Fulfilled Prophecies

	As  we have seen, the scientific foreknowledge of the  Bible supports its claim to be the inspired Word of God.  In this great book the Creator of the universe reveals His nature and His  will to mankind.  But scientific foreknowledge is not the only indicator of the Bible's inspiration.  The fact that the Bible is  the inspired  Word of God is also evident through the fulfillment  of it prophecies.
	Before looking at some specific examples, we should have  an understanding about prophecies in general.  In his book,  Fortify Your Faith in  an Age of Doubt, Wayne Jackson  suggests  three requirements  for determining  the genuineness  of  a  prophecy.  First,  it must involve proper timing.  The prediction must  significantly  precede the fulfillment.  Second, the  prophecy  must involve  specific  details and not just  vague generalities  and remote possibilities.  Third, there must be an exact fulfillment and not something which is simply the result of a high degree of probability.^1
	The  Old  Testament contains a large  number  of  prophecies about the Israelites and their part of the world.  Josh  McDowell examined  some  of  these in his book, Evidence  that  Demands  a Verdict.^2  He  also mentioned some of the  prophecies  listed by Peter Stone in a book entitled Science Speaks.  McDowell combined Stone's  statistics with some of his own to calculate the  probability  of 11 predictions being fulfilled simply by chance.   The probabilities  ranged from 1 in 100 to 1 in 8 X  10 to the 10th.  Remember that 10 to the 10th is 10 followed by 10 zeros.  To estimate the likelihood that all 11 would be fulfilled, McDowell multiplied their  individual  probabilities  together and arrived at a figure of  1  in 5.76  X 10 to the 59th.  To put this in perspective, McDowell  pointed  out that  5  X 10 to the 59th silver dollars would make 10 to the 28th silver balls  the size of the sun.  With an estimated two trillion  galaxies containing 100 billion stars each, we would have enough silver balls the size of the sun to make all of the stars in the universe  two million times.  It is not difficult to see that,  even  if  the estimated probabilities were greatly exaggerated, it would  still be impossible for just these 11 prophecies to be fulfilled  without divine intervention.
	One  body  of prophecy which is not included  in  McDowell's list is found in the book of Daniel.
	"You,  O king, were looking and behold, there was  a  single great statue;" Daniel explains to the Babylonian ruler  Nebuchadnezzar  in Daniel 2:31-35, "that statue, which was large  and  of extraordinary  splendor, was standing in front of you,  and  its appearance  was awesome.  The head of that statue {was  made}  of fine  gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and  its thighs of bronze,  its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron  and partly of clay.  You continued looking until a stone was cut  out without  hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron  and clay, and crushed them.  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them  away so that not a trace of them was found. But  the  stone that  struck  the statue became a great mountain and  filled  the whole earth."
	Daniel  explains  that  the parts of  the  statue  represent rulers who will follow Nebuchadnezzar.
	Later  in the same book Daniel identifies by name the  world powers which will follow the fall of Babylon.  He mentions  that the  Babylonian empire will be replaced by the combined power  of the Medes and Persians.  He states that they will in turn fall to a great Greek leader, known to us as Alexander the Great.  Daniel mentions  the  division of Alexander's kingdom  into  four  parts after his death.  The coming of the Messiah and the establishment of  the  church  is predicted during the time  of  the following  world power, the Romans.
	This last part of Daniel's prophecy is just one of a  multitude  of predictions concerning the Messiah.  In fact, there  are over 300 Old Testament prophecies pointing to the Christ.  Stoner estimated the probability of one man accidentally fulfilling only eight  of  these prophecies as 1 in 10^17.  Using  once  again  an example  involving silver dollars, Stoner noted that 10^17 silver dollars would cover the state of Texas two feet deep.  If we were to mark one silver dollar, mix up the entire batch, and  distribute  them evenly over Texas, the probability would be 1  in  10 to the 17th that a blindfolded person would be able to pick out the one  with the  mark.  According to Stoner the probability of one man accidentally  fulfilling 48 of the prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 157th.  Stoner  considered switching to electrons for this level.  But the volume of 10 to the 157th electrons resulted in an inconceivably large volume.
	Some  critics  claim that Jesus imagined Himself to  be  the Messiah and therefore made His life conform to the  predictions.  This  would  have been rather difficult, since most  related  to things outside His control.  He would have had to have controlled his own lineage, conception and birth, just to name a few.
	Other  critics  propose that Old Testament  prophecies  were actually written AFTER the events they proposed to predict.  This would  be  rather difficult in the case of Jesus, since it  is  a historical fact that Greek translations of the Hebrew Old Testament were  being produced about 250 B.C.  It really would  be  a miracle  to  make translations of something which  wouldn't  be written for 250 years.

	Let's take a look at just a few of the Messianic prophecies.  Decide for yourself whether or not the fulfillment of  these  in the life of Jesus was just coincidence.
	"And  in  your seed all the nations of the  earth  shall  be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice," God promises  Abraham in Genesis 22:18.
	"Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid;" God tells Abraham in Genesis 21:12, "whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named."
	"I  see  him,"  we read in Numbers 24:17, "but  not  now;  I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, and a  scepter  shall rise from Israel, and shall crush  through  the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth."
	"The  scepter  shall not depart from Judah,"  Genesis  49:10 notes, "nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him {shall be} the obedience of the peoples."
	"Then  a  shoot will spring from the stem of  Jesse,"  Isaiah 11:1 prophesies, "and a branch from his roots will bear fruit."
	"Behold,  {the} days are coming," God announces in  Jeremiah 23:5, "when I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will  reign as king and act wisely and do justice and  righteousness in the land."
	According  to  these  predictions, the Messiah  would  be  a descendant  of Abraham through Isaac, Jacob,  Judah,  Jesse  and David.  This is exactly what we find in Jesus.
	"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold,  a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call  His name Immanuel," we read in Isaiah 7:14.
	"Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from  God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth," Luke 1:26-27 records, "to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the  descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary."
	"And  behold,  you will conceive in your  womb,"  the  angel tells  Mary in verse 31, "and bear a son, and you shall name  Him Jesus."
	"How  can this be, since I am a virgin?" Mary asks in  verse 34.
	"The  Holy  Spirit will come upon you,"  the  messenger  responds, "and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;  and for  that  reason the holy offspring shall be called the  Son  of God."
	"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah," Micah 5:2  foretells, "too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will  go forth  for  Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth  are  from long ago, from the days of eternity."
	"And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people," Matthew 2:4-6 notes of Herod, "he began to  inquire of  them where the Christ was to be born.  And they said to  him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the  prophet, "And  you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no  means  least among  the  leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come  forth  a Ruler, Who will shepherd My people Israel."'" 
	"Thus says the Lord," we read in Jeremiah 31:15, "a voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for  her children; she refuses to be comforted for her  children, because they are no more."
	"Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the  magi," Matthew 2:16-18 observes, "he became very enraged, and sent  and slew  all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all  its environs,  from  two years old and under, according to  the  time which  he  had ascertained from the magi.  Then  that  which  was spoken  through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled,  saying,  'A voice  was  heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning,  Rachel weeping  for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.'"
	"When Israel was a youth I loved him," Hosea 11:1  comments, "and out of Egypt I called My son."
	"And  he arose and took the Child and His mother  by  night, and departed for Egypt;" we learn from Matthew 2:14-15, "and  was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the  Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 'Out of Egypt did I call My Son.'"
	The  Old Testament also contains many predictions about  the betrayal and crucifixion.
	"Even my close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my  bread, has lifted up his heel against me," Psalm 41:9 states.
	"And  I said to them," we read in Zechariah  11:12-13,  "'If it  is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if  not,  never mind!'  So they weighed  out thirty shekels  of silver  as  my wages.
	"Then  the  Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the  potter,  that magnificent  price at which I was valued by them.' So I took  the thirty shekels  of silver and threw them to the potter  in  the house of the Lord."
	"I  gave My back to those who strike Me," Isaiah 50:6  says, "and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not  cover My face from humiliation and spitting."
	"He was oppressed and He was afflicted," Isaiah 53:7  notes, "yet  He did  not open His mouth; like a lamb  that  is  led  to slaughter,  and like a sheep that is silent before its  shearers, so He did not open His mouth."
	"Therefore,  I will allot Him a portion with the great,"  we read  in Isaiah 53:12, "and He will divide the  booty  with  the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was  numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many,  and interceded for the transgressors."
	"My  God,  my God, why hast Thou forsaken  me?"  Psalm  22:1 cries out,  "far from  my  deliverance  are  the  words  of  my groaning."
	"But I am a worm, and not a man," the passage continues with verse six, "a reproach of men, and despised by the  people.  All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the lip, they wag  the head, saying, 'Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.'"
	"They open wide their mouth at me, as a ravening and a roaring  lion," the same Psalm picks up with verse 13.  "I am  poured out  like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my  heart  is like wax; it is melted within me.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and Thou dost lay  me in  the  dust of death.  For dogs have surrounded me; a  band  of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my  feet. I  can  count  all my bones. They look, they stare  at me;  they divide  my  garments among them, and for my  clothing  they  cast lots."
	"He  keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken,"  Psalm 34:20 states. 
	"They  also  gave  me gall for my food," we  find  in  Psalm 69:21, "and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
	"His grave was assigned with wicked men," Isaiah 53:9 prophesies, "yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He  had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth."
	What  is the Bible?  More importantly, what is the Bible  to you?  Is it just another book which happens to be full of coincidences?  Or is it the truth which can set you free?

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."

1) Jackson, Wayne. 1974. Fortify Your Faith in an Age of Doubt, Stockton, CA: Pledge Publications. p. 64.
2) McDowell, Josh. 1979. Evidence That Demands a Verdict. San Bernadino, CA: Here's Life Publishers. pp. 144-166.