Knowing Jesus

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6

Picture of scrolls

Prophecy about Jesus

The historical documentation of prophecy in the Bible is one of the ways that the God of the Bible proves Himself to be the one and only living God. All Biblical prophecy is fulfilled with perfect accuracy. Either it has already been fulfilled in accordance with God's plan for the past, or it most assuredly WILL be fulfilled in accordance with God's plan for the future. During the 1500 years prior to the crucifiction, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, more than 300 prophetic declarations about the first coming of the Messiah were made and recorded in the Bible. Some of the prophecy required supernatural intervention, and some probably seems somewhat incidental. But an objective review of messianic prophecy yields two unmistakable conclusions. 1) The fulfillment of this prophecy could only be accomplished by the sovereign hand of the one, true, living God, and 2) the fulfillment of this prophecy identifies Jesus as the Messiah. A few Messianic prophecies are discussed below.

  • The Messiah will be Born of a virgin: this automatically identifies Jesus as the Messiah, because no one else in the course of human history was born of a virgin.
  • The Messiah would be both God and Man: Jesus was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit of which precluded Him being born with the sin nature.
  • The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem; will spend a season in Egypt; will be called a Nazarene; and will bring light to Galilee: this collection of prophecies tracks the life of Jesus. As the birth of Jesus was approaching, Joseph and Mary lived in Galilee in the city of Nazareth. But she gave birth in Bethlehem, because they were required to register in there for a census. While Jesus was still and infant, Jesus spent a seson (two years) in Egypt (see Matthew chapter 2). He then grew up in Nazareth (a Nazarene) until starting His ministry. He then brought light to Galilee as He taught the gospel and healed the masses.
  • Psalm 22:14-18 provides remarkable prophecy regarding the crucifiction of Jesus Christ; 
    (14) I am poured out like water,
     And all my bones are out of joint;
     My heart is like wax;
     It is melted within me.
(15) My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
     And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
     And you lay me in the dust of death.
(16) For dogs have surrounded me;
     A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
     they pierced my hands and my feet.
(17) I can count all my bones.
     They look, they stare at me;
(18) They divide my garments among them,
     And for my clothing they cast lots.
    Psalm 22 was given by King David 1,000 years before the crucifiction of Christ and approximately 700 years before crucifiction was even invented by the Persians in 300-400 BC. Students of the crucifiction as it is detailed in the gospels can only marvel at the accuracy of prophecy in Psalm 22.
  • No brones will be broken: After hanging on the cross for a while, Roman soldiers typically broke the legs of those being crucified to prevent them from supporting their weight with their legs. With all their weight on their wrists, their joints and organs would be stretched out of place, and this would eventually close off their lungs causing them to suffocate. When they came to Jesus for this purpose, they decided He was already dead, so they did not break His legs and fulfilled the prophecy being completely unaware of the prophecy.
  • The Messiah would be crucified with criminals: Jesus was crucified between the two thieves, one of whom accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and joined Jesus in paradise that day.
  • The Messiah would be buried with the rich:at death of Jesus, a rich man named Joseph from Arimathea took the body of Jesus and prepared it for burial and placed it in his own grave which he had hewn from rock.
  • Jesus will be betrayed by a friend:Jesus was betrayed by the apostle Judas Iscariot.
  • Jesus was betrayed for 30 shekels of silver which would be cast back into the house of the Lord and be use to buy Potters fieldThis is exactly what happened. The chief priests and elders paid Judas 30 shekels of silver to betray Jesus. In great anguish and fear over what he had done, he threw the money back in the house of the Lord, and the chief priests and elders used it to buy Potters Field
  • The Messiah would be rejected by His own people and forsaken by God: Of course "His own people" were the Jews. The Jewish masses rejected Jesus, because Jesus didn't reveal himself as the conquering King (as He will at His second coming). Plus, the corrupted religious leaders of that day intimidated the Jewish people to reject Jesus, because they labeled Him a blasphemer and threatened to kick the followers of Jesus out of the synagogue. It was necessary for Jesus to be forsaken by God for Him to suffer our punishment as our substitute.
  • The Messiah would be resurrected from the dead and would ascend to heaven: after the resurrection, Jesus appeared various places over the next 40 days and showed Himself to approximately 500 people. Then, while blessing the apostles, He parted from them and was lifted up to the sky and received by a cloud.