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As we consider instances of fulfilled prophecy, there is no more crucial example than the prophecies of the life of Jesus Christ. A central theme of the entire Biblical panorama is the actual presentation of the Coming One, the central person of all history whom the Hebrews call the Messiah: "The volume of the book is written of me" (Psalm 40:7, also quoted in Hebrews 10:7); "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39). 

Jesus' story is a love story written in blood on a wooden cross that was erected in Judea about two thousand years ago. His crucifixion wasn't a tragedy; it was an achievement!  Announced in advance in the Garden of Eden at the dawn of history, He made His human debut in a manger in Bethlehem, paid a cosmic price on our behalf at the Cross, and now appears ready to finalize His climax of all human history on our near horizon.

In the Biblical record, every detail, every place name, every number, has been skillfully tailored by deliberate design. And they all point to Him. He is on every page, intricately hidden in every detail of the text. Deciphering these "codes" is our ultimate challenge.

Jesus: The Ultimate Prophecy Fulfilled
Jesus confounded the religious leaders of His day when they couldn't break the code of the Old Testament text:

"While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They said unto him, The Son of David. He said unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? [Jesus is quoting Psalm 110:1.] If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions."  -Matthew 22:41-46

They couldn't break the code. They couldn't understand that He, Jesus Christ, was the embodiment of prophecies from the Old Testament. It is essential for each of us to make sure we don't fall into the same quandary by failing to see Christ for who He was prophesied to be.

It is interesting that Jesus chose to open His ministry at the synagogue of Nazareth by reading from the prophet Isaiah:

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."  - Luke 4:16-22

Furthermore, it is interesting to compare His reading with the complete passage in Isaiah:

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God."  -Isaiah 61:1-2

It is significant that Jesus stopped at what is a comma in our text. He deliberately omitted the additional phrase, "and the day of vengeance of our God." Because of details like this, I continue to embrace a very literal view of the Biblical text and have learned to respect its precision. Jesus intentionally limited His reading to the mission of His first coming: "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."

The "day of vengeance" has been deferred until His Second Coming. The "pause" of that comma in Isaiah 61 has lasted almost two thousand years, and it appears that it is about to be concluded. But by quoting the Old Testament, a prophecy all of His listeners were familiar with, He wanted to state clearly He was The Messiah, the long-awaited One.

And again, at one of His first appearances after His resurrection, on that Sunday afternoon walk to Emmaus, Jesus spoke of Himself in the context of Old Testament history: "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27).

Jesus led them in a Bible study entirely from the Old Testament, highlighting the very things that had so shaken them during the previous few days. He reinforced His Father's sovereignty by speaking of a plan that had been unfolding for centuries, a plan that involved the salvation of mankind.

Some deny that He claimed to be God. But anyone who is unaware of His claims hasn't read the Bible. His claim to be God was the very reason that they crucified Him. The issue is, were His claims valid? Our individual destinies will hinge on that issue.

There never has been a more exciting time to undertake a serious study of the Bible. I join many Biblical scholars who believe we are on the threshold of the most climactic era of all time. There is a classic Biblical scenario that has long been espoused by many who take the Bible seriously, and that may soon be subjected to some decisive empirical tests. Be ready! See www.StudyCenter.com to sign up with the Koinonia Institute.

[This article was excerpted from Chuck Missler's book, Prophecy 20/20.]

According to Genesis, the human beings that live today all descended from the three sons and wives of Noah. That is, all the different peoples on Earth came from the variety available in the genetic code of Noah's family. All other genetic lines were wiped out. The Bible also describes races of humans after the Flood that are apparently no longer around.

Paleoanthropology is the fascinating study of ancient humanity through the excavation of bones and evidences of human culture from thousands of years ago. Of course, the majority of paleoanthropologists long to find out not only about ancient humanity, but also about the descent of mankind from the apes. This motivation to find missing links colors every new hominid discovery. From Lucy to Turkana Boy to Peking Man, paleoanthropologists believe they have found pieces of humanity's ancient ancestry - the links between the apes and modern day humans. But, do any true missing links exist? Or is tree of ancient humanity really just a pair of two separate bushes – one of apes and one of humans?

We cannot begin to go through all the hominid finds made over the past 150 years in this short article, but we can touch on the most familiar.

Neanderthal:
The term "Neanderthal," still brings to mind a thick-skulled knuckle dragger with far more brawn than brain power. The Neanderthal man had heavy bones and those distinctive heavy eyebrow ridges. His chin was smaller and rounded, the center of his face jutted forward, and his skull was low and elongated. It was easy to portray him as a primitive man, closer to the apes. Today, though, scientists generally agree that Neanderthal was a highly intelligent, creative, true human being. In fact, Neanderthal had an average cranial capacity (and therefore brain size) of 1,485 cc, with a range of 1,245–1,740 cc, slightly larger than the modern human average of 1,350 cc. While greater cranial capacity doesn't necessarily equal higher intelligence, it does look good on Neanderthal's resume.

In his book Buried Alive, orthodontist Jack Cuozzo describes the poor reconstruction of certain original Neanderthal skulls to make them appear more ape-like and "primitive." For example, he argues that the Le Moustier specimen was reconstructed in a way that made the jaw appear more ape-like than it would have been naturally. Cuozzo also makes the very interesting argument, based on his knowledge of jaw and tooth growth, that it appears that Neanderthals lived to be several hundred years old.

According to Live Science November 15, 2006, "[E}xcavations and anatomical studies have shown Neanderthals used tools, wore jewelery, buried their dead, cared for their sick, and possibly sang or even spoke in much the same way that we do. Even more humbling, perhaps, their brains were slightly larger than ours."  There is no question that Neanderthal was a fully functioning human.

Homo Erectus:
Many different hominid discoveries fall into a broad Homo erectus classification. These humans include Peking Man, Java Man, and early African Homo ergaster specimens like Turkana Boy. H. erectus was a smaller person, with an average cranial capacity of 973 cc.  This falls into the low end of modern human range, which is about 700–2,200 cc according to Molnar's Races, Types, and Ethnic Groups (1975). H. erectus bodies are generally described as very much like modern humans, though thicker boned. It is the H erectus skull that has been particularly classified as more primitive. The large brow ridges and flat, receding forehead, the smaller, forward-jutting jaw and large teeth all are considered primitive characteristics - as is the long, low-vaulted cranium and occipital torus.

Yet, these are features that Neanderthal also has, and Neanderthal is regarded as fully human. It can be argued that Homo Erectus is in fact just a small version of Neanderthal.

Harry Shapiro writes in his 1974 book Peking Man, (George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, p. 125):

'But when one examines a classic Neanderthal skull, of which there are now a large number, one cannot escape the conviction that its fundamental anatomical formation is an enlarged and developed version of the Homo erectus skull. As in Homo erectus, it has the bun-shaped protrusion in the occiput, the heavy brow ridge, the relatively flattened crown that from the rear presents a profile like a gambrel roof. Its greatest breadth is low, just above the ears, and the absence of a jutting chin is typical.'

He wrote that back when Neanderthals still had a fairly brutish reputation, but that doesn't change the basic implication. H. erectus has generally been considered a couple of steps closer to the apes than we are, but if he was rather like a smaller version of the Neanderthal, his features should not necessarily be considered primitive. In fact, modern day Australian Aborigines also display many of these features, and they will be quick to assure us that yes, they really are humans too. 

H. erectus also had the intelligence and technology of humans stuck out in the wilderness.  For instance, stone tools found with Peking Man show that he cut down trees, trimmed his wooden clubs and dismembered the animals caught as food. Peking Man also made use of fire. It appears that in the search for missing links, H. erectus has too quickly and erroneously placed in the less-than-fully human category.

Lucy:
The first australopiths were uncovered by Mary Leakey in Tanzania in 1959, and the Leakey family has uncovered many more specimens there in the Olduvai Gorge since. The name australopithecine means "southern ape" and Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis), discovered by Donald Johanson in 1974, was likely about as bright as chimpanzees today. The estimated cranial capacity of A. afarensis was between 375 and 540 cc and it has the large jaws and small brain cavity of apes. Lucy also has the short legs, long arms and pot belly of an ape. The thing that excites paleoanthropologists is some analysis that argues Lucy walked upright.

Yet, as we noted in our article on Ardi in October, 2009, Anatomist Dr Charles Oxnard used multivariate analysis to show that Lucy's big toe was opposable, just like in chimpanzees. B.G. Richmond and D.S. Strait also reported in Nature in 2000 that Lucy's wrists indicated she was actually just a knuckle-walker like other apes. Lucy is often portrayed with human feet and standing upright, but not necessarily because of her actual morphology. Human footprints have been found in the hardened ash at Laetoli, near where Lucy was found. The footprints were dated to the time of Lucy using K/Ar testing, and since evolutionists have already decided humans and Lucy did not co-exist based on their evolutionary model, they have concluded that Lucy must have made the prints herself. This is one of many examples in which evolutionists allow their pre-held beliefs to shape their conclusions, rather than depending solely on the evidence at hand.

And Others?
Cro Magnon – modern day man
Toumai (Sahelanthropus tchadensis)– an ancient ape that is dated older than Lucy but with features "younger" than Lucy's. Definitive conclusions on Toumai are hard to come by.
Ardi (Ardipithecus ramidus)– an extinct ape whose skeletal remains were horrible crushed.
Homo habilis – arguably an invalid taxon made up of a mixture of fossils from both apes and humans

New hominid remains are found every year, always with much fanfare. Rather than clearing up the question of human ancestry for evolutionists, though, these always seem to just add another twig on the already-twiggy branches of either humans or apes. They don't ever provide a true trunk that links the two branches together.

It's the time of year we celebrate the fact that God sent His Son to earth as a humble baby. When it comes to entertainment, though, the occult is trying hard to take over.

It's hard to escape it. The newest Twlight movie is plastered all over Burger King and the kids get Avatar action figures in their Happy Meals at McDonalds. Children big and small are excited about going to see The Princess and the Frog, and the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I is already available, even though the movie is not scheduled to come out until November 2010. From Bewitched to the Wizards of Waverly Place, television has long treated witchcraft with humor…. And in Christmas movie reruns, Jack the Pumpkin King almost ruins Christmas again this year by tying up Santa Claus. (It's amazing how many Christmas movies replay the broken record plotline in which Christmas almost doesn't arrive because Santa is hindered from bringing presents.  At least Dr. Seuss got that one right.)

The occult is getting increasingly more accepted in our world, and not only at Halloween. It's vital that we take care in what we allow ourselves and our children to be exposed to, especially since we know there is a very real spiritual battle going on in this world.

Avatar opened in theaters this weekend, complete with beautiful forest scenes where breathtakingly massive trees catch the heart and unique, lithe creatures worship the pantheistic earth goddess Eywa. The special effects are outstanding, and when an absolutely vast, huge, magnificent tree crashes in the forest, you can feel the room shake with it. Unfortunately, the movie is riddled with pagan themes. Goddess worshiping aliens who are at one with nature are considered noble and good. Greedy, godessless, capitalist humans are the bad guys.  An earth worshiping worldview could hardly be stronger.

The Princess and the Frog has been out since the day before Thanksgiving, and is unfortunately even more overt in its occultism than Disney's normal fare. The idea is fun – the girl who kisses the frog prince gets turned into a frog herself. The movie is set in Louisiana, though, so of course there is a voodoo practicing witch doctor, one Doctor Facilier, who summons the dead, uses tarot cards and spells and has shadow creatures do his bidding. At least this frightening person is the "bad" guy, and his practices are easily equated with danger and evil. But, of course Jesus isn't the hero who saves the main characters from this vile person. Disney never seems to make Jesus the hero. No, the fairy grandmother character, Mama Odie, also resorts to forms of magic in helping the children and fighting the bad guy.

Disney's A Christmas Carol is certainly no dry, tiresome regurgitation of the Dickens classic. Even though we've all heard the story several dozen times, this newest version with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge grabs its viewers with the same kind of wonderful animated technology we saw in The Polar Express. Disney even relents and Christ-honoring Christmas songs play in the background as Scrooge flies over a wintery London. The depictions of ghosts can be pretty frightening at times and parents should preview the movie before letting their children watch it.

While it is very well done, there's something missing in the Dickens story. Tiny Tim still says, "God bless us every one," at the end, but Scrooge is not saved in the end by falling on his knees before the Son of God whose birth is celebrated at Christmas. No, he's saved by honoring the spirit of Christmas, which apparently is all about generosity and loving one's neighbor. Those things are fine and we appreciate that Scrooge has repented this year (as he has every year since 1843), but it's always disappointing that Scrooge in the end depends on his works and not on the Savior for his salvation.

On the other hand, a rising number of quality Christ-honoring movies have been making their way onto the big screen.  The Blind Side tells the true story of a homeless young man who is taken in by a Christian family and goes on to play star-quality football. (The real Michael Oher currently plays left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens.)  The Blind Side deserves its PG-13 rating for some of its content, but the story demonstrates true Biblical values and a Christian worldview.

We do enjoy a good movie around here, but it is easy to get caught up in the eye candy that is so readily available in movies and television, especially at this time of year when we have a little bit of time off from school and work. Yet, we need to be very careful to guard our hearts and protect our minds from the philosophies that the world makes look so good. We want the Word and Spirit of God to shape our thoughts and actions, and that means taking great caution in the things we let our little eyes see.