The Bible, if it truly is God's own Word, should be able to prove itself to be so by predicting history before it happens. As it is, it does - we call it prophecy.The Facts
The Bible is 1/3 prophecy and is the only book of prophecy with a 100% accuracy rate. There are approximately 2500 prophecies in the Bible - 2000 have been fulfilled with frightening detail (the remainder concerns future events to be fulfiled in the last days).
The probability for these numerous prophecies being fulfilled by accident is less than 1 in 10 to the power of 2000 - this is 1 with 2000 zeros after it!
The enemy tries to counterfeit God's miracles to deceive the world but as he is only a limited created being, he does not succeed. Which explains why people like Nostradamus, mediums, psychics and other 'genuine' fortunetellers cannot get it right all the time.This article is specifically focusing on the 300+ prophecies concerning the Identity of the Messiah, the Saviour of Israel and the peoples of the world.
It has been calculated that anyone just fulfilling 8 Messianic prophecies by chance is next to impossible..1 in 10 to the 17th power (1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000), and fulfilling 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10 to the 157th power, (or 1 in 10, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 ... consider the number of zeros for all 300+ prophecies!)
Now you should start to see that, against these astronomical odds, only Jesus the Christ could have fulfilled these prophecies (30 on the day of His crucifixion alone!), thus proving not only that He is the Messiah King but also that there is a God who foresaw it and inspired it to be written down, in His Word, hundreds and even thousands of years prior.
The Prophecies
Below is a sample of the Messianic Prophecies in summary form. However, to further pique your interest, I shall begin by detailing one of my favorites, which not only removes all doubt that Jesus is Meshiach Nagid - the Messiah; but also that the Bible is supernatually inspired:
The book of Daniel was written during the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century before Christ. Sceptics who deny authentic authorship by Daniel still have to admit that the book appears in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) by the Second Century before Christ. Even this later date makes this a valid and powerful prophecy.
Daniel 9:24-26: The following terms are crucial to understanding the prophecy: "Anointed one" is the Messiah that the Jews were waiting for (Messiah is Hebrew for Anointed One), "Cut off" always refers to killed in the O.T., and "Weeks", or "Sevens" (depending upon translation) is the Hebrew word 'Heptad'. 'Heptad' is used to mean either a period of seven days or a period of seven years (comparable to our use of "Decade" for ten years). This passage is stating that 69 times seven years after the decree to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem the Messiah would be killed for His people.
The Hebrew calendar consisted (and still consists) of 12 months of 30 days each, resulting in a 360 day year. The conversion from that calendar to ours is as follows:
1. 69 X 7 = 483 Hebrew Years
2. 483 X 360 = 173,880 Days
3. 173,880 / 365 (Days in our calendar year) = 476 Years in our calendar after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, the Messiah will be cut off.
In Nehemiah 2:1, we read that in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, the decree was given to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (vv 2-9). King Artaxerxes is a historical figure whose reign, secular historians say, began in 464 B.C. Twenty (20) years from that date would be 444 B.C. when the decree was issued. Traveling forward in time, 476 years brings one to 33 A.D. (Remember that there is no year 0. The year after 1 B.C. is 1 A.D.).
The general agreement among historians, whatever their opinion of Jesus, is that 33 A.D. is the year that He was crucified ('Messiah was cut off') for His people. That makes this an amazingly accurate, incredibly specific fulfilled prophecy with 'WRITTEN BY GOD' stamped all over it.
Wait; there's more.
Here are more examples from the Bible of prophecy fulfilment
Prophecy (in the Old Testament) ... Fulfilment (in the New Testament):
- Gen. 26:2-5..The Seed of Isaac promised as the Redeemer... Hebrews.11:18
- Gen. 49:10...The time of His coming...Lu. 2:1-7; Galatians. 4:4
- Gen. 49:10.......The Seed of Judah.......Lu. 3:33
- Gen. 49:10......Called Shiloh or One Sent......Jn. 17:3
- Gen. 49:10...To Him shall the obedience of the people be...Jn. 10:16
- Ex. 3:13,14........The Great "I Am".......Jn. 4:26
- Ex. 12:5...A Lamb without blemish...1 Pet. 1:19
- Ex. 12:13...The blood of the Lamb saves from wrath...Romans. 5:8
- Ex. 12:21-27...Christ is our Passover...1 Corinthians 5;7
- Ex. 12:46...Not a bone of the Lamb to be broken...Jn. 19:31-36
- Ex. 15:2...His exaltation predicted as Yeshua...Acts 7:55,56
- Isa. 7:14...To be born of a virgin...Lu. 1:35
- Isa. 7:14...To be Emmanuel-God with us... Mt. 1:18-23
- Isa. 9:1,2...His ministry to begin in Galilee...Mt. 4:12-17
- Isa. 12:2...Called Jesus-Yeshua...Mt. 1:21
- Isa. 25:8...The Resurrection predicted...I Corinthians 15:54
- Isa. 26:19...His power of Resurrection predicted...Jn. 11:43,44
- Isa. 50:6b...He was smitten on the cheeks... Mt. 26:67
- Isa. 50:6c...He was spat upon... Mt. 27:30
- Isa. 52:7...To publish good tidings of peace... Lu. 4:14,15
- Isa. 52:13...The Servant exalted...Acts 1:8-11; Eph. 1:19-22
- Isa. 52:13...Behold, My Servant... Mt. 17:5; Philippians 2:5-8
- Isa. 52:14...The Servant shockingly abused... Lu. 18:31-34; Mt. 26:67,68
- Isa. 52:15...Nations startled by message of the Servant... Romans 15:18-21
- Isa. 52:15...His blood shed to make atonement for all... Revelation 1:5
- Isa. 53:1...His people would not believe Him... Jn. 12:37-38
- Isa. 53:2a...He would grow up in a poor family.... Lu. 2:7
- Isa. 53:2b...Appearance of an ordinary man... Philippians 2:7-8
- Isa. 53:3a...Despised.... Lu. 4:28-29
- Isa. 53:3b...Rejected... Mt. 27:21-23
- Isa. 53:3c...Great sorrow and grief... Lu. 19:41-42
- Isa. 53:3d...Men hide from being associated with Him... Mk. 14:50-52
- Isa. 53:4a...He would have a healing ministry... Lu. 6:17-19
- Isa. 53:4b...He would bear the sins of the world... 1 Pet. 2:24
- Isa. 53:4c...Thought to be cursed by God... Mt. 27:41-43
- Isa. 53:5a...Bears penalty for mankind's transgressions... Lu. 23:33
- Isa. 53:5b...His sacrifice would provide peace between man and God... Colossians 1:20
- Isa. 53:5c...His back would be whipped... Mt. 27:26
- Isa. 53:6a...He would be the sin-bearer for all mankind...Galatians 1:4
- Isa. 53:6b...God's will that He bear sin for all mankind... 1 Jn. 4:10
- Isa. 53:7a...Oppressed and afflicted... Mt. 27:27-31
- Isa. 53:7b...Silent before his accusers... Mt. 27:12-14
- Isa. 53:7c...Sacrificial lamb... Jn. 1:29
- Isa. 53:8a...Confined and persecuted... Mt. 26:47-27:31
- Isa. 53:8b...He would be judged... Jn. 18:13-22
- Isa. 53:8c...Killed.... Mt. 27:35
- Isa. 53:8d...Dies for the sins of the world... 1 Jn. 2:2
- Isa. 53:9a...Buried in a rich man's grave... Mt. 27:57
- Isa. 53:9b...Innocent and had done no violence... Mk. 15:3
- Isa. 53:9c...No deceit in his mouth... Jn. 18:38
- Isa. 53:10a...God's will that He die for mankind... Jn. 18:11
- Isa. 53:10b...An offering for sin... Mt. 20:28
- Isa. 53:10c...Resurrected and live forever.... Mk. 16:16
Fulfilment of prophecies is one of the factors that attest to the reliability and accuracy of the Bible as the Word of the Living God.
(Key to abbreviations: Isa = Isaiah; Gen. = Genesis; Ex. = Exodus; Mt. = Matthew; Mk. = Mark; Lk. = Luke; Jn. = John; Pet. = Peter)
