No other book in the history of the world has so many prophecies within it's pages. The Bible is totally unique in it's visions of the future. Listed in this article are 315 Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fullfilled. This is a fraction of the many overall prophecies contained in the Book. Some of the prophecies are "types" or "shadows" and therefore some skeptics have maintained that they are not valid; however included in my post I've placed the prophecies, types and forshadows side by side with their New Testament fulfillments, which for most Christian's validates those types and shadows.
These two men,
PETER W. STONER, M.S. [Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College (1953); Chairman of the science division, Westmont College, 1953-57; Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College; Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Astronomy, Pasadena City College.]
ROBERT C. NEWMAN, S.T.M., Ph.D.Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Cornell University, 1967; S.T.M., Biblical School of Theology, 1972; [Associate Professor of Physics and Mathematics, Shelton College, 19689-71; Associate professor of New Testament, Biblical School of Theology, 1971-]
Wrote the book entitled "Science Speaks, Scientific Proof of the Accuracy of Prophecy and the Bible."In it they took only eight of the more than 300 prophecies fulfilled by Christ and determined the odds of one person fulfilling just those eight. The results were astounding! They calculated the odds at 1 in 10 to the 17th power or 1 in 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000. Dr. Stoner calculated that if you spread out that many silver dollars, it would cover the entire state of Texas, two feet deep!
Now what do you think the odds are if say, one of those silver dollars was painted red, the likelyhood for a blind folded person to walk out on that pile of silver dollars and pick up the red one - on the first try? Certainly if one did that, it would be by definition, a miracle! The Bible is more than that.
10 comments:
I honestly want to believe - but what about what some people say that the New Testament was deliberately written to tick those boxes and fulfil all those prophecies?
Thanks in advance for your response.
It's important to remember that the New Testament were originally books and letters that circulated among the early Christians who could verify their authenticity. There is more written proof to the existence of Jesus than there is to Julius Caesar. So, how can one explain Jesus' virgin birth, his exile to Egypt, the slaughter of innocent children, his betrayal for 30 pieces of silver, his crucifixion between sinners, his bones not being broken, the offer of wine, and the division of his clothes. If none of this had happened the early letters would have been discredited, and thus Christianity also have been disproved and discredited. Blessings to you!
are there any sources other than the bible that say for fact that these things happened?
Hi Anne and anonymous!
Josephus was a Jewish historian born in AD 37. He wrote several works which were historical accounts of the Jewish people which often corroborate both historical detail in the New Testament, e.g., the death of King Herod Agrippa which is also in Luke in the Bible, and give a brief account of Jesus' life. Tacitus was also a contemporary writer...I can't remember the details. Sorry the details on the above are a bit sketchy...I did some research a few years ago and the details have got a bit hazy in my mind! I've got a good book that summarises some of the points though - "The New Testament Documents, are they reliable?" by F F Bruce but I also did a bit of research at my local library and they just had Josephus and Tacitus on the shelf in the reference section just because they are historical writings, i.e., they weren't in the Christian books section. Hope this helps. It's a fascinating subject. It's crucial the Bible stands up to scrutiny like this...keep asking questions!!
:0)
Dear Anne and all who may read these posts,
There are many ways to find the LORD Jesus, the Christ and Messiah, the only begotten Son of Almighty God.
Believing is a choice. It is an act of faith. Faith is a free will choice and act. You choose to believe.
One is not "convinced" nor "forced" nor "reasoned" to believe.
One simply CHOOSES to exercise their own FREE WILL to believe.
The LORD Jesus Christ revealed Himself as:
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Revelation 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."
John 10:9-11 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. "The thief [satan, the devil] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
John 15:4-9 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
If we seek Him, seek the truth, seek life, we shall find Christ Jesus.
Matthew 7:7-11 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? "Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
Choose to only believe!
Read God's Word the King James/KJV or New American Standard/NASB. Start with the Gospels of John, Matthew, Mark and Luke, then Romans, and the rest of the new testament.
While you read pray to God and ask God to open your heart and help you to repent of your sins and receive Christ Jesus, His Son, and eternal life that you may be saved.
Pour out your heart to God the Father, or Christ Jesus. You will be heard.
Do you think lightly of the riches of God's kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness and goodness of God that leads you to repentance?
God loves you more than you will ever be able to comprehend on this earth. You are loved! You are special! You are the one Christ Jesus came to die for and to save because He loves you! Jesus is close at hand!
"While you read pray to God and ask God to open your heart and help you to repent of your sins and receive Christ Jesus, His Son, and eternal life that you may be saved."
This is good, but don't forget to look at what people were told to DO, and what people DID in receiving that free gift. That part often gets overlooked or ignored.
They repented,were baptized in Jesus name, and were filled with the holy ghost. Acts 2,8,10,19
All,
Salvation is by faith through grace alone. Nothing that a person does can get them to heaven, but only what Jesus did on the cross. Romans 10:9 "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. In Romans it says that Abraham's faith was accounted to righteousness. The thief on the cross in Luke 23 cries out to the Lord and his response is "today you will be with me in paradise" vs. 43. He did not DO anything but believed in Jesus for who he was as God almighty! Baptism is an outward declaration of what a person has believed in their heart. An individual is filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment of believing (putting their faith and trust in Jesus) Ephesians 1:13 "In Him you also trusted, after you hear the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."
If you have not yet placed your faith in Christ I would encourage you to at this time. 2 Corinthians 6:2 "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
Let's get back to the article itself.
Stoner & Newman did get their students to make the estimates for themselves, and a lot of unnecessary assumptions were made which rather 'over-egged the pudding', making it less palatable for non-believers.
For example, they always assumed that Jesus was one person taken from all who had lived up to the point of the prophecy. This is wrong - he had to be a Jew, a descendent of David, which reduced the odds considerably. Similarly for other prophecies.
Yet, adjusting the odds to favour a conservative estimate - even the most conservative skeptic's estimate, isn't a bad thing. The chance of any one person fulfilling all of the key prophecies which any skeptic can see are Messiah-specific is still almost infinitely small - one in untold billions.
So when explaining this to non-Christians, go their way on the odds of a person fulfilling the prophecy. Agree to strike out those which Jesus probably fulfilled deliberately (like the Palm Sunday donkey, King David's royal mount, and his quoting Psalm 22 on the cross). And you'll still come up with stunningly small odds that it could happen by chance.
It wasn't chance - it was God's plan from the beginning and signalled many times, clearly, throughout history.
Let's get back to the article itself.
Stoner & Newman did get their students to make the estimates for themselves, and a lot of unnecessary assumptions were made which rather 'over-egged the pudding', making it less palatable for non-believers.
For example, they always assumed that Jesus was one person taken from all who had lived up to the point of the prophecy. This is wrong - he had to be a Jew, a descendent of David, which reduced the odds considerably. Similarly for other prophecies.
Yet, adjusting the odds to favour a conservative estimate - even the most conservative skeptic's estimate, isn't a bad thing. The chance of any one person fulfilling all of the key prophecies which any skeptic can see are Messiah-specific is still almost infinitely small - one in untold billions.
So when explaining this to non-Christians, go their way on the odds of a person fulfilling the prophecy. Agree to strike out those which Jesus probably fulfilled deliberately (like the Palm Sunday donkey, King David's royal mount, and his quoting Psalm 22 on the cross). And you'll still come up with stunningly small odds that it could happen by chance.
It wasn't chance - it was God's plan from the beginning and signalled many times, clearly, throughout history.
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