Fulfilled Prophecy

Imagine finding a sealed letter written centuries before you were born, describing events and details of your entire life, up until the day you found it. What would you be thinking as you read through it? Would you brush it off and as a coincidence, or would you suspect something bigger, something divine, is at play?

A letter like this sounds a lot like a prophecy, which is a message from God that reveals something about the future. There are lots of examples of prophecy in the Bible— in fact, 18 of its books are labeled prophetic, and more than 1 of every 4 verses in the Bible includes prophecy. That’s almost 8,400 verses! Now think about this: if over 25% of the Bible contains a message from God that reveals something about the future, how can we use that to help us discover if the Bible is actually God’s infallible Word?

We can ask the question, “Have the prophecies in the Bible come true?”

And the truth is, about half of the biblical prophecies concern the end times, the second coming of Jesus, and the new creation. All of those are still awaiting fulfillment. But that’s not the whole story; over half of the Bible’s prophecies have been fulfilled already, exactly how God said they would be! No other religion compares in its emphasis on, or accuracy in prophecy. Not Islam, Hinduism, Christian cults, or anyone else! Christianity worships the God, the only true God, who makes promises and has the power to fulfill them!

It wouldn’t be right to just tell you that biblical prophecies have been fulfilled, so let’s look at a few examples as well. Read the Old Testament prophecy, try to guess what it is about, and read the fulfillment to see if you got it right!

Prophecy: Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Fulfillment: Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”
Prophecy: Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Fulfillment: Matthew 2:1 “…Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea…”
Prophecy: Psalm 41:9 “Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me”

Fulfillment: John 13:26 “Jesus answered, “‘(The one who will betray me) is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

Prophecy: Psalm 22: 16-18 “Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

Fulfillment: Matthew 27:30, 35 “Then they spat on Him (Jesus), and took the reed and struck Him on the head… Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots”

All these examples are prophecies about Jesus, and these aren’t the only ones. In Jesus’ life, he fulfilled at least 300, but possibly almost 600 biblical prophecies. And while some of these, Jesus could’ve chosen to do, in order to convince others he was the Messiah, Jesus fulfilled many prophecies he had no control over— his birthplace, his virgin mother, and his death, to name a few!

So, might it have been a coincidence? Thankfully, mathematicians have helped us to know for sure; they did this by finding out how likely it would be for any person to fulfill only 8 of the messianic prophecies (remember, Jesus fulfilled 300-600, not 8). What they found is the chance of fulfilling 8 prophecies is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. This is like taking that many silver dollars, dumping them in the state of Texas (they will cover the whole state 2 feet deep), taking out 1 of those out, marking it, and sending a random person into Texas blindfolded. That person has the same chance of picking the marked silver dollar on their first try as Jesus had of fulfilling 8 messianic prophecies. If it would be that crazy to fulfill 8, it’s statistically impossible that he could have fulfilled between 300 and 600 coincidentally!

This information begs the question: if Jesus really did fulfill all these prophecies, what does that say about him? How does that impact you?

If it wasn’t coincidence, something divine was involved, and Jesus claimed to be that divine person. Jesus was clear about who he is, John 14:6-7 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.” And what his purpose on earth was, John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

The only question remaining is: do you believe Jesus is who he said he is, and if so, are you ready to be given a new life?