What is prophecy? A prophecy is the future told in advance by God through a prophet. God has a plan for the future. He uses people we call prophets to tell us what His plans for the future will involve. From a human perspective prophecy is a way of predicting certain future events which God has in store for us. From God's perspective prophecy is a way of communicating different parts of His plan for the future to us. Much like sending an e-mail over the Internet, the big message is broken down into smaller packets, and pieces may be delivered out of sequence, but in the end when they are reconstructed they add up to a coherent message. Did you know that there are more than three hundred different prophecies written in the Old Testament which predicted the coming of Jesus, many of the events surrounding His life, and His death and resurrection? For a complete listing of all 300+ prophecies refer to: www.jesus-is-lord.com/messiah.htm

We will examine a few of those scriptures in a moment; but I want to ask you, what is the probability of accurately predicting all of those events hundreds of, and in some cases more than a thousand, years in advance? The odds against it are literally astronomical. This means there is very little possibility of all of these events being the result of random chance when they are considered together in the big picture. The reason they happened is because God has a plan for the future and makes the future happen according to His plan. More than just knowing the future, God wants us to have strong faith in His word and He uses prophecy as a tool for convincing people of the validity of His plan.

Let's examine some of the prophecies involving Jesus that were predicted hundreds and in some cases more than a thousand years before He was born. Most of us are at least vaguely familiar with the Christmas story, and the Easter story which foretold the beginning and ending of Jesus' life. You have probably heard many of the details of the stories where Joseph and his virgin bride Mary went to Bethlehem where Jesus was born into a manger. The young baby Jesus was visited by three wise men from the East who had followed a star across the desert for several months in search of the new king being born. Then after He was grown, Jesus preached the message of salvation and would eventually be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver, and was hung out to die on a cross while soldiers gambled for the garments He wore. He was crucified on what we now call Good Friday. Even though a crucifixion normally included the breaking of the legs, not a single one of Jesus' bones was broken. The money paid for the betrayal was thrown away. Jesus was buried in a rich man's tomb. He was resurrected from the dead and came back on the third day, which is now known as Easter Sunday.

Most all of the details of these events were predicted many hundreds of years in advance, written in the Old Testament. Below is a listing of nearly forty of the more widely discussed prophecies from the Old Testament which are corroborated from scriptures in the New Testament.

    Old Testament verse
the Prophecy
    New Testament verse

    Isaiah 9:6-7
A messianic child would be born into the world as the Prince of Peace establishing and upholding justice and righteousness.
    Matthew 1:20-23

    Numbers 24:17
He would be a descendant of Jacob.
    Matthew.1:2 - Luke 3:23-34

    Genesis 49:10 - Micah.5:2
He would be a descendant of Judah.
    Matthew 1:2; 2:1 - Luke 3:23-33

    Isaiah 11:1-2
He would be a descendant of Jesse.
    Matthew.1:6 - Luke 3:23-32

    2 Samuel 7:16 - Jeremiah 23:5 - Micah 5:2 - Zechariah 10-4
He would be a descendant of David.
    Luke 1:32 - Luke 3:23-31 - Luke 3:23,33 - Hebrews. 7:14

    Micah 5:2
The messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
    Matthew 2:1,6

    Isaiah 7:14
The messiah would be the son of a virgin woman.
    Matthew 1:23,24

He was laid in a manger, which is an animal's feeding trough.
    Luke 2:7,12

    Psalm 72:10 - Isaiah 60:6
Three kings would come to Bethlehem with gifts to see the child.
    Matthew 2:1

    Jeremiah 31:15
His birth would trigger a massacre of infant boys to prevent his life.
    Matthew 2:16-18

    Hosea 11:1
The messianic child would live in Egypt.
    Matthew 2:14-15

    Isaiah 40:3 - Malachi 3:1
The messiah would be preceded by a messenger who would prepare the way.
    Matthew 11:10 - Matthew 3:1-3

    Deuteronomy 18:15 - Deuteronomy 18:18-19
The messiah would be a prophet.
    Matthew. 21:11 - Luke 7:16 - John 6:14, 7:40 - Acts 3:22-23

    Isaiah 29:18 - Isaiah 32:3-4;35:5-6
The ministry of the messiah would include miraculous healings.
    Luke 7:20-22 - Matthew 4:24 - Matthew 8:17;9:35

    Isaiah 9:1-2
He would preach his ministry in Zebulun, Naphatali, and Galilee.
    Matthew 4:14-16

    Isaiah 53:4
He would drive out demons, and heal the sick having diseases.
    Matthew 8:17

    Psalm 78:2-3
The messiah would speak in parables.
    Matthew 13:35

    Psalm 22:7-8
The messiah will be mocked.
    Matthew 27:39-44

    Psalm 69:4
The messiah would be hated without cause.
    John 15:24-25

    Psalms 69:8
The messiah would be rejected by his own brothers.
    Mark 3:20-21

    Zechariah 9:9
He would have a triumphal entry in Jerusalem.
    Mark 11:7-11

    Zechariah 9:9
The messiah would return to Jerusalem riding a donkey.
    John. 12:13-16
    Matthew. 21:1-11

    Psalm 41:9 - Psalm 55:12-14
He would be betrayed by his friend.
    John 13:18-30 - Matthew 26:20-25 - Luke 22:47-48
    Matthew 10:4 - Mark 14:10, 17-18 - Luke 22:21-23

    Zechariah 11:12
The price of betrayal would be thirty pieces of silver.
    Matthew 26:15

    Zechariah 11:13
The betrayal money would be thrown away.
    Matthew 27:5

    Zechariah 11:13, Jeremiah 32:6-8
The silver would be used to buy potter's field.
    Matthew 27:6,7

    Isaiah 50:6
The messiah would be beaten, mocked, and spit upon.
    Mark 15:19

    Exodous 24:8
The messiah's blood would be shed as a sacrifice.
    Hebrew 9:11-28

    Isaiah 53:5 - Zechariah 12:10
The messiah would be pierced for our transgressions.
    John 19:34

    Isaiah 53:12
He would be crucified with thieves.
    Matthew 27:38
    Luke 23:33

    Psalm 69:21
He would be offered vinegar and gall.
    Matthew 27:34
    John 19:28

    Psalm 22:16
His hands and feet would be pierced.
It is interesting to note that in about 1000 BC when Psalm 22:16 was written and predicted "His hands and feet would be pierced"; the method of execution by crucifixion had not yet been invented.
    Matthew 27:35
    Mark 15:24
    Luke 23:33
    John 19:18

    Psalm 34:20
Not one bone of the messiah's would be broken.
    John 19:33,36

    Psalm 22:1-2
He would cry out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
    Matthew 27:46

    Psalm 22:18
They would cast lots for the Messiah's clothes.
    Matthew 27:35
    Mark 15:24
    Luke 23:34
    John 19:23,24

    Amos 8:9
God would make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth from broad daylight. There were 3 hours of darkness when Jesus died.
It is interesting to note that because of the speed at which Earth moves around the Sun.
it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds.
    Mark 15:33
    Matthew 27:45
    Luke 23:44

    Isaiah 53:9
The messiah would be buried in a rich man's tomb.
    Matthew 27:57-60

    Psalms 16:10
David's son would be raised from the dead.
    Acts 2:25-32
    Acts 13:35-37

    Isaiah 53:8, 11
The Messiah would be raised from the dead.
    Matthew 28:2, 5-7, 9

    Matthew 16:21
Jesus would be raised from the dead on the third day.
    Acts 10:40
    Matthew 17:23
    1 Corinthians 15:4
    Matthew 20:19
    Mark 9:31
    Luke 9:22

Now let's assign a probability for some of these events. Since there were twelve tribes, suppose that we assign a probability of one in twelve that Jesus would come from the tribe of Judah. Out of the hundreds of towns and cities in the area, let's say there conservatively was at least a one in a hundred chance of being born in Bethlehem. The way statistical probabilities work is that they are multiplied against each other. For example: when considering just those two prophecies, we have a one in twelve chance times a one in a hundred chance which yields a one in twelve hundred chance of both of them occurring together. Of all the possible places to be born what were the chances of the messiah being born into a manger? What were the chances of predicting exactly thirty pieces of silver as the price for betrayal? Assuming we assign a value of one in a hundred for each of those two outcomes that brings our total probability to one in twelve hundred times one in ten thousand which is about one in twelve million chances of them being a mere coincidence. These are just four of the more than three hundred prophecies Jesus fulfilled. When you consider all of the prophecies together it becomes clear that the chances are practically nonexistent for the predictions involving Jesus' life to be mere coincidence. In fact, due to the large number of prophecies, the odds of accurately receiving such a message from God are many trillions of times greater than the reliability of correctly receiving an e-mail message from someone on the Internet.

The life of Jesus fulfilled all of the above-mentioned prophecies along with many others. A skeptic may say some of these prophecies could have been fulfilled by one familiar with the scriptures, but unless He was operating under the authority of God, how could Jesus arrange to fulfill any of the following Messianic prophecies?

         Descended from Judah
         Descended from Jesse
         Descended from David
         Born in Bethlehem
         Born of a virgin
         Come out of Egypt (as a young child)
         Perform miracles
         Betrayed by a friend
         Betrayed for exactly 30 pieces of silver
         30 pieces of silver returned
         30 pieces used to buy the potter's field
         No bones broken
         Darken the sky of the entire world for three hours when He died
         Resurrection from the dead

The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that all of these prophetic predictions were accurately made hundreds and in some cases more than a thousand years in advance.