BRAGADAYJAH 139

Monday, December 21, 2015

Jesus - Son of Mary

        Jesus – Son of Mary.
I truly wonder if there is one person in this whole world who does not know or does not believe in the historicity of Jesus, the one called Christ. For surely without a doubt sometime during the reign of Caesar Augustus the records show that such a person was born.
Needless to say, Jesus is not the only man, not the first man, nor indeed the last man of history. There have been many men of history among the millions that were before and also after Him.  To document just those of note would fill many tomes; but to make the point just a handful will be named here.
Before Jesus, there were many men, beginning with Adam.  Men such as Isaac, the father of Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel, and who was the father of twelve sons representing the twelve tribes of Israel, the people know in history as the Jews.
Then there was Moses, about whom much has been written and said, and is perhaps more than any other, a household name for all times, in all languages, and among all peoples. The records shows he lived for some 120 years, between 1391-1271.
King David is another well-known name. We know he reigned over Israel 40 years, actually thirty three years over Jerusalem and seven years in Hebron, during the period just over a thousand years before the birth of Jesus.
David’s son Solomon who succeeded him, reigned from around B.C. 970-931
In between those men of renown were two women equally well known and spoken of.-
The Queen of Sheba, known to history as an Ethiopian Queen by the name of Makeda, around the period of King Solomon’s reign in the 10th century B.C. 
And although much later in history we see the name Cleopatra, the Queen of the Nile, the Pearl of Egypt during the period B.C.69-30. Apart from her apparently exquisite beauty and charm, she may be best remembered for her affair with Julius Caesar and being bitten to death by her asp.

Tarquinius was the last King of ancient Rome (534-509 B.C), and in the last days of the Republic, names such as Augustine, Justinian, (the prolific law maker), Gaius, Pompey and Brutus, Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar was born just about 100 years before Christ. He was a great military leader, who extended the Roman Empire abroad, and in so doing made enemies for himself at home. Among his exploits were his invasion of Britain in 44, at which time he uttered the famous words vini, vidi, vici, words which some say the Brits interpreted as weeny, weedy, weaky, and led to their early capitulation. But he also fought and one another battle in his romance with the beautiful Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, and his assassination during the ides of March.
Apart from Kings and Queens and military leaders and rulers, there were the men of literature and learning, philosophers and poets.  Men such as Publius Virgilius Marco, born 70 B.C and known to us as the poet Virgil, and a couple of decades later, Ovid, whose interest was law and politics, but best known for his poetry.  He was born around 43 B.C. and both he and Virgil would have been still living in Rome at the time of the birth of Christ. And speaking of literature, we must not forget or fail to mention the great library built at Nineveh by the great Assyrian leader Cennacherib circa B.C 705 years before that built by Alexander the Great at Alexandria, remnants of which still stands today, while fragments of the Nineveh library may still be found at the British museum and elsewhere.
Cennacherib as well as his grandson Ashurbanipal are well known within the Bible and also in extraneous records for their successful campaigns against Babylon and Judah.
Pythagoras.  When in the mathematics classroom we learn that in a right angle triangle the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides, we are not just talking mathematics; we are remembering a great mathematician whose name was Pythagoras.  He was born over 500 years before the birth of Christ and is another indication that there were great scholars and thinkers on earth before and at the time Jesus was born. Men who could think and write, calculate and articulate; men who could not be easily fooled.
Archimedes was another great thinker.  He was he was born in Syracuse, in Sicily, B.C 287-212, and educated in Egypt.  He was the one responsible for what is known to us today as Archimedes principle a theory which helped the king prove he was being jilted by his goldsmith, by showing how much gold was displaced and stolen.  
Getting even closer to Jesus’ day was a well-known name, an Emperor of Rome whose name is Caesar Augustus.  He was born Gaius Octavius in B.C 30 and ruled Rome as Emperor until his death on August 19, 14 A.D. It is evident then, that Jesus was born during Augustus’ rule.
Caesar Augustus was succeeded by Tiberius in 14 A.D. and ruled until 37 A.D. that is to say throughout the life of Jesus.
When Jesus was born, therefore, it would have been during the reign of Caesar Augustus and when he was arrested and tried, it would have been during the reign of Tiberius.
First things First
Is the Bible not a true record and a liable repository of the history of mankind apart from being God’s Word?  We have seen that Caesar Augustus was the ruler at the time and remained ruler until A.D. 14.  So now here is Luke, not a disciple of Jesus, but one who became fascinated by him after His death and resurrection; a physician by profession, but later became a follower and friend of Paul. Luke writes.
                “And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed, or enrolled,” (Luke 2:1), like Obamacare today?  Be that as it may the decree went forth, and it is a fact of bible as well as secular history.
Next Thing Next
Before continuing on, the next thing we need to know is this. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth, he made reference to a king Herod, to whom the wise men had come and made inquiry concerning the new birth; who after feeling he was tricked gave order to destroy all the new born 2 years and under.
“Behold when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the King, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and we have come to worship him.”  (Mt. 2:1-2)
Of course it was not part of God’s plan to allow Herod to kill his son at that time; so He caused the wise men not to return, which made Herod even more mad; and so he gave an order to kill every child around 2 years and under.
Who was this King Herod, and why he was so frighteningly jealous? Some critics may even ask, How come he is mentioned as King and Augustus Caesar Emperor? This Herod is known to historians as Herod the Great, the wicked King who out of pure wicked jealousy gave order to destroy all the babes within his kingdom. He saw Jesus as not only a rival but a serious threat. After all he Herod was king of the Jews; so when the wise men told him they had come to worship a newborn king that was enough to drive him over the edge.
Herod had ruled over the Jews in Jerusalem for some time. His father was a Jew and his mother Arabic. He had received the favor of Caesar Augustus who had appointed him King of the area and he schemed and connived his way further into Caesar’s favor by his building and other programs. And in particular during a period of unrest he was able to restore peace thus remaining in the Emperor’s good book. The point is, his kingship was limited to that of the Jews.
The next thing is Luke’s reference to Tiberius. He writes, “And in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Phillip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” (Luke 3:1-2)
The import of all this is to show how succinctly the Biblical record fits into the Roman history.  John the Baptist’s preaching ministry, then would have begun around A.D. 29-30, six months to a year before Jesus’ own short ministry.      
Flavius Josephus
One name that cannot be omitted is that of Flavius Josephus. He was born in 37 A.D. just 3-4 years after Jesus’ death on the cross. Josephus is a celebrated Roman/Jewish historian and scholar. He would not have known Jesus personally. But his parents, aunts and uncles, cousins and other grown-ups around would have known a great deal about the life and times of the man Jesus. His words, His miracles, His life, His death, and what was claimed by His disciples regarding His resurrection.  And surely many of Jesus’ disciples were still alive when Josephus himself came to age. He could have spoken to them.  After all that is what historians do, as well as examining official records.
Josephus never became a disciple or friend of Jesus.  Neither did he show by his biographies and other writings, any indication of having accepted Christianity.  Indeed he used language which shows that to him Jesus was little more than a curiosity piece.  But the things he did say proves that Jesus’ existence was never a question of doubt in his mind. For example, he said things like, “There was this fellow called Jesus, who went around trying to convince others that all men were brothers.” He wrote about James, the brother of Jesus, and about John the Baptist, and about Jesus’ execution and resurrection. It is alleged that the Jews in some parts redacted, suppressed and destroyed much of Josephus’ references to Jesus; but sufficient evidence remains to show that to him, Jesus’ existence is in no doubt. Josephus lived into the end of the first century during the time when all of the gospels and epistles were being written.

And what about a name such as Confucius the well-known Philosopher, born Kong Qui in China and commonly called Confucius, in China 551A.D; and Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, born around 570 and died around 632 and proclaimed as a god to his followers; and Haile Selassie the Rastafarian Messiah. The interesting thing about these three proclaimed by their followers as gods, their mortal remains, like that of John Brown’s body, lie decaying in their graves.

Charlemagne or Charles the first also called Charles the Great was born A.D 747 died in January 814. He was king of Austrasia, now Germany, king of the Franks, king of the Lombards, and from 800 to 814 Holy Roman Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.



William the Conqueror
Every English school boy and most other schoolboys, would have read about the man called William the Conqueror, and would know that in the year 1066 he defeated the Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson on 14th October 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and so began the Norman conquest of Britain.

After William, many great men appeared on the scene. Men such as Johannes Gensfleisch Zur Laden zum Gutenberg who lived between AD 1398 -1468. A blacksmith, goldsmith, printer and publisher who introduced printing to Europe and started a printing revolution, and was an important catalyst leading the way to the Renaissance, and the age of science and enlightenment, including the printing of the first bible. 

Martin Luther, the German Lawyer, Friar, priest, professor of Theology and a key figure in the Protestant Reformation movement, and probably best known for his rejection of several teachings of the Catholic Church. Martin Luther was born 10 November 1483 and died 18 February 1546. Luther, apart from being the founder of the Lutheran movement, is also remembered for his ninety Five Theses, condemning the authority, efficacy and use of indulgencies by the Roman Catholic Church. A subsequent and well-documented follower of Luther was John Calvin, famous in his own right.

Whenever I think of martyrs, the first name that comes to my mind, apart from Stephen the first Christian martyr, is that of William Tyndale, (1494 to 5 October 1536). A man who choose rather to be strangled and burnt at the stake than abandon his primary stated ambition to translate the whole Bible into English. Whereas the New Testament had been translated into Latin, there was no English translation extant. Tyndale wanted to ensure, “that even he that drives the plough could read the word of God for himself in English.”  For printing and circulating his Bible in English in England, the Tyndale Bible, he was strangled and burnt at the stake in the year 1536.

Catherine the Great
Her Russian name was Yekaterina Alexeyevna. She was the best known and the longest ruling Monarch of Russia. Born 2 May 1729, she became Empress of all Russia in 1762 and reigned until her death 17 November 1796

Frederick the Great, 1740 to 1786, was another great man of history. It is said he came to the throne hoping nothing, believing nothing and fearing nothing. He was a dictator; but a benevolent one showing concern for the development of the country and caring for the needs of the poorest. No one who was willing or able to work was left out. Dictator or not he was a good and brave Ruler.

Another man other than Hitler who caused a great deal of trouble in the world was Napoleon Bonaparte who plunged the world into conflict, and would have defeated the world and set himself up as king if the hand of God did not stop him, using the same elements He used to frustrate the Egyptian army in pursuit of the children of Israel, namely, fire and cloud. God used the cloud element on both occasions in dealing with Napoleon and later Hitler; cloud over the English Channel by day and night. Napoleon was born 15 August 1769 and died in banishment on the island of St. Helena 5 May 1821.

Queen Victoria
The final great personage I would like to mention is the Great Queen Victoria. Born 24 May, 1819 in Kensington Palace, London, she lived until 22 January 1901 at Osborne House, East Cowes.  Victoria was Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1837 to her death.  She also took the title Empress of India from 1 May 1876. Until the Present Queen Elizabeth II who may overtake her shortly, Queen Victoria was and still is Britain’s longest serving Monarch. She was exclaimed by one and all as a great Queen, a Queen never-the-less who proclaimed that her greatest honor was to see with her eyes the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory when according to her, she would, “Cast all of her crowns at His feet.”  
It was intended indeed to end with Queen Victoria, but it might be instructive to mention her great grand- daughter the reigning Queen Elizabeth II.  One reason is I was speaking to an atheist some time ago, who when cornered on the fact of people of history, said there was no proof that any of the names mentioned ever existed.  “How about the President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush?”
Her reply was forthright if astonishing. “You have no proof of him either.”  Am afraid at that stage I rested my case. It is true, “If you convert an unbeliever against his will he remains an unbeliever still.”
So anyhow, Queen Elizabeth everyone in the world would have seen at some time or the other. She was named Elizabeth Alexandra Mary at birth, 21 April 1926. She acceded to the British throne in 1952 and is still the reigning Queen. Elizabeth is the Great, Great Granddaughter of Queen Victoria and is included to make a point later. Elizabeth is Queen of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; but also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts, Nevis Anguilla and remaining Colonies and Protectorates such as Montserrat, Tortola and Gibraltar. Someone could just as easily make the point that she does not exist either.
So there we have all these men of history. Kings and Queens, soldiers, philosophers, statesmen, writers and poets. The question is are there any among us who do not believe that these men and women existed? Is there any who would say, none existed, or all existed except one, the man Jesus called Christ. And if any would say that, what possible sane reason could he or she give for such exclusion?
The man Jesus has not existed, does not exist in a vacuum.  Like all other men, He was born of father and mother, at a certain time in a certain place.  The men of his day who lived in his part of the world knew Him; the children he grew up with knew him as children growing up; others came from afar to see Him.  When he spoke men heard His words; some were uplifted by them; some were offended.  Some men loved him, some men hated him; some men cherished him others despised him.  When he healed the sick, He did it openly, when he caused the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the blind to see, He did all of those things openly; and when he brought back to life he that was stinking in the grave, even His worst detractors were there. None could deny his presence.
As a matter of fact, it is recorded that when some about Him saw the miracles and heard the power of his words they asked, “Whence has this man this wisdom and these mighty works?  Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And His brethren James and Joses, and Simon and Judas?  And His sisters are they not right here with us? The question is, they asked, where does he get his wisdom from?”
Before Jesus was born many men and women of note lived; and after he departed this world there were many men and woman after Him. It was as if Jesus was just planted there in the middle of them all, as it were, joining the old with the new. And consider this outstanding fact. Before Jesus was born, there were many Calendars, the last of which was the Julian Calendar which began in 45 B C. The significant thing is, all those Calendars reckoned time backwards.  Imagine the Julian Calendar like all others started 44, 43, 42, and so on, counting down to what or better still to whom?  However after Jesus birth, although the same Calendar remained in use, time was counted in another direction upwards, as in one two three, and although the Gregorian calendar took over from the Julian time continued to be counted up until now we are at 2015. Is that not a curious fact at least? Could it be that mankind from the very dawn of recorded history was unwittingly counting down time in anticipation of some great event, like the count down at a shuttle launch? Like counting down to the birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Jesus the Saviour’s birth?  Even the most skeptical would be forced to admit it’s an interesting question.
In any event Jesus is there indelibly embedded in human history.  For one reason or other, a lot of people would wish it not so.  Just as when he rose from the dead, Satan was furious at the thought; and so were the Jews! They conspired with the soldiers who saw the stone rolled away to lie and pretend it did not happen. They bribed them, they paid them money to cover up the plot and then published abroad a Passover plot involving the disciples.
This brings us to the question why the high priests and the Jewish rulers wanted to dispose of Jesus.  As we have seen, King Herod held the Roman appointed office of King of the Jews.  It was not only a prestigious office, it was profitable to him.  The high priest Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas were his appointees and Sanhedrin consisted mostly of the hand-picked men of the high priests.  So to be sure there was a great deal of nepotism, cronyism and simony. So when the shepherds told Herod that there was born a King of the Jews, he was understandably furious. He felt threatened; and when they told him they wanted to worship this new born king, one could understand his anger.
The problem for many people with Jesus is, he was not just a man; he was also God, He is God. Jesus said he was the son of God, who had come down from heaven. So when Philip asked Him to reveal the Father Jesus said, if you have seen me you have seen the father.  In addition, he was called God.  So when doubting Thomas hailed Him as “My Lord and my God,” Jesus responded and said, “Because you have seen me you believe; but blessed are they who have not seen and yet believe.” In addition, Jesus seemed to be God, and His very detractors bore this out, for when he told the paralyzed man, “Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee,” the Jews cried, “Blasphemy, for only God can forgive sin!” So that they saw in Jesus God-like qualities, but would not bring themselves to acknowledge Him as God.
And this is part of the problem even today.  Many people have a problem with admitting the truth about Jesus because if they do, it cut from beneath their feet the very ground on which they stand, in so far as they make bold to say there is no God. For Jesus proves that God exists.  Just as some people reject the Bible because if they accept it they would also have to accept that there is God.
Even now, as we approach another end of year, we come to a time when we celebrate the birth of the Christ.  But many begrudge Him even that, refusing to use the word Christmas unless they have merchandise they are trying to sell in which case Christmas is alright.  
In conclusion, therefore, we say this.
1      That Jesus is as much a man of history as all the other men and women, those mentioned here and the millions not mentioned. Jesus lived on earth over two thousand years ago.  Obviously, none of us living today can physically point him out and say, “There goes Jesus,” no more than we can point out our great, great grandparent, as few of us ever get to know in the flesh any of our numerous ancestors, beyond, say, a great grand. There was a man in history that I loved and admired very much. He lived and died during my lifetime; but I never met him.  But even now, I hear his voice in his music. I know he existed.  Similarly, those who love Jesus, hear His voice in the words which He spoke in Holy Writ.
2      As has been said earlier those who deny God has to deny both Jesus and the Bible, because they speak of God. And in the words of a well-known song, “you can’t have one without the other.” As Jesus told Philip, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father also;” and He adds, “I and my Father are one. I am in the Father and the Father in me.” Of course there are those who opine that Jesus is not coeternal and consubstantial with God, and is therefore not God. They insist that Jesus and is God’s son, as indeed he says, “I am the son of God the Father.” While not accepting that narrow theological construct, it also bolsters the point for the existence of God; for if Jesus is God’s son, then that proves that Jesus’ Father is God.
3      Who then can deny the existence of God?  It is averred that those who do so fall exclusively into three main categories, namely: (a) those who are mentally unstable, (b) those whom God has given over to a reprobate mind. (c) those who have no knowledge of, or who are ignorant of the history of mankind.
(a)   The mentally unstable.  God’s word says, that the fool says in his heart there is no God. Properly understood, this refers to a person who lacks mental capacity, for example, the criminally insane. That is what God says and, therefore, it must be so.
(b)   The Reprobate.   The Bible also refers to those whom God has given over to a reprobate mind. Here again it is submitted that the person with the reprobate mind is a person who is in a state where he is unable to differentiate between right and wrong, much like the person who is mentally unstable. Here God has given such a person over; that person God has decided, has no moral worth and cannot be saved.
(c)   Apart from the above two categories of atheists it is postulated that a person may be so ignorant of history or so lacking in general knowledge, or common sense that he might never have had the mental capacity to see Jesus as a man of history, and not just some mysterious or mythological personage found in the area of folklore or fairy tale. In terms of today’s world, such a person would have to have lived a very sheltered and darkened life.       


Finally Jesus Himself gives us an explanation of the unbeliever which may apply to all of the three categories outlined above, and it is this. “That Light (Jesus) is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.”

In addition, I would say this if you have been seriously seeking and failing to find God, it may be that you have not yet come to the place where you know, that God is. That is the first hurdle and every man has a natural, inborn capacity to know God. For it has been well said, “Knowledge of God is by rational intuition.”  In other words once you possess mental capacity you have the ability to know God. And once you know God you would automatically be led to learn more about him.  “For he that comes to God must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

As we enter into the Christmas season in the year of our Lord 2015, may the Light of Christ shines in every heart and lightens every shadow of darkness. A very blessed and Happy Christmas to all.

                                                            Rev. Dr. John S. Weekes
                                    Pastor Founder www.Gatewaytoheavencurch.org
                                                                       
                                               www.chaberbooks.com 

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