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Isa 46:8-11 "Remember
this, and be assured;
Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
9 "Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying,'My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.
Over one quarter of the Bible
talks about the future and predictions.
The Bible dares to predict
future events in great detail.
Other religious books don’t have
detailed prophecies, because it’s impossible to do so unless you are God.
The Bible has hundreds of
incredibly accurate prophecies about many different men and events over
thousands of years.
This is God’s signature on the
Bible; verification of the God-breathed Word of God.
This tells us in the original
language God inspired the book, 1Ti 3:16.
God sets forth a challenge to
false prophets to tell the future, and the challenge has remained for 2500
years.
Isa 41:21-23 "Present
your case," the LORD says.
"Bring forward your strong arguments,"
The King of Jacob says.
22 Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the former events, declare what they were,
That we may consider them, and know their outcome;
Or announce to us what is coming.
23 Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
The laws of mathematical
probability:
Statistical theory shows if the
probability of one event occurring is one in five and of another event is
one in ten, then the probability of both events being fulfilled in
sequence is 1 in 5x10 = 1 in 50.
You have $5 on you, five ones,
so there is a 1 in 5 chance you will give me either 1,2,3,4,or 5 dollars.
Same with $10.
Consider one area of prophecy
and its fulfillment; the sending of the Messiah.
There are 3 specific predictions
made by 3 different prophets at 3 different times.
1. The Bible teaches the
Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah; one of the 12 tribes descended
from Jacob.
Gen 49:10 "The scepter
shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh (Messiah) comes,
And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
Heb 7:14 tells us the Lord is
descended from Judah, Luk 3:23-34.
What is the probability? 1 in
12 tribes. OK
2. The Bible predicts the
Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
Mic 5:2 "But as for you,
Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity."
This was fulfilled in Jesus in
the gospel of Matthew, and history also supports Jesus being born in
Bethlehem.
Matt 2:1 Now after
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king
Now what is the probability of
this? Conservatively 1 in 200 cities in Judea.
3. He would be betrayed for 30
pieces of silver. Zech 11:12, Mat 26:15
Written hundreds of years
before, it occurred with the Lord.
Let’s say probability is 1 in
100, there could have been any number of pieces of silver, or none at
all.
So we have 3 probabilities
1 in 12 x 200 x 100 = 1 chance
in 240,000 that this one man could fulfill just these 3 prophecies.
If you believe the Lord Jesus
arranged these events on his own, then look at the difficulty of arranging
who His ancestors would be, where He would be born, and the exact price of
His betrayal!
Now there are 48 specific
prophecies in the Old Testament that point to Jesus Christ being the
Messiah.
Let’s cover 11 Messianic
prophecies and then the staggering odds of fulfilling them all in one
person.
- The Messiah born in
Bethlehem. Micah 5:2.
Probability 1 in 200.
- He would be preceded by a
messenger. Isa 40:3
Probability 1 in 20? He could
have been said to be preceded by anything, or nothing.
Isa 40:3 A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the
wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
Fulfilled in Matt 3:1-3 Now in those days John the
Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 "Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 3 For this is the one referred to by
Isaiah the prophet, saying,
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
'Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!'"
- He would enter Jerusalem on a
colt. He could have entered many different ways, even planes and cars!
This was written hundreds of years before Christ was born.
Probability 1 in 50?
Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Fulfilled in Luke 19:33-38 And as they were untying the colt, its
owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 And they said,
"The Lord has need of it." 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and they threw
their garments on the colt, and put Jesus on it. 36 And as He was going,
they were spreading their garments in the road. 37 And as He was now
approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude
of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all
the miracles which they had seen, 38 saying,
"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord;
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
4.
He would be betrayed by a friend.
Probability 1in 10? He could
have been betrayed by an enemy, mother in law, ruler, daughter, son….
Ps 41:9 Even my close
friend, in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
Fulfilled in John 13:18
when Jesus said: "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have
chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats My
bread has lifted up his heel against Me.'
1 in 10 is conservative.
5.
He would have His hands and feet pierced.
Probability 1 in 100? He could
have been killed by guns, electric chair, stoning, injection, off a
cliff…..
And when this prophecy was
written in the book of Psalms 1000 years before Christ, crucifixion was
not even invented yet as a means of capital punishment.
Ask some of your friends to deny
the odds of what we are noting.
Ps 22:16 For dogs have
surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
Fulfilled in Luke 23:33
And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him
and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
Roman crucifixion used nails or
spikes. But when the book of Psalms was written 10 centuries before
Christ, crucifixion wasn’t even invented yet.
6. He would be wounded by
His enemies and whipped by them.
Probability 1 in 25?
And He was innocent. Not a
serial killer!
Isa 53:5 But He was
pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
Fulfilled in Matt 27:26
Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he
delivered Him to be crucified
7. He would be betrayed
for 30 pieces of silver.
Probability 1 in 100?
Zech 11:12-13 And I
said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not,
never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13
Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price
at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and
threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Fulfilled in Matt 26:14-15
Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief
priests, 15 and said, "What are you willing to give me to deliver Him up
to you?" And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver.
Just a coincidence. Right?
It makes more sense that the
earth is flat than for one man to fulfill all these prophecies hundreds
and thousands of years later!
Unless an all-knowing God wrote
the Bible.
- He will be spit upon and
beaten.
Probability 1 in 10? How many
criminals do you know are spit on and beaten when they go to trial?
Isa 50:6 I gave My back
to those who strike Me,
And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard;
I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.
Fulfilled in Matt 26:67
Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others
slapped Him,
Another coincidence?
- He would have His betrayal
money thrown in the Temple and given for a potter’s field.
Probability 1 in 200?
There could have been many
different amounts and many different uses for the money!
Zech 11:13 Then the LORD
said to me, "Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was
valued by them." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to
the potter in the house of the LORD.
Fulfilled in Matt 27:3-7
Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been
condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the
chief priests and elders, 4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent
blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" 5 And
he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went
away and hanged himself. 6 And the chief priests took the pieces of silver
and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it
is the price of blood." 7 And they counseled together and with the money
bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers.
Wow. This was also predicted
hundreds of years before Jesus was born.
- He would be silent before His
accusers. What are the odds of that? None of us could be silent
especially if we were innocent! Right?!
Probability 1 in 100?
Isa 53:7 He was
oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
Fulfilled in Matt 27:12-14 And
while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He made no
answer. 13 Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they
testify against You?" 14 And He did not answer him with regard to even a
single charge, so that the governor was quite amazed.
11. He would
be crucified with thieves!
Probability 1 in 100?
Isa 53:12 Because He
poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
Fulfilled in Mark
15:27-28 And they crucified two robbers with Him, one on His
right and one on His left. 28[And the Scripture was fulfilled which says,
"And He was numbered with transgressors."
He interceded for them, saying
to the thief who believed in Him that today he would be with Him in
paradise.
Now with the mathematical law of
probability you have to multiply the odds to get the combined odds of all
these things coming true, never mind all of them being fulfilled by one
Person in human history.
Grab a calculator: multiply
200x20x50x10x100x25x100x10x200x100x100.
The answer is 1 chance in 10 to
the 19th power. 1 in 10 with 19 zeros, which is 1 in 10
billion x a billion that one person could fulfill just these 11
prophecies!
Here is what it looks like: 1
in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000. whatever number that is!
For it to be by chance, we would
have to say it’s impossible.
We have been conservative, such
as Bethlehem actually being 1 in 1000 towns with names to them.
He would be crucified, written
hundreds of years before the Roman empire even existed, before Crucifixion
was even a means of capital punishment.
With the most conservative
probabilities of these things happening to the Messiah, we would have to
say it’s not possible.
There is a man who became a
believer in Jesus Christ because he was into mathematics, and he saw the
staggering prophecies and realized the impossibility of them all coming
true.
After studying just 22
prophecies, he used the analogy of taking a little common pin and flying
over the world and dropping it somewhere into the world.
Then you take a blind man and
spin him around and drop him somewhere on the earth. Then you tell him he
has one chance to bend down and pick up that little common pin that’s on
the earth somewhere.
He says that’s the probability
of one man fulfilling 20 prophecies.
You don’t think you have a
supernatural book before you, that only a God with all knowledge could
direct its writing?
We have listed only 11 of the 48
major prophecies given about the promised Messiah.
And the odds of those 11
occurring is 1 in 10 billion x a billion.
The Bible is like no other
religious book. It is true and supernatural and you had better look into
what else this book says about life and salvation!
Isa 46:8-11 "Remember
this, and be assured;
Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
9 "Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like
Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying,'My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.
It is indeed the Word of God.
John 1:1 In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God
John 1:14 And the Word
became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the
only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And by simple faith in Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, we accept His free gift of salvation. Rom
6:23
He purchased our salvation on
the Cross with God’s own blood. Acts 20:28.
So now we are set free from the
slave market of sin we were born into. We have been redeemed, or
purchased, and set free.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus
and you will be saved!” Acts 16:31
“For God so loved the
world that He gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall never perish, but has eternal life!” Joh 3:16
Now is the acceptable time. Now
is the day of salvation. If you haven’t trusted Christ as your Lord and
Savior, the promised Messiah, do so now before your life is over!
If you make the decision to
believe in Him, God will save you, and reserve a place for you in heaven
forever and ever.
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