If There Is A Loving God, Why Do Bad Things Happen?

This is a question that I and other Pastors often are approached with.  After a tragedy people struggle to understand how and all powerful, all knowing and loving God allow such a tragedy to occur.  Why didn't He stop it?

I am going to share some brief thoughts.  This is not a treatise, only a blog, so this will not be an exhaustive discussion of this topic. For a more exhaustive discussion I recommend Randy Alcorn's 2009 book "If God is Good".

God pulls no punches with us He makes clear throughout the bible that life on this earth is limited and that we will face trouble in this lifetime.

One of the most direct references to this is found in John 16:33 where Jesus tells us "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world".

Basically, what this means is that our life on earth is short, it will not be easy and we will face trouble. The good news is that when we are reunited with God in paradise we will know peace.

One of the best "human" explanations I have heard concerning this comes from former Baltimore Raven's Super Bowl winning Quarterback Trent Dilford.  Trent is a committed Christian who lost his five year old son, Trevor to heart disease .  In an interview for the book "Men of Sunday", Trent discussed  his son's death and offered these words " if the motivation for your faith is what's going on in the...years we have here on this earth, then you are missing the truth of God's promises. What God promises is eternity. This is not our home. When we make our decision to trust in Him and to follow Him, our home is with Him for eternity."
 
Why do we have to face trouble in this life?  The answer to that question is found in the Book of Genesis Chapter 3.  When God created Adam & Eve he gave them a perfect place to live, no problems, no troubles, but He also gave them free will.  They could eat the fruit of any tree but one.  Adam & Eve exercised their free will and choose to disobey God and eat of the forbidden tree.  God's punishment was that they and mankind to follow would no longer have a perfect place to live. We would be faced with heart ache and trouble.  That sounds cruel, but is it really?  Our life on this earth is limited.

We have the promise of redemption when our life on this earth is over. God sent His Son, Jesus to redeem us and to open the gates of heaven to us. We do not have to do anything. We do not have to earn God's forgiveness and redemption.  All we need to do is be ready to accept His most gracious gift.   Life in heaven is a perfect one, a life in which there is no pain, no suffer and no words that mean good bye.

The bad things we face on this earth are only temporary and the reward in heaven is great.

A Seeker's Message: Examining The Evidence Supporting Christianity

This is a message that was delivered by Pastor Bob Tousey at Journey Church of Columbia on Sunday August 4, 2013.  https://www.facebook.com/journeycolumbia

This morning we are going to put on our detective’s hat and pull out the magnifying glass as we begin to examine the evidence surrounding Christianity. 

We often hear there are two things never to be discussed religion and politics.  Interesting topics not to discuss because political decisions often affect our everyday lives and our decision concerning faith not only affects our everyday lives here on earth but also our eternal life.  Why are these topics to be avoided?  Simple, they are controversial. Controversy require us to think and generates difficult discussion.  Controversy is also uncomfortable and because of that something many of us choose to avoid.  But when our eternal life is at stake should anything be too uncomfortable or too hard to discuss?

I am going to challenge everyone here to leave their comfort zones and invest some time and effort over the next eight weeks to really understand the evidence supporting Christianity.  Today, I will begin with a message that discusses common doubts and scratches the surface on some of the evidence.  Then I will be at Wegmans in Columbia 7:00 every Tuesday night (this message was delivered in 2013 and discussion group is over)  ready to discuss the evidence supporting Christianity and we will begin with J. Warner Wallace’s book “Cold Case Christianity”.  

J. Warner Wallace is a cold case Detective with the Los Angeles police department and was a self described angry atheist who came to faith after applying his investigative skills to determine if Christianity was the truth or a farce.  There are many others who have done this most notably Lee Strobel, a former Legal Affairs Editor for the Chicago Tribune and the author of  the New York Times Best Seller “The Case for Christ”.

Throughout time people have had a hard time wrapping their heads around God and how He is all powerful.  As we study the bible we learn many people of deep faith and love of God have at times questioned His power.  Let’s begin by examining four  biblical stories where God's people doubted Him and His power.  

The first story is found in Genesis.  It is the story of Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham was married to Sarah, who while very beautiful was unable to have children.  When Abraham and Sarah were both of advanced age, God told Abraham that Sarah would bear him a son.  Because of their age and Sarah’s inability to conceive Abraham was incredulous.  

Imagine being incredulous to a promise God is making to you. 

Well it does not end there.  Three angels in disguise eventually appeared to Abraham and repeated God’s promise.  Sarah overheard them and laughed scornfully to herself.  Now we have a woman chosen by God to be the mother of a very special child laughing at God’s promise.  

It gets worse.  Sarah had such little faith that she encouraged Abraham to have relations with her slave Hagar so that he would have the son God promised him. 

Can you believe Sarah actually thought that God needed human help to keep a promise?   Before I go on to the next story of disbelief let me share with you God’s sense of humor.  When He did deliver on His promise and Abraham had a son by Sarah the boy’s name was to be Isaac, which means “he laughed” in Hebrew.

After this miracle you would think God’s people would have learned that God can make the impossible happen.  But no there is a second story, a mere 1,600 – 1,800 years later Zechariah and Elizabeth also scoffed at God’s promise to give them a son.

Zechariah was a Priest and his wife Elizabeth a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  They too were of advanced years when the archangel Gabriel appeared to him and announced that Elizabeth would have a son and his name would be John.  Zechariah doubted Gabriel and was struck silent until his son, John the Baptist was born.

In the Gospel of Matthew 14: 25-31 we learn the third story of doubt I am going to share with you.  This one involves Peter.  Remember, Peter the rock upon which Jesus will build His church.  The rock had his doubts too.

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.  But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”  “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

It is important to understand that even those closest to God, the people that God chose to take His message to the world have doubts.  So when you doubt it is not a bad thing it is a normal thing.  

These stories are just three of many about doubters that we will find in the bible.  We will examine one more and this is the one you have probably been waiting for.  It is the story of Doubting Thomas the Apostle.  I featured Thomas in my preview of coming attraction because of one very important fact, he doubted the resurrection.

For five weeks Pastor Mark has talked about the significance of the cross.  Last week I talked about the 3 promises that Jesus made at the Last Super and gave you a sneak peek into Heaven.  This week we will discuss the evidence that the resurrection of Jesus did in fact happen.  The resurrection is without a doubt the most important event in Christianity.  

There is much to doubt about the resurrection.  A man coming back to life after being dead and buried is to say the least very difficult to believe.  But we as Christians must believe.  This is a black and white issue.  There is no middle ground.  If the resurrection is true than what Christ said is true and He was the Son of God and did die for our sins on the cross.  If the resurrection did not occur we have been hood winked and sold a bill of goods and Christianity is a farce.  

Quite frequently you will hear people say they do not believe that Jesus really rose from the dead or that He was the Son of God but try to soften the blow by saying He was a good man and great moral teacher.

C.S. Lewis, a one-time atheist turned Christian defender, discussed this idea in his book “Mere Christianity”. Lewis observed “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”

I agree.  This is black and white.  This is why this study is such an important one for everyone on a Journey of Faith.  

We should not be robots and say we are Christians because it is our family tradition and therefore we will follow tradition and do what Christians are suppose to do.  We need to be educated in what we believe in and understand why we are Christians.

 Thomas wanted to understand everything and wanted proof before he was going to believe.  He was not one to just go along with the crowd.

We really do not know a lot about Thomas.  He was mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke when they listed the Apostles and was mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as being present when they selected Mathis to succeed Judas Iscariot .  The only real information we have about Thomas is in the Gospel of John, where he is referred to as the twin.  What we learn about Thomas from the Gospel of John is that he was loyal, practical, down to earth and a seeing is believing type of guy.

In John there are four accounts in which Thomas plays a major role.  Let’s take a look at them.

The first is in John 11:16 when Jesus was going to Bethany where His friend Lazarus had died.  Bethany was not a friendly area and the disciples were trying to convince Jesus not to go.  Thomas was convinced Jesus would be killed but demonstrated his loyalty to his friend by saying to the others “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

Last Sunday we studied John 14 and you might remember Thomas from that lesson.  In the fifth verse of John 14,  Thomas responded to Jesus’ remark that “You know the way to the place where I am going.” by saying “Lord, we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way.”  In this exchange we see that Thomas was not afraid to let Jesus know when he did not understand what Jesus meant.  The questioning of Jesus in this exchange also served a far greater purpose that Thomas was probably not aware of at the time, but by challenging Jesus he gave Jesus the opportunity to provide a response that is very important to Christians even today.  Jesus responded with the words “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”  This is one of the points in the Gospels where Jesus actually says he is divine.  He does so with the words “From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”

The next time we hear about Thomas is after the resurrection.  For some unknown reason Thomas was not in the room the first time Jesus appeared to the Apostles.  Thomas’ conversation with the other Apostles after hearing of Jesus resurrection is recorded in John 20:25.  Thomas said “Unless I see His hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails and place my hand in His side, I will not believe.”  If there is anything that we know about Jesus it is that He is always willing to help someone out. About a week later He gives Thomas the opportunity he asked for and this is recorded in John 20:27 “Put your fingers here, and see My hands and place it in my side; do not be faithless but believing.”

Most of us will not have the opportunity Thomas had.  It is unlikely that Jesus will appear to us and invite us put our finger where the nails once were in his hand or to put our hand in his side which was opened by a centurion’s spear.  But there is a lot of evidence that is available to us to prove that the accounts of Jesus’ life and more importantly His resurrection are true.  Now is the time to get up and stretch, get yourself a cup of coffee if you need caffeine to wake you up because this is the part of the message you need to hear.  You now become the jury and it will be your job to reach a verdict on the issue of whether the resurrection truly took place or have we been mislead.  The message today is but an opening statement.  The detailed evidence will be unpacked for you over the next eight weeks when you attend the Tuesday discussion group.  There is a resource sheet in the back that I encourage everyone to take before they leave today(for those reading this on my blog the resource sheet is posted on this blog).  A comprehensive study of this topic would take a lifetime.  Today is not even a tip of the iceberg.  The intention is just to peak your interest.  I hope I will accomplish that.

One cry you often hear from critics is that the New Testament was written hundreds of years after the life of Christ by people who were not alive when the events occurred.

This is simply not true.  First, because the Gospels are the historical records so let’s take look at who authored them and what their relationship was with Jesus.

Matthew: Also known as Levi the Tax Collector was an original Apostle who was with Christ as he carried out His ministry.

Mark: Also, known as John Mark was a companion of Peter, one of the original Apostles, who also was one of Jesus’ closes companions.  Jesus told Peter that he will be the rock upon which Jesus would build His church.

Luke: was a Physician and Missionary and a companion of Paul.

John: was also an original Apostle and one of Jesus’ closest companions.

As you can see each of these writers had reliable knowledge of Jesus and His ministry.

The first New Testament book written is believed to be an Epistles the Book of James may have been written as early as 45 AD. The Gospels came later but were still written within decades of Jesus’ ministry and not hundreds of years as critics argue.

Mark’s Gospel was most likely the first Gospel written.  The New International Version reports this Gospel to have been written between the mid 50’s AD and the late 60’s.  This is within 20 to 30 years of Jesus’ ministry.

Matthew’s Gospel was likely written between AD 50 – 70, within 20 to 40 years of Jesus’ ministry.

Luke between early 60’s and 80 AD, 30 to 50 years after Jesus’ ministry and the latest one was John which was most likely written AD 85 a little over 50 years after Jesus’ death.

What was the author’s purpose in writing the Gospel.  It appears that Matthew, Mark and Luke were writing primarily for historical purposes.  In fact Luke actually states that in the introduction to his Gospel.  He writes:

“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.  With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

It should be noted that numerous archeological discoveries have shown Luke to be an accurate historian.  In fact, one archaeologist examined Luke’s references to 32 countries, 54 cities and 9 islands and did not find a single mistake. Archaeologists have also made discoveries supporting the other Gospel accounts.

John’s Gospel on the other hand was written to convince the reader to believe in Jesus Christ.  John himself states that in John 20:23 “But these are written that you may believe  that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”

Now because these authors were so close to Jesus and committed to Christianity wouldn’t they have been motivated to lie?  Well, let’s look at the times in which they lived.  Jesus was not all that popular with authorities and had been put to death in a most painful and gruesome way.  The same fate awaited His followers.  In fact, 10 of the remaining 11 original Apostles faced martyrdom.  Here are some examples of how they died Peter was crucified upside down, Matthew was slain by a sword, Barnabas stoned and our friend Thomas had a lance run through his body. These fates certainly demonstrate that these men had every reason to renounce Christ and Christianity rather than preach it.  All they had to gain by preaching Christ’s word is persecution and a gruesome death.

The next argument you will hear critics make is that there are no originals manuscript of the New Testament.

Well this is true and this is not unusual for ancient documents. What they over look is the fact that we have an unprecedented number of copies the earliest of which dates back to AD 100-150, in other words years or at most decades after the original work was published.   How many copies have been found and how does that compare to other ancient documents?

Ok folks ready for this?  Hold on to your seats because this is going to blow you away.  There are between 21 and 24,000 ancient copies of the New Testament. These include 5,664 Greek manuscripts, 8 to 10,000 Latin Vulgate manuscripts and approximately 8,000 Ethiopic, Slavic and Armenian manuscripts.  Compare this to other ancient works.  The Annals of Imperial Rome 1 manuscript that appeared to be produced over 800 years after the original work.  Josephus work “The Jewish War” 11 manuscripts produced approximately 2 to 400 years after the original works and finally Homer’s Iilad 650 manuscripts produced approximately 1,100 years after the original.

A third argument made by critics is that there are over 200,000 variations or errors in the copies of the New Testament.  Well first, let’s consider two points as we evaluate this argument.  Printing presses did not exist 2,000 years ago so scribes handwrote every copy and the way variations or errors were counted was such that if one word was misspelled in 2,000 manuscripts that would count as 2,000 variations.  What is of the most significance is that none of these variations are serious enough to place any Christian doctrine in jeopardy.

 Some critics will argue that Jesus is never mentioned in the Old Testament.  We folks we don’t need to go any further than Genesis to see our first references.  In Genesis, God uses plurals when He talks about man being made in God’s image.  He uses the words us and we.  I truly believe this is His first reference to the trinity in the scripture.  There are also approximately 61 Old Testament prophesies which Christ fulfilled in His life time.  Because time is limited I have prepared a list of them for you otherwise we could be here until tomorrow morning.  Discussing how Jesus fulfilled these prophesies. ( those reading this on my blog the list is also posted on this blog)

But I will briefly mention that the 29 prophesies were fulfilled in the day leading up to His death.

We said that the Resurrection was all important.  Let’s spend a few moments discussing why the Resurrection, probably the most unbelievable part of Jesus’ story is believable.  Let’s evaluate the Apostles motivations and behavior after the resurrection as well as non apostolic eyewitnesses. 

Did they gain financially?  This is a clear NO.  The left their careers to follow Christ and now that He was executed they could have renounced Him and went back to a more or less normal life but they did not.  They continued being homeless itinerant messengers who had to rely on the generosity of others to survive or work another profession while carrying the word.  These men gave up their lives, their material possessions and families to carry the message.

It is equally unreasonable to suggest that the Apostles were motivated by lust or relationships.  As we just discussed these men were separated from their families for long periods of time and there is no evidence of any of them had relations outside of marriage.

They were not driven by pursuit of power.  At this time church leadership had way more liabilities than perks.  Those who openly admitted their allegiance to Jesus were the first to die.  As discussed earlier persecution was the uniform experience of the Apostles.  These men had just seen their friend killed in a most painful and undignified way.

Let’s also take a look at some of the other evidence that points toward the truth of the resurrection.  First, let’s examine the changed attitude of the Apostles.  After the crucifixion, Jesus' apostles hid behind locked doors, terrified they would be executed next. But something changed them from cowards to bold preachers. Anyone who understands human character knows people do not change that much without some major influence. That influence was seeing their Master, bodily risen from the dead. Christ appeared to them in the locked room, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and on the Mount of Olives. After seeing Jesus alive, Peter and the others left the locked room and preached the risen Christ, unafraid of what would happen to them. They quit hiding because they knew the truth. They finally understood that Jesus is God incarnate, who saves people from sin.

Changed lives are yet another proof of the resurrection. James, the brother of Jesus, was openly skeptical that Jesus was the Messiah. Later James became a courageous leader of the Jerusalem church, even being stoned to death for his faith. Why? The Bible says the risen Christ appeared to him. What a shock to see your own brother, alive again, after you knew he was dead. James and the apostles were effective missionaries because people could tell these men had touched and seen the risen Christ. With such zealous eyewitnesses, the early church exploded in growth, spreading west from Jerusalem to Rome and beyond. For 2,000 years, encounters with the resurrected Jesus have changed lives.

A large crowd of more than 500 eyewitnesses saw the risen Jesus Christ at the same time. The Apostle Paul records this event in 1 Corinthians 15:6. He states that most of these men and women were still alive when he wrote this letter, about 55 A.D. Undoubtedly they told others about this miracle. Today, psychologists say it would be impossible for a large crowd of people to have had the same hallucination at once. Smaller groups also saw the risen Christ, such as the apostles, and Cleopas and his companion. They all saw the same thing, and in the case of the apostles, they touched Jesus and watched him eat food. The hallucination theory is further debunked because after the ascension of Jesus into heaven, sightings of him stopped.

Today we were only able to scratch the surface.  I ask that you not stop with today’s message.  Join our Seeker’s Discussion which will be held every Tuesday night for the next eight weeks at 7 p.m.  If you can’t make our discussion group, Grace Community Church has been kind enough to invite us to participate in their small group program.  I have some material in the back.  If you wish to do that please fill out the card and return it to me next Sunday and we will get you registered.  Also, Family Christian Stores provided us with some coupons that will be good at the end of the month for some great discounts on books and other materials.  I challenge you to examine the evidence and then reach a verdict.  I believe you will reach the same one I did, a verdict in favor of Christianity.

Our church offers communion every Sunday.  What we do is Pastor Mark comes up and plays some music and during that time you can reflect and go to the back and receive communion when you are ready.  Some may feel that you are not worthy but that is not the case.  There is a prayer I was taught to say to get ready for communion and let me share it with you.

God, I am not worthy to receive but only say the word and I shall be healed.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior I encourage you to receive.   

Pastor Mark will close us in prayer after communion.  God bless each and every one of you.

The Old Testment Prophecies fullfilled by Jesus

JOURNEY CHURCH OF COLUMBIA

MEETS EVERY SUNDAY 10 A.M. HISTORIC OAKLAND MANOR, 2^ND FLOOR

SEEKER’S DISCUSSION GROUP EVERY TUESDAY 7 PM WEGMANS COLUMBIA, SECOND FLOOR

THE ACTUAL PROPHECIES

A. Concerning His Birth

1. Born of the seed of woman (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4:4; Matthew 1:20)
2. Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18, 24, 25)
3. Son of God (Psalm 2:7; Matthew 3:17)
4. Seed of Abraham (Genesis 22:18; Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16) Here it is determined that the Messiah would be a Jewish descendant.
5. Son of Isaac (Genesis 21:12; Luke 3:23,34) Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Now God eliminates one half of the lineage of Isaac.
6. Son of Jacob (Numbers 24:17; Luke 3:23,34) Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Now God eliminates one half of the lineage of Isaac.
7. Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23,33) Jacob had twelve sons and each became a tribe of the Hebrew nation. Now God eliminates eleven-twelfths of the lineage of Jacob.
8. Family line of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1; Luke 3:23,32) Now God narrows it down even further by picking one family line out of the tribe of Judah.
9. House of David (Jeremiah 23:5; Luke 3:23,31) Jesse had at least eight sons (I Samuel 16:10,11). Now God eliminates all of Jesse's sons except one, David.
10. Born at Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1) Now God eliminates all the cities in the world except one, Bethlehem.
11. Presented with gifts (Psalm 72:10; Isaiah 60:6; Matthew 2:1,11)
12. Herod kills children (Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:16)

B. Concerning His Nature

13. His Pre-Existence (Micah 5:2; Colossians 1:17; John 1:1)
14. He shall be called Lord (Psalm 110:1; Luke 20:41-44)
15. He shall be called Immanuel ("God with us") (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)
16. Shall be a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:18; Matthew 21:11)
17. Shall be a priest (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:5,6)
18. Shall be a judge (Isaiah 33:22; John 5:30)
19. Shall be a king (Isaiah 33:22; Matthew 27:37)
20. Special anointment of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Matthew 3:16,17)
21. He zeal for God (Psalm 69:9; John 2:15-17)

C. Concerning His Ministry

22. Preceded by a messenger (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:1,2)
23. Ministry to begin in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1,2; Matthew 4:12,13,17)
24. Ministry of miracles (Isaiah 35:5, 6a; Matthew 9:35)
25. Teacher of parables (Psalm 78:2; Matthew 13:34)
26. He was to enter the temple (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 21:12)
27. He was to enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; Luke 19:35,36,37a)
28. A "Stone Of Stumbling" to the Jewish nation (Psalm 118:22; I Peter 2:7)
29. "Light" to the Gentiles (Isaiah 60:3; 49:6; Acts 13:47,48a)

D. Concerning Events After His Burial

30. His resurrection (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:31)
31. His ascension (Psalm 68:18a; Acts 1:9)
32. Seated at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:3)

E. Prophecies Fulfilled In One Day

The following 29 prophecies from the Old Testament, which speak of the betrayal, trial, death and burial of Jesus, were spoken at various times by many different voices during the five centuries from 1000-500 BC, and yet all of them were literally fulfilled in one twenty-four hour period of time in Jesus' life.

33. Betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9; Matthew 10:4)
34. Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:15)
35. Money to be thrown down in God's house (Zechariah 11:13b; Matthew 27:5a)
36. Price given for potter's filed (Zechariah 11:13b; Matthew 27:7)

In the previous four prophecies we find in both prophecy and fulfillment the following:

1. Betrayed
2. By a friend
3. For 30 pieces of silver (not 29)
4. Silver (not gold)
5. Thrown down (not placed)
6. In God's house
7. Money used to buy potter's field

37. Forsaken by His disciples (Zechariah 13:7; Mark 14:50)
38. Accused by false witnesses (Psalm 35:11; Matthew 26:59-61)
39. Mute before accusers (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12-19)
40. Wounded and bruised (Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 27:26)
41. Smitten and spit upon (Isaiah 50:6; Micah 5:1; Matthew 26:67)
42. Mocked (Psalm 22:7,8; Matthew 27:31)
43. Fell under the cross (Psalm 109:24; John 19:17; Luke 23:26)
44. Hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:16; Luke 23:33)
45. Crucified with thieves (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38)
46. Made intercession for His persecutors (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34)
47. Rejected by his own people (Isaiah 53:3; John 7:5,48)
48. Hated without a cause (Psalm 69:4; John 15:25)
49. Friends stood afar off (Psalm 38:11; Luke 23:49)
50. People shook their heads (Psalm 109:25; Matthew 27:39)
51. Stared upon (Psalm 22:17; Luke 23:35)
52. Garments parted and lots cast (Psalm 22:18; John 19:23,24)
53. Suffered thirst (Pslam 69:21; John 19:28)
54. Gall and vinegar offered Him (Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34)
55. His forsaken cry (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46)
56. Committed Himself to God (Psalm 31:5; Luke 23:46)
57. His bones not broken (Psalm 34:20; John 19:33)
58. His heart broken (Psalm 22:14; John 19:34) The blood and water which came from Jesus' pierced side are evidences that the heart had literally burst.
59. His side pierced (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34)
60. Darkness over the land (Amos 8:9; Matthew 27:45)
61. Buried in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60)