While there are many so-called “holy books,” none can compare to the Christian Bible. There are many reasons why it is the best-selling book of all time. Even though it is a collection of poetry, history and prophecy from some forty different authors spanning six centuries, it has a single message of salvation for all mankind by the grace-filled intervention of the only One, True, Almighty yet all-loving God. And how can one be sure it reveals the only true God, the Total Truth?

The fascinating bible code evidence cited in the previous article, Bible Codes Evidence God, strongly suggests the Bible’s divine origin. Similarly, the prophetic and historical evidence of Jesus Christ’s divinity is just as convincing to anyone objectively open to finding the truth.

The following article by R. Totten, Worldview Test Site, offers just fifteen of the more than 300 Old Testament prophecies that point to the person and purpose of Jesus Christ as the Messianic Savior of the world. As it suggests, the likelihood of predicting the time of his coming let alone the place and manner of his unique conception, birth and death happening by chance is virtually impossible. And no other “holy book” even attempts such divinely arranged documentation to prove its authenticity. Only One who knows the end from the beginning could inspire such a wondrous book – the Bible.

Portrait of Messiah by R. Totten

To give a statistical proof of the power of the Bible in the area of predictive prophecy, I will now list some messianic prophecies, along with their fulfillments. Also included is a conservative estimate of the mathematical chance that each such prophecy could be fulfilled in the life of one individual by the random events of history.

1) Messiah to be a descendant of Abraham & Sarah – Genesis 12:2-3 ; 17:15-17 ; 18:18 Fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth – Matthew 1:1 ; Luke 3:33 ; Acts 3:25.

Logic: How many 90-year-old couples have ever born a child? (From 1500 B.C to 1900 A.D.) Thus… The Chance = 1 chance out of 1,000,000

2) Messiah to be a descendant of Isaac – Genesis 17:19 Fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth – Matthew 1:2 ; Luke 3:33

Logic: Abraham had two sons. (But the other son, Ishmael, was not by Sarah). Thus…

The Chance = 1 chance out of 2

3 Messiah to be a descendant of Judah – Genesis 49:10 Fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth – Matthew 1:3 ; Luke 3:33

Logic: Israel (Jacob) had 12 sons who became the 12 tribes. Thus…The Chance = 1 out of 12

4) Messiah to be a descendant of David – Isaiah 9:7 Fulfilled in Jesus – Matthew 1:6 ; Luke 3:31

Logic: David was one of 8 sons. Thus…The Chance = 1 out of 8

Some people are concerned that Maternal bloodlines (Jesus was born of Mary) had absolutely no meaning or significance in Jewish laws of succession. In order to be heir to the throne of David, only the patrilineage mattered. If Jesus wasn’t descended from David through his father then he wasn’t the Messiah. But it must be noted, that Jesus was physically descended from David. He in fact IS humanly a descendant of David, and his bodily genetics came from Mary and ultimately from David. He was a real human. However, the reader will have to make up his own mind on these things.

Since the Messiah was prophesied to be born of a VIRGIN (and he was, in Isaiah 7:14 …and Matthew understood this: Mat. 1:23), how much are we to make of the “legal” view of the Jews on lineage? Is it really such a choking point?

– What is more important?… the lack of a human father (causing a genalogical hiccup) …or the fact that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and God was his Father (making him the sinless Lamb of God who could pay the death-penalty for our sins)?

– Furthermore, Matthew (in Chapter 1) mentions several women, who are actually more important in the lineage than their husbands. This seems to make a clear precedent for the coming of Mary in the line.

As Jesus said, some people strain a gnat out of their drink, but then swallow a camel.

– Some of us are so smart on a few technicalities, but miss the elephant in the room.

— But we can’t out-smart God. He is not mocked. He will have the last word.

5) Birth-Place of Messiah, the “Eternal One”, to be in Bethlehem, Israel – Micah 5:2 Fulfilled in Jesus – Matthew 2:1 ; Luke 2:4-7

Logic: How many towns have Jews lived in around the world since 1500 B.C.? Thus…

The Chance = 1 out of 1000  

6) The Time of Messiah’s ministry specified – Daniel 9:25 Fulfilled in Jesus – (see discussion above)

Logic: How many generations of Jews have there been? Thus…The Chance = 1 out of 100

7) Messiah to be born of a virgin – Isaiah 7:14 Fulfilled in Jesus – Matthew 1:18 ; Luke 1:26-35

Logic: Though basically a miracle, there may be some small chance. (up to 1900 A.D.) Thus… The Chance = 1 out of 1,000,000

8) Messiah flees to Egypt to live for a while, and returns to Israel – Hosea 11:1 Fulfilled in Jesus – Matthew 2:14-15

Logic: What percentage of Jews have ever lived in Egypt? Thus… The Chance = 1 out of 1000

9) Messiah to be a prophet like Moses, with miracles, authority over the Scriptures – Deut. 18:15 Fulfilled in Jesus – John 6:14 ; John 1:45 ; Acts 3:19-26

Logic: How many Jews have major prophetic status, still recognized worldwide long after death? Thus…The Chance = 1 out of 1,000,000

10) Messiah to enter Jerusalem triumphantly, as a King, …riding on a donkey – Zechariah 9:9 Fulfilled in Jesus – John 12:12-14 ; Matthew 21:1-11

Logic: How many Jews have ever done precisely this? Thus…The Chance = 1 out of 1,000,000

11) Messiah, though innocent, is rejected and dies for our sins – Isaiah 53:3-5,9,12 Fulfilled in Jesus – John 1:11,29 ; John 8:46 ; Hebrews 4:15 ; John 15:23-25 ; Matthew 8:16-17

Logic: How many people (besides Jesus) are sinless? …and died for the sins of others? Thus… The Chance = 1 out of 1,000,000

12) Messiah to be crucified, bones disjointed, mocked, lots cast for clothing – Psalm 22:6-8,16-18 Fulfilled in Jesus – Matthew 27:32f ; John 19:16f

Logic: How many have been crucified, also including just these circumstances? Thus…

The Chance = 1 out of 1,000,000

13) Messiah’s side to be pierced at the behest of the people of Jerusalem – Zechariah 12:10 Fulfilled in Jesus – John 19:34

Logic: The number of crucified victims at Jerusalem with a stab in the side? Thus… The Chance = 1 out of 1000

14) Messiah’s body does not decay, but is resurrected in three days – Psalm 16:10 ; Isaiah 53:11 Fulfilled in Jesus – Matthew 28 ; Mark 16 ; Luke 24 ; John 20 ; Acts 1 ; 1 Corinthians 15

Logic: How many people have come back to life after being dead for three days? Thus…The Chance = 1 out of 1,000,000

15) Messiah to ascend into heaven, and rightly called “Lord” – Psalm 68:18 Fulfilled in Jesus – Luke 24:50-51 ; Acts 1:9-11

Logic: Very few men have ascended into heaven without mechanical means. Thus…The Chance = 1 out of 1,000,000

Analysis of Probability

Statistical probabilities are calculated such that, the combined chance of the first two events (above) happening to one person in his lifetime, is the product of those two chances, which is: 1 chance out of 2, times 1 chance out of 1,000,000 … which multiplies out to 1 chance out of 2,000,000. Similarly, the combined chance of the first three events happening to one person is the product of the first three chances, which multiplies out to 1 chance out of 24,000,000.

These multiplications continue in this manner, until you get a total product for all fifteen messianic prophecies. Thus, the combined chance of all fifteen events happening to one person, is the product of all fifteen chances, which comes out to: 1 chance out of 1060 …( 10 to the 60th power ). This large number is a one with 60 zeroes behind it, and is approximately the number of atoms in a million stars.

A leading authority on probability, Emile Borel, writes in his book Probabilities and Life, (’62), that when you reach one chance out of 1050, it is a statistically impossible event to occur randomly. To overcome the odds of one chance in 1050, would be like marking one electron in a mass the size of Earth, and then finding it blindfolded with one random selection. But the chance of the fifteen messianic prophecies happening to Jesus at random, was one chance out of 1060, so, we would have to mark one atom in a million stars, and then find it blindfolded with one random selection.

Therefore, obviously, it is virtually impossible that those fifteen prophecies happened in the life of Jesus merely by chance, … and remember, the people who did those things to Jesus did not realize they were fulfilling the predictions. In this, we have virtually a formal mathematical proof that God supernaturally gave the prophecies in the Bible, and therefore, that the Bible is divinely authoritative, and that God is also in charge of the events of history.

What’s more, when we consider that there are about 300 fulfilled prophecies concerning Jesus Christ, and that there are many dozens of other fulfilled prophecies concerning additional people, places and events, we begin to see the power of this evidence, which demonstrates that the Bible is from God. Now, of course, with regard to some prophecies it can quite justifiably be maintained that the person fulfilling the prophecy did it on purpose —this idea is certainly true in some instances, and the Bible even says (for instance) that Jesus did a few things to intentionally fulfill scripture. For the purposes of our mathematical calculations of chance fulfillments we could choose not to count such fulfillments, however, the main prophecies in view here are those which are beyond the control of the person involved. For example, Jesus could not control the place of his birth, or the manner of his execution, etc. Also, the re-establishment of the nation of Israel is most probably beyond the control of the people who participated in it.

The last few chapters lead to a conclusion that the claims of atheism are blatantly false. So, logically, the next chapter for next week is fittingly titled The Death of Atheism. LR