Why I Believe the Bible is True: Fulfilled Prophecies

2 Peter 1:19–20

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

People have an innate desire to know the future, to just know what’s going to happen. Today we all wonder how long the Coronavirus is going to last and what effects its going to have. We want to know what is going to happen with the stock market and would love to know what the next Amazon is going to be.

Many of us wonder, and even will day dream about the future possibilities, but some turn to different voices to tell them the future. The Magic 8 Ball, horoscopes and fortune tellers to name a few devices. Each of those tells these general and generic statements that are bound to resonate with their audience, but these are not reliable and are something Christians should avoid.

But what if something or someone could tell the future? How could you be certain you could trust their prophecies? I would contend that their track record and the specificity of the prophecies would lead you to know if you could trust them.

Peter tells us that the Word of God is a prophetic word that is fully confirmed. It’s verified. As a matter of fact, you would do well to look to it as you need a flashlight in a dark room.

Have you ever hiked through a dark cave, room or building and found the relief of light at the end of the tunnel? That’s the image I get here. Several years ago I had the privilege of traveling to Israel and hiking Hezekiah’s tunnel. The tunnel is a very narrow path dug out by Hezekiah’s army to secure a victory. Today you can walk the very steps they took, about 3 football fields in length. I tried taking some video of our hike, but it was so dark and narrow that you can’t see anything in the video.

There were times I was wondering why I would volunteer to crawl through a long dark tunnel and other times I thought it was pretty cool. The best moment was when the light shinned and I knew the end of the tunnel was close. It gave confidence and certainty that I could make it and would not perish in the dark.

Peter is telling us if we look to the biblical account and we pay attention to the fulfilled prophecies we will see the light. The imagery is actually to keep looking at it until you see the light of Jesus Christ, His finger prints are all over it.

Old Testament Prophecies about history

Now the Old Testament is full of prophecies and it is amazing to see the details. Again, the prophecies of the Bible are not general or generic, but specific and narrow. They are things that aren’t going to “just happen”, but show that the events were part of a divine plan.

One of my favorite Old Testament prophecies and it’s fulfillment is when Isaiah prophecies the movement of king Cyrus:

Isaiah 45:1

“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:”

I like this one because Isaiah mentions the kings name, Cyrus, when he wrote the book between 701 and 681 BC! I find that significant since Cyrus defeated Babylon in 539 BC! That’s a specific prophecy given 150 years before Cyrus’ campaign. You can’t get more specific than naming the guy who is going to come in and subdue nations.

The Old Testament is full of prophecies that have been fulfilled in history. I wish I had time to unpack more, but check out how J. Warner Wallace walks through several more on his blog Cold-Case Christianity.

Old Testament Prophecies about Jesus

All of the prophecies God gave to His people are significant in demonstrating His sovereign hand working out His plan of Redemption. Perhaps the most significant are the specific prophecies about the coming of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament has nearly 300 references to 61 prophecies of the Messiah that were fulfilled in the life of Christ.

I would love to dig through all 300 references, but for sake of time, let’s look at the list of 8 prophecies that Dr. Peter Stoner examined in his book “Science Speaks.”

Prophecy: The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.		Fulfillment: “to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…” “gave birth to her…son…”
Micah 5:2		Luke 2:4-7
700 B.C.		4 B.C.
Prophecy: The Messiah will be born of a virgin.		Fulfillment: “you will in your womb and bear a son…Jesus” “how can this be…I am a virgin…”
Isaiah 7:14		Luke 1:26-38
700 B.C.		4 B.C.
Prophecy: The Messiah would be from the lineage of King David.		Fulfillment: “Jesus … the son of David …”
Jeremiah 23:5		Luke 3:23, 31
600 B.C.		4 B.C.
Prophecy: The Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.		Fulfillment: “They gave him thirty pieces of silver.”
Zechariah 11:13		Matthew 26:15
487 B.C.		30 A.D.
Prophecy: The Messiah would have his hands and feet pierced.		Fulfillment: “They came to a place called The Skull. All three were crucified there-Jesus on the center cross, and the two criminals on either side.”
Psalm 22:16		Luke 23:33
1000 B.C.		30 A.D.
Prophecy: People would cast lots for the Messiah’s clothing.		Fulfillment: “The soldiers … took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said, ‘Let’s not tear it but throw dice to see who gets it.’ ”
Psalm 22:18		John 19:23-24
1000 B.C.		30 A.D.
Prophecy: The Messiah would appear riding on a donkey.		Fulfillment: “They brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.”
Zechariah 9:9		Matthew 21:7
500 B.C.		30 A,D.
Prophecy: A messenger would be sent to herald the Messiah.		Fulfillment: John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not know.”
Malachi 3:1		John 1:26
500 B.C.		27 A.D.

Stoner, a mathematician, did the calculations of the probabilities of one person fulfilling these 8 prophecies in their life time and came up with the result of one in ten to the twenty first power, 1 in 10²¹. That’s a 10 with 21 zeros after it!! Again, to see it is 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That’s huge odds!

Because that number is hard to understand, he gave this illustration: “First, blanket the entire Earth land mass with silver dollars 120 feet high. Second, specially mark one of those dollars and randomly bury it. Third, ask a person to travel the Earth and select the marked dollar, while blindfolded, from the trillions of other dollars.”

That’s the odds of only 8 of the prophecies, what would the numbers be to fulfill all 300 references of the 61 prophecies? Astronomically impossible without the divine intervention of our Heavenly Father!

Don’t just take my word for it, dig in the Word of God, examine the prophecies and see the glorious light of the Son of God being revealed one prophecy at a time. God doesn’t want you to miss the truth that He is involved in human affairs, that He sent His Son to provide salvation and hope for all who believe.

The Bible is unlike any other book in history. Why? Because “it is a reliable collection of historical documents, written by eyewitnesses, during the lifetime of other eyewitness, that report of supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claimed that their writings are Divine rather than human in origin” (Voddie Bauchman).