For instance, the
Old Testament indicated Jesus would be betrayed by someone he trusted, "Even my close
friend whom I trusted, he who has shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me"
(Psalm 41:9). The New Testament, which records Jesus' life and resurrection, reveals
that one of the 12 people Jesus chose to be part of his inner circle betrayed him,
"Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to
them" (Mark 14:10).
More than 300 Messianic prophecies like this were made in the Old Testament and then fulfilled
through Jesus' life, death and resurrection. The chances of one person fulfilling a mere 8
of these prophecies are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. For one person to fulfill 48 of
these prophecies, the number becomes staggering--1 chance in 10 to the 157th power (1 with
157 zeros after it). Add to that the 250 other prophecies and it becomes impossible for
any other person except Jesus to ever fit that particular sequence of time and events.
(For a more thorough discussion of Messianic prophecies fulfilled by
Jesus, click
here.)
| PROPHECY |
|
FULFILLMENT |
Descendant
of Abraham
|
| Genesis 18:18 "Abraham will surely become a great and
powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him." |
|
Acts 3:25 "And you are heirs of the prophets and of the
covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all
peoples on earth will be blessed.'" |
Descendant
of Isaac
|
| Genesis 17:19 "Then God said, 'Yes, but your wife Sarah
will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as
an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.'" |
|
Matthew 1:2 "Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the
father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. |
Descendant
of Jacob
|
| 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." |
|
Luke 3:34 "The son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son
of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor." |
Will descend from the tribe of Judah
|
| Genesis 49:10 "The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the
obedience of the nations is his." |
|
Luke 3:33 "The son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son
of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah." |
Place of birth to be 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." |
|
Matthew 2:1 "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,
during the time of King Herod..." |
Will be born of a virgin
|
| Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a
sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him
Immanuel." |
|
Matthew 1:18 "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came
about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together,
she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit." |
For more information regarding Jesus' virgin birth, click
here.
Infants will be slaughtered
|
| Jeremiah 31:15 "This is what the Lord says: 'A voice is
heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing
to be comforted, because her children are no more.'" |
|
Matthew 2:16 "When Herod realized that he had been
outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in
Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time
he had learned from the Magi." |
Will escape into Egypt as a child
|
| Hoseah 11:1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and
out of Egypt I called my son." |
|
Matthew 2:14 "So he got up, took the child and his
mother during the night and left for Egypt." |
Will minister in Galilee and along the Jordan River
|
| Isaiah 9:1-2 "Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom
for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea,
along the Jordan--The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living
in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." |
|
Matthew 4:12-16 "Jesus...returned to Galilee. Leaving
Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and
Naphtali--to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: Land of Zebulun and land of
Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--The people living
in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a
light has dawned." |
He will be rejected by the Jewish people
|
| Isaiah 53:3 "He was despised and rejected by men, a man
of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was
despised, and we esteemed him not." |
|
John 1:11 "He came to that which was his own, but his
own did not receive him." |
Character of wisdom and understanding
|
| Isaiah 11:2 "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on
him--the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the
Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." |
|
Luke 2:52 "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in
favor with God and men." |
He will enter triumphantly into Jerusalem on a young donkey
|
| Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." |
|
John 12:13-14 "They took palm branches and went out to
meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna!' 'Blessed is the King of Israel!' Jesus found a young donkey
and sat upon it, as it is written." |
The time of his entry prophesied to the very day
|
| Daniel 9:25-26 "Know and understand this: From the
issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Annointed One, the ruler,
comes, there will be seven 'sevens' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with
streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens' the Annointed
One will be cut off and will have nothing." |
|
This prophesy refers to weeks of years, or 483 biblical
years. Beginning with the exact day on which Persian King Artaxerxes gave the decree to
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (March 5, 444BC), exactly 173,880 days later--Palm Sunday,
March 30, AD33--Christ rode into Jerusalem the week before he was 'cut off' (crucified).
This is the precise number of days spanning 483 biblical years, which were then measured
as 12 months of 30 days each.1 |
Betrayed by a close friend
|
| Psalm 41:9 "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who
shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." |
|
Mark 14:10 "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went
to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them." |
He will be sold for thirty pieces of silver
|
| Zechariah 11:12 "I told them, 'If you think it best,
give me my pay; but if not, keep it.' So they paid me thirty pieces of silver." |
|
Matthew 26:15 "And asked, 'What are you willing to give
me if I hand him over to you?' So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver." |
Money returned and used to buy potter's field
|
| Zechariah 11:13 "And the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to
the potter'--the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of
silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter." |
|
Matthew 27:6-7 "The chief priests picked up the coins
and said, 'It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.'
So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for
foreigners." |
Silent when accused during his trial
|
| Isaiah 53:7 "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did
not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." |
|
Matthew 26:62-63 "Then the high priest stood up and said
to Jesus, 'Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing
against you?' But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, 'I charge you under
oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.'" |
He will suffer for others
|
| Isaiah 53:4-5 "Surely he took up our infirmities and
carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." |
|
Matthew 8:16-17 "When evening came, many who were
demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed
all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up
our infirmities and carried our diseases.'" |
He will be crucified with sinners
|
| Isaiah 53:12 "Therefore I will give him a portion among
the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life
unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors." |
|
Matthew 27:38 "Two robbers were crucified with him, one
on his right and one on his left." |
His hands and feet will be pierced
|
| Psalm 22:16 "Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men
has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet." |
|
John 20:27 "Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger
here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and
believe.'" |
Will be mocked and insulted by the people
|
| Psalm 22:6-8 "But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by
men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their
heads: 'He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he
delights in him.'" |
|
Matthew 27:39-40 "Those who passed by hurled insults at
him, shaking their heads and saying, 'You who are going to destroy the temple and build it
in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!'" |
Will be given gall and vinegar to drink
|
| Psalm 69:21 "They put gall in my food and gave me
vinegar for my thirst." |
|
John 19:29 "A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they
soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to
Jesus' lips." |
His side will be pierced with a spear
|
| Zechariah 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of
David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look
on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only
child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son." |
|
John 19:34 "Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus'
side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." |
Soldiers will cast lots for his clothing
|
| Psalm 22:18 "They divide my garments among them and cast
lots for my clothing." |
|
Mark 15:24 "And they crucified him. Dividing up his
clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get." |
Not a bone of his body will be broken
|
| Psalm 34: 20 "He protects all his bones, not one of them
will be broken." |
|
John 19:33 "But when they came to Jesus and found that
he was already dead, they did not break his legs." |
Will be buried in a rich man's tomb
|
| Isaiah 53:9 "He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his
mouth." |
|
Matthew 27:57-60 "As evening approached, there came a
rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going
to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph
took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that
he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and
went away." |
He will be resurrected after his death
|
| Psalm 16:10 "Because you will not abandon me to the
grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." |
|
Matthew 28:9 "Suddenly Jesus met them. 'Greetings,' he
said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him." |
He will ascend into heaven
|
| Psalm 68:18 "When you ascended on high, you led captives
in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious--that you, O Lord
God, might dwell there." |
|
Luke 24:50-51 "When he had led them out to the vicinity
of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left
them and was taken up into heaven." |
