“The Things Written About Me”
“...has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"

By Jon W. Quinn


“Now He said to them, 'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." (Luke 24:44).

How many things? How many things that had been written over the previous one and a half thousand years had to be fulfilled by Jesus in order to prove to everyone that He is the Christ? And what are the chances that anyone else would either coincidentally or by plan fulfill them all?

Consider one of the most compelling evidences that Jesus is the Messiah; the Son of God. He fulfilled all the prophecies… the easy ones as well as the difficult…. And even the impossible ones! (But with God, all thing are possible! - Mark 9:23; 10:27)

Prophecies and Jesus
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and He will not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19). The apostles and prophets, and Jesus Himself, appealed to the Scriptures as proof of Jesus' Messiahship. The Old Testament, written over a period of about 1,000 years (1400-400 B.C.), and completed at least four centuries prior to Jesus' birth, establish and confirm the fact that Jesus was who He said He was. There were over 300 prophecies made, including over 60 major prophecies that show obvious Divine foreknowledge.

Some Objections Considered
"And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in the Scriptures." (Luke 24:27). Some have tried to explain away the prophecies, but there is really no adequate explanation other than Jesus is God's Son, the Messiah, promised from the beginning.

Some skeptics suggest that the prophecies were actually written after Jesus lived, but the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls disproved that. Additionally, the Greek translation of the Old Testament occurred in 250 B.C. We know the prophecies referring to Jesus were being circulated at that time. Yes, all of these prophecies were written centuries before Jesus was born.

Others suggest that Jesus deliberately fulfilled the prophecies. No doubt He did; the riding into Jerusalem on the back of a colt was something He deliberately did to fulfill prophecy. But not all can be explained that way. He certainly had no human control over the place of His birth, nor the time of it. He had no control over the price that Judas would receive for betraying Him. He had no control over the method of His execution, the piercing of His side, the casting of lots for His garments or where He would be buried! These were all fulfillments of prophecy as well!

Well, maybe it was all coincidental. You can find some of these prophecies fulfilled by lots of people. Jesus was not the first, or the last, to die for others. But again, Jesus did not fulfill just one or two, but hundreds. In fact, all of them. No other in human history comes close! No objection conceived by the unbelieving mind of man has ever come close to providing a reasonable alternative.

Some Specific Prophecies
"Think not that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17). There are far too many prophecies to note all of them here. We will notice eight of them, selected because they were all beyond the human control of Jesus to manipulate.

According to the prophet Micah, the Messianic ruler would come from the tiny village of Bethlehem. Here God eliminates all the other cities and villages of the world as possibilities (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1). If Jesus had been born anywhere else, He would not be the promised one. But, of course, that is exactly where He was born.

The time of the Messiah's coming would be in the days of the fourth empire in the future from Daniel's perspective, which turned out to be Rome (Daniel 2:44). Very exact time references are given (Daniel 9:25) and fulfilled in Jesus.

He was to be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:18-24). If Jesus' father had been known, then we would be sure that He is not the Messiah.

He would be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12,13, John 13:21, Matthew 26:15).

In His execution, His hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:16, Luke 23:33).

People would continue to mock Him as He died (Psalm 22:7,8, Matthew 27:39).

He would be pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and of course this was fulfilled by a Roman soldier with a spear (John 19:34).

Though counted as wicked, He would be buried by a rich man in an area designated as tombs for those who could afford them (Isaiah 53:9, Matthew 27:57-60).

As we consider these prophecies about Jesus, we would do well to remember the words of Jehovah through the prophet Isaiah: "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. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not yet been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure." (Isaiah 46:9,10).

What Are the Changes?
"For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John 5:46,47). What is the chance that any man living down to the present time could have fulfilled all eight of these prophecies, based upon mathematical principles of probability, without even mentioning the hundreds of others also fulfilled? For example, out of the billions of people to have ever walked this planet, how many of them have been born in Bethlehem? Only a very, very small percentage. 1 out of, say, 100 million? How many of that small number were betrayed for 30 pieces of silver? Probably only one… and we still have hundreds of prophecies to go. Suffice it to say, in answer to the question, “Of the billions who have ever lived, how many fulfill the requirements of prophecy concerning the Messiah?” The answer: Only One even comes close. We know who He is!

We have noted the fulfilling of only eight of the more than three hundred prophecies which Jesus actually fulfilled! If all the prophecies were considered, the odds of Jesus not being God's Son are even less, much, much less! Because of the confidence that reasonable people can have in Jesus as being the Savior when these Scriptures are considered, it is the right thing to do to put our eternal destiny into His hands!
 
From The Bradley Banner 6/24/2007
Published by the Bradley Church of Christ
1505 E. Broadway
 
 


 

 
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