Prophecies About Jesus Christ

The O.T. told about the person and nature of Jesus before He came. Concerning Jesus, it said the following about him:

1. That He was from eternity past, that He had no beginning:
   Prophecies: (Micah 5:2, Is 9:6-7; 41:4; 44;6; 48:12; Ps 102:25; Prov 8;22-23).
   Fulfillment: (Col 1:17, Jn 1:1-2; 8:58; 17:5, 24; Rev 1:17; 2:8; 22:13).

2. That He would be Yehovah Elohim God in the flesh:
   Prophecies: (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, Isaiah 43:10-11)
   Fulfillment: (Matt 1:23; Lk 7:16, John 1:1, Heb 1:3, 8, Rom 1:4).

3. Isaiah and Malachi prophesied that Jesus’ coming would be preceded by a messenger: John the Baptist:
   Prophecies: (Isaiah 40:3, Malachi 3:1)
   Fulfillment: (Matt 3:1-2. Also see Matt 3:3; 11:10; Jn 1:23; Lk 1:17).

Why was it necessary for John to come first before Jesus? As long as we are living in sin, we will not turn to God and we will not listen to His messenger. John came to call the people to repentance. Because the people through John’s message had repented of their sins, when the Messiah appeared they were not afraid to turn to Him. If men had not repented of their sins first before Jesus appeared, they would have had nothing to do with Him. The Book of Revelation Chapter 7 tells us that in the last days that Jesus will send 144,000 more John the Baptists throughout the earth to warn men to repent to prepare them for His second coming.

1. Jesus would speak in parables:
   Prophecies: (Ps 78:2).
   Fulfillment: (Matt 13:34).

2. Jesus will ride into Jerusalem on a Donkey:
   Prophecies: (Zechariah 9:9)
   Fulfillment: (Luke 19:35-37)

3. Jesus would be put to death through crucifixion:
   Prophecies: (Ps 22:14,17)
   Fulfillment: (Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22-23; John 18-19)

4. Jesus would rise physically from the dead:
   Prophecies: (Ps 16:10. Also see Ps 30:3; 41:10; 118:17; Hosea 6:2)
   Fulfillment: (Acts 2:31. Also see Acts 13:33; Lk 24:46; Mk 16:6; Matt 28:6; 1 Cor 15)

5. Jesus would physically Ascend to Heaven:
   Prophecies: (Ps 68:18a)
   Fulfillment: (Acts 1:9)

Over 29 prophecies were fulfilled in one day. They were the following: Jesus would be betrayed By A Friend,³⁴⁵ He would be sold For 30 Pieces Of Silver,³⁴⁶ the money would be thrown into God’s house,³⁴⁷ and used to purchase Potter’s Field.³⁴⁸ Jesus would be forsaken by His Disciples,³⁴⁹ accused by false witnesses,³⁵⁰ He would be silent before his accusers,³⁵¹ He would be wounded and bruised,³⁵² He would be smitten and spit upon,³⁵³ He would be mocked,³⁵⁴ He would fall under the weight of the cross,³⁵⁵ His hands and His feet would be pierced,³⁵⁶ and he would be crucified with thieves.³⁵⁷ Concerning crucifixion, The Encyclopedia Americana records:

"The history of crucifixion as a mode of punishment for crime must be studied as a part of the Roman system of jurisprudence.... The Hebrews, for example, adopted or accepted it only under Roman compulsion: under their own system, before Palestine became Roman territory, they inflicted the death penalty by stoning."^206/253

The prophecies of Jesus’ crucifixion prophesied in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 did not even exist until the establishment of the Roman empire hundreds of years later.

Jesus made intercession for His persecutors.³⁵⁸ He was rejected by His own people.³⁵⁹ He was hated without a cause.³⁶⁰ His friends stood afar off.³⁶¹ People shook their heads at Him.³⁶² He was stared upon.³⁶³ His garments would be cast for lots.³⁶⁴ He would suffer thirst³⁶⁵ and be offered Gall and Vinegar.³⁶⁶ A. R. Fausset writes:

"His bitter sufferings might have been expected to soften even His enemies, who had caused those sufferings; but instead of cordials, they gave Him gall and vinegar. Twice vinegar was offered to the Savior on the cross - first vinegar mixed with gall (Matt 27:34), and myrrh (Mk 15:23); but when He had tasted it, He would not drink it; for He would not meet His sufferings in a state of a stupefaction, which is the effect of myrrh. As given to criminals, it was a kindness; as given to the righteous Sin-bearer, it was an insult. Next, in order to fulfill this Scripture, He cried ‘I thirst,’ and vinegar was given Him to drink" (Jn 19:28; Matt 27:48).^207/246

Jesus’ gave a forsaken cry.³⁶⁷ He committed Himself to God.³⁶⁸ Not one bone in his body was forsaken.³⁶⁹ Concerning this prophecy Josh McDowell writes:

"Although not stated in Scripture, there are two other prophecies which concern His bones that undoubtedly had an exact fulfillment:

1. And ‘all my bones are out of joint’ (Psalms 22:14). The disjointing of bones while hanging on the cross by the hands and feet could easily come about, especially when we note that His body was attached to the cross while it was lying on the ground.

2. ‘I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me’ (Psalms 22:17). All His bones could easily be seen while He was left hanging on the cross. The extension of His body during crucifixion would tend to make the bones more prominent than usual."^34/165

Jesus’ heart was broken.³⁷⁰ The blood and water which came forth from His pierced side are evidences that the heart had literally burst. His side was pierced.³⁷¹ Darkness came over the land.³⁷² He was buried in a rich man’s tomb.³⁷³

Peter Stoner in Science Speaks, states concerning the following eight prophecies: 1) Born at Bethlehem, 2) Preceded By a Messenger; 3) He was to enter Jerusalem on a donkey; 4) Betrayed by a friend; 5) Sold for 30 pieces of silver; 6) Money to be throne in God’s house, price given for potter’s field; 7) Dumb before accusers; 8) Hands and feet pierced, crucified with thieves that there is 1 chance in 10¹⁷ that Jesus could have fulfilled all of them in His life.^208/109-110

How is the Science of Probability determined. To flip a coin and have heads up is 1 chance in 1 x 2 because you have two variables. To flip two coins at once and have both come up heads is 1 chance in 2 x 2 = 4 because you now have two coins with two variables each. When all the variables are taken into consideration for Jesus to fulfill just these eight prophecies in His life, the chance of His doing this is 1 chance in 10¹⁷. This is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. To illustrate the size of this number, this would be like marking a silver dollar mixed into a layer of silver dollars over the state of Texas two feet deep and then have a man walk across Texas blind folded and try by chance to pick out the first time this marked silver dollar. This is the same chance of all these eight prophecies being fulfilled in one man. They all came true in Jesus. Concerning this fact, Stoner states,

"Now these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 10¹⁷ of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ. . . . This means that the fulfillment of these eight prophecies alone proves that God inspired the writing of those prophecies to a definiteness which lacks only one chance in 10¹⁷ of being absolute."^208/110

Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament. Stoner states that the possibility of 48 prophecies being fulfilled in one person to be 1 chance in 10¹⁵⁷. How large of a number is this? Stoner explains:

"This is really a large number and it represents an extremely small chance. Let us try to visualize it. The silver dollar, which we have been using, is entirely too large. We must select a smaller object. The electron is about as small an object as we know of. It is so small that it will take 2.5 times 10¹⁵ of them laid side by side to make a line, single file, one inch long. If we were going to count the electrons in this line one inch long, and counted 250 each minute, and if we counted day and night, it would take us 19,000,000 years to count just the one-inch line of electrons. If we had a cubic inch of these electrons and we tried to count them it would take us, counting steadily 250 each minute, 19,000,000 times 19,000,000 times 19,000,000 years or 6.9 times 10²¹ years.

"With this introduction, let us go back to our chance of 1 in 10¹⁵⁷. Let us suppose that we are taking this number of electrons, marking one, and thoroughly stirring it into the whole mass, then blindfolding a man and letting him try to find the right one. What chance has he of finding the right one? What kind of a pile will this number of electrons make? They make an inconceivably large volume."^208/109-110

Jacob prophesied to his son Judah in Genesis 49:10, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples." (Gen 49:10). Though in Israel’s history they had lost their personal national identity and had for a time been dominated by Babylon, not until they came under Roman domination did they lose their right to rule their own people with the death penalty which the scepter symbolized. According to this prophecy the Messiah would not come until this scepter was removed from Israel. The removing of this scepter began to take place when Herod the Great, who had no Jewish blood, succeeded the Maccabean princes, who belonged to the tribe of Levi and who were the last Jewish kings to have their reign in Jerusalem.²⁷¹ It was solidified, though, under his son Archelaus in 11 A.D.²⁷² The procurators, who administered in the Augustus name, took the supreme power of the Sanhedrin away so they could exercise the jus gladii themselves; that is, the sovereign right over life and death sentences. All the nations under Roman dominance had this right removed. As Tacitus said, "The Romans reserved to themselves the right of the sword, and neglected all else." Later it was written in the Talmud: "A little more than forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the power of pronouncing capital sentences was taken away from the Jews."²⁷³ Rabbi Rachmon wrote,

"When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them; they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: `Woe unto us, for the scepter has departed from Judah, and the Messiah has not come!’"^209/28-30

But the Messiah had come and was alive and walking in their midst.

Malachi prophesied:

"... Behold, I am going to send My messenger [John the Baptist], and he will clear the way before Me. And Yehovah [Jesus Christ], whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple." (Malachi 3:1)

The significance of this prophecy was that the Messiah had to show up on the seen and enter the temple before it was destroyed (Psalms 118:26; Daniel 9:26; Zechariah 11:13; Haggai 2:7-9). The temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and has not been rebuilt since. Daniel prophesied: "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary" (Daniel 9:26).