Thy Word is Truth John 17:17

Welcome to the blog that seeks to stand for the truth of the word of God.

The Truth of the word of God is eternal, unchangeable, inerrant, infallible, flawless, sufficient, authoritative, absolute…because that is what is revealed in Christ.

To the secular mind these adjectives are objectionable at the very outset because they are a direct threat to “self”.

The reason of this objection is that humanism is based upon self and selfishness.The human being is born into a state of self-centeredness and sits on the throne of life and sits in authority over life.

The true believer in Christ denies self and bends the knee to the authority of Christ.

So the truth of the word of God is based upon a person Jesus Christ and not an intellectual concept of truth.

And the foundation scripture of biblical Christianity is John 1:1.John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

The companion scripture is John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”.Jesus is the living “Word of God” and “The Truth”.

These two scriptures taken together reveal to us that the bible or the word of God is really the “Word of God” and we need to come to that conclusion.

The truth of the scriptures is really a person and not a concept or idea.

The Truth of the bible is Jesus Christ himself who claims to be the Truth of the bible in John 14:6.

The last foundational scripture is another claim of Christ before his ascension, “ All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me”. (Mathew 28:18).

Here is the line of separation for all eternity.

Devotees of humanism have an authority problem in that something temporary rules life and that is self.

Devotees of Christianity look to someone else who is permanent in authority of their lives and that is Christ.

Either we submit to Christ’s authority in our lives and are given eternal life with Him or we submit to our own authority and lose our lives permanently.

According to the scriptures, there are two groups of people in this world the save and the unsaved:“The Christ centered and the world centered”.

“The Sheep and the Goats”.

This blog is dedicated to sharing of the scriptures that identify Christ’s flock and the scriptures that identify the antichrist’s flock.

This blog is also dedicated to identifying the values of the Christian community and also identifying the values of the culture and the world.

They are not the same values!With this today, I so dedicate and start of “Thy Word Is Truth” John 17:17 blog.

Pastor Ted Whitaker, Ph,D, CLP Pastor of Hopedale Annapolis United Presbyterian Churches

“Thy Word Is Truth” John 17:17

From the desk Ted Whitaker, Ph.D, CLP, Pastor and believing biochemist!

Dear Congregation Member:

Here is the evidence that you asked for. In the next post is a table for comparison of the exact words written by King David in PSALM 22 written in 1000 BC on the top row.

On the second row is the corresponding accounts of what happened to Jesus in the gospels of Matthew and John.

Please notice in red letters the exact words of PSALM 22 written in 1000 BC by King David appearing in the Gospel accounts of Jesus death on the cross in 7 lines of Psalm 22.

John was the only disciple that heard and saw what happened to Jesus when he was crucified so his account is an eye witness account.


This is what your pastor needed as a former scientist to believe.

There are 7 examples of identical words or events in Psalm 22 that are facts witnessed at Jesus crucifixion by the disciple John.

If your pastor can step into his scientific shoes for just one minute, “eight corresponding observations in a row are far beyond coincidence statistically.

Even if we give a 50 (or one half) to 50 (or one half) chance like a coin toss of heads or tails to the correspondence of the same events happening 1000 years apart.

Then the chances that 7 events happened in a row 1000 years apart are:

½ times ½ times ½ time ½ times ½ times ½ times ½ times ½ equals = 1/256
or 1 chance in 256 coin tosses.

The odds even in these simplest of terms are far beyond coincidence!

The real odds of this happening are not 50:50 but astronomical even for one event to happen with the exact words 1,000 years later!

The Table of Correspondence:

PSALM 22 OLD TESTAMENT 1000 BC

(1) Line 1 “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”

GOSPEL ACCOUNT NEW TESTMENT AD 30

(1) Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?” – which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?




PSALM 22 OLD TESTAMENT 1000 BC

(2) Line 6-7 “I am a worm and not a man and despised by people, All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads”.

GOSPEL ACCOUNT NEW TESTAMENT 30 AD

(2) Matthew 27:28-30 They stripped him and put a scarlet rob on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “hail the king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him and too the staff and struck him on the head again and again.


PSALM 22 OLD TESTAMENT 1000 BC

(3) Line 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

GOSPEL ACCOUNT NEW TESTAMENT 30 AD

(3) Matthew 27:41 In the same way, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others”, they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, “I am the Son of God.” In the same way the robber who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.



PSALM 22 OLD TESTAMENT 1000 BC

(4) Line 14 “I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. Myheart has turn to wax; it has melted away within me.”

GOSPEL ACCOUNT NEW TESTAMENT 30 AD

(4) John 19:31-34 “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.



PSALM 22 OLD TESTAMENT 1000 BC

(5) Line 15 Psalm 22 “My strength is dried up like a potshard and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

GOSPEL ACCOUNT NEW TESTAMENT 30 AD

(5) John (19:28b-30)… Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."



PSALM 22 OLD TESTAMENT 1000 BC

(6) Line 16 Psalm 22 “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.”

GOSPEL ACCOUNT NEW TESTAMENT AD 30

(6) John 20:24 …"Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."




PSALM 22 OLD TESTAMENT 1000 BC

(7) Line 18 Psalm 22 “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”

GOSPEL ACCOUNT NEW TESTAMENT AD 30

(7) John 19:23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."So this is what the soldiers did.




Pastor Ted Whitaker, Ph.D., CLPSunday

March 8, 2009

Sermon Delivered to Annapolis and Hopedale Presbyterian Churches


Bible quotes:NIV (New International Version unnoted)

NASB (New American Standard Version as noted)

“Jesus’ Death on the Cross Foretold - Part 2”

Today is the second Sunday in lent and we are going to focus on the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross and what it means for us.As a reverent church we have been looking at all the Old Testament prophesies that Jesus of Nazareth uniquely fulfills as the Messiah foretold by all the prophets of the Old Testament.

During the advent season we went every Sunday in lent to the Old Testament prophets to see that Jesus was born at just the right time and place to be the long awaited Messiah or anointed one.

But the prophesies in the Old Testament about the Christ do not stop with his supernatural birth from a virgin’s womb but the prophets also foretold about his death and exactly when and where that would take place.

We learned from last Sunday’s sermon from the Prophet Daniel that the “Anointed One” Would be cut off and have nothing”Jesus death was prophesied by Daniel 483 years before his death on the cross of Calvary.

In today’s sermon we will consider how Jesus will die on the cross. It comes from the prophet David.

Yes, David was a prophet and there are many Messianic psalms that David wrote for he was the sweet psalmist of Israel (verse 1) as he said on his death bed in 2Samuel (NASB Chapter 23:1-7).

David either wrote the psalms or had it written for him by the Levites that were leading worship as choir directors in the tabernacle like Asaph, Korah and his sons and the list is very long after these two major choir directors of people who wrote Psalms for David.

We opened the service today in the call to worship taken from Psalm 22 and then I read as the Old Testament reading for a very important reason.

Psalm 22 contains a vivid description or picture of a crucifixion as found anywhere else in the bible.

I want all of us to remember that King David lived and wrote the Psalms that were worship in the Tabernacle 1000 years before Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem.

I want us to follow together each line of this Psalm that David saw in his mind that matches the account of Jesus death on the cross taken from the gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

We will focus mostly on the account of the Disciple John which was the NT reading for today.

I will try to keep a running total of the events of the Jesus crucifixion that king David saw in his mind as he wrote Psalm 22.

Let us look at the opening line of Psalm 22. “My God my God why have you forsaken me?” What were Jesus of Nazareth’s words from the cross?

Where else would we find these exact words of Jesus as he hung on the cross?Well they are quoted exactly by both Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 as “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

So modern translators of the bible quote this verse in the original language that Jesus spoke from the cross and that was Aramaic.

Then the bible translators tell us what Jesus said in English this means. “My God, My God why have you forsaken me is the opening line of Psalm 22, written 1000 years before?

Does God have a plan about his coming Son?

He tells us far in advance in the Old Testament what will come to pass in the New Testament regarding his son, Jesus of Nazareth, the long awaited Messiah.

(This is the first line of this Psalm that matches Jesus death).

Let us consider line 6 and 7 of Psalm 22. “I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.”And then line 7, “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads”

And how does the gospel writer describe what they saw at the cross of Jesus.And what did the people say when Jesus was on trial before Pontus Pilate, they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"

"Shall I crucify your king?"Pilate asked.

"We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.

And this continued at the cross Matthew tells us that the Roman guards mocked Jesus with these words (27 verse 29)

They (The Roman Guards) put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said.

They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.

These events were prophesied by the prophet Isaiah (also the messianic prophet of the OT) in chapter 53, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

It is almost as if the prophet Isaiah was also given a vision of Jesus of Nazareth’s death on the cross like King David was.(And this the second line of Psalm 22 that corresponds to Jesus death).

Let us look at line 8 of the Psalm 22, “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him.

Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."Do we find these words in the gospel accounts of Jesus death?

Yes we do.

Matthew tells us in Ch 27:41 that the chief priests mocked Jesus with these words, “In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself!

He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.

43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'

This is the third line of Psalm 22 corresponds to Jesus of Nazareth’s death.And so, lets take a look at line 14 of Psalm 22, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me”.

Is there any place in the gospels that describes the physical condition of Jesus heart at his death on the cross?

The answer is yes, this description is in the gospels!

John tells us that the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath so the Roman Guards were making sure that the men crucified that day were dead so they could be taken off the cross before the Sabbath and when a Roman soldier came to Jesus, the disciple John tells us “But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

Jesus heart had burst when he died just as David’s Psalm 22 told us and all his blood poured out on the cross.”

(The fourth event of Jesus death in Psalm 22).

Let us look at line 15 of the Psalm. “My strength is dried up like a potshard and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

What happens to us when we become dehydrated “Does our tongue stick to our mouths?”

What do the gospel writers tell us of what Jesus says on the cross?

John (19:26) tells us that to fulfill the scripture that Jesus said “I am thirsty” on the cross.

They put a sponge filled sour wine on a pole to his mouth.

This event is also described in another Psalm of David, Psalm 69, “Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

(This is the 5th line of correspondence between Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 and Jesus death.)

Let’s look at line 16 of the Psalm 22 again, “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.We do not need to go to the gospels for the exact quote here!

King David speaks of piercing of hand and feet (crucifixion) in his Psalm but crucifixion was not known in David’s time it was the cruel invention of the Roman Empire.

This is the 6th line of identical description between Psalm 22 and Jesus death.

Let look a line 18 of Psalm 22. “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”

What did we hear that the Roman guards did with Jesus clothing before they nailed him to the cross in the New Testament reading today.John 19:23 reads, “When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."

David told us 1000 years before that the Romans would cast lots for Jesus garments!

(The seventh line of the Psalm that matches Jesus death!)

We should remember that the only disciple of Jesus had that was at the foot of the cross was the disciple John.

That is why I chose this gospel account from John instead of the other gospel writers because all that Jesus said on the cross was heard by the ears of John the disciple “that Jesus loved and trusted”.

He was the only one that was loyal to Jesus at his death all the other disciples disserted Jesus at the cross in fear for their lives.

Jesus before he gave up his last breath gave the care of his mother to John with these words John 19:25 and I quote, “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister…, and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"and to the disciple (John), "Here is your mother."

From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Seven events of Jesus crucifixion were foretold in Psalm 22 written 1000 years before Christ was born.

This is truly enough evidence for anyone to believe!

AMEN.