August 31 Life Group: Messianic Prophecy

Last week we did some historical background on the gospels. We established that we know who wrote the Gospels, approximately when they were written, that they were eyewitness accounts of Christ’s life, and that they are historically sound and reliable. In other words, we have more evidence for the reliability of the Gospels than we have for any other ancient text in history.

Again, we don’t want to lose sight of why we’re studying the evidence of Christ’s life. This isn’t so we can win debate competitions or prove intellectual superiority. In fact, most people who ask the kinds of critical questions do so in an effort to justify their lifestyle. (Proverbs 26:4)
We are looking at these things in an effort to build our own faith and to have an answer for those who are really search. We are preparing ourselves to defend our hearts from those who would make us doubt by looking at the evidence for Jesus Christ.

Today I want to look at Christ Himself. When you’re asking questions about Christ, what is possibly the key question that we need to answer about Christ in order to establish that our faith is in something real, tangible, and not just based on some stories about a good man who did some good things? (Luke 24:44)

Let’s start looking at the evidence for Christ being the Son of God.
1. Isaiah 35:4-6/Matthew 11:5
2. Isaiah 40:2-5/Mathew 3:1-3
3. Isaiah 49:6/Matthew 12:14-21
4. Isaiah 50:6/Matthew 26:67; 27:30; Mark 14:65
5. Isaiah 53:5/Matthew 27:26
6. Isaiah 53:7/Luke 23:8-10
7. Isaiah 53:9/Matthew 27:57-60
8. Zechariah 9:9/Luke 19:35-37
9. Zechariah 11:12/Matthew 26:14-15
10. Zechariah 12:10/John 19:33-37
11. Isaiah 7:14/Matthew 1:23-25
12. Micah 5:2/Matthew 2:1-6
13. Psalm 34:20-22/John 19:31-36

On its face, this seems like pretty convincing evidence that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, but let’s look at the arguments against these prophecies.

1. It was all a coincidence
There is a conservative estimate that there were 100 messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. Some say there are as many as 425. Jesus Christ fulfilled each and every one of them.

Matthew Stoner is a mathematician. He did a study on the likelihood that one man could fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament. The odds that one person would fulfill just 8 of the Old Testament prophecies is one chance in one hundred million billion. This is a number so great it is literally beyond human comprehension. If you took one hundred million billion dollars, and you covered the state of Texas with them, it would cover the entire state to a depth of two feet. If you then marked one of the silver dollars, blindfolded a person, and had them wander the entire state, what are the chances they would pick up the marked coin? The exact same as one man fulfilling 8 of the Old Testament messianic prophecies. Christ fulfilled at least 100 such prophecies. (Acts 3:18)

2. The Gospels were Altered
Were the gospels altered in order to conform to Old Testament prophecies and enhance the reputation of Christ?

One of the greatest evidences against this argument is actually the critics of Christianity. The Jewish Talmud was written around 170 years after the time of Christ. It attempts to discredit Christianity and is highly derogatory of Jesus, but nowhere does it question the authenticity of the Gospel stories. Nowhere does it say, “His bones really were broken, just like the other criminals.”

Nowhere does it say, “He was not betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.”

Another great evidence of the truth of the Gospel stories is the lives of those who wrote them. In other words, why would Matthew fabricate a bunch of fulfilled prophecies, knowing it would bring persecution, in order to bolster the reputation of a Messiah he knew to be false, and eventually dying the death of the martyr without ever renouncing those beliefs. There was no power to be gained from lying. Only persecution and death.

3. The intentional fulfillment argument
Some argue that Christ knew of the prophecies and intentionally fulfilled them. Ironically, since we believe that Christ was God, this is actually accurate, but the critics mean it in a different way. There are some prophecies where this argument could work. Sure, Christ could have ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey with the specific intent of fulfilling the prophecy.

Could he have controlled that Judas would sell Him to the Sanhedrin for 30 pieces of silver? Could he have controlled his lineage? Could he have controlled the place of his birth? Could he have controlled how he was executed? Could he arrange that his bones would not be broken on the cross? Could he arrange the exact date of his birth as predicted by Daniel in Daniel 9:24-26? These are all events out of the control of a normal human being.

This seems to be the most common of the criticisms of Christ’s fulfillment of the prophecies, so let’s look at it a little more closely.

a. A Plot from Birth
To say there was a plot would mean that from His birth, His parents would have had to engineer a series of events to give the Child the life experiences and credentials needed to fulfill the prophecy. It was also obvious that Mary carried the stain of an apparent out of wedlock pregnancy, so it seems incredible that these parents would have engineered this type of life for this kind of baby. The odds were against them. In addition, this child would have to grow up and meet the expectations of His parents and then proceed to fulfill the works attributed to the Messiah. In order to accomplish this, here is what Mary and Joseph would have had to do.
a. They would have had to ensure that both Mary and Joseph were of the lineage attributed to Christ in the prophecies.
b. They would have had to be sure that Christ lived in all three places prophesied as his home which were Bethlehem, Egypt and Nazareth.
c. They would have had to ensure that a king would try to kill Jesus by massacring all boy babies in Bethlehem.
d. They would have had to have him crucified on a cross
e. They would have had to make sure his bones were not broken.
f. They would have had to make sure his hands and feet were nailed
g. They would have had to make sure vinegar was given to him on the cross
h. They would have had to make sure Roman soldiers gambled for his belongings
i. They would have had to make sure that he was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver
j. They would have had to make sure he died on Passover
k. They would have had to be sure he lived 490 years after the Babylon captivity
l. They would have had to be sure he lived under Roman rule
m. They would have had to be sure he lived under Caesar Augustus
n. They would have had to be sure that a vile emperor would take over for Augustus (Tiberius)
o. They would have had to be sure that his ministry would reach the Gentiles

We’ve merely looked at a fraction of the prophecies this morning. The truth is that there are hundreds of prophecies, all written hundreds of years before the life of Christ. Some of them are extremely specific. Some of them are very broad.

Against incredible odds, Jesus Christ’s life fulfilled each and every one of them. No mere man could have fulfilled these prophecies, only the one true Messiah.