Fulfilled Prophecies
When sharing evidence that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, we should be prepared
to review some of the many ways in which
His life on earth fulfilled a number of
Old Testament prophecies.
Here's Gene:
This Principle comes from John's reference,
a very specific reference,
to fulfilled prophecy regarding Jesus Christ.
And we find this in John, chapter 19,
beginning in verse 35:
He who saw this has testified so that
you also may believe. ...
And there, John is referring to himself.
Because he's at the cross as we've seen
in the previous section of John.
...His testimony is true...
In essence, he's using third-person there.
But if we personalized it, John is simply saying:
My testimony is true.
And I know (third-person):
...he [John] knows he is telling the truth. ...
And notice what he does:
For these things happened so that the
Scripture would be fulfilled...
And here he refers to a prophecy in
the Old Testament.
The first prophecy is in Psalm 34, verse 20.
...Not one of his bones will be broken. ...
And as John stood there and watched,
and observed, he saw the spear go into
the side of Jesus.
In that sense, his body was broken.
But they didn't break his legs,
which was normally done. He saw that.
And he saw this prophecy fulfilled.
He saw another prophecy fulfilled. He said:
...Also, another Scripture says:
They will look at the one they pierced.
And that prophecy comes from
Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10.
And as he looked about him,
these Roman soldiers were looking up
at the one they had pierced.
Now those two prophecies were written
centuries before it happened.
And what that simply introduces us to is
that when we think in terms of these
two prophecies, we can think in terms
of all of the prophecies about Jesus
in the Old Testament.
Some believe there are hundreds.
But I'd like to simply share with you
something that is very significant here
that comes right out of John chapter 5.
And here it is.
He says to the religious leaders:
You pore over the Scriptures because
you think you have eternal life in them,
and yet they testify about me [Jesus said].
But you are not willing to come to me
so that you may have life.
Now that tells us that we can
understand the Scriptures.
We can study the Scriptures.
But the Scriptures don't bring life.
The Scriptures point to Jesus who gives us life.
And it's our faith and reception of him
that gives us eternal life.
But I want to key off on the fact that the
Scriptures speak of Jesus.
To help us believe who he really is
and to receive him.
So let me just share with you eight prophecies.
And this is among many prophecies that came true.
For example, Micah 5:2:
Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small
among the clans of Judah;
one will come from you to be
ruler over Israel for me.
And what do we read in the
New Testament in Matthew?
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea
in the days of King Herod.
That was prophesied centuries before.
Here's another one--Herod's Massacre, Jeremiah 31:15:
This is what the LORD says:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
a lament with bitter weeping--
Rachel weeping for her children.
And what do we read in Matthew?
He gave orders [that is Herod gave orders]
to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem
who were two years old and under.
And Matthew then quotes the prophecy
from Jeremiah.
That was prophesied centuries before.
Here's another one. John the Baptist:
A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness.
Isaiah wrote those words.
What do we read here in Matthew, chapter 3?
In those days John the Baptist came,
preaching in the wilderness of Judea.
Again prophesied hundreds of years before.
Here's another one. Rriding a donkey.
Now think about this. Zechariah:
Look, your King is coming to you;
he is righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
What's recorded in the New Testament?
What happened in Luke, chapter 19, verse 35?
Then they brought it to Jesus,
and after throwing their clothes on the donkey,
they helped Jesus get on it.
Amazing.
Number five--the resurrection, Psalm 16:10:
For you will not abandon me to Sheol;
you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.
Who's that referring to?
It's a prophecy of Jesus.
And here's what we read in the
New Testament in Acts 2:31:
Seeing what was to come, he spoke concerning
the resurrection of the Messiah:
[that is the psalmist]
he was not abandoned in Hades [or Sheol],
and his flesh did not experience decay.
Again prophesied hundreds of years,
centuries before it happened.
Number six, and this is an amazing one---
thirty pieces of silver. Zechariah 11:12:
Then I said to them, If it seems right to you,
give me my wages; but if not, keep them.
So they weighed my wages,
thirty pieces of silver.
Centuries before. What do we read? Matthew 26:15:
... and said, What are you willing to
give me if I hand him over to you?...
Judas of course speaking.
...So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him.
Here's the seventh prophecy--
his body was pierced. Zechariah 12:10,
we've already seen this:
They will look at me whom they pierced.
John already recorded that.
Then John 19 we read it:
But one of the soldiers pierced his side
with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.
Here's number eight. Psalm 22:18,
his garments distributed:
They divided my garments among themselves,
and they cast lots for my clothing.
Now what is the probability that this
would happen centuries later?
It's recorded in John 19--he was there.
He witnessed this.
They also took the tunic, which was seamless,
woven in one piece from the top.
So they said to one another, Let's not tear it,
but [get the words] cast lots for it,
to see who gets it.
Now, what I have done is I've simply
shared with you eight prophecies.
There are many more.
And here's the question.
What is the probability that this could
happen by chance?
Well statisticians tell us something that
is quite interesting.
Likelihood that all of these eight prophecies
happening by chance is
one chance in 10 to the 17th power.
And that's what it looks like.
One chance in--and that's a lot of zeros.
That's one chance in 100 quadrillion.
In other words, there's one chance
in 100 million, billion that those eight prophecies
would happen by chance.
Let me ask you another question.
What do you think the probability is that
just the prophecy regarding thirty pieces
of silver would happen?
Thirty, the number thirty, and it was silver.
I don't know what the probability is
but it's unbelievable.
Just that one prophecy.
So you see prophecy is incredible in terms of
giving evidence that Jesus Christ is
really who he said he is.
The Old Testament prophets,
by the inspiration of God, many times prophesied
happenings regarding the life of Jesus
would come true to the exact detail.
So here's a question to think about.
And I've really tried to reflect on that and is simply this:
Though this kind of evidence is so overwhelming,
why do so many unbelievers ignore this information?
Well I think there's a simple answer.
First of all, and that is that many people
don't even know it. They're unaware.
They do not know that there's this
kind of information.
Which is a tremendous challenge isn't it?
In our communication. Because John
in his recording of what happened wants us
to know that this was fulfilled prophecy.
He just gave us two but that simply
introduces us to this very important
concept of sharing.
And being able to share how a prophecy came true.
And then, another interesting thing is
that there are some people who really
take seriously the story of Jesus.
I'm reminded of a book I read by Frank Morrison.
It's titled, Who Moved the Stone?
And he set out to prove that the
resurrection was a hoax.
He happened to be a religious leader.
A priest, I believe, within Christianity,
but he didn't really believe in the resurrection.
Well guess what?
As he researched it,
he answered that question, who moved the stone.
It was a miracle.
And he verifies how the resurrection
was true in his own mind.
So when we search. When we seek.
God wants to reveal himself.
I think of C.S. Lewis, an atheist, who denied God.
And yet through research and study,
and an open heart, became one of the
great converted atheists in our world today.
And of course, his literature is still
being used to convince people that Jesus Christ--
who said that he was God.
C.S. Lewis came to believe that.
But when all is said and done.
We have to acknowledge what Paul said.
No man can say that Jesus is the Christ,
except by the Holy Spirit.
But God wants to use all of this information.
All of this data that we have in the
Old Testament and in the New Testament
to demonstrate that Jesus Christ
is indeed the Son of God.
The Savior of the world.