Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

"The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel [meaning God with us]."¹

"Sometimes I doubt God ever exists," one person needing help wrote to me.

One of the many proofs we have of the existence of God is the fulfillment of biblical prophecies in minutest detail. Regarding Jesus Christ alone there are many predictions in the Bible about his coming as the Messiah and Savior of the world. One of which was given about him being born of a virgin hundreds of years before it took place.² Another said he would be born in Bethlehem.³ Still another showed he would die for our sins.⁴

In his book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell quotes Peter Stoner who, using the modern science of probability, shows that if one took only eight of the prophecies about Christ, there would only be one chance in 10 to the 16th; that is, one chance in 100,000,000,000,000,000 that these eight prophecies could be fulfilled in any one person—unless the prophecies were inspired of God. In 48 prophecies about Jesus Christ there would only be one chance in 10 to the 175th that these could be fulfilled in any one person.⁵

However, all the evidence in the world won't convince anybody of the existence of God unless he/she wants and chooses to believe. As another has said, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." The bottom line is that belief in God is a choice—often a moral rather than an intellectual choice. If I believe in God, I realize that I am morally responsible and accountable to him. If I don't believe in God, I'm not (at least I don't believe I am) accountable to him, and make myself my only authority. In light of all the evidence of God's existence this can be a rather ostentatious stance to take.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, even when the sun isn't shining, I know there is a sun. So when I can't feel your presence, and am going through a 'dark night of the soul,' help me to believe and trust in you, knowing that my life is in your hands regardless of how I feel. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Isaiah 7:14 (NIV).
2. Isaiah 7:14.
3. Micah 5:2.
4. Isaiah 53.
5. Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 175.



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