Convincing Proof

 

Isaiah 9 6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.

These words were spoken 800 years before the birth of Jesus. The Bible is literally filled with prophetic claims, many of them about Jesus, the Messiah, the Promised One. Most of these prophecies were so specific that it would have been foolish for anyone but God to make such bold claims before the event took place – and especially to put them in writing.

Let me illustrate:

Take three prophecies –

  1. Messiah was to come from the tribe of Judah, one of the 12 tribes of Israel named after the 12 sons of Jacob, whose name was changed by God to Israel.
    2.

    Genesis 49

    10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come: And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

     

    Luke 3

    23 And Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

    etc.

    33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,

    The laws of statistics tell us there is 1 chance in 12 of that happening. (12 tribes – 1 chance in twelve)

  2. He would be born in Bethlehem, a small city of the province of Judah in the nation of Israel.

    3. Micah 5

    2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

    Matthew 2

    1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Wise-men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,

    Since there were about 200 towns in Judah the chances of his being born in Bethlehem would have been 1 in 200.

  3. He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

Zechariah 11

12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my hire thirty pieces of silver.

13 And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the house of Jehovah.

 

Matthew 26

15 and said, What are ye willing to give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they weighed unto him thirty pieces of silver.

This prophecy even went to far as to indicate what would become of the 30 pieces of silver – it went to the potter.

Statisticians figure (somehow) that the chances were 1 in 50 of that happening.

BUT, the combined probability of all three prophecies being fulfilled by any one man, especially when he had no control over the circumstances, would be 1 in 120,000. It is a staggering thought that God would be so bold as to predict such details concerning the life of one man when there are so many chances in life of something changing or altering the plan.

There are modern-day predictors of the future, we call them psychics, who chance predictions of what they believe will happen. But how accurate are they?

A study of the top ten psychics whose prophecies were published during a 3 year period -- 1976 -1979 -- showed only a 2 percent success rate. Only 2 % of their predictions were fulfilled. Six out of the ten psychics were wrong 100% of the time. The other four made only one correct prediction each during the 3 year period. Yet billions of people still followed their predictions religiously and sing their praises. They now even advertise on TV.

When we examine the prophecies in the Bible we are confronted with a different phenomenon of staggering mathematical proportions. The Bible contains hundreds of incredibly accurate predictions of events which historians and archeologists have verified. God declares boldly in His Word that these prophecies and their fulfullments are His signature upon the Bible and His verification that the Bible is truly the inspired Word of God. Accurate prophecy belongs to God alone.

The laws of probability -

There is only one chance in 120 thousand that any man would fulfill three prophecies by chance. But now, let us consider 11 prophecies about the Messiah – The Bible said He would be:

There is one chance in 10 billion times a billion that the prophets could have accurately predicted these 11 specifics by chance, or that one man's life could fulfill these detailed prophecies by chance alone. It is obviously impossible. Also, consider that some of these prophecies were given almost 1000 years before Jesus was born.

Plus, there are other considerations. That his hands and feet would be pierced was predicted 500 years before crucifixion was invented by the Romans.

When we consider that there are 48 major prophecies given in the Old Testament about the promised Messiah, the odds of one life fulfilling all 48 prophecies are astronomical. To illustrate this point, imagine that someone dropped a diamond ring from a plane somewhere over one of the oceans. You enter a bet that you can locate it with just one try using a long line and a fishhook. You can wander over the earth's 197,000,000 square miles of ocean in your boat for as long as you like. When you feel lucky, stop, drop the line and try to hook the ring lying thousands of feet below on the ocean floor. You only get one try.

Your odds of finding the ring are precisely equal to the odds against the biblical prophets correctly predicting just those 11 specific details in the life of Messiah - not to mention the other 37 prophecies.

But here we are – products of fulfilled prophecy.

Galatians 4

4 but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

5 that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

When the time was right – when God’s time was right – God sent the fulfillment of all the prophecies to earth – a Savior, born into the world – become one of us. God took on human flesh.

1 Timothy 3

16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

This is what we celebrate – God incarnate. Jesus was more than King of the Jews. He was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the one who came to free us from sin.

Isaiah 53

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and God hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And He will come again – this time in judgment to completely the forces of evil.

Revelation 17

14. These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with him, called and chosen and faithful.

At Christmas, we celebrate the coming of our Savior – not the coming of ‘ole St. Nick’. We celebrate our freedom from the bondage of sin. We celebrate our redemption from the clutches of the evil one, our adversary, the devil.

Have you received the ‘gift’ of Christmas yet? Christmas is the gospel story:

Would you pray with me to receive Him today?

John 1

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:
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