Pastor Mark Hitchcock (http://faithbibleok.com) reminded us yesterday of a preacher from England, a Gypsy, who became a Christian evangelist after hearing Dwight Moody preach in the mid to late 1800’s. The last time he visited America, then in his eighties, Gypsy Smith met a man around the same age, who said, “Gypsy, I was blessed by your preaching when you first came to America over fifty years ago.” And he asked the secret of the evangelist’s staying power. “Sir,” Gypsy responded, “I have never lost the wonder of it all.” The hymn “Wonder of it All” as sung by George Beverly Shea begins like this:
There’s the wonder of sunset at evening,
The wonder as sunrise I see;
But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul
Is the wonder that God loves me.

What a powerful message in just one short sentence! “I have never lost the wonder of it all.” I would love to claim that statement as my own, but in good conscience, I cannot.

“Concerning this Salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the Grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the SPIRIT of CHRIST in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the Glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the HOLY SPIRIT sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” – 1 Peter 1:10‭-‬12 NIV

Gypsy Smith understood so well what so many of us struggle with when it comes to our salvation. In 1 Peter 1:10-12, the Apostle shows us three things. The Source of our Salvation (the Triune GOD, FATHER, SON, HOLY SPIRIT), the Security of our Salvation (JESUS, SON, Who died on the cross to cover our sins, once and forever), and the Strength of our Salvation (the Ever-present HOLY SPIRIT Who guides and protects us). The Old Testament Prophets predicted it, and the New Testament Apostles proclaimed it: the coming of JESUS CHRIST, our Rock, our Salvation, our Sacrifical Lamb to cover the ugliness of our sins.

Fact: there are at least 130, and by many estimates 300, prophecies in the OT pertaining to the Messiah; the GOD-MAN Whom we now know to be JESUS. We know because of the Apostles who witnessed first-hand the fulfillment of many of those prophecies.

Astronomer and mathematician Peter Stoner, in his bookScience Speaks, offers a mathematical analysis showing that it is impossible that the precise statements about the One to come could be fulfilled in a single person by mere coincidence.

The chance of only eight of these dozens of prophecies being fulfilled in the life of one man has been estimated at 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That would be 1 chance in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

How can we put this in terms we can comprehend? Dr. Stoner illustrates the odds with this scenario: “Take 10 ¹⁷silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas [with its approximate land area of 262,000 square miles]. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one.

“What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man.”

But that is only eight of the dozens of prophecies of the Messiah. Using the science of probability, the chance of as many as 48 of these prophecies coming to pass in one person is 1 in 10 to the 157th power—a 1 followed by 157 zeros (1963, pp. 100-109).

Fact: The Bible was written by 40 men from different countries and in different languages, over several thousands of years. They wrote these prophecies as they were instructed by the LORD, without knowing how, when, or by whom the prophecies would be fulfulled.

Genesis 3:15 offers the 1st prophecy:

GOD said the the Serpent, Satan, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His Heel.”

Satan struck at JESUS during His life on earth, trying to destroy Him through temptations, His suffering, and His subsequent death on the cross. JESUS was triumphant over death and hell and the enemy of all creation, Satan, by rising up from the grave after three days!

Fact: There is one CHRIST, one Redeemer, one cross as evidenced by the scriptures. He was predicted to come in the Old Testament, He came to suffer for humankind as told in the New Testament, and He will come again in Glory to Reign, as foretold in the Revelations of John.

Final Fact. There is only one way to salvation, and that way is through JESUS CHRIST. Are you on the right way?

(This blog is strictly my take-away, based on Pastor Mark’s message. If you would like the entire message as shared, go to the FBC website.)