More Prophecies Fulfilled By Jesus

The following are additional prophecies also written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, finding a remarkable fulfillment in His life.

BORN OF VIRGIN:

Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a SIGN: Behold, the VIRGIN shall conceive and bear a SON, and shall call His name IMMANUEL.”  This tells us that IMMANUEL (God with us, or God on earth) will be born of a VIRGIN.  Even though the Hebrew word used for virgin is almah, which could mean merely a young woman of marriageable age (not necessarily a virgin), there are three irrefutable reasons we can rest assured Isaiah is talking about a literal virgin:            

1. The Septuagint (Greek translation of Hebrew Scripture written around 250 B.C.) translates almah as VIRGIN.
2. The context of Isaiah 7 shows that the virgin birth would be an incredible sign such that the power of the God of Israel would be revealed.  If almah really meant a young woman of marriageable age giving birth, how would this be a supernatural, incredible sign from God?
3. Tracing Jesus’s genealogy (see week 1), one can see that He could not be born from any man.

Matthew 1:18-25 shows that Jesus was born of a virgin and called Immanuel.  This awesome fulfilled prophecy also refutes the Muslim’s claim that Jesus was the Messiah and born of a virgin, but was not God on earth…for both Matthew and Isaiah show that the one born of a virgin would be Immanuel, meaning “God on earth”.

PRESENTED WITH GIFTS:

Psalm 72:10 says, “KINGS of TARSHISH, SHEBA and SEBA will offer GIFTS” to the coming Messiah. 

Matthew 2:1,11 shows that WISE MEN from the EAST presented Jesus with GIFTS. 

“The historic application of this passage is to Solomon.  The messianic application is amplified in verses 12 through 15 (Psalm 72).  The inhabitants of Seba and Sheba, the Sabeans, lived in Arabia.  Matthew Henry says about Matthew 2, verses 1 and 11, that the wise men were ‘men of the east, who were noted for their soothsaying (Isaiah 2:6).  Arabia is called the land of the east (Gen. 25:6) and the Arabians are called, Men of the east (Judges 6:3).  The presents they brought were the products of that country.’” (Nezikin and Henry as cited by McDowell, NETDV)

HEROD KILLS CHILDREN

Jeremiah 31:15 says there would be BITTER WEEPING for CHILDREN, because they are NO MORE when the Messiah comes.

Matthew 2:16-18 shows that HEROD put to DEATH all the male CHILDREN from BETHLEHEM and all its districts.

Laetsch says,  “The entire context of ch. 31, beginning ch.30:20 and continuing to ch. 33:26, is Messianic.  The four chapters speak of the approach of the Lord’s salvation, of the coming of Messiah to re-establish the Kingdom of David in the form of a new covenant, of which forgiveness of sins is to be the foundation (ch. 31:31-34); a kingdom in which every weary and sorrowful soul shall be fully comforted (vv. 12-14, 25).  As an example of this comfort the Lord introduces the consolation to be extended to mothers who had suffered great loss for the sake of Christ, the cruel murder of their infant sons.” (Laetsch, BCJ)

HE SHALL BE CALLED LORD

Psalm 110:1 says the Messiah will be called LORD.

Luke 2:11 shows Jesus was known as CHRIST THE LORD.

In Matthew 22:43-45, Jesus shows the Pharisees that David knew the Messiah as Lord, and it reveals Jesus’s claim that he is the Lord whom David spoke of.

SHALL BE A PROPHET

Deuteronomy 18:18 shows that the Messiah would be a PROPHET.

The Jewish scholar Maimonides states clearly that the Messiah would be a prophet (Cohen, TM), even though he does not believe Jesus to be the Messiah.  This does, however, show that the Jews knew the Messiah to be a prophet.

Matthew 21:11 quotes the multitudes to say, “This is JESUS, the PROPHET from Nazareth of Galilee.

JUDGE

Isaiah 33:22 shows that the coming Messiah and Lord will JUDGE.

John 5:30 reveals that Jesus did JUDGE.

HIS ZEAL FOR GOD

Psalm 69:9 says the coming Messiah would have a ZEAL for GOD and HIS HOUSE.

John 2:15-17 recounts Jesus ZEALOUSLY entering the TEMPLE and dealing with the corruption inside.

PRECEDED BY MESSENGER

Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1 clearly show that a MESSENGER had to prepare a way before Jesus.

Matthew 3:1-3 shows that JOHN THE BAPTIST was the MESSENGER who came BEFORE Jesus.

MINISTRY BEGINS IN GALILEE

Isaiah 9:1,2 says the Messiah’s MINISTRY had to BEGIN IN GALILEE.

Matthew 4:12,13,17 shows that JESUS BEGAN HIS MINISTRY IN GALILEE.

MINISTRY OF MIRACLES

Isaiah 35:5,6 shows that the Messiah’s MINISTRY would have MIRACLES.

Matthew 9:35 shows that Jesus’s MINISTRY did involve MIRACLES.

In fact, Matthew 11:4-6 records Jesus as appealing to the MIRACLES he performed for evidence that HE is the CHRIST.

PARABLES

Psalm 78:2 says the Messiah would speak in PARABLES.

Matthew 13:34-35 records Jesus speaking in PARABLES.

ENTERED TEMPLE

Malachi 3:1 says that the coming Messiah would SUDDENLY enter HIS TEMPLE.

Matthew 21:12 shows Jesus SUDDENLY entering HIS TEMPLE.

Jerusalem’s temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., thus the messiah had to come before this time.

HE WAS TO ENTER JERUSALEM ON A DONKEY

Zechariah 9:9 says the Messiah would ENTER JERUSALEM on a DONKEY.

Luke 19:35-37 shows Jesus GOING to the MOUNT OF OLIVES on a DONKEY.

“STONE OF STUMBLING” TO JEWS

Psalm 118:21-22 says that the BUILDERS [or Jews] would REJECT the CHIEF CORNERSTONE [Jesus].

1 Peter 2:7-8 and Romans 9:31-33 both cite this psalm, and show that indeed JEWS did REJECT Jesus.

LIGHT TO GENTILES

Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; 60:3 says the Messiah would be a LIGHT to the GENTILES.

Acts 13:47,48 and Acts 26:23 show that Jesus was a LIGHT to the GENTILES.

Outside of Jesus and his followers, how many other Jews have provided a ministry for the Gentiles?

ASCENSION

Psalm 68:18 says the Messiah would ASCEND on HIGH.

In Acts 1:9, Luke shows that the disciples did see Jesus ASCEND ON HIGH.

RESURRECTION

Psalm 16:10 says the Holy One (or Messiah) would RESURRECT.

Acts 2:31 records Peter’s petition that Jesus did RESURRECT as the Psalmist wrote.

Christianity rests on this Messianic Prophecy and Jesus’s fulfillment of it, as Paul says, “If Christ is NOT RISEN, then our preaching is EMPTY and your FAITH is also EMPTY.” (1 Corinthians 15:14)

Jewish sources such as Friedlaender and Sanhedrin II, Babylonian Talmud acknowledge that the coming Messiah would have to RESURRECT.

OBJECTION: FULFILLED PROPHECY IN JESUS WAS COINCIDENTAL – AN ACCIDENT

“’Why, you could find some of these prophecies fulfilled in the deaths of Kennedy, King, Nasser, and other great figures,’ replies the critic.

“Answer: Yes, one could possibly find one or two prophecies fulfilled in the lives of other men, but not sixty-one major prophecies [of which most have been covered in this Bible study]!  In fact, for years, if you could have found someone other than Jesus, living or dead, who fulfilled half of the predictions concerning messiah, as listed in Messiah in Both Testaments by Fred john Meldau, the Christian victory Publishing Company of Denver offered to give you a one-thousand-dollar reward.  There are a lot of men in the universities who could have used this extra cash!

“H. Harold Hartzler, of the American Scientific Affiliation, Goshen college, in the foreword of Peter Stoner’s book writes: ‘The manuscript for Science Speaks has been carefully reviewed by a committee of the American Scientific Affiliation members and by the Executive Council of the same group and has been found, in general, to be dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented.  The mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound and Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way.’ (Hartzler, “F,” as cited in Stoner, SS)

“The following probabilities are taken from Stoner in Science Speaks to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability.  Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies [Born at Bethlehem, Ministry to begin at Galilee, He Was to Enter Jerusalem on a Donkey, Betrayed by a Friend and Hands and Feet Pierced, Sold for Thirty Pieces of Silver, Money to Be Thrown into God’s House and Price Given for Potter’s Field, Silent before Accusers, Crucified], 

‘We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10¹⁷ [(10 to the 17^th power).  That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (17 zeros after the one).  In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing 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 them according to their own wisdom.

‘Now these prophecies were either given by inspiration of god or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be.  In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 10¹⁷ of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ.  This means that the fulfillment of these eight prophecies alone proves that God inspired the writing of those prophecies to a definiteness which lacks only one chance in 10¹⁷ of being absolute.’ (Stoner, SS 100-107)

“Stoner considers forty-eight prophecies and reports,

‘We find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10¹⁵⁷.  This is really a large number and it represents an extremely small chance.  Let us try to visualize it.  The silver dollar, which we have been using, is entirely too large.  We must select a smaller object.  The electron is about as small an object as we know of.  It is so small that it will take 2.5 times 10¹⁵ of them laid side by side to make a line, single file, one inch long.  If we were going to count the electrons in this line one inch long, and counted 250 each minute, and if we counted day and night, it would take us 19,000,000 years to count just the one-inch line of electrons.  If we had a cubic inch of these electrons and we tried to count them it would take us, counting steadily 250 each minute, 19,000,000 times 19,000,000 times 19,000,000 years or 6.9 times 10²¹ years.

‘With this introduction, let us go back to our chance of 1 in 10¹⁵⁷.  Let us suppose that we are taking this number of electrons, marking one, and thoroughly stirring it into the whole mass, then blindfolding a man and letting him try to find the right one.  What chance has he of finding the right one?  What kind of a pile will this number of electrons make?  They make an inconceivably large volume.’ (Stoner, SS, 109, 110)

“Such is the chance of any individual fulfilling forty-eight prophecies.”

(McDowell, NETDV)

JESUS CHRIST FULFILLED MORE THAN 300 PROPHECIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!