"Let us try to visualize this chance. If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all of the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state.
"Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom."
The above quote is by Peter Stone, former Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena College, from his book "Science Speaks". With the aid of 600 students, Stoner looked at just eight specific prophecies concerning Jesus and, after coming up with extremely conservative probabilities for each one being fulfilled, calculated the likelihood of Jesus fulfilling all eight of those prophecies. This holiday season, let's look at just some of the more than 300 prophecies concerning Jesus.
The Messiah would be born of a virgin:
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
And
in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of
Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. ...And
the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with
God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a
son, and shalt call his name JESUS. (Luke 1:26-27,30-31)
The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem:
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. (Matthew 2:1-6)
The Messiah would be preceded by a messenger that would ask as forerunner:
Behold,
I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and
the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come,
saith the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:3-5)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
(Zacharias prophesying over his infant son who would become John the Baptist) And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; (Luke 1:76)
In those days come John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 11:1-2)
The Messiah would be called God's son:
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. ...Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalms 2:6, 10-12)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (Luke 3:21-22)
The Messiah would be the descendant of Abraham, as well as David, through whom all the nations would be blessed:
I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1,3)
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. (Jeremiah 23:5)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1 followed by Jesus's lineage in verses 2 through 16. A second genealogy is giving in Luke 3:23-38.)
The Messiah would begin his ministry in Galilee:
...beyond
Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of
death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:1,2)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; (Matthew 4:12)
The Messiah would do life-affirming redemptive deeds and perform signs of healing:
The
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of
the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of
the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that
mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
Say
unto them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold,
your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will
come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an
hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall
waters break out, and streams in the desert. (Isaiah 35:4-6)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
Jesus
answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which
ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and
the poor have the gospel preached to them. (Matthew 11:4-5)
This
is the disciple which testifieth of these things: and we know that his
testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did,
the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the
world itself could not contain the books that should be written. (John
21:24,25)
The Messiah would teach in parables:
Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: (Psalms 78:1,2)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: (Matthew 13:24)
The Messiah would come riding on a donkey:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, they King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt of the foal of an ass. (Zechariah 9:9)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
And when they drew night unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightaway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightaway he will send them. (Matthew 21:1-3)
And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. (Matthew 21:6-9)
The Messiah would be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver that would be thrown down in the house of the Lord and ultimately used to buy the potter's field:
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. (Psalms 41:9)
And
I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not,
forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the
LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was
prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them
to the potter in the house of the LORD. (Zechariah 11:12-13)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. (Matthew 26:14-16)
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. (Matthew 27:3-7)
The Messiah would be silent before his accusers:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. (Matthew 27:12)
And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace, and answered nothing. (Mark 14:60,61)
The Messiah's hands and feet would be pierced and those that crucified him would cast lots for his garments:
For
dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me:
they pierced my hands and my feet. ...They part my garments among them,
and cast lots upon my vesture. (Psalms 22:16,18)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. (Mark 15:24)
But
Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus
came. the other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the
Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print
of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust
my hand into his side, I will not believe. (John 20:24-25)
The Messiah would be rejected by his own people, the Jews:
He
is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we
esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Matthew 21:42,43)
And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he (Pilate) saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. (John 19:14,15)
The Messiah would suffer thirst but would be offered gall and vinegar:
Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalms 69:20,21)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. (Matthew 27:34)
The Messiah was to be pierced but his bones were not to be broken:
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn him, as one mourneth for his only son, (Zechariah 12:10)
He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. (Psalms 34:20)
For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1 Corinthians 5:7)
In
one house shall it (the passover lamb) be eaten; thou shalt not carry
forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break
a bone thereof. (Exodus 12:46)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
Then
came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other
which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that
he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and
water. (John 19:32-34)
The Messiah would be buried in a rich man's grave:
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
When
the even was come, there came a rich man of Armathaea, named Joseph,
who also himself was Jesus' disciple: he went to Pilate, and begged the
body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when
Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and
laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he
rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
(Matthew 27:57-60)
The Messiah would be resurrected:
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalms 16:10)
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: (Isaiah 53:10,11)
O
LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me
alive, that I should not go down to the pit. (Psalms 30:3)
Fulfilled by Jesus:
Ye
men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of
God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in
the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom god hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be
holden of it. ...This Jesus hath God raised up, therefore we all are
witnesses. (Acts 2:22-24,32)
Jesus appeared to many after his resurrection. He appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20:14-16) and Peter (Luke 24:34). He also appeared to Salome, Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James (Matthew 28:9). Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-16) as well as to the rest of his disciples afterwards (John 20:19-20,24,26-28). We are told that on one occasion Jesus appeared to over 500 people at once (1 Corinthians 15:6).
In
our next study, we will look at the amazing prophecy of the 70 weeks as
found in Daniel 9 which foretells the exact year that the Messiah would
begin his ministry. Not only that, but also the exact year that the
Messiah would be killed and when probation would close for the nation of
Israel.