Anyone with a Bible can verify the
most amazing facts of human history, as well as the foundational truths of what
we can know about God and eternity. He
can do this by examining the prophecies made in the Old Testament scriptures,
indisputably written centuries before He was born, that were fulfilled in the
coming and ministry of Jesus. To see
this astounding and unmistakable fulfillment of propheciesis to prove not only
that He is the promised Savior, but also that the Bible is (what it claims to
be) the very word of God, and that there really is a God. Take a Bible and take a look at these
predictions and see how Jesus fulfilled them.
There are many more such Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament the
portion of the Bible written before Jesus came, but those listed here can be
classified as outstanding examples of prophecies of Christ and were written and
read long before Jesus lived.
THE SEED
Promises of a Savior begin to
come all the way back in the garden of Eden, where Adam’s defiance of the
Creator brought about the curse of sin that has plagued mankind ever
since. In the book of Genesis, written
by Moses more than fourteen centuries before Christ, God tells the serpent that
tempted the first man and woman, and precipitated their fall (the words are
recorded in Genesis 3:15),
“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
This prophecy says that the
woman’s seed will bruise or crush (a fatal blow is implied) the serpent’s head,
while the serpent himself will injure the heel of her seed. First of all, it is strange, and perhaps
unique to this passage, to refer to the offspring of a woman with the metaphor
“seed.” That term is nearly always a
reference to the male part in human reproduction. It is curious to refer to the seed of a
woman. Bible students infer that this is
a reference to the virgin birth of Christ, and that the bruising of the Seed
refers to the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.
The Seed will eventually destroy the serpent and undo the damage he has
done.
No matter how one decides to
interpret the words of Genesis 3:15 (which does apply to the “enmity” between
people and snakes, but also seems to have a deeper meaning), a reading of the
rest of the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament) makes it clear that the
sacred writings focus on a particular linking of seeds down through the
years. It is the family line that will
produce the Savior.
Eve had many sons and daughters,
but “in process of time,” she and Adam brought forth a son they named Seth
(read Genesis 4 and 5). His name means
“appointed,” for “God, saith she, hath appointed me another seed instead of
Abel” (the righteous son who had been murdered by his evil brother Cain). Clearly, Eve took seriously the promise of
her “seed” given in Genesis 3.
In Genesis 12, a descendent of
Seth through Noah and Shem, named Abraham is given a promise that will bring
blessing to “all families of the earth” (read it in verses 1 through 3). This covenant with Abraham will be kept with
his son Isaac “and with his seed after him” (follow Genesis 12:7, 17:19,
22:16-18). Abraham had two sons, but the
blessing was bestowed on Isaac (look at Genesis 17:19 again, and then chapter
21, verses 1 through 12). Isaac ended up
having two sons also, but God ordained that the blessing would be put upon
Jacob and his seed (read Genesis 25:20-26, 27:28-29, 28:1-4, and 28:12-14),
rather than on his brother Esau and his family line. Jacob had twelve sons, and before his death
the patriarch clearly designated his son Judah (not really one of his most
upright sons) as the one who will inherit the blessing of the promised seed
(see Genesis 49:8-10). Up to this point
in the scriptures, the focus is on one family, the family of the promised
seed. From Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob,
to Judah, the narrative finds its emphasis.
Other family lines related to the patriarchs are summed up and dismissed
at a certain point (Ishmael in Genesis 25, and Esau in Genesis 36). Then the story returns to the line of the Seed. As Genesis closes, the narrative turns to the
growth of Jacob’s family into a nation as they lived and suffered in bondage in
Egypt. The subject of the promised
conquering Seed is obscured for a while until it is brought up again in the
books of Ruth and First Samuel. The
scenes move to Bethlehem, and the family followed is that of Jesse and his son
David.
In Second Samuel 7, we are told that
the promised “seed” is to be that of David (verses 12, 16, and 25 through
29). The Messiah is to be the son of
Jesse and David, according to the prophets (Isaiah 11:1-5, for instance), and
the New Testament verifies that Jesus was a descendent of that family.
The royal line of David (kings of
Israel and Judah) is listed in the first chapter of the New Testament
scriptures, Matthew 1. Notice that this
passage is called the “book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham,” referring back to similar designations in Genesis
2:4, 5:1, 10:1, 11:10, and 25:19. Notice
that the royal family line includes “Jechonias” (Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, verse,
referring back to Second Kings 24:8, First Chronicles 3:16, and Second
Chronicles 36:8) who is cursed in Jeremiah 22:28-30 with the words, “no man of
his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David.” This means, among other things, that a man in
the royal line of David cannot be the Messiah.
Joseph was in that royal line, and provided Jesus with his official, legal
family, but of course he was not His biological father, cursed with this curse. The family line of Mary is given in Luke 2
and also goes back to David, but not through his kingly son Solomon. The biological line of Jesus through Mary
came down through an otherwise unknown son of David, Nathan (see Luke 3:31 and
compare Matthew 1:6), and was not cursed, so that He can one day rule from the
throne of David as the Messiah (Luke 1:3-32).
THE LAW
When God delivered Israel out of
bondage in Egypt, He gave the nation laws that they were to observe as they
settled in the land He had promised them.
Many of these laws were rules of religious observance and ritual unique
to the nation of Israel. In the
ceremonial law (given to us in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy), we find a number of references to Jesus in type and symbol.
The animal sacrifices that were
offered in the Tabernacle of Congregation and in the Temple at Jerusalem all
carried the idea that atonement for sin can be made by the sacrifice of the
innocent for the sins of the guilty.
Animals were sacrificed with their blood shed out to picture the
atonement for sin provided in the sacrifice of the One Who would be “the Lamb
of God , which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29-34). Read the very interesting instructions
concerning the offering of certain sacrifices which are found in Exodus
12:1-27, Leviticus 1:1-9, and Leviticus 16.
The animal to be sacrificed is to be a male in the prime of life,
totally unblemished, and he shall bear the iniquities of the people, and die to
make atonement for them, with his blood being shed and sprinkled. Of course, all of these sacrifices speak of
Jesus dying for our sins on the cross.
THE PSALMS
The collection of divinely-inspired
songs for use in worship by the Israelites, make up the longest book in the
Bible, the book of Psalms. Many of them
had David as their human author whose seed was to bring the Savior (see Second
Samuel7:12-13, 18-29) and refer very clearly to the coming Savior. Any objective reader of them can see that the
references are to Jesus, Who came centuries after they were written.
Psalm 2 (written by David—look at
Acts 4:24-26—about a thousand years before Jesus was born) says that God’s
“anointed” (Hebrew, Messiah) will rule as King from Zion (Jerusalem), that He
will be the Son of God, and that “they that put their trust in him” will be
blessed.
Psalm 16 (also written by David)
clearly indicates that Messiah will rise from the dead. The one praying in the words of this song
says that “my flesh also shall rest in hope” because God was not going to
“suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (decay). Peter used Psalm 16 on the Day of Pentecost
to prove that Christ, the son of David, must rise from the dead.
Psalm 22 (again written by David)
presents a detailed description of the crucifixion of Christ a millennium
before it happened. The opening line is
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” which, of course, is what Jesus
was heard to say from the cross. Verses
7 and 8 say, “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip,
they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him:
let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him,” which is just how the
religious leaders mocked Him while He was dying. Verses 12 through 15 (read them) describe in
detail what we know happens physically to a person suffering in a crucifixion
(a means of execution not even invented until long after the psalm was written
and began to be sung). Verse 16 speaks
of the hands and feet being pierced.
Verses 17 through 18 describe the famous casting of lots by the soldiers
for the vesture of Jesus. Verse 15 says
that the Victim will be “brought…into the dust of death.” In verses 19 through 21 He cries to God for
deliverance, and God hears His prayer.
Beginning in verse 22, it is obvious that He has risen from the dead
(read through verse 25). Verses 26
through 30 say that the need of the meek will be met by what this One has done,
and that those who will be saved will be “accounted to the Lord for a
generation.” The psalm ends with these
words (verse 31):
“They shall come, and will declare his righteousness unto a people that
shall be born, that he hath done this.”
Here is a reference to the
preaching of the cross by Christians throughout the world. “They,” this “generation” of the saved, “will
declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done
THIS”: died by crucifixion and rose again to give us eternal life (verse
26—“your heart shall live for ever”). Psalm
22 is one of the most remarkable examples of fulfilled prophecy the world has
ever seen, and it focuses on Calvary!
THE CHILD
The prophet Isaiah preached to
the errant and hypocritical people of Judah during the reigns of four
kings. His inspired book was written seven
centuries before Jesus, but he very clearly spoke of Him. In chapter seven, he tells the royal house of
David that a special child will be born in their family, and would be destined
to rule the world and provide salvation to God’s people.
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his
name Immanuel.” (Read chapter 7, verses 1 through 16)
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Read chapter 9, verses 1 through 7)
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse [the
father of David], and a Branch shall grow
out of his roots: and the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the LORD…” (Read chapters 11 and 12)
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
and he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon
him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
(Read chapters 52 and
53, and see that the Servant of the Lord, the Child grown up, would offer
Himself a sacrifice for the sins of His people; the references to Jesus and to
Calvary are evident)
THE WISE MAN
In the book of Daniel (written
more than 500 years before Christ) we meet a Jew that was taken captive when
the Babylonians conquered Judah and destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Daniel, and three of his companions, were
trained and placed into a class of public servants that were called “the wise
men.” As a wise man, Daniel got to serve
the ruler of the known world as a counsellor.
In that capacity he was given by God the prophetic gift and gave to the
emperor some of history’s most amazing prophecies, several of which relate to
Jesus.
In chapter 2, you can find where
he predicting centuries ahead of time the rise and fall of each of the major
world empires of ancient times: the Babylonian, the Persian, the Greek, and the
Roman. In that amazing prophecy, he refers
to coming of the kingdom of heaven. It
will come some time after the first four have fallen, and when the fourth one
(the Roman Empire) shall be divided. The
divided Roman Empire will end up as a collection of kingdoms, some strong and
some weak, but never re-united until the Kingdom of God comes (look over verses
40-44). Of course this prediction
describes precisely what has happened in Europe over the centuries since the
fall of Rome.
In chapters 7 through 9 we read
again about the coming of Christ and His Kingdom, and even find an indication
of the time when He will appear. Find
that in Daniel 9:24-26 (which refers to both the first and the second coming of
Christ). This prophecy and others were
the basis of the visit of the “wise men” to find the
Messiah in Matthew 2. They realized that
the time had come, based on their study of the writings of the great wise man,
Daniel.
THE KING
More details of the life of Jesus
are given by the prophets as they spoke of Christ as the coming King of Israel and
Ruler of the world, as well as the promised Savior.
He will be born in
Bethlehem. “But thou, Bethlehem
Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee
shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
He will come into the city riding
an ass’s colt. “Behold, thy King cometh
unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon and ass,
and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” And He will be sold for thirty pieces of
silver (Zechariah 9:9 and 11:12).
When He comes to set up His
Kingdom, His family will regret their rejection of Him at His first coming, and
repent for crucifying Him. “And I will
pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit
of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierce, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and
shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his
first-born. In that day shall there be a
great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of
Megiddon. And the lad shall mourn, every
family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart: the
family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the
house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and
their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their
wives apart. In that day there shall be
a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for
sin and for uncleanness” (Zechariah 12:10-13:1). The names listed as heads of branches of the
Messianic family are from the obscure line of David descended from his son
Nathan, and can be found in the list of the ancestors of Mary and Jesus in Luke
3. It is said that when the house of
David turns to Jesus that a fountain of cleansing and salvation will be opened
to them, just as the fountain of salvation is open to penitent sinners
today. Anybody who studies the evidence
of fulfilled prophecy can see that Jesus is the Christ and the promised Savior.
You can come to the fountain and drink
of the water of life today. Hear the
voice of God calling you in Isaiah 55 and in Revelation 22, and come to Jesus
for your salvation. He will receive you
when you receive Him.
Dr. Rick Flanders
