Fulfilled Prophecy
Prophecy Reveals Supernatural Involvement
The Bible contains many prophecies that were written long before the events they describe and they clearly reveal supernatural involvement as human planning could not do this.
Israel, the Messiah and continuous conflict
Genesis 3:15
“And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman (Israel), and between your seed (evil ones) and her Seed (Jesus); He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
God gave us this prophecy 4000 years before Jesus would be temporarily “bruised” by the Crucifixion but He would more fatally defeat Satan and spiritual death.
daniel explained the empires of nebuchadnezzar's dream
daniel 2:37-45
Daniel exactly predicted the sequence of empires that would follow after the fall of Babylon. The huge image of which Nebuchadnezzar dreamed consisted of these:
The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar himself but Babylon who would soon fall to a lesser power
The Medo-Persian Empire – chest and arms of silver – would follow but would quickly fall to the Greeks
The Greeks – belly and thighs of bronze – would conquer much of the known world but fall after young Alexander died. Chapter 11 even describes Alexander’s four generals that ruled for a little while.
The Romans – with legs of iron but feet of mixed iron and clay – would conquer almost everything but be fragmented into the eastern and western divisions and their influence is still with us today. The ten toes represent a revived Roman empire, but it will likely be global and it’s also described by Daniel in chapter 7 as being ruled by ten kings (ten horns). A little horn (the antichrist) conquers the other ten and this matches John’s vision in Revelation 17.
The supernatural Virgin Birth of the messiah
Isaiah 7:13–14
Bethlehem, the tiny town, became famous
Micah 5:2
The Messenger for jesus, john the baptist
Malachi 3:1
christ's humble Character and Mission - like a lamb
Isaiah 42:1–3
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,
My Elect One in whom My soul delights!
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench;
He will bring forth justice for truth.”
he predicted jerusalem's fall in 70 ad and the diaspora
luke 19:43-44
“For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
The Romans put down an attempted rebellion and devastated Jerusalem “to the ground” as they looked for the gold the Jews had stashed in their homes, the Temple, etc. The rebellion ended in 73 AD when 1000 Jews committed suicide at Masada. After that, the Jews were dispersed – the Diaspora – throughout the world for almost 1900 years.
luke 21:24
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles (the last 2000 years) are fulfilled.”
The Exact Timing of the Messiah’s ARRIVAL to HOLY WEEK
This verse predicts the exact time span from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah is “cut off.” It begins with the decree of Artaxerxes I Longimanus in 454 BC and spans 483 years (69 “weeks” of 7 years), ending at Holy Week. A deep investigation by Floyd Nolen Jones places Jesus’ birth around 4 BC which aligns precisely with this timeline.
Daniel 9:25–26
“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 … And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.”
The Suffering and Death of the Messiah Foretold
long before crucifixion was invented
PSALM 22:14-18
“I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”
Isaiah 53:3-7
“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God,
and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.”
The Messiah’s Burial in a rich man's tomb foretold
Isaiah 53:9
“And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death because He had done no violence nor was any deceit in His mouth.”
THE RESURRECTed JESUS would not be held by death
Psalms 16:10
Luke 9:21-22
And He … said “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
the people of israel came back to restored land in 1948
Ezekiel 36:8–10
“But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.”
dreams and visions in the last days
We are told in this verse that the “last days” will see many experiencing vivid dreams and visions. Peter was using this same verse to explain the miracle experienced at Pentecost. Many Jews and Muslims are being saved right now due to dreams and visions of Jesus. They both will experience alienation from their peers for making this choice as Jews are often ostracized from their families and Muslims risk death for it.
acts 2:17
Acts 2:17 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28): ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.’
This phenomenon could easily be described as a miracle but many will discount these experiences. While miracles are not being discussed much in Sharing Jesus, anyone who is familiar with missionary work throughout the world knows God is still performing miracles of all kinds to reveal Himself, His power and His truth.
CUMMULATIVE EVIDENCE OF SUPERNATURAL DESIGN
When we look at these fulfilled prophecies collectively, it is clear this is not the work of man. The odds of Jesus fulfilling all of the OT prophecies without God’s involvement is otherwise statistically impossible. For any seeker of truth, these facts serve as a strong witness that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God and that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be.