Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus
Spies in the movies normally have just one challenge phrase with an answer: The pheasant has no agenda. Response: Because the dog house has 12 shingles. Then they trade secrets that can take down regimes.
What would you do to make sure that the person was who they said they were before you trusted in what they said?
Scenario: You and your boss need to arrange to have a third party meet you in the future that you don’t know. So you set up a series of tasks that this unknown person must execute so that you know they have been sent from your boss. How many would you have them do before you were sure?
Think about that for a second…
Would 1 be enough 2? 5? 6?
Today, let’s look at how we were told that we could tell who Christ was and there were a few more than 6.
What to Look For
Be Born as a Human and a Male
Isaiah 9:6-7
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Over 700 years before the fulfillment of this – as a side point this is a proof of the Bible
Not the purpose today
Isaiah written before Israel’s captivity in 721-718 BC
Zechariah began prophesying in the month of October/November in the second year of the reign
of Emperor Darius (520 B.C.). His last dated prophecy was delivered two years later, in 518 B.C.
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Born of a Virgin
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. [miraculous birth Joseph had no physical part in]
Matthew 1:21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” [He was literally]
Where to Look
From the House of Judah
Isaiah 37:31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
Matthew 1:2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.
Matthew 1:16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
From the Lineage of Jesse
Isaiah 11:10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.”
Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
Isaiah 11:3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
Isaiah 11:4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Isaiah 11:5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
Romans 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,
Romans 15:9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.”
Romans 15:10 And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”
Romans 15:11 And again: “Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!”
Romans 15:12 And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
Matthew 1:5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
Matthew 1:6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.
From the House of David
Isaiah 16:5 In mercy the throne will be established; And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.”
Born in Bethlehem Ephrathah
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Beth-lehem Ephratah– (also mentioned in Genesis 48:7) Beth-lehem Judah; is more than likely called this to distinguish it from Beth-lehem in Zebulun. (Joshua19:15) It is a few miles southwest of Jerusalem whereas the other was further to the Northwest about 7 miles
Matthew 2:1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
Matthew 2:2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
Matthew 2:3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Matthew 2:4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
Matthew 2:5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
Matthew 2:6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'”
Matthew 2:7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.
Matthew 2:8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
It was evident that this prophecy of the birthplace of the Messiah was known to the Jews AS WELL as the wise men of the East
JFB – The Roman historians, SUETONIUS and TACITUS, bear witness to an expectation, prevalent in the East, that out of Judea should arise a sovereign of the world.
Be from Nazareth of Galilee
Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles.
Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.
Matthew 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.
Matthew 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Matthew 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,
Matthew 4:14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
Matthew 4:15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:
Matthew 4:16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.”
When to Look
Now what would have been really nice would have been if the Bible would have just spelled out exactly when Christ was coming…
Daniel Praying About Sins of People
Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; [538 BC We know fall of Babylon was 539 BC]
Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
In a few different places in Jeremiah– Jeremiah 29:10, Jeremiah 25:11-12;
Interrupted by Gabriel
Daniel 9:20 Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God,
Daniel 9:21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.
Daniel 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.
Daniel 9:23 “At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:
Seventy Weeks Prophecy
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.
Daniel 9:25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.
Daniel 9:26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the Prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Daniel 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks For your people and for your holy city
literally sevened, ‘heptad’ (a series or combination of seven)
“A ‘day’ in the prophecy of Daniel 9:27 represents a year in fulfillment (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:3-6)
Numbers 14:34 ‘According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.
Ezekiel 4:3-6 “Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 4:4 “Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.
Ezekiel 4:5 “For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 4:6 “And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year.
Continuing in :24 we find what is to be accomplished:
Daniel 9:24 …To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.
Daniel 9:25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince
It would then be from the decree to RE-build Jerusalem until the Messiah
Messiah means Christ which means Anointed
Acts 10:37 “that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:
Acts 10:38 “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
We now have a specific beginning and ending here:
The going forth of the command or the decree that the Jews would be allowed to rebuild
to the beginning of Jesus Christs ministry
And now the length of time:
Daniel 9:25 …There shall be seven weeks (sevens) and sixty-two weeks;….
A day for a year gives us 49 years and 434 years which equals 483 years or 62 x 7
Letter answering dept: “‘The date from which the seventy weeks was to be counted was the decree to re-build Jerusalem [see verse 25]. There were three decrees issued by Persian kings for this purpose … The principal one of these was 457 BC [the one given by Artaxerxes].
457-483 = 26 but there was no year zero so we come out to 27 AD the year Christ began His ministry
HOW REMARKABLE AND WONDERFUL IS THAT! BUT WAIT THATS NOT ALL…
Daniel 9:25 …The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. [I believe in the beginning chapters of Ezra 4; Nehemiah 4-6] Daniel 9:26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
Sometime after 483 years the Messiah will be cut off for others, He died for all.
Skipping down to verse :27 we find exactly when after the 483 years that he will be cut off.
Daniel 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
We have here the final week of years of this seventy-week prophecy.
Jesus Christ is the minister of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Middle of the week: Thus in this understanding, the seventieth week is divided, with the first half (the first three and a half years) being the length of Christ’s human ministry
BCC 19 …Christ ministered three-and-a-half years — ONE HALF of this prophetical ‘week.’ For three-and-one-half years He CONFIRMED — spelled out the TERMS of — THE NEW COVENANT with His disciples who recorded them for us today. By dying for our sins in the MIDST OF the ‘week,’ He put the final STAMP on the covenant and made it binding with His blood. Through Him, ALL PEOPLE can now enter into the New Covenant and become HEIRS ‘according to the promise’ which God made to Abraham (Gal. 3:29).
The “middle of the week” is dually understood by some to mean the middle of an actual week, Wednesday, which is indeed the day of the week on which Jesus was crucified in 27 AD.
In others there were indeed many prophecies that gave specific details as to who, what, where, and when Christ would come and we see that there many who were expecting Christ around the time that He came.
Many expected a King Priest Warrior etc.
The Jewish people were well aware that the last Old Testament prophet predicted the coming of the Messiah to the temple (Malachi 3-4). They also knew God would first send a messenger to prepare the way for the Messiah. “Behold, I will send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple” (Malachi 3:1).
It is fitting then, that the first scene of the New Testament, chronologically speaking, opens with the description of that coming “messenger.” This first scene is found in Luke 1 and is actually a continuation of Malachi 3-4! It begins with the priest Zacharias in that temple being told by an angel that he would father the very “messenger” (John the Baptist), who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. The four Gospels begin where the Old Testament prophecies leave off, continuing and complementing them and showing their fulfillment in the events around Jesus Christ’s coming.
Had to be before 70AD (in the first century)
Importance of genealogies
Burned up in the destruction of the temple
Jewish descent from the Royal House of David can be traced through oral tradition, rabbinic sources, historical data and/or extensive research.
Also, he had to walk in the Temple
Did all the rest of His disciples perpetuate “the lie?”
Of course Jesus is going to fulfill prophecy (as we do today too; gospel will be preached until I come)
After all, God explained in the Old Testament how He is able to foretell the future: “I am God… declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done… Indeed, I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass” (Isaiah 46:9-11).
God makes these things happen. Of course Christ was going to fulfill them and do His part. He was God and concocted the plan
Luke 18:31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.
Why wouldn’t He come as that one? Instead He was ridiculed, beat, falsely accused and murdered…according to plan.
God’s Spirit Opens the Scriptures to Understanding
Within days the apostles began quoting passages from Scripture, declaring that these prophecies had been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Peter speaks of the death of Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, in Acts 1:20, quoting from Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8: “Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it,” and “Let another take his office.” Peter and the disciples had begun to understand that the Scriptures spoke in detail of many aspects of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
After receiving the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, their understanding of the Scriptures would increase greatly (John 14:26). Speaking on that day, Peter quotes from Joel 2:28-29, telling us that the sending of the Holy Spirit was a fulfillment of that prophecy (Acts 2:14-18).
Peter continues his message to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem by explaining the resurrection of Jesus with a reference to Psalm 16:8-11: “For David says concerning Him [Jesus]: ‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face, for He is at my right hand… For You will not leave my soul in Hades [the grave], nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption [decay after death] …You will make me full of joy in Your presence [through resurrection from the grave]'” (Acts 2:25-28). Peter asserts that David was a prophet and foresaw the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.
Even more astounding is David’s picture of the resurrected Christ that Peter quotes: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool'” (verses 34-36). Peter now sees clearly that the Old Testament pictured the coming of Jesus the Messiah—the Messiah whom he followed for more than three years. Now Peter is quoting Scripture to his countrymen to prove to them that Jesus is the Messiah.
Many years later we find Paul, who originally violently opposed those who accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah, reasoning with the Jews in synagogues that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Christ (Acts 17:1-4). Likewise, Apollos “refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 18:28). Some of the Jews they addressed were beginning to understand their own Scriptures in the light of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
Fulfilled Prophecies in the Gospels
Those Jews who believed that Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecies were in the minority. The Gospel writers, however, are relentless in their quotations from the Scriptures to demonstrate how Jesus fulfilled in detail the many messianic prophecies.
The apostle Matthew, for example, appears to have specifically written his Gospel to a first-century Jewish audience. Through a series of Old Testament quotations, Matthew documents Jesus Christ’s claim to be the Messiah. Jesus’ genealogy, baptism, messages and miracles all point to the same inescapable conclusion: He is the prophesied Messiah.
Matthew’s Gospel cites 21 prophecies that were fulfilled in circumstances surrounding the life and death of Christ. Eleven passages point out these fulfillments using such introductions as “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by the prophet…” or “then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet…”
Accidental fulfillment of prophecies?
The New Testament writers cite messianic prophecies from the Old Testament more than 130 times. By some estimates the Old Testament contains 300 prophetic passages that describe who the Messiah is and what He will do. Of these, 60 are major prophecies. What are the chances of these prophecies being fulfilled in one person?
Of course, as Dr. Geisler points out, God makes no mistakes. It is virtually inconceivable that God would allow either a total deception in His name or an accidental fulfillment in the life of the wrong person. Such things rule out a chance fulfillment (p. 343).
One might argue there is still that possibility—however remote. But the mathematical odds that all of these prophecies could have converged by chance in the events of the life of Jesus are staggeringly minute—to the point of eliminating any such possibility.
If this theory had any sense of plausibility, it still would make no sense that Jesus would not fulfill the Jewish expectation of a Messiah who was to come as a king to rule the people at that time. Jesus certainly had that opportunity if He had wanted to become a physical king and leader of the Jewish nation. Many were willing to follow Him and make Him king (John 6:15; 12:12-19). Instead He took the route that led to His horrible suffering and death.
On top of this Christ said that He was who He was.
1. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
2. “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me” (Mal. 3:1).
Our question here is: Of the men who have been born in Bethlehem, one man in how many has had a forerunner to prepare his way? John the Baptist, of course, was the forerunner of Christ. But since there appears to be no material difference between the people born in Bethlehem and those born any other place in the world, the question can just as well be general: One man in how many, the world over, has had a forerunner to prepare his way?
The students said that the prophecy apparently referred to a special messenger of God, whose one duty was to prepare the way for the work of Christ, so there is a further restriction added. The students finally agreed on one in 1,000 as being extremely conservative. Most of the members thought the estimate should be much larger. We will use the estimate as 1 in 103.
3. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation: lowly, and riding upon … a colt the foal of an ass” (Zech. 9:9). Our question then is: One man in how many, who was born in Bethlehem and had a forerunner, did enter Jerusalem as a king riding on a colt the foal of an ass? This becomes so restrictive that we should consider an equivalent question: One man in how many, who has entered Jerusalem as a ruler, has entered riding on a colt the foal of an ass?
The students said that this was a very hard thing to place an estimate on. They knew of no one but Christ who had so entered. The students thought that at least in more modern times any one entering Jerusalem as a king would use a more dignified means of transportation. They agreed to place an estimate of 1 in 104. We will use 1 in 102.
4. “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends”(Zech. 13:6).
Christ was betrayed by Judas, one of His disciples, causing Him to be put to death, wounds being made in His hands.
There seems to be no relation between the fulfillment of this prophecy and those which we have previously considered. We may then ask the question: One man in how many, the world over, has been betrayed by a friend, and that betrayal has resulted in his being wounded in his hands?
The students said that it was very rare to be betrayed by a friend, and still rarer for the betrayal to involve wounding in the hands. One in 1.000 was finally agreed upon, though most of the students would have preferred a larger number. So we will use the 1 in 103. The students said that it was very rare to be betrayed by a friend, and still rarer for the betrayal to involve wounding in the hands. One in 1.000 was finally agreed upon, though most of the students would have preferred a larger number. So we will use the 1 in 103.
5. “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver” (Zech. 11:12).
The question here is very simple: Of the people who have been betrayed, one in how many has been betrayed for exactly thirty pieces of silver?
The students thought this would be extremely rare and set their estimate as one in 10,000, or 1 in 104. We will us 1 in 103.
6. “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord” (Zech. 11:13).
This is extremely specific. All thirty pieces of silver are not to be returned. They are to be cast down in the house of the Lord, and they are to go to the potter. You will recall that Judas in remorse tried to return the thirty pieces of silver, cut the chief priest would not accept them. So Judas threw them down on the floor of the temple and went and hanged himself. The chief priest then took the money and bought a field of the potter to bury strangers in. Our question is: One man in how many, after receiving a bribe for the betrayal of a friend, had returned the money, had it refused, had thrown it on the floor in the house of the Lord, and then had it used to purchase a field from the potter?
The students said they doubted if there has ever been another incident involving all of these items, but they agreed on an estimate of one in 100,000. They were very sure that this was conservative. So we use the estimate as 1 in 105.
7. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7).
One man in how many, after fulfilling the above prophecies, when he is oppressed and afflicted and is on trial for his life, though innocent, will make no defense for himself?
Again my students said they did not know that this had ever happened in any case other than Christ’s. At least it is extremely rare, so they placed their estimate as one in 10,000 or 1 in 104. We will use 1 in 103.
8. “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet”(Ps. 22:16).
The Jews are still looking for the coming of Christ; in fact, He might have come any time after these prophecies were written up to the present time, or even on into the future. So our question is: One man in how many, from the time of David on, has been crucified?
After studying the methods of execution down through the ages and their frequency, the students agreed to estimate this probability at one in 10,000 or 1 in 104, which we will use.
If these estimates are considered fair, one man in how many men, the world over, will fulfill all eight prophecies? This question can be answered by applying our principles of probability. In other words, by multiplying all of our estimates together, or 1 in 2.8 x 105 x 103 x 102 x 103 x 105 x 103 x 104. This gives 1 in 2.8 x 1028, where 28 means that we have 28 ciphers following the 2.8. Let us simplify and reduce the number by calling it 1 in 1028. Written out this number is 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
This is the answer to the question: One man in how many men has fulfilled these eight prophecies? But we are really concerned with the answer to the question: What is the chance that any man might have lived from the day of these prophecies down to the present time and have fulfilled all of the eight prophecies? We can answer this question by dividing our 1028 by the total number of people who have lived since the time of these prophecies. The best information available indicates the number to be about 88 billion or 8.8 x 1010.
To simplify the computation let us call the number 1011. By dividing these two numbers 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.
Odds
Number of electrons in the universe I believe that the current estimate for the number of electrons in the known universe is 10^88 to 10^79
8 prophecies 10^17 quarters would cover Texas under 2 feet
16 prophecies 10^28 * 10^17 quarters would make a silver sphere that would encompass nearly the entire orbit of neptune
But, of course, there are many more than eight prophecies. In another calculation, Stoner used 48 prophecies and arrived at the extremely conservative estimate that the probability of 48 prophecies being fulfilled in one person is the incredible number 10^157.
Most agree to 300+ prophecies and Edersheim has counted 456
According to Emile Borel, once one goes past one chance in 10^50, the probabilities are so small that it is impossible to think that they will ever occur (Ankerberg et. al., op. cit., 21).
1 in 4 chance for everyone of 300 prophecies = 4.1495155688809929585124078636912 x 10^180
Not to mention:
raised from the dead Psalm 16:10 Acts 2:25-31, 13:32-37, 17:2-3
resurrection Job 19:25 Psalm 16:10 Acts 2:30-31, 13:32-35, 17:2-3 1 Corinthians 15:20-22
ascend to heaven Psalm 68:18 Luke 24:51 Acts 1:9 Ephesians 4:8-13
at the right hand of God Psalm 110:1 Matthew 26:64 Mark 14:62 Romans 8:34 Hebrews 1:3
Why So Many Prophecies of Jesus?
Two reasons: 1) to make identifying the Messiah obvious, and 2) to make an imposter’s task impossible.
There is simply no way that Jesus could have “arranged” to fulfill all of these predictions — most were outside of His control. His fulfillment of these prophecies is clear, undeniable evidence that He was and is the Messiah, the Anointed one of God sent to save mankind and bring him back into fellowship with his Creator.