“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
Everything hinges on whether or not the Bible is the Word of God. Christianity is no more except that the Scriptures are divine and not of man-made origin. Oh sure, Jesus the Word (John 1:1) breathed upon holy men of old (2 Peter 2:20-21) the final rule of faith and practice, the manual on how to make life work ~ and it came into being. Men were involved, but they didn’t manufacture it. They couldn’t.
Take for instance, the Bible prophecies. Simply put, they are fulfilled just like the Bible said they would be. And especially the Messianic prophecies are fulfilled which is the highest evidence of divine inspiration. And we’ll look at a few Messianic prophecies in just a moment.
But before that…
How could these things be known except that there was a God in heaven who revealed the future to man?
Liberal theologians (which is a misnomer to begin with) say the Biblical texts were doctored after the fact to fit. (And that’s a greater conspiracy to swallow than that the entire L. A. police department framed O. J.) For one thing there are too many prophecies / predictions in the Bible to go back and change and keep them all straight! (It was by God’s design. Duh.)
Which brings us to the Messianic prophecies in particular. There are numerous concerning Christ. We can’t possibly look at them all here. Nevertheless, how could the prophets of old know these things about the Messiah as well?
For instance, that Jesus would be born of a virgin when it had never happened ever in the history of mankind! Can you just imagine telling somebody that the lady next door was going to have a baby without ever having been with a man? No one would believe you, let alone if you said it was going to happen hundreds of years in the future. But that’s exactly what Isaiah spoke. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)
And then what of saying that during Christ’s crucifixion, while He was hanging on the cross, soldiers would gamble for His clothes? That’s what the Psalmist declared. (Psalm 22:17-18; Luke 23:34) How could he know that?
And think of this for a moment. Think of if somehow Jesus could have finagled the whole thing (“finagled” is a word – I used spell check). Can you just imagine Him speaking to the soldiers, “Hey guys, don’t forget now. You need to throw dice to see who gets my pants and shirt.”
And that’s completely ludicrous.
And what of the whole issue of how none of Jesus’ bones were broken near the end when He died? The Psalmist predicted that, too. (Psalm 34:20; John 19:33) And listen! That just didn’t happen! The Romans always broke the bones to hasten death! The Romans always broke the bones! But they didn’t have to with our Lord because He was already dead. How could the Psalmist know?
It was probably just a lucky guess.
And I could go much further as there are many more Messianic prophecies which have been fulfilled to a “t.” (See below.) It’s proof that’s beyond a shadow of a doubt ~ that’s stood the test of time. The Scriptures are trustworthy. The Bible is divine. There is no other book like this Book.
12 more prophecies of the Messiah fulfilled in Jesus Christ:
1. Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4:4)
2. Heir to the throne of David (Isaiah 9:7; Luke 1:32)
3. Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4-5, 7)
4. Speaks in parables (Psalm 78:2-4; Matthew 13:34)
5. Rejected by His own people, the Jews (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:11)
6. Triumphal entry (Zechariah 9:9; Mark 11:7, 9)
7. Betrayed by a close friend (Psalm 41:9; Luke 22:47)
8. Silent to accusations (Isaiah 53:7; Mark 15:4)
9. Spat on and struck (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67)
10. Pierced through hands and feet (Zechariah 12:10; John 20:27)
11. Forsaken by God (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46)
12. To be resurrected (Psalm 16:10, 49:15; Mark 16:6)
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