Bible Prophecy Foretold Jesus

The Bible contains over three hundred prophecies[1] about Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, which were recorded (written down in Scripture) long before Christ was born—in some cases, many hundreds of years prior. Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled every single prophecy. He even said, “It is these [OT Scriptures] that testify about Me” (Joh 5:39). A few of the prophecies are listed here:

• A coming Prince on the throne of David (Isa 9:6–7),
• Born in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2),
• Born of a virgin (Isa 7:14),
• Given an eternal kingdom (Dan 7:13–14),
• Pierced through for our transgressions (for details, see Isa 53:1–12),
• Healing the broken and sick (Isa 61:1–3; Jer 23:3–6),
• Riding on the foal of a donkey (Zec 9:9),
• Preceded by John the Baptist (in the spirit and power of Elijah; see Mat 11:14; Mal 4:5),
• Rejected by His people (Psa 118:22–29; cf. Mat 21:42; Act 4:11),
• Crucified (garments divided, hands and feet pierced, etc.; see Psa 22:14–18),
• Scourged (Isa 50:6),
• None of His bones would be broken (on the cross; see Psa 34:20), and
• His kingdom and throne will be established forever (2Sa 7:11–13).

It is through these (and other) fulfilled prophecies that we know the following:[2]

• The Bible is true and the inspired “word of God” (Heb 4:12; cf. 2Ti 3:16–17);
• Jesus is “the Messiah,” “the Christ,” the “anointed” one of God, the “good shepherd,” our “Rock,” our “Redeemer,” our “Savior,” and “the [spotless] Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”; and
• Jesus was truly God, who “became flesh, and dwelt among us.”

The remarkable book Science Speaks[3] lists many of these prophecies and calculates the odds that someone could have accidentally fulfilled just a subset of them are 1 in 5.76 * 10⁵⁹.[4] The odds of an ant lifting the sun and putting it on its back are about the same as someone being born and by chance matching and fulfilling the prophecies that are foretold in the Bible concerning Jesus—namely, zero. Therefore, His life was not by chance, random, or a lucky set of coincidences. Scripture tells us that “He [Jesus] was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God” (1Pe 1:20–21), being sent from heaven (Joh 3:13; 4:34; 5:30; 6:33, 38; cf. Php 2:6–8), appearing “when the fullness of the time came” (Gal 4:4), and “while we were still helpless [in sin], at the right time Christ died for the ungodly [i.e., us]” (Rom 5:6; cf. Gal 4:4; 1Pe 1:12, 20; Heb 2:9).

Furthermore, please realize that God is not asking you to just “blindly believe” in Jesus without giving you overwhelming proof, evidence, and eyewitness testimony that He was, in fact, “the Son of God” (Mat 4:3, 6; 26:63; 27:43, 54; Mar 1:1; 3:11; 15:39; Luk 1:35; 4:3, 9, 41; 22:70; Joh 1:34, 49; 5:25; 10:36; 11:4, 27; 1Jn 5:20; Rom 1:3–4; cf. Mar 1:11; Luk 3:22; 3:38; Act 13:33; Heb 1:5; 5:5; Gal 4:4) and God in the “flesh” (Joh 1:14; Rom 1:3–4; 8:3; 1Ti 3:16; Heb 2:14–17; 1Jn 4:2–3; 2Jn 7; cf. Mat 1:20–23; Gal 4:4; Php 2:5–8; Col 2:9; Heb 2:7–9; Isa 7:14). God wants you to come to a fully rational, logical, conscious, and informed decision to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, based on hard evidence about His birth, life, death, and resurrection. If this evidence and eyewitness testimony were presented today in an unbiased court of law, it would meet the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard that Jesus of Nazareth did, in fact, live and die and was resurrected as told in Scripture. You simply have to look at the evidence without a preconceived bias against religion and against Jesus. Those who deny Jesus are doing so against the preponderance of the evidence (Rom 1:18–20; Act 14:17; Psa 19:1–4; cf. Rom 2:15). Even many reputable secular scholars (i.e., those who don’t even believe the Bible) concede and admit that Jesus, the man, did live as the Bible claims.[5]