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There can only be one Jesus.

That is a fact that everyone must would agree with – Jesus is not an arbitrary matter. His correct identification is absolutely essential to the whole Bible, and thus to everything God has promised.

Of all the people in all of the world, can it be conclusively said that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about this Messiah that were promised throughout the Old Testament, in this chapter with regards the events of His Life and His Death?

But first…

Where we left off in the last chapter, we saw that the Pharisees and Scribes at the time of Jesus’ birth knew the prophecy of Micah regarding Jesus’ Bethlehem birthplace.

The full quote from Micah’s prophecy is even more illuminating as to the Divinity of the awaited Messiah…

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Mic 5:2) (Emphasis mine)

If up to now, you had considered Jesus to be a great man, a Prophet or a wise teacher of His day, then consider Micah’s statement above with John’s opening words in his Gospel describing Jesus “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” (John 1:1-3,14a). Throughout the Old and New Testaments, Jesus’ divine identity can be clearly seen.

For a full chapter on the fact that Jesus is God please CLICK HERE
For the first part in this series on Jesus’ genetic identity please CLICK HERE

Let us now look at the events from His life and death, to see if Jesus IS the One.

Out of well over 300 “Messianic Prophecies” in the Old Testament, all fulfilled by Jesus to the letter, I have chosen merely a prophetic pocketful, focussing upon the final days of His earthly ministry and His death to illuminate these unquestionable proofs…

The Messiah would ride into Jerusalem

Zechariah told the Jews to “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” (Zech 9:9)

All four Gospel writers confirm that Jesus did this (Matt 21:4-7, Mark 11:4-9, Luke 19:35-40, John 12:13-15) recording even that when Jesus was told to rebuke the people from praising Him “…he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. “ (Luke 19:40)

Even the inanimate objects of creation knew that Jesus was the promised King and Messiah and was ready to praise Him if given the chance !!!

The Messiah would be betrayed by a friend

King David speaking of the Messiah tells us “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” (Psalm 41:9)

John tells us in his Gospel that Jesus said “I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.” (John 13:18-19)

Afterwards Jesus said “…“Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me… He it is, to whom I shall give a sop (a piece of bread), when I have dipped it.” And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot…” (John 13:21-26)

(Matt 26:14-16,21-25,47-50,John 13:18,21-30,Acts 1:16-17 also record these events)

Jesus kept telling them that the Scriptures spoke of Him !!!

The Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver

Zechariah prophesied “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.” (Zech 11:12)

Matthew confirms “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.” (Matt 26:14-16)

How could Jesus have possibly engineered this perfect prophetic fulfilment? It is impossible !!!

The 30 pieces of silver would be thrown into the Temple and be given to a Potter

Zechariah again prophesied of this money “And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” (Zech 11:13)

Again Matthew confirmed “Then Judas… brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.” (Matt 27:3-7)

Note also the capitalisation of the LORD in Zechariah’s prophecy and try to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ !!! He is talking about HIMSELF !!!!!

A total description of the Messiah and His purpose

Jesus Himself told the Pharisees “You examine the Scriptures carefully because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. Yet they testify about me.” (John 5:39 (ISV))

With that said and to show that we are not taking snippets of Scripture out of context here, let us read a larger portion of prophecy from Isaiah and see if we can determine whom he is telling us about…

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” (Isa 53:3-9)

Any suggestions?

There is NOBODY else of whom this prophecy could have been foretelling, other than Jesus Christ !!!

The Messiah will be Crucified

We are told in the preamble to Psalm 22 that it is a Psalm written by King David. No matter how secular the historian, King David is believed to have died around 970BC (even wikipedia concur with that date !!!)

History records that the art of death by Crucifixion was invented by the Persians between 400-300BC; this art was then “perfected”, so to speak, by the Romans in the 1st century BC.

We can plainly see from these dates that King David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prophesied about the Messiah’s death by crucifixion AT LEAST 500 YEARS BEFORE that form of “excruciating” death was even invented !!!

NB:…
Because of this EVIDENTLY fulfilled prophecy in Psalm 22, a lot of controversy has been created by those affected by its fulfilment over the meaning of verse 22:16 rendered in the KJV as…

“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.”

Jews and Muslims (who deny the crucifixion death of Jesus) suggest that “they pierced” should read “like a lion”. However, seeing as that renders the verse “like a lion my hands and my feet” (MT and not in any of the earliest manuscripts – see below) this, neither in nor out of context, makes any sense whatsoever and thus, it is suggested, is more wishful thinking than fact.

The correct translation of Psalm 22:16 seems to come from the oldest manuscripts, namely the Greek Septuagint and has been confirmed also in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Both of these were written well before Jesus was crucified, and the words in question are rendered “they pierced my hands and my feet.”

A seriously large nail (excuse the pun), it is suggested, in the coffin of the “no predictive prophecy” hopers !!!

And another thing…

Those who try to use the contested verse 16 from psalm 22 seem to completely ignore the fact that the New Testament fulfilment of the crucifixion does not even use this verse to prove that it was prophesied.

When John wrote concerning the crucifixion that “…again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced” (John 19:34), he was quoting from Zechariah 12:10…

…and with perfect irony, that prophecy is also 500 YEARS BEFORE THIS EVENT !!!

At the Cross

Finally let us look at this and the other “uncontested” verses of Psalm 22 prophesying of the Messiah’s death and see if this fits with our New Testament historical accounts.

Jesus even gave an enormous hint that His crucifixion, that they were presently stood watching, was alluding to Psalm 22 in their Scriptures; on the cross He exclaimed “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The opening line of that very Psalm !!!

Looking around they could see that His enemies encircled Him (vv 12 & 16), that they gaped at Him (vv 13) & 17), that He was despised by them (v 6), being mocked and scorned by them (v 7 & 8); that His bones were out of joint (v 14) and could even be counted (v 17) and that His hands and feet were pierced.

They could see that He had been stripped (v 17) and that His garments were being shared out and that they were casting lots for them (v 18)

If they combined these facts with other Scripture they would have seen that He had been whipped (Is 53:5); known that He had been silent before His accusers (Isa 53:7) and that He was being put to death with thieves (Isa 53:9)

They would further have noticed that He was given gall and vinegar to drink (Psa 69:21) and that contrary to usual Roman practice and unlike the two thieves beside Jesus that day, and EXACTLY according to the instructions for the Passover Lamb (EXO 12:46) Jesus’ legs were not broken and instead, as the Gospel writer John tells us (John 19:31-37) they pierced His side with a spear, again alluding to (an also yet future prophecy for the returning Messiah) Zech 12:10

They would then have seen Him taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and buried in Joseph’s own grave – the grave of a rich man (Isa 53:9) and after admitting to hearing Jesus prophecy about Himself (Matt 27:62-66) BELIEVED THAT AFTER THREE DAYS HE HAD RISEN FROM THE DEAD !!!

The overall point to understand

Amongst hundreds of prophecies that speak of the Messiah I have deliberately picked ones that could not possibly have been engineered by Jesus or even by His followers. They could only have happened to the One for whom they were prophesied.

These prophecies were not orchestrated by Jesus’ friends or followers and the majority were actually carried out by His ENEMIES !!!

These prophecies happened to Jesus – They were prophesied only for Jesus and carried out only for Jesus – BELIEVE !!!

As a point of interest let’s use the science of probabilities to put things into some perspective…

The chances of you winning the UK National lottery are 14,000,000 to 1

The chances of you being struck by lightning on any particular day are 250,000,000 to 1

The chances of Jesus fulfilling just EIGHT of these Old Testament prophecies is 100,000,000,000,000,000 to 1 (10¹⁷)

The chances of Jesus fulfilling FORTY EIGHT of the old testament prophecies is…

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000 to 1 (10¹⁵⁷)

That is HUNDREDS OF TIMES MORE than the number electrons in the entire “supposedly known” universe – THAT IS FOR JUST FORTY EIGHT PROPHECIES BEING FULFILLED – JESUS FULFILLED OVER THREE HUNDRED OF THEM !!!

(NB: If you could count electrons that was laid side by side in a straight line at a rate of 1 per second 24 hours a day without sleeping it would take you 76 MILLION YEARS TO COUNT ONE INCH !!! We are talking a lot of electrons in hundreds of universes – an incomprehendable figure.)

May I remind any passing scientists that according to Emile Borel (1943) it is scientifically considered that 10⁵⁰ on “the cosmic scale” represents a nigh impossibility. Just forty eight prophecies having been fulfilled by Jesus is 10¹⁵⁷

These mindblowing statistics led Dr Peter Stoner Professor Emeritus of Science, Mathematics and Astronomy, in his book “Science Speaks” to state:

“Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world.” (Science Speaks (1958) Chapter 3)

I think that says it all really !!!

But I will repeat the Word of The Lord one more time when He told the Pharisees“You examine the Scriptures carefully because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. Yet they testify about me.” (John 5:39 (ISV))

Let us now see in the last part of this short series whether Jesus was on time !!!

Could the Bible actually have given us the date of His first coming?

Let’s see…