BIB535-1 - 14 - 8 Revisited “How do we know for certain that the prophecies of the Old Testament were documented several centuries before the New Testament period?”

A subject near and dear to my heart is the inerrancy of the Bible as the Word of God. Not all prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled concerned the coming of Jesus but many were so I would like to use these as proof. I think the earliest time I wrote on the subject was in September 2012 when answering the question, “What OT "arrows" do you have in your quiver when it comes to proving that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah -- the Christ?”

In short, the hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament are the "arrows" in the Christian's quiver when it comes to proving that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. I often referred to a simple table presentation that really puts the cookies on the bottom shelf:

http://mb-soft.com/believe/txh/proph.htm

Starting with Genesis and the seed of the woman through the birth and crucifixion of Jesus we can follow the Scarlet thread throughout the Bible. One of the most unique episodes in the Bible is how God got around the blood curse that He had declared on Jehoiakim and Jeconiah originating from King David through his son Solomon. Actually Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, came through the line from King David’s son Solomon. The Messiah had to come through the line of King David. To get around the blood curse and to fulfill Jesus coming from the “From the seed of a woman” Jesus came through King David’s son Nathan down through Mary's father to Mary herself.

Last year we lost a great Bible teacher in Chuck Missler’s passing. Chuck left hundreds of teachings most of which I have downloaded and learned so much from. It isn’t just Books of the Bible that Chuck would teach on. Others teaching such as his "The Footprints of the Messiah" prove statistically that Jesus was/is the Messiah. 

Those who say that Jesus never claimed that he was the Messiah should read Luke 4:17-21 when Jesus read from Isaiah Chapter 61, Jesus stopped at  a comma just before, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God.” When Jesus stepped out of eternity to be born a wee bade he came as the suffering Messiah but at the second coming will return as the lion of Judah.

Jesus being the suffering Messiah was foretold in Numbers 21:8-9 “The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.” Using a bronze snake to cure those who had been snake bitten would have been very confusing at the time. This was later understood through John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus had to be lifted up on a cross to cover our sins. Jesus is the stone that turns into a mountain and topples the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's Dream.

One of the most amazing prophecies in the Old Testament was given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel. Itas actuate to the day when Jesus would ride into Jerusalem. With all the fulfilled prophecies, how can people not believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

Luke 17:42 “Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” So perhaps the Jews of today have some defense as their ancestors didn’t know the time of their visitation, but what of the unbelieving Gentiles.

So many prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, yes, the Bible is the in inerrant Word of God.