The main reason that we know that Jesus Christ is the Messiah is because He said so!
“The high priest asked him, saying unto Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ Jesus said, ‘I am.'” (Mark 14:61-62.)
PROPHECY IN THE BIBLE
The Bible has over 300 prophecies which were fulfilled in the New Testament. The following is a sample of 8 prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, in the Old Testament, which were all fulfilled in the New Testament, often many hundreds of years later.
In his excellent briefing package “Footprints of the Messiah”, Chuck Missler has taken eight of the 300 prophecies fulfilled by the Lord Jesus in ministry whilst here on Earth.
THE LAWS OF PROBABILITY
Before giving the details it is important to understand the laws of probability.
- If we imagine a room in which there are 100 people, of which 50 per cent are men and 50 per cent are women, there is a 1:2 probability of any individual in that room, taken at random, being a man.
- If in this example it is assumed that 50 per cent of the people in this particular room are left handed, and 50 per cent are right handed, then there is a 1:2 of an individual chosen at random being left-handed.
- The composite probability of the two separate probabilities must be compounded to obtain the chance of choosing, at random, an individual in the room who is both male and left handed.
- Therefore, mathematically, the chances of choosing a left-handed male in this particular room of 100 people is 1:4.
In other words, using laws of probability there is a one in four chance of an individual, chosen at random, being both male and left handed.
THE CHANCES OF JESUS CHRIST FULFILLING EIGHT PROPHECIES
The following short study sets out to enumerate mathematically the chances of one individual at the time of the life of Jesus Christ fulfilling 8 well known Old Testament prophecies.
The prophecies chosen by Chuck Missler are the following:
- Micah 5:2 – Jesus was born in Bethlehem, fulfilled Matthew 2:1.
- Zechariah 9:9 – The Messiah came riding on a donkey, fulfilled Matthew 21:1-11.
- Zechariah 11:12 – The Messiah was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, fulfilled in Matthew 26:15 and Matthew 27:9.
- Zechariah 11:13 – The money was used by the temple authorities to buy a potters field, fulfilled Matthew 27:3-8.
- Zechariah 13:6 – This describes the wounds in the hands of Jesus in the house of his friends, fulfilled John 20:25.
- Isaiah 53:7 – He was oppressed and afflicted yet he opened not his mouth, fulfilled Matthew 27:12-14.
- Isaiah 53:9 – And they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich in his death, fulfilled Matthew 27:57-60.
- Psalm 22:16 – They pierced my hands and my feet, fulfilled John 20:25.
CONCLUSION
Using the laws of probability, the probability of these eight prophecies happening to one individual is 1:1028
FURTHER MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF THIS LARGE NUMBER
The estimate of the number of people who have actually lived on this planet is approximately 1011. The chance of one actual person in history fulfilling all eight prophecies is 1: 1028 divided by 1011, which equals 1: 1017.
This is however, only for eight prophecies!
Doing some simple mathematics:
- The chance of Jesus fulfilling 16 prophecies comes to 1: 1045.
- The chance of Jesus fulfilling only 48 prophecies is 1:10157.
LARGE NUMBERS IN PERSPECTIVE
These huge numbers need to be put into perspective. Some scientists believe that the universe is 10 billion years old. There are 1017 seconds in 10 billion years. In other words the chances of one second being chosen in the history of the universe is 1:1017.
THE PROBABILITY OF JESUS CHRIST BEING THE MESSIAH
For Jesus to fulfil over 300 prophecies, as He did, the laws of probability dictate the fact that Jesus Christ is the Messiah is the single most likely event in the history of our universe, and absolutely nothing comes remotely close!
THE NAME OF GOD ABOVE THE CROSS
When Jesus was crucified the following words, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” was placed above Him by order of Pontius Pilate, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
The Hebrew version read:
Reading the first letters of the Hebrew inscription we read YHWH. This is the name of God, above the cross of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Who is God.
Jesus Christ was executed for Blasphemy and Sedition. The Holy Spirit, however, made it perfectly clear the Jesus Christ is God.
This is obviously why the members of the Sanhedrin to change what he had written.
For further information, the following subject is available on this web site:
THE BIBLE IS SUPERNATURAL
Dr Richard Kent also provides FREE LECTURES on this subject.