Jesus Part 2… The Prophecies of Christ

In the introduction to this study of Jesus, I wrote the following:

“Could it be that Jesus was more than a man, more than an oft prophesied of Messiah?

Could it be that Jesus was indeed God?

And, if so… assuming one were also to believe that the whole of Scripture is about God… could it be that the entire Bible is actually about Jesus?

If this were true, then in order to correctly interpret Scripture we would need to connect its verses, concepts and events to Jesus.

This would mean that the Bible prophecies of Jesus, highlights pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus, provides accounts of people, events and images that foreshadow Jesus, recounts the life of Jesus, provides instruction for life in Jesus, and finally reveals to us the ultimate purpose of mankind… eternal life with Jesus.”

Having proposed that the entirety of the Bible is actually about Jesus, it now lies on me to bear the burden of proof to you, the reader. I will do this via the, “summary” method. What I mean by that is that I will summarize what I have seen in the entirety of Scripture. While this is not my ideal approach, it is, in this instance, the best approach. Remember, the goal here is to unveil what I have called the 3 Essential Truths for unlocking all of Scripture. Once I have sketched an outline of each of these truths then I will be able to go into the entirety of the Scriptural meta-narrative and flesh these 3 truths out one book, story, and even verse at time.

But first… Jesus. Does the  Bible really prophesy about Him?

In short, yes. As it turns out, the Old Testament teaches about Jesus through the hundreds of prophecies pointing to His incarnation, life, death, and subsequent resurrection. We can see this by interpreting the books of the Law, Prophets, & Poets, but we can also see this in the understanding of who Jesus was according to the writers of the New Testament.

When speaking to Cornelius, Peter explains that, “To him [Jesus] all the prophets bear witness…” (Acts 10:43)

An Ethiopian Eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” (Acts8:34-35)

In his letter to the church in Rome Paul explains that he is, “a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Romans 1:1-4)

Finally, Peter says that, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.” (1 Peter 1:10-12)

These verses paint a picture of men who, having walked with Jesus, having seen the events of early Christianity with their own eyes, and having been able to “connect the dots” Scripture, are able to see and to say that the Old Testament testified to Jesus.

In fact, Approximately one fourth of the Bible was prophetic at the time it was written. There are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus, which reveal details about His incarnation, life, death, and subsequent resurrection.

Some of the most prominent of these prophecies include:

Genesis 3:15 – Jesus would be born of a woman

Genesis 12:3 – Jesus would descend from the line of Abraham, through Isaac (Genesis 17:9), through Jacob (Numbers 24:17), and then through the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10)

Isaiah 7:14 – Jesus mother would conceive and give birth to him as a virgin

Micah 5:2 – Jesus would be born in Bethlehem

Hosea 11:1 – Jesus family would flee to Egypt to protect Him as a child

Malachi 3:1 – Jesus would enter the temple

Isaiah 40:3 – John the Baptizer would prepare the way for Jesus

Isaiah 53:9 – Jesus would live a life free of sin

Isaiah 35:5-6 – Jesus would perform many miracles

Zechariah 9:9 – Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey

Psalm 41:9 – Jesus would be betrayed by a friend

Zechariah 11:12-13 – The one who betrayed Jesus would receive 30 pieces of silver

Isaiah 53:3 – Jesus would be hated and rejected

Isaiah 53:7 – Though Jesus would be hated and rejected He would not defend Himself

Isaiah 50:6 – Jesus would be beaten, have His beard plucked out, be mocked, and spit on

Psalm 22:18 – People would cast lots for Jesusʼ clothes

Psalm 22:16 – Jesus would be crucified

Isaiah 53:12 – Jesus would be killed alongside sinners

Exodus 12:46 & Psalm 34:20 – None of Jesus bones would be broken

Psalm 22:1 – Jesus would cry out to God asking why He had forsaken Him

Isaiah 53:8 – Jesus would die

Isaiah 53:9 – Jesus would be buried in a tomb given to Him by a rich man

Psalm 16:10 & Isaiah 53:10-11 – Jesus would rise from death

Psalm 68:18 – Jesus would ascend back to heaven

Psalm 110:1 – Jesus would sit at the right hand of God

Amazingly, the odds of just eight of the over three hundred of such prophecies being fulfilled in one man is one in one quintillion, or 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Now this, is typically where the skeptics begin to jump in. They claim everything from misinterpretation of Scripture, to unreliability of the Gospel writers who provided the details of Jesus’ life, to shear rejection of one man having actually fulfilled any of these Scriptures.

At this point, however, I would say the burden of proof lies on the skeptics.

How do they explain the prophecies? How do they explain the life, death, & resurrection of Jesus? And, if the Bible isn’t really about Jesus… then what, or who, are all these prophecies really about?