Part One
The prophetic proof surpasses the historical and scientific evidence because it definitely leads to divine intervention. There is no way to explain fulfilled prophesy by Man’s standards. Only God can foresee the future and tell us about it through the scriptures and get it right 100% of the time. Many skeptics have tried to explain fulfilled prophesy by saying that the Old Testament prophecies were written after the fact and inserted into Scripture. This theory has been proven false in many ways.
Archaeological finds over the years show that parchments, pottery, and other artifacts have been scientifically dated and prove the prophecies had been written when the authors stated they were written.
The most famous of which is the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls.' There are partial remnants of every book of the Old Testament in the findings, and, most importantly, the entire text of Isaiah was found intake. Isaiah is a prophetic book of high interest. The majority of it pertains to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and details about His ministry. The Scrolls were found in a cave in 1948 and have been proven to be left there centuries before the coming of Jesus. Jesus fulfilled over three hundred prophecies, all written by many different authors, in different countries, and in different time periods. Many of the writers didn’t know of the existence of the others. However, all wrote about the coming of the Lord. The three hundred plus prophecies were 100% accurate. Mathematically, it would be near impossible to fulfill that many prophesy with 100% accuracy. In fact, to fill eight of the prophecies would be a 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 chances of accuracy! This number is staggering, and any skeptic would be hard-pressed to explain it. Below is a small sampling of the Old Testament prophecies and where they were fulfilled in the New Testament. Bear in mind that it is just a sampling. If you want to read a more extensive list of all the prophesies, I recommend reading “New Testament prophecies of Old Testament Scriptures” Barbour Books. Headings are underlined as well as my notes between sections, so they are not confused with Scripture.
(The New King James Bible was used for all scriptures. Many Biblical scholars considered the NKJV as the most accurate translation. As you read through these comparisons, the first Scripture is from the Old Testament and was written hundreds or maybe thousands of years before the events occurring in the New Testament when the prophecy was fulfilled. We start with the birth of Jesus.)
His Birth-- Isaiah: 14, 9:6 Luke 2:11
Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV)
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Luke 2:9-11 NKJV)
9 And behold,[a] an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
It should be emphasized that in Luke’s time, the Dead Sea Scrolls had not been discovered. They read exactly as the Jewish script said in his day. To the Jewish scribes of that day, the idea of the Messiah (God) being born as a child was preposterous. They expected the Lord to come with an army to free them from the Romans, not as a baby to free us from our sins.
Isaiah was similar to the Bible as a whole. It may have been providential that it was the only book from the Old Testament to be kept completely intact when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. It begins with the sins of Judah and the punishment for the sin. However, in the last twenty-seven chapters. Like the twenty-seven books of the New Testament offers redemption from the sins and prophecies of the coming of Christ.
The prophecy of His Death-- Isaiah 53: 12 53:4-5 Mark 15: 27-28
Isaiah 53:12 (NKJV)
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
Mark 15:27-28 (NKJV)
27 With Him, they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. 28 So the Scripture was fulfilled[a] which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”[b]
The crucifixion was Another impossibility that drove the Pharisees and Scribes to disbelief. Would God allow His Son to be crucified? They thought not. Yet Isaiah wrote about it seven hundred years before Jesus was born. It was no ordinary murder. He was killed along with thieves (transgressors). But, most importantly, he died for our sins, as Isaiah pointed out. Again, a very impracticable occurrence, according to the priests of the day.
The prophecy of His Betrayal-- Psalms 41:9 Luke 22: 47-48
Psalm 41:9 (NKJV)
9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.
Mark 14:19-20 (NKJV)
19 And they began to be sorrowful and to say to Him one by one, “Is it I?” And another said, “Is it I?”[a]
20 He answered and said to them, “It is one of the twelve who dips with Me in the dish.
Luke 22:47-48 (NKJV)
47 And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Several scriptures correspond to Psalms 14. The disciple who turned his back on Jesus and delivered Him to the Pharisees cannot be mistaken. The Psalmist wrote the poem at least 300 years before Jesus.
For the conspiracy theorists, I don’t believe Judas and Jesus cooked up the scheme to make the prophecy come true. Judas committed suicide over the results, and, of course, Jesus died a horrible death. There would be little point in setting up a sham like that.
The prophecy about the Field of Blood-- Zech. 11:12-13 Acts 1:19, Matt 27:1-9
Zechariah 11:12-13 (NKJV)
12 Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So, they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So, I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.
Acts 1:19 (NKJV)
19 And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem, so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)
Matt 27: 3-9 (NKJV)
3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”
5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself.
6 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury because they are the price of blood.” 7 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 8 Therefore, that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced.
This is a very compelling comparison of Scripture. How could it be possible that Zechariah knew the sum for Judas’s betrayal? How could he possibly know that the priests would use that sum to buy a Potter’s field? And, there would be no way for Jesus to control what the priest would pay or Judas would ask for.
The prophecy of His Trial-- Psalms 35:11- 12 Mark 14: 57-59
Psalm 35:11-12 (NKJV)
11 Fierce witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know. 12 They reward me evil for good, To the sorrow of my soul.
Mark 14:57-59 (NKJV)
57 Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, 58 “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.’” 59 But not even then did their testimony agree.
Jesus endured an illegal trial throughout the night. By Hebrew standards, the whole process was a sham. The writer of Psalms knew this would happen. At the time of the writing of Psalms, the scribe had no idea what he was writing about. He wrote down what the Holy Spirit gave him.
Another example of the prophecy of Jesus illegal trial
Isaiah 53:7 Mark 14: 57-61
Isaiah 53:7 (NKJV)
7 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep, before its shearers are silent, So He opened not His mouth.
Mark 14:57-61 (NKJV)
57 Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, 58 “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.’” 59 But not even then did their testimony agree.
60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” 61 But He kept silent and answered nothing.
Again, the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
Matthew 27:12-14 (NKJV)
12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.
13 Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” 14 But He answered him not one word so that the governor marveled greatly.
Both Matthew and Mark agree Jesus made no defense at his trial. Isaiah predicted this would happen many years prior. And, again, it would make no sense to Isaiah why he wrote what he did. He was following the will of God.
The prophecy of His Death-- Psalms 22:1 Matt 27:46
Psalms 22: 1 (NKJV)
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
Matthew 27:46 (NKJV)
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”[a]
To me, this is one of the saddest Scripture. Throughout Jesus' life on Earth, He was always in the presence of His Father, God. On the cross, He bore our sins, so God had to turn away from him. God the Father could not be in the presence of sin. This is why we need Jesus. Without his presence in our lives, God cannot hear any of our pleas. He only hears our desires to have Jesus come into our lives and wash away our sins. With true repentance and acceptance of the Holy Spirit, we can now commune with God our Father.
A recorded fact from the scientific world. Jesus died as a total eclipse of the sun occurred. Amos 8:9 Matt 27:45
Amos 8:9 (NKJV)
9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;
Matthew 27:45 (NKJV)
45 Now, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land.
Now, this is an extraordinary prophecy. Amos lived 250 years before the birth of Jesus. Did he predict an eclipse and an earthquake on the day of Jesus' crucifixion? It would be pretty tough to set that up if not for the divine hand in it.
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