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"If you had lived at the time of Christ, would you have recognized Him?" (11:3) A simple question, but hardly an easy one to answer. Although some may, I personally have never heard anyone answer this question "Yes". The response is usually that one would hope to recognize Christ, but one cannot be sure. Intuitively we know that the recognition of Christ was not a simple matter of hearing His message or His words, or of even seeing Him as He moved through the streets of ancient Israel or preached in the temple. For we know that there were many who did indeed have the great blessing of living at His time, and of even meeting Him face to face, but who alas, did not follow Him. Even those who saw or heard of the wondrous acts that Christ performed doubted and even rejected Him (11:4) This question also reveals another aspect of thinking that seems to be prevalent. In answering this question, I've not heard a response that referred to prophecies. Few regard them as tools by which they would have recognized Him. I have never heard anyone say something like "if I had had the prophecies, I would have recognized Him" or "I would have used the prophecies to find Him", or "the prophecies would have helped me". Intuitively we know also, that prophecies would not have been our guide because we can see now, through the record of Christ's life, that in many cases their apparent meaning was not only unclear, but also actually misleading (11:5) However, if you ask someone today, "Will you recognize Christ when He returns?" You can easily get a response to the effect "Recognize? How can you miss Him!" Although nowhere does it state in the Bible that the New Testament prophecies are easier to understand than those of the Old Testament, it seems that many people assume that this is the case (11:6) Now, if one cannot be sure that they would have recognized Him at His first Coming, how can one be sure that they can recognize Him at His Second Coming? It seems that, in the same way that the people of His time felt sure about how the Christ should come, the people of this time feel sure about how He will return
(11:7)
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