Friday, March 14, 2008

Prophecy Proves Gods Word

The Bible is a collection of writings that were written over a 1600 year period of time by 39 differing authors, most of which had never met each other. Moses, under God’s direction authored the first 5 books of our bible. The first of these books Genesis (the book of beginnings) reveals how God created all material and spirit things.

We trust the things that were revealed to Moses as being true for one reason. Moses demonstrated that he was a spokesperson for God by demonstrating 100% accurate short term knowledge of future events. Moses spoke Gods words to the ruler of Egypt telling him of ten plagues that would befall him each one ahead of time, and each thing he declared happened. Moses also demonstrated that God was willing to answer his prayers by the splitting of the Red Sea and water coming forth from a rock and the providing of Manna to feed the people. Because of his 100% accuracy Moses became fully trusted by his peers as God’s spokesperson.

Later Moses received the 10 Commandments while on Mount Sinai and he wrote five books in which the Jews kept and revered as God’s word. Many of his longer term prophecies regarding the Jewish nation are still coming true today.

Later, other prophets also demon-strated with 100% accuracy the ability to tell future events and their writings were added to the “Canon of Scripture” (books by which the Jews were willing to be ruled by.) By the time of Jesus’ Birth 39 books were determined to be “Canon of Scripture” by the Jews. These form the Old Testament portion of the Bible today. To these books, 27 more were added that record the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ which are called the New Testament. Many of the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah have their fulfillment recorded in the New Testament.

The Bible is now complete and there is no longer any reason to add to it. The Bible itself contains a prophecy regarding its own completion.

1 Corinthians 13 – 8… But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

Approximately 24% of our Bibles contain prophecies. Of that 24% approximately 12% of have already been fulfilled and 12% remain to be fulfilled. There are two major subjects of Prophecy which are recurring themes in the Bible;
1) Prophecies regarding the Jewish Nation.
2) Prophecies regarding the Messiah. Approximately half of these were fulfilled by Jesus’ first coming and half of them are yet to be fulfilled His promised second coming.

For the remainder of this tract we would like to concentrate on the prophecies which were fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ’s first coming.
Some object that the prophecies were well known and thereby could be purposely fulfilled by any who wished to fulfill them. They point to the fact that many others came, claiming to be the Messiah at Jesus’ time.
How difficult would it be for someone to fulfill the Messianic Prophecies? Here are some of the criteria that the Messiah had to fulfill; The coming Messiah would be born of a Virgin in Bethlehem do miracles be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver that would be cast to the floor in the temple and then used to buy a cemetery for strangers rejected by his own people crucified be raised from the dead on the third day. To top it off the killing of the Messiah had to happen in the year AD 32.

Daniel 9 - 25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; … 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;

The word for weeks in the Hebrew literally means seven. In this case not days but years. The Messiah was to be cutoff (killed) exactly (62+7)x7 years = 483 years after the command to rebuild Jerusalem was given. That command was given in the month of Nisan in the 20th year of the reign of Artexerxes Longimanus, which was 445 BC. It was fulfilled in AD 32 during the Month of Nissan on the 10th day. This is the traditional day when the Lamb was selected for the Passover Observance. It was then watched for 4 days and then offered as a sacrifice if it was found perfect. Our Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on the 10th day of Nisan and was crucified on the 14th day of Nisan. This fulfilled yet another prophecy.

Zechariah 9 - 9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Some skeptics claim that the New Testament is a hoax and that Jesus never existed.

To that we answer that the writers were for the most part killed for refusing to recant of this hoax and that the Jews thought Jesus existed when they met in AD 100 just 68 years after his death and resurrection at the council of Jerusalem to seek ways to stop Jews from becoming his followers.

Some skeptics have claimed that the Old Testament was altered by the Christians.

In the early 1920s copies of the Old Testament dating to 200 BC of the Greek Septuagint and 500 BC of the Hebrew texts were found in the caves of Qumran. It is impossible therefore for Jesus or his followers to have altered the prophecies.


Contact the person who handed you this tract or the author.
Copyright 2008 © Bible Door Tracts.
273 Manchester Dr., Newmarket, ON, L3Y 6J4, Canada
bibledoor.no-ip.org & bibledoor.blogspot.com Email: bibledoor@rogers.com
This tracts author is Ray Luff of Bible Door Tracts. Ray’s opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Christian Brethren of Ontario among which Ray is in fellowship. All Bible references are from The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson unless otherwise noted

Bible References for some of the prophecies regarding the Messiah in OT and Fulfillment in NT.
Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4-7
Isaiah 61:1,2; Luke 4:18-19
Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:15
Zechariah 11:13; Matthew 27:5; Acts 1:18
Isaiah 53:3; John 1:11; John 1:11; 19:15
Psalm 22; Zechariah 12:10; John 19
Psalm 16:10; 49:15; Mark 16:2-4; 1 Corinthians 15:4
Daniel 9:26 – For more detail regarding this see also – “The Cutoff Anointed One” http://bibledoor.no-ip.org/pdf/eng_annointed_one.pdf)

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