There are times we may struggle with the question, “Is Jesus really Who He said He was?” There are several ways that we can tackle this question. One great way is to see how many prophecies He fulfilled.

There are around 456 verses in the Old Testament that prophecy or foretell the coming of the Messiah. They talk about how He would be killed, where He would be born, how people would treat Him, and how He would respond. 

These verses cover about 300 prophecies, meaning that some of the verses are duplicate prophecies by different prophets. In other words, there were times when Isiah and Ezekiel may have given the same prophecy. So we count two verses, but only one prophecy. Or Jeremiah may have written three verses about one prophecy. Again we only count one prophecy.

What is staggering is the statistical probability of Jesus fulfilling all 300 prophecies, or not doing something which would disqualify Him from fulfilling a prophecy. If we were just to take a couple small ones – such as being a descendant of Abraham, David, and born in Bethlehem – the numbers are pretty low. There would be a decent amount of people who could have met some of them.

What about Him meeting 15 of these very specific prophecies? The numbers would have been staggering. When we hit Him fulfilling all 300 prophecies, there isn’t essentially a number because it is impossible. Unless God intervenes. To just fulfill 48 of these, according to apologist Stoner, the odds are 1 in 10 … to the 157th power! 

What does this do for our faith? It should strengthen it. When I study the Old Testament prophecies, spanning almost 1,000 years, and some prophecies given almost 1,000 years before Christ, then I see Him fulfill those prophecies, it strengthens my faith. It confirms for me, “He is Who He said He was.” He had almost no control as a man over a majority of them.

This increases my faith because it tells me if He is the Messiah and tells the truth. He can do in the future what He said He can do. If He says that He can save me from my sins He can. If He says If I have faith in His sacrificial work on the cross for my salvation that I will be with Him forever He will. Jesus is the Messiah. He is the King of Kings.

Thanks for taking time to read this Maddening Theology post. If you enjoyed this content you can find Pastor Tim’s sermons at www.cornerstoneforestcity.org. You can also join us at 520 Marion St. Browndale, PA 18421 on Sundays at 10 AM. To make following the blog easier you can also register. You can also join us on Facebook at Cornerstone Forest City. Also, don’t forget to download our APP on iTunes  or Googleplay.