Why Are the Prophecies About Jesus Before He Was Born Significant to Me?
It has been said, Jesus is in the Old Testament concealed and in the New Testament revealed. Many theologians and scholars believe there are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament. We see evidence of the Trinity in the very first chapter of Genesis:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…” (Genesis 1:26, ESV, italics and emphasis added)
It is significant that this statement uses the plural words ‘us’ and ‘our’ in response to the Hebrew name of God, ‘Elohiym’, which is a plural word. The same plural word for God is used in Genesis 3:22, “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold the man has become like one of Us…”
The first specific mention of a ‘Savior’ or ‘Messiah’ came in God’s promise to Adam and Eve just after they disobeyed and brought sin into the world.
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. (Genesis 3:15, NLT)
The Jesus Film Project website tells the story of Peter Stoner, Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena College. With 600 students from the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Stoner looked at eight specific prophecies about Christ from the Old Testament – all of them fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament. The possibility of anyone fulfilling those eight prophecies was 1 in 10 to the 17th power. Stoner tried to explain what that means in Science Speaks:
“Suppose that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom.” 1
Amazing Fulfillment
Here are only a few of the prophecies of Jesus – the One who died for the sins of all mankind on the cross – from the Old Testament and their fulfillment in Scripture.
Read the full article on Inspiration.org
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