecy of the 69th week, given by Daniel.

The prophet Zechariah also prophesied about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and he prophesied around 520 B.C., over 550 years before Christ entered Jerusalem.

Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Matthew 21:4-9 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.'" So, the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.

Jesus knew perfectly well that he was fulfilling prophecy as he entered Jerusalem, saying if you would have known, on this your day (the exact day prophesied by Daniel). Christ the Messiah rode into Jerusalem exactly as predicted 550 years before by Zechariah and Daniel, the people did not know it, but Jesus did and wept over them. Jesus wept because the Jewish leaders had rejected him as their Messiah, and later, he prophesied the destruction of their temple as a consequence, which happened around 37 years later.

Luke 19:37-42 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:" 'Blessed is the King (Messiah) who comes in the name of the LORD!' Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out." Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Jesus Impossible Odds

Let's return to Peter Stoner's statistics, where he calculated the statistical probability of just 8 Messianic prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

1. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). The average population of Bethlehem from the time of Micah to the present (1958) divided by the average population of the earth during the same period.

2. A messenger will prepare the way for the Messiah (Mal. 3:1). One man in how many, the world over, has had a forerunner (in this case, John the Baptist) to prepare his way? Estimate: 1 in 1,000 or 1×10³.

3. The Messiah will enter Jerusalem as a king riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). One man in how many, who has entered Jerusalem as a ruler, has entered riding on a donkey? Estimate: 1 in 100 or 1×10².

4. The Messiah will be betrayed by a friend and suffer wounds in His hands (Zechariah 13:6). One man in how many, the world over, has been betrayed by a friend, resulting in wounds in his hands?

5. The Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12). Of the people who have been betrayed, one in how many has been betrayed for exactly 30 pieces of silver? Estimate: 1 in 1,000 or 1×10³.

6. The betrayal money will be used to purchase a potter’s field (Zechariah 11:13). One man in how many, after receiving a bribe for the betrayal of a friend, has returned the money, had it refused, and then experienced it being used to buy a potter’s field?
Estimate: 1 in 100,000 or 1×10⁵.

7. The Messiah will remain silent while He is afflicted (Isaiah 53:7). One man in how many, when he is oppressed and afflicted, though innocent, will make no defense of himself? Estimate: 1 in 1,000 or 1×10³.

8. The Messiah will die by having His hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:16). One man in how many, since the time of David, has been crucified?
Estimate: 1 in 10,000 or 1×10⁴.

Multiplying all these probabilities together produces a number (rounded off) of 1×10²⁸. Dividing this number by an estimate of the number of people who have lived since the time of these prophecies (88 billion) produces a probability of all 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidently in the life of one person. That probability is 1in 10¹⁷ or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. That’s one in one hundred quadrillion!

Stoner proceeds to use the eight previously mentioned prophecies about the Messiah and calculates the odds of their accidental fulfillment in one person as being 1 in 10¹⁷.

To picture this imagine filling the State of Texas knee deep in silver dollars. Include in this huge number one silver dollar with a black check mark on it. Then, turn a blindfolded person loose in this sea of silver dollars. The odds that the first coin he would pick up would be the one with the black check mark are the same as 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of Jesus.

The point, of course, is that when people say that the fulfillment of prophecy in the life of Jesus was accidental, they do not know what they are talking about. Keep in mind that Jesus did not just fulfill 8 prophecies, He fulfilled 108. The chances of fulfilling 16 is 1 in 10⁴⁵. When you get to a total of 48, the odds increase to 1 in 10¹⁵⁷. Accidental fulfillment of these prophecies is simply beyond the realm of possibility.

One of the most remarkable Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures is the one that precisely states that the Messiah will die by crucifixion. It is found in Psalm 22:16 where David prophesied the Messiah would die by having His hands and feet pierced. That prophecy was written 1,000 years before Jesus was born. When it was written, the Jewish method of execution was by stoning. The prophecy was also written many years before the Romans perfected crucifixion as a method of execution. Even when Jesus was killed, the Jews still relied on stoning as their method of execution, but they had lost the power to implement the death penalty due to Roman occupation. That is why they were forced to take Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, and that’s how Jesus ended up being crucified, in fulfillment of David’s prophecy.

We have looked at just a few of the more than 800 prophecies in the Bible; we have seen different prophets in our examples; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, David, Micah, and Malachi. They lived centuries apart and prophesied centuries into the future with 100% accuracy. All the prophecies sounded like they came from one person, and they did because all Biblical prophecies came from the inspiration of God.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

Revelation 19:10 … Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

1 Peter 1:10-12 Of which salvation the (Old Testament) prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

The Resurrection

The resurrection of the dead is the backbone of the Christian faith because if Jesus did not rise from the dead, our faith would be useless, and believers would be pitiful.

1 Corinthians 15:14-19 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. … And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. … If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact. period. The birth of Christ is our marker for time, either B.C. before Christ's birth or A.D. after Christ's death, although the godless are trying to remove the name of Christ from public dialogue. We have irrefutable historical documentation for the life, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Christ died, and three days later, he was resurrected from the dead and appeared to his apostles and disciples. Then for 40 days, he was seen by 500 witnesses. According to the law, you only need 2 or 3 witnesses to establish evidence in court (Deuteronomy. 17:6, Matthew 18:16).

Acts 1:1-3… all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once … After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me (Paul) also, as by one born out of due time.

1 John 1:1-3 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

John 20:24-29 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So, he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

The Apostle Peter

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem to receive power. On the day of Pentecost, 120 disciples were praying in an upper room when the Holy Spirit came upon them and filled them with the power of God. Then Peter, who just 40 days before had denied the Lord out of fear, was now filled with boldness and preached a powerful and searing message to the same people who had crucified Jesus. Peter's message pierced their hearts, so they repented, and 3,000 converted to faith in Christ.

Acts 2:22-32 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; "whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. … "he (King David), foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Acts 2:37-41 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"… Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Soon after that, God used Peter for the miraculous healing of a crippled man. When the people ran to see what happened, Peter preached to them. Again, Peter held the crowd accountable for having Christ crucified and preached the resurrection and faith in Christ to them.

Acts 3:13-16 "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

The same religious leaders that had Jesus crucified, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came and had Peter and John arrested and thrown into jail.

The next day the rulers, elders, scribes, and high priests threatened the apostles and commanded them to be silent about Jesus. But Peter was bold and fearless, saying he could not stop preaching Christ.

Acts 4:18-20 And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."

Peter did not shut his mouth, and he never ceased preaching about the resurrection of Christ. At the end of his life, Emperor Nero sentenced Peter to die by crucifixion because of his faith. Peter said that he was not worthy to die in the same way as his Lord Jesus, so Peter requested to be crucified upside down, and they granted his request. Can there be a more powerful eyewitness to the resurrection of Christ than someone who would die for their faith?

The Greek word for witness is the root word for martyr, and the overwhelming number of witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus confirmed their testimony with their blood and died as martyrs. Ten of eleven apostles died as martyrs, and millions have followed their example of faith. All those believers who chose death rather than denying Christ give irrefutable veracity to their witnesses for Christ.

Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses (martyrs) to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

The Apostle Paul

From the moment Paul encountered Christ on the road to Damascus, he became possibly the most vocal, zealous, tireless, relentless, and unstoppable missionary of all time. However, everywhere he went, he suffered severe persecution as a result.

2 Corinthians 11:24-27 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

What was the driving force behind Paul? Paul was on his way to a successful academic career with multiple degrees from the top teacher of his day. What could compel a man to throw away success, honor, and fame to continually risk his life with beatings, imprisonment, depravations, and scorn? What was the burning desire inside of Paul that motivated him? His passion was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.

Philippians 3:8-11 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul was a living testament to the cross of Christ and his resurrection. Paul forwarded the premise that since Christ died for his sins, he was dead, and Christ was living vicariously through him. At the end of his life, Paul became a martyr for his faith in Christ.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 6:4-5 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

For the last 2,000 years, an innumerable multitude in the hundreds of millions made the same profession of faith as Paul, about the life of Christ abiding inside them. Believers from every generation, nation, and every class and level of the social hierarchy have put their faith in a poor man who was rejected, scourged, beaten, crucified, and died naked on a cross. And his followers have been publicly shamed, persecuted, imprisoned, beaten, and killed for their faith. Who in the right mind would sign up for that?

Yet these followers turned the world upside down, transforming cultures, societies, and nations one life at a time of their own free will. And, from the most despised and evil outcast to the most powerful, successful, and honorable among us, they all share the same testimony that their lives have been changed, transformed, and made new by Christ, who lives inside their hearts by faith. How do you explain that kind of voluntary commitment, sacrifice, and transformational power in the lives of so many people over 2,000 years, except that it must be by the providence of God!

Faith & Conscience

God created man in his image as a trinity consisting of body, soul, and spirit. The conscience is the dialogue with ourselves in our mind as we make plans, motives, excuses, rationales, arguments, and mentally judge between right and wrong. When we feel guilty, condemned, or double-minded, we cannot expect to have faith or answers to prayer. We need a pure conscience to have confidence, trust, and faith in God.

Romans 2:14-16 … their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

Hebrews 4:12-14 For the word of God … penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

God designed the conscience to be sensitive to right and wrong and have discernment between good and evil as a guide to lead us to do what is right. Sometimes we have battles between our sinful desires and our conscience, and we struggle to do what is right. A little child has a pure conscience and doesn't know how to lie. But with every lie, the conscience becomes less sensitive, and it becomes easier to lie. If we repeatedly go against our conscience, our hearts will become hardened and eventually unable to feel remorse for doing wrong, so we damage our conscience and can lose our souls.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

1 Timothy 1:19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,

There is only one answer for a guilty conscience, and that is by faith in what the shed blood of Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. Only because Jesus sacrificed himself for us can we have a pure conscience before God. But we need to bring our sins out of the darkness, expose them to the light, and confess them to God, and he will forgive us, cleanse our conscience, and restore our faith and confidence to stand before him.

1 John 1:5-9 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

As a result of having faith in God, we may be prompted to do works of obedience as a demonstration of our faith.

James 2:17-18 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

However, our good deeds cannot save us, we do not do good works to be saved, we do works of obedience because we are saved. Our only hope of salvation is by having faith in Jesus alone.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Galatians 2:6 "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

In the first church they could summarize their belief system and lifestyle by using just two words, “the faith” which was synomenous with Christianity and the gospel.

2 Timothy 4:6, 7 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Romans 16:26 but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith to God

Acts 6:7 … the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Romans 1:5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name

We have different ways to build up our faith, and faith comes by reading, hearing, and preaching the word of God.

Romans 10:8-14 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: "Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world."

Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Our faith grows by hearing the testimonies of others. In Hebrews chapter 11, we see the testimonies of the heroes of faith written to encourage our faith; Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

Just like the saints who preceded us, our faith and testimony will endure testing to reveal the level of our sincerity and convictions. If we pass the tests, our faith grows and becomes more and more precious. Times of testing are bitter-sweet, bitter at the time of testing but sweet when you look back and see how many ways God carried you, and ultimately increasing your faith in him.

1 Peter 1:3-9 … In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Revelation 3:18-19 (Jesus) "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich … "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.

Ultimately, faith is a gift from God, and each believer is given a measure of faith.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Rapture, Second Coming

If we agree with all the evidence for faith put forward up to this point, then we have to believe that all the unfulfilled future prophecies will come to pass also. The unfulfilled prophecies outnumber the fulfilled prophecies by 8 to 1. That means the greatest and the worst of times are coming. The rapture will be the most glorious miracle ever, with millions of believers being snatched up into heaven by Jesus in the twinkle of an eye, and it could happen at any time.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Philippians 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

After the rapture comes a time that will last seven years, and it will be hell on the earth, and that time is called the great tribulation. That will be the worst time in human history with wars, plagues, torments, a global tyranny, the martyrdom of believers, and most of the earth's population getting killed. The great tribulation is ended by Christ at His second coming when he destroys the armies surrounding Jerusalem and judges the nations smashing them in the winepress of God's wrath.

Matthew 24:21-22 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved;

Matthew 24:29-30 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Revelation 9:15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. (Possibly 2.4 billion people)

Revelation 6:8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth (possibly 2 billion people) to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Zechariah 14:12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

The great tribulation will be the closest thing to hell this side of eternity, and all who miss the rapture will go through it. But thank God that believers in Jesus are not appointed to go through it, but we should pray to be found worthy to escape it.

Luke 21:35-36 "For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Peter asks the question since all these things are coming, what kind of people should we be?

In other words, if you believe, it demands a response. Peter's answer was to live godly, holy lives.

2 Peter 3:10-12 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

We should build our faith and live in expectation of the rapture, our blessed hope. We cannot save ourselves, so our faith is in Christ, who began his work in our lives and is faithful to complete it and prepare us for the rapture and his kingdom.

Hebrews 12:2 … looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,

Philippians 1:6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Titus 2:13-14 … looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Jude 1:24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy …

Call to Action

Because we are in the end times, our world is changing quickly to line up with Bible prophecy. Jesus said the signs of his return would be like birth pangs, growing in intensity and frequency and globally. All those signs happen at once, and we can see them happening in real-time with wars, food shortages, pandemics, shutdowns, and natural disasters, all leading to a one-world government ruled by the antichrist. Also, there will be a great falling away from Christ, with churches becoming perverted, politically woke, and government-controlled. Eventually, all true believers will have to come out of the dead institutional denominations and fake churches. Thank God we have a blessed hope that Jesus will rapture the church before wrath and judgment hit the earth!

While we have time and freedom, we should study the scriptures, share the gospel, and learn to live by faith. This book is part of a series of basic teachings that all Christians should know and teach. We call it the "toolbox series" because each study is a tool for you to share your faith with others. For free resources and study materials, visit our website at: Ears2Hear.online.