| Psalms |
|---|
| Zechariah |
| Isaiah |
| List of Prophecies |
| "Jesus Tried To Fulfill Prophecies" |
| Example of Odds |
1,000 yrs before the birth of Christ, King David wrote the Savior that God would send would be crucified. In Psalm 22 he describes in detail the crucifixion, yet the Romans didn't invent crucifixion for another 800 yrs.
"Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet" (Ps 22:16).
"When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals--one on his right, the other on his left" (Luke 23:33 NIV).
In Psalm 41:9, David wrote that the Savior would be betrayed by a friend.
"Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me" (Ps 41:9).
"Jesus replied, 'Friend, do what you came for.' Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him" (Mat 26:50 NIV).
In Psalm 55:12-15, David wrote that the betrayer of the Savior would kill himself.
"So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself" (Mat 27:5 NIV).
In Psalm 22:7-8 we read that the Savior will be sneered at and mocked.
"All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him" (Ps 22:7-8).
"The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, 'He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One' " (Luke 23:35 NIV).
In Psalm 22:17-18 we read that the Savior's clothing will be gambled for.
"They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture" (Ps 22:18).
"When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots" (Mat 27:35 NIV).
In Psalm 34:20 we are told that the Savior's bones would not be broken.
In describing the Passover ritual, Exodus 12 says that no bones of the Passover lamb were to be broken.
Psalm 34:20 prophesied that the bones of the Messiah would not be broken.
John 19:33 tells us that the Roman centurion, seeing that Jesus was already dead on the cross, did not break His legs, as was the custom, to speed up His death.
"He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken" (Ps 34:20).
"But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs" (John 19:33 NIV).
In Psalm 2:7, we read that the Savior will be declared the Son of God.
"I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee" (Ps 2:7). "And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased' " (Mat 3:17 NIV).
In Psalm 22:1 we are told that the Savior would be forsaken by God.
"...My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" (Ps 22:1).
"About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' " (Mat 27:46 NIV).
In Psalm 16:10 we read that the Savior will be resurrected.
"For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Ps 16:10).
" 'Don't be alarmed,' he said. 'You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him' " (Mark 16:6 NIV).
500 yrs before Jesus, Zechariah said God predicted that He HIMSELF would become a man and that His own people (the Jews) would reject Him.
In Zechariah 9:9 he writes that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey.
On the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, "the colt of an ass," He fulfilled a prophecy spoken of by the prophet Zechariah 500 yrs earlier.
"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zec 9:9).
"They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it" (Luke 19:35 NIV).
We read in Zechariah 11:12 that the Savior would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
"I told them, 'If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.' So they paid me thirty pieces of silver" (Zec 11:12).
"and asked, 'What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?' So they counted out for him thirty silver coins" (Mat 26:15 NIV).
In the very next verse we are told in Zechariah 11:13 that the betrayal money would be cast down on the temple floor.
"And the LORD said to me, 'Throw it to the potter--the handsome price at which they priced me!' So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter" (Zec 11:13).
"So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself" (Mat 27:5 NIV).
"So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners" (Mat 27:7 NIV).
In Zechariah 12:10 we read that the Savior's side would be pierced as well as His hands and feet.
Remember, this was 500 years before Jesus, and several hundred years before the invention of crucifixion.
"...They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son" (Zec 12:10).
"Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water" (John 19:34 NIV).
In Isaiah 7:14 we are told that the messiah would be born of a virgin.
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (Isa 7:14).
"'How will this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?' " (Luke 1:34 NIV).
This virgin birth is also presented very early in the Bible...in the Book of Genesis!
God said, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen 3:15 KJV).
In all of scripture, only ONE man was born of the "seed of a woman", all others are born of the seed of a man!
In Isaiah 40:3 he tells us that the Messiah would be proceeded by a messenger.
"A voice of one calling: 'In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God'" (Isa 40:3).
"This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: 'A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' " (Mat 3:3 NIV).
In Isaiah 53:3 we read that the Messiah would be rejected by His own people, the Jews.
"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isa 53:3).
"He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him" (John 1:11 NIV).
In Isaiah 53:7 we read that the Messiah was silent before his accusers.
"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Isa 53:7).
"But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge--to the great amazement of the governor" (Matt 27:14 NIV).
In Isaiah 53:5 we read that the Messiah would be wounded and whipped by his enemies.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isa 53:5).
"Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified" (Mat 27:26 NIV).
And in Isaiah 50:6 it tells us that the Messiah would be spit on and beaten.
"I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting" (Isa 50:6).
"Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him" (Mat 26:67 NIV).
In Isaiah 53:12 we read that He will be crucified with malefactors.
"Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isa 53:12).
"They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left" (Mark 15:27 NIV).
In Isaiah 53:9 we are told that He will be buried in a rich man's tomb.
"He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth" (Isa 53:9).
"Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid" (Luke 23:53 NIV).
It has been maintained that the seven uses of Almah in the O.T. (Gen. 24:43; Ex. 2:8; Ps. 68:25; Prov. 30:19; Song 1:3; 6:8; Isa. 7:14) all have the meaning of "virgin." This view is supported by the fact that translators of the LXX (septuigent) chose the Greek word parthenos, which means "virgin," to translate `almah.
Some people dismiss Jesus by saying that he tried to control Prophecies...
How could Jesus control being born in Bethlehem, or being from the lineage of David?
How could He control being born before the scepter passed from Judah, but during the time of Roman rule so that He would die by crucifixion?
How could He control being put to death before the Temple was destroyed along with His and ALL genealogical records?
How could He control WHEN He would be crucified???
How could He control how much money Judas would betray Him for?
How could He be sure that the chief priests would use this money to buy a potter's field?
How could He be sure that when He died the Roman centurion would not break His legs?
There are just TOO many prophecies that have been filled with absolute perfection by Christ Jesus for anyone to remain a skeptic about His identity!
Can I give you an example of the odds that ONE man could fulfill 8 messianic prophecies by chance? (Jesus fulfilled at least 48 of them).
The odds of any one man fulfilling 8 messianic prophecies is 1 chance in 10 to the 17th power. That is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. The probability is taken from Peter Stoner in "Science Speaks".
Now...let me give you an example of the magnitude of this chance!
Suppose you take that staggering number of silver dollars and laid them on the face of Texas.
They would cover the entire state 2 feet deep!
Now...mark ONE of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly. Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up ONE silver dollar and say that this one has to be the correct one. what are his chances of doing this??? The same chance that the prophets had in writing only EIGHT prophecies and having all 8 fulfilled by ONE man!! (yet they wrote 48 that were fulfilled by Jesus!)