Jesus, himself, taught the Old Testament prophecies pointed to him.
John 5:39 – You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.
Luke 24:27, 44 – And beginning with Moses and the prophets, Jesus expounded to them in all the Scriptures all the things concerning himself…Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Below are just a few of those prophecies Jesus said testify of him.
1. Jesus will be from the bloodline of David.
Jeremiah 23:5-6 – “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness. (See also 2 Sam 7:12-16; Is 11:1)
Matthew 1:1 – This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:…
2. Jesus will be born of a virgin.
Isaiah 7:14 – Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,…
Matthew 1:18, 22-23 – Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit… All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
3. Jesus will be born in Bethlehem.
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.”
Luke 1:4-7 – So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem… While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
4. Jesus will live in Egypt.
Hosea 11:1 – When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.
Matthew 2:13-15 – …an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt… And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
5. Jesus will be worshipped as royalty.
Numbers 24:17 – “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.
Matthew 2:1-2 – After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
6. Jesus will be preceded by a messenger announcing his arrival.
Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1 – A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord;…Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.”
Matthew 3:3 – For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
7. Jesus’ manner of death.
Psalm 22:16 – Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
Mark 15:24; John 19:37 – “And they crucified him… And again another Scripture says, ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
Peter Stoner (June 16, 1888 – March 21, 1980) was Chairman of the departments of mathematics and astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953; Chairman of the science division, Westmont College, 1953–57; Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College; and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Astronomy, Pasadena City College. In his classic, Science Speaks, Stoner calculated the following:
“The probability for just eight prophecies being fulfilled is around 1 in 10¹⁷ (1 in 100 quadrillion), and for 48 prophecies, it’s 1 in 10¹⁵⁷, making accidental fulfillment statistically impossible.”
Allow me to show you what that looks like.
8 Prophecies fulfilled: 1 in 1017
1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000
48 Prophecies fulfilled: 1 in 10157
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.
Now, consider this:
Scholars cite not 8, or even 48, prophecies in the Old Testament related directly to Jesus, but over 300!
Finally, carefully consider the following:
If the Bible’s prophecies about Jesus first coming were 100% accurate, we can deduce all the prophecies of his second coming will be as well.
After his death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus will return to earth.
Job 19:25; Dan 7:13; Zechariah 14:4-6 – “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth… In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven…,the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
Mark 13:26; Revelation 19:11-14 – [Jesus said], At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory… [John wrote], I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him,…
Jesus will reign forever and ever.
Isaiah 7:14 – He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Revelation 11:15 – “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
Merely one of the facts that make the Christian/biblical worldview unique among all other religious worldviews is the prophecies issued centuries, even millennia, before Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem have all – every single one – been perfectly fulfilled.
Solus Christus, Nick