Page 21 - Bibliology - Textbook w videos short

Many scholars believe there are more than 300 prophecies about the coming Messiah in the Old
Testament. These prophecies are specific enough that the mathematical probability of Jesus Christ
fulfilling only a handful of them, let alone all of them, is staggeringly improbably if not impossible.

Peter Stoner, Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena College, looked at
eight specific prophecies about Jesus. He came up with extremely conservative probabilities for each one
being fulfilled, and then considered the likelihood of Jesus fulfilling all eight of those prophecies. The
conclusion to his research was staggering. The prospect that anyone would satisfy those eight prophecies
th
was just 1 in 10 to the 17 power.

After looking at only three lines of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled at His first coming we can make the
following observations. Jesus told the religious leaders to search the Scriptures and discover where they
spoke about Him. The coming Messiah was to be born in one particular family. This would be through
Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David. The New Testament is clear that Jesus was a descendant
of David. The Old Testament prophet Micah predicted the Messiah would be born in the small town of
Bethlehem. Matthew tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Daniel the prophet said the Messiah
would come before the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed at that He would also be killed.
Jesus came upon the scene of history before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. He was
crucified about forty years before they were destroyed.

The prophecies that Jesus fulfilled were fulfilled literally. He was a literal descendant of David, literally
born in Bethlehem, and literally died before the city and temple were destroyed. These three lines of
prophecy were fulfilled by Jesus' birth. There is no way, humanly speaking, that He could have
deliberately fulfilled them. The coming of the Messiah was predicted in the Old Testament. Jesus
fulfilled these prophecies and, in doing so, has the right to claim to be the promised Messiah.

Prophecies of Jesus Fulfilled

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