Fisher's Of Men Group
A Study Conducted at MIT
Many of the prophecies concerning the Messiah were totally beyond human control: Birth: Place, time, manner of Death: People's reactions, piercing of side, burial Resurrection: Where did His body go? By using the modern science of probability in reference to just eight of these prophecies, the chance that any man might have lived to fulfill all eight prophecies is one in 100 trillion!
To illustrate this point: If we take 100 trillion silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas, they would be two feet deep. Now we mark one of these silver dollars and thoroughly stir the whole mass--all over the state. Now blindfold a man and let him travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick only one silver dollar.
What chance would he have of picking the marked one? The same chance that the prophets would have of writing just eight of these prophecies and having them all come true for any one man if they had written them without God's inspiration!
The chance of any one man's fulfilling all of 48 prophecies is one in ten to the 157th power. The electron is about as small an object as we can imagine. If we had a cubic inch of these electrons and tried to count them, it would take us (at 250 per minute) 19,000 times 19,000 times 19,000 years to count them.
Now mark one of them and thoroughly stir it into the whole mass. What chance does our blindfolded man have of finding the right electron?
The same chance as one man of fulfilling 48 of the prophecies about Christ without His being the Son of God!
God is not the only one, however, who uses forecasts of future events to get people's attention. Satan does, too. Through clairvoyants (such as Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Cayce), mediums, spiritists, and others, come remarkable predictions, though rarely with more than about 60 percent accuracy, never with total accuracy.
Messages from Satan, furthermore, fail to match the detail of Bible prophecies, nor do they include a call to repentance.
The Acid Test for identifying A Prophet of God
Recorded by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. According to this Bible passage (and others), God's prophets, as distinct from Satan's spokesmen, are 100 percent accurate in their predictions.
There is no room for error!
1) Some time before 500 B.C. the prophet Daniel proclaimed that Israel's long-awaited Messiah would begin his public ministry 483 years after the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-26). He further predicted that the Messiah would be "cut off," killed, and that this event would take place prior to a second destruction of Jerusalem. Abundant documentation shows that these prophecies were perfectly fulfilled in the life (and crucifixion) of Jesus Christ. The decree regarding the restoration of Jerusalem was issued by Persia's King Artaxerxes to the Hebrew priest Ezra in 458 B.C., 483 years later the ministry of Jesus Christ began in Galilee.
(Remember that due to calendar changes, the date for the start of Christ's ministry is set by most historians at about 26 A.D. Also note that from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D. is just one year.) Jesus' crucifixion occurred only a few years later, and about four decades later, in 70 A.D. came the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 105.)*
(2) In approximately 700 B.C. the prophet Micah named the tiny village of Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel's Messiah (Micah 5:2).
The fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of Christ is one of the most widely known and widely celebrated facts in history.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 105.)
3) In the fifth century B.C. a prophet named Zechariah declared that the Messiah would be betrayed for the price of a slave—thirty pieces of silver, according to Jewish law-and also that this money would be used to buy a burial ground for Jerusalem's poor foreigners (Zechariah 11:12-13). Bible writers and secular historians both record thirty pieces of silver as the sum paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, and they indicate that the money went to purchase a "potter's field," used—just as predicted—for the burial of poor aliens (Matthew 27:3-10).
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1011.)
(4) Some 400 years before crucifixion was invented, both Israel's King David and the prophet Zechariah described the Messiah's death in words that perfectly depict that mode of execution. Further, they said that the body would be pierced and that none of the bones would be broken, contrary to customary procedure in cases of crucifixion (Psalm 22 and 34:20; Zechariah 12:10).
Again, historians and New Testament writers confirm the fulfillment: Jesus of Nazareth died on a Roman cross, and his extraordinarily quick death eliminated the need for the usual breaking of bones. A spear was thrust into his side to verify that he was, indeed, dead.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1013.)
(5) The prophet Isaiah foretold that a conqueror named Cyrus would destroy seemingly impregnable Babylon and subdue Egypt along with most of the rest of the known world. This same man, said Isaiah, would decide to let the Jewish exiles in his territory go free without any payment of ransom (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; and 45:13).
Isaiah made this prophecy 150 years before Cyrus was born, 180 years before Cyrus performed any of these feats (and he did, eventually, perform them all), and 80 years before the Jews were taken into exile.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1015.)
Given that the Bible proves so reliable a document, there is every reason to expect that the remaining 500 prophecies, those slated for the "time of the end," also will be fulfilled to the last letter. Who can afford to ignore these coming events, much less miss out on the immeasurable blessings offered to anyone and everyone who submits to the control of the Bible's author, Jesus Christ?
Would a reasonable person take lightly God's warning of judgment for those who reject what they know to be true about Jesus Christ and the Bible, or who reject Jesus' claim on their lives?
The estimates of probability included herein come from a group of secular research scientists. As an example of their method of estimation, consider their calculations for this first prophecy cited:
Since the Messiah's ministry could conceivably begin in any one of about 5000 years, there is, then, one chance in about 5000 that his ministry could begin in 26 A.D.
Since the Messiah is God in human form, the possibility of his being killed is considerably low, say less than one chance in 10.
Relative to the second destruction of Jerusalem, this execution has roughly an even chance of occurring before or after that event, that is, one chance in 2.
Hence, the probability of chance fulfillment for this prophecy is 1 in 5000 x 10 x 2, which is 1 in 100,000, or 1 in 105.
Over 300 prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus Christ
The Bible predicted that Christ would die on the cross and that He would rise from the dead. And guess what? HE DID!!Death could not keep Jesus in the grave.
After three days, He Rose from the dead thus defeating death and thus providing mankind hope and Salvation, to all who Will call on the name of the Lord.
Today, the only way Bible scoffers can explain away this astronomical probability is to discredit the prophecies in one way or another.
Jesus lived a perfect life, died willingly on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins, was raised from the dead, and now lives in heaven. An innocent man took the blame for our sinfulness. This act of God is described in John 3:16-17 like this:
(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.
(17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
This is how a loving and just God dealt with the problem of our sin. He provided the one and only way to heaven through belief and trust in God's son, Jesus, as our Lord and Saviour. In John 14:6, Jesus said,
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
You must receive Him in order to live in heaven after you die. There is no exception.
What do you trust in? The economy? Your Job? Friends? money?, All fail but Jesus never fails.
The world says there are many ways to Heaven, and thus
The world seeks its own way of achieving this goal. Some believe that religion is the answer, others believe that you can earn your salvation by doing good things for others.
You have seen and heard a lot of information in this presentation and you have to make a decision, no one else can make it for you.
You simply believe what the Bible says, and you evaluate the information you have seen that show evidence for God, or you reject it.
Either God is telling the truth or He is a liar!
The Bible says:
"But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."
(Isaiah 59:2)
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
(Romans 3:23)
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 6:23)
The Choice is yours! If you believe that there is no God, and your wrong..... What then? After you die, it's too late my friend.
