101 Amazing Truths About Jesus That You Probably Didn't Know

Mark Littleton

• Publisher: Howard Books
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781416554592
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Reference

No one has influenced history like Jesus Christ, yet so many know so little about this amazing man. Do you know... -- Jesus paid taxes?
-- His parents almost divorced?
-- Some of his ancestors were less than desirable characters?
-- Sometimes even his followers didn't believe him?
-- If Jesus was really born on December 25? Are you ready to... -- Expand your knowledge beyond the stories you heard in Sunday school?
-- Find truths that will compel you to love him more?
-- Understand his words and find the secret of true happiness?
-- Discover the joy in seeing others through his eyes? Let this captivating book introduce you to the most creative, thought-provoking person in history... JESUS!

1

Jesus created ALL things.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

For thousands of years people believed that God the Father, God Jehovah, God the self-existing one, was the Creator. But John tells us Jesus was the Creator: “Through him [Jesus] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3).

God the Father was the architect, planner, and producer of creation. But Jesus was the agent and director, the executor of the process. This bears out in a couple of passages from other places in the New Testament. First, Colossians 1:15–17 tells us, “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

From this we see that (1) Jesus created everything, visible and invisible; (2) everything was created “by him” and “for him”—in other words, the creation belongs to him; (3) he existed “before all things”—before anything else existed; and (4) he “holds all things together”—it is by his power that the universe does not simply explode.

Next, in Hebrews 1:2, we read: “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” Again we see an unequivocal statement of Jesus’s role as Creator.

Think about this for just a moment. When Jesus walked the earth and spoke with and healed countless people, doing miracle upon miracle, he was the one who actually had created that earth and those people. When the leading Jews insulted him and spit on him, they were mistreating the one who had fashioned them in the womb. And when people nailed him to the cross, they were in effect trying to kill the one who held their molecules and bodies together.

It’s a remarkable thought. Who could possibly have understood when looking into Jesus’s face and hearing his voice that they were seeing and hearing creative omnipotence?

2

Jesus’s life was FORETOLD by prophecies.

Just how exact did God get in revealing the details—the who, what, where, and when—about the Messiah’s coming? Let’s look at a few of the prophecies.

He would be born in some special way of a woman, and he would ultimately crush the head of Satan. “I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

He would be born through Abraham. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2–3).

He would be born through Isaac. “The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed’” (Genesis 26:2–4).

He would be born through Jacob. “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:13–15).

He would be born through Judah. “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his” (Genesis 49:10).

He would be born through King David. “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:12–16).

His coming would be accompanied by a special star or shining in the heavens. “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel” (Number 24:17).

He would be born in Bethlehem. “Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).

He would be born of a virgin. “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 [God with us]” (Isaiah 7:14).

The Messiah would be a wonderful counselor, a mighty God, an everlasting Father, and a prince of peace; and he would reign on David’s throne forever. “To us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever” (Isaiah 9:6–7).

He would come to Israel out of Egypt. “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1).

His birth would be accompanied by a great slaughter. “This is what the Lord says: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more’” (Jeremiah 31:15).

A prophet would go before him in the wilderness, making a path for him to succeed. “A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God’” (Isaiah 40:3).

He would set many people free, open the eyes of those in the dark, and preach good news. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:1–2).

He would be a healer and a Savior. “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.’ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy” (Isaiah 35:3–6).

Galilee (the land of Zebulun and Naphtali) would see a great light. “There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—the people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:1–2).

The Messiah would die at a specified time. The Old Testament prophet Daniel foretold the time of the coming and killing of the Messiah. It has been calculated to coincide with the time of Passover, 9 Nisan AD 30, the time Jesus died.

“Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem [around 445 BC] until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’ [69 x 7 = 483 years]. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing [approximately 9 Nisan AD 30, the death of Jesus]” (Daniel 9:25–26).

“Elijah” would come and prepare the way before the Messiah and turn the hearts of God’s children back to their fathers. “I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5–6).

Any Jew who studied prophecy in those days couldn’t help but note the many levels on which God let people know when, where, and how the Messiah would be coming. God told the Jews:

• about Jesus’s ancestors and his line of descent
• that a special star (probably the Shekinah glory of God) would appear
• what town the Messiah would be born in
• that he would be born of a virgin
• that he would be called Immanuel (“God with us”)
• who would pave the way for the Messiah,
• the places he would minister,
• that he would be a healer and a preacher of “good news,” and
• the time of his demise.

What more could anyone ask from God to validate the coming of the Messiah—and that Jesus was that Messiah?

3

Jesus was TARGETED by Satan from the beginning.

Starting long before Jesus came into the world as Messiah, Satan tried to stop him from fulfilling his mission by ending Jesus’s ancestral line. Consider this series of events:

In Genesis 3:15 God said, “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.”

This was God’s first messianic promise. In it he assured Adam and Eve that despite their sin, one day a redeemer would come who would crush the head of Satan and destroy him forever. From that moment on Satan looked for this special “offspring.” It seems he became obsessed with finding out who this would be and doing him in.

Genesis 4:1–16 tells the story of Cain and Abel. God warned Cain, “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:7). Later Cain killed his brother Abel. Perhaps this was the first attempt of Satan to terminate the line of Jesus, thinking righteous Abel would be the offspring through whom redemption would come. He wasn’t, but Satan didn’t know that.

As recorded in 1 Samuel 18:10–11, King Saul, tormented by an evil spirit, tried to kill David before he was even king: “An evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, ‘I’ll pin David to the wall.’ But David eluded him twice.” Saul was tormented by a demon for the rest of his life, and he repea...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Our purpose at Howard Books is to:
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1: Jesus created ALL things
• 2: Jesus’s life was FORETOLD by prophecies
• 3: Jesus was TARGETED by Satan from the beginning
• 4: Jesus’s life was ACCURATELY recorded by eyewitnesses and inspired biographers
• 5: Jesus’s family tree INCLUDED murderers, sexual deviants, and genocidal maniacs
• 6: Jesus truly was born of a VIRGIN
• 7: Jesus’s mother, Mary, felt the need to CONFIRM her call to bear God’s Son
• 8: Other miraculous births support the TRUTH of Jesus’s miraculous birth
• 9: Jesus’s parents were almost DIVORCED
• 10: A Roman emperor played an IMPORTANT role in Jesus’s birth
• 11: Jesus may NOT have been born in a stable
• 12: Jesus’s birth probably was not announced by SINGING angels
• 13: Jesus’s birth held SPECIAL significance for the shepherds
• 14: Jesus’s birth date was not DECEMBER 25, AD 0
• 15: PERSIAN kingmakers declared Jesus king
• 16: Jesus received THREE gifts from the wise men
• 17: Insecure LEADERS wanted to kill Jesus—even as a baby
• 18: Jesus is the REASON for Xmas (and other historic symbols)
• 19: Jesus came from the WRONG side of the tracks
• 20: Jesus had REAL brothers and sisters
• 21: Jesus’s parents DIDN’T understand him
• 22: Jesus “LEARNED” obedience
• 23: Jesus knew what it was like to LOSE someone he loved
• 24: The carpenter’s son grew up to be a SHEPHERD
• 25: No one knows what Jesus LOOKED like…on the outside
• 26: Jesus chose some followers who seemed SLOW to catch on
• 27: Jesus passed God’s test DURING Satan’s temptations
• 28: Jesus aced his test by QUOTING from the Book
• 29: Jesus knows what we’re going through: he was TEMPTED as we are
• 30: Jesus was PERFECT
• 31: Jesus’s NEIGHBORS tried to throw him off a cliff
• 32: Jesus used UNUSUAL methods and criteria in choosing his disciples
• 33: Jesus was a great FISHING guide
• 34: Demons PUBLICLY revealed Jesus’s secret identity
• 35: Jesus couldn’t stop PEOPLE from talking
• 36: Jesus EMBRACED sinners
• 37: Jesus brought CHANGE to the tax collectors
• 38: Jesus violated the laws of his day, but NOT God’s laws
• 39: Jesus was God in the FLESH
• 40: Jesus was one AMAZING preacher
• 41: Even Jesus NEEDED to pray
• 42: Jesus sometimes got angry—and SHOWED it
• 43: Jesus championed WOMEN’S rights too
• 44: Jesus’s MIRACLES can’t be explained away
• 45: Jesus NEVER made a spectacle of miracles
• 46: Sometimes Jesus’s disciples DISAPPOINTED him
• 47: Jesus RESCUED a lame man at a pool
• 48: Jesus healed even when he WASN’T trying
• 49: Jesus had a soft spot in his heart for CHILDREN
• 50: Jesus was accused of being the DEVIL himself
• 51: Jesus’s FAMILY thought he was nuts
• 52: Jesus warned of an “UNFORGIVABLE” sin
• 53: Jesus doesn’t fault a guy who DOUBTS
• 54: Jesus is ASTONISHED by genuine faith
• 55: Jesus could have been a great Jewish mother: he was always FEEDING people
• 56: Jesus walked on water, but he had a hard time TEACHING Peter how to do the same
• 57: Even Jesus PAID taxes
• 58: Jesus SPAT on a blind man
• 59: Jesus’s enemies laid MANY traps
• 60: Jesus found WAYS to win in unwinnable situations
• 61: Jesus saw through phony questions and gave REAL answers
• 62: Jesus reduced all of the Law to TWO commandments
• 63: Jesus didn’t get sidetracked by CONTROVERSY—even when it was about him
• 64: Jesus put MUD in a blind man’s eyes
• 65: Jesus refuted the concept of KARMA
• 66: Jesus faced down SEVERAL murderous mobs
• 67: Jesus let a good friend DIE
• 68: Jesus ENDANGERED people’s lives
• 69: Jesus called some RELIGIOUS leaders sons of the devil
• 70: Jesus had powerful SECRET disciples
• 71: Jesus’s BLUNTNESS made people squirm
• 72: Jesus had a sense of HUMOR
• 73: Jesus knew how to have FUN
• 74: Jesus was ACCUSED of being a real party boy
• 75: Jesus ENTERED Jerusalem as Messiah and King
• 76: Jesus was the most popular man in Israel—and the most HATED
• 77: Jesus gave Judas every POSSIBLE chance
• 78: Jesus knew his FRIENDS would deny and abandon him
• 79: Jesus REDEEMS even our failures
• 80: Jesus heard VOICES from heaven
• 81: Jesus SANG
• 82: Jesus probably DANCED
• 83: Jesus was SOLD for the price of a slave
• 84: Jesus DIDN’T want to suffer and die
• 85: Jesus was jerked around at his SO-CALLED trial
• 86: Jesus was judged NOT guilty…and executed anyway
• 87: Jesus’s blood is on all OUR hands
• 88: Jesus FULFILLED precise details of prophecy as he died
• 89: Jesus’s REASON for living was to die
• 90: Jesus gave eternal life to the THIEF on the cross
• 91: As he was dying, Jesus FORGAVE those who were killing him
• 92: Jesus WILLED his mother to a disciple
• 93: On the cross, Jesus was FORSAKEN by God
• 94: Jesus used a ROMAN prison term from the cross
• 95: Jesus preached AFTER he died
• 96: Jesus turned fishermen into SHEPHERDS
• 97: Jesus DIDN’T condemn the doubter but embraced him
• 98: Jesus lives IN our hearts
• 99: Jesus PREPARED believers for his Second Coming
• 100: Jesus has made SURE we get there
• 101: Jesus will come back to the MOUNT OF OLIVES