Most of us have celebrated Christmas and now we look toward the New Year. Traditionally, this is the time for personal reflection and setting goals. We think of January as the beginning of a new year and a great time to consider what has happened in the past year and what we look forward to in the coming year.In 45 B.C. Julius Caesar changed the Roman calendar and set January 1 as the start of the new year. “January” was named after the Roman god Janus, who was their god of beginnings and endings. In fact, “Janus” means “door,” or “gate,” so he represents transitions in our lives. Therefore we have a long tradition of reviewing the past year and considering how we can do better in the coming year. So what a better time to reflect on our commitment to Jesus Christ.God gave the first promise of a coming Savior to Adam and Eve, and down though the ages his prophets revealed truths about the coming Messiah. Consider the odds of those prophecies coming true. Isaiah prophesied over 680 years before Jesus’ birth that the Savior would be born of a virgin and would be God Himself in the flesh. This prophecy would be miraculous. Now many scholars say that there are over 300 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled.Peter Stoner was a renounced mathematics professor and in 1958 he calculated the probability of these prophecies being fulfilled. He wrote a book in 1958, Science Speaks, in which he figured that if eight of 108 of the prophecies were fulfilled that the probability would be , one in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (one hundred quadrillion). So coming of Jesus is one of the most significant miracles about which we could conceive.Now that we have celebrated this miraculous event of Christ’s birth, let’s consider the significant importance of his birth—God’s love and desire that we believe and obey His divine will. God showed his remarkable ability to fulfill His prophecies to give salvation to all who would believe and obey.As we contemplate this orchestration of His salvific endeavor, our only response is much like the shepherds is to worship with gratitude and total awe. God’s word tells us of God limitless power and His love. We realize that the odds of fulfilling the prophecies about the Messiah are mind staggering. Therefore, God is worth of our praise and worship.So as we begin this new year ...
