Jesus In Prophecy

The Old Testament (the part of the Bible written before Jesus'
birth) was completed in 450BC, hundreds of years before Jesus
was born. The prophecies were made in astonishing detail by
many people throughout these books.

For instance, the Old Testament indicated Jesus would be
betrayed by someone he trusted, "Even my close friend whom I
trusted, he who has shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against
me" (Psalm 41:9). The New Testament, which records Jesus' life
and resurrection, reveals that one of the 12 people Jesus chose to
be part of his inner circle betrayed him, "Then Judas Iscariot, one
of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them"
(Mark 14:19).

More than 300 prophecies like this were made in the Old
Testament and then fulfilled through Jesus' life, death and
resurrection. The chances of one person fulfilling a mere 8 of these
prophecies are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. For one person to
fulfill 48 of these prophecies, the number becomes staggering--1
chance in 10 to the 157th power (1 with 157 zeros after it). Add
to that the 250 other prophecies and it becomes impossible for
any other person except Jesus to ever fit that particular sequence
of time and events.

Descendent of Abraham

Genesis 18:18 "Abraham will
surely become a great and
powerful nation, and all nations
on earth will be blessed through
him."
Acts 3:25 "And you are heirs of
the prophets and of the
covenant God made with your
fathers. He said to Abraham,
'Through your offspring all
peoples on earth will be
blessed.'"

Descendent of Isaac

Genesis 17:19 "Then God said,
'Yes, but your wife Sarah will
bear you a son, and you will
call him Isaac. I will establish
my covenant with him as an
everlasting covenant for his
descendents after him.'"

Matthew 1:2 "Abraham was the
father of Isaac, Isaac the father
of Jacob, Jacob the father of
Judah and his brothers.

Descendent of Jacob

Numbers 24:17 "I see him, but
not now; I behold him, but not
near. A star will come out of
Jacob; a scepter will rise out of
Israel."
Luke 3:34 "The son of Jacob,
the son of Isaac, the son of
Abraham, the son of Terah, the
son of Nahor."

Will descend from the tribe of Judah

Genesis 49:10 "The scepter will
not depart from Judah, nor the
ruler's staff from between his
feet, until he comes to whom it
belongs and the obedience of
the nations is his."
Luke 3:33 "The son of
Amminadab, the son of Ram,
the son of Hezron, the son of
Perez, the son of Judah."

Place of birth to be Bethlehem

Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, though you are small
among the clans of Judah, out
of you will come for me one
who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."
Matthew 2:1 "After Jesus was
born in Bethlehem in Judea,
during the time of King
Herod..."

Will be born of a virgin

Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord
himself will give you a sign: the
virgin will be with child and will
give birth to a son, and will call
him Immanuel."
Matthew 1:18 "This is how the
birth of Jesus Christ came
about. His mother Mary was
pledged to be married to
Joseph, but before they came
together, she was found to be
with child through the Holy
Spirit."

Infants will be slaughtered

Jeremiah 31:15 "This is what
the Lord says: 'A voice is heard
in Ramah, mourning and great
weeping, Rachel weeping for
her children and refusing to be
comforted, because her
children are no more.'"
Matthew 2:16 "When Herod
realized that he had been
outwitted by the Magi, he was
furious, and he gave orders to
kill all the boys in Bethlehem
and its vicinity who were two
years old and under, in
accordance with the time he
had learned from the Magi."

Will escape into Egypt as a child

Hoseah 11:1 "When Israel was
a child, I loved him, and out of
Egypt I called my son."
Matthew 2:14 "So he got up,
took the child and his mother
during the night and left for
Egypt."

Will minister in Galilee and along the Jordan River

Isaiah 9:1-2 "Nevertheless,
there will be no more gloom for
those who were in distress. In
the past he humbled the land of
Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali, but in the future he
will honor Galilee of the
Gentiles, by the way of the sea,
along the Jordan--The people
walking in darkness have seen a
great light; on those living in the
land of the shadow of death a
light has dawned."
Matthew 4:12-16
"Jesus...returned to Galilee.
Leaving Nazareth, he went and
lived in Capernaum, which was
by the lake in the area of
Zebulun and Naphtali--to fulfill
what was said through the
prophet Isaiah: Land of Zebulun
and land of Naphtali, the way
to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles--The
people living in darkness have
seen a great light; on those
living in the land of the shadow
of death a light has dawned."

He will be rejected by the Jewish people

Isaiah 53:3 "He was despised
and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows, and familiar with
suffering. Like one from whom
men hide their faces he was
despised, and we esteemed him
not."
John 1:11 "He came to that
which was his own, but his own
did not receive him."

Character of wisdom and understanding

Isaiah 11:2 "The Spirit of the
Lord will rest on him--the Spirit
of wisdom and of
understanding, the Spirit of
counsel and of power, the Spirit
of knowledge and of the fear of
the Lord."
Luke 2:52 "And Jesus grew in
wisdom and stature, and in
favor with God and men."

He will enter triumphantly into Jerusalem on a young
donkey

Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly,
O Daughter of Zion! Shout,
Daughter of Jerusalem! See,
your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
John 12:13-14 "They took
palm branches and went out to
meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna!'
'Blessed is the King of Israel!'
Jesus found a young donkey
and sat upon it, as it is written."

The time of his entry prophesied to the very day

Daniel 9:25-26 "Know and
understand this: From the
issuing of the decree to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem until the
Annointed One, the ruler,
comes, there will be seven
'sevens' and sixty-two 'sevens.'
It will be rebuilt with streets and
a trench, but in times of trouble.
After the sixty-two 'sevens' the
Annointed One will be cut off
and will have nothing."
This prophesy refers to weeks
of years, or 483 biblical years.
Beginning with the exact day on
which Persian King Artaxerxes
gave the decree to rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem (March 5,
444 BC), exactly 173,880 days
later--Palm Sunday, March 30,
AD33--Christ rode into
Jerusalem the week before he
was 'cut off' (crucified). This is
the precise number of days
spanning 483 biblical years,
which were then measured as
12 months of 30 days each.

Betrayed by a close friend

Psalm 41:9 "Even my close
friend, whom I trusted, he who
shared my bread, has lifted up
his heel against me."
Mark 14:10 "Then Judas
Iscariot, one of the Twelve,
went to the chief priests to
betray Jesus to them."

He will be sold for thirty pieces of silver

Zechariah 11:12 "I told them, 'If
you think it best, give me my
pay; but if not, keep it.' So they
paid me thirty pieces of silver."
Matthew 26:15 "And asked,
'What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?' So
they counted out for him thirty
pieces of silver."

Money returned and used to buy potter's field

Zechariah 11:13 "And the Lord
said to me, 'Throw it to the
potter'--the handsome price at
which they priced me! So I
took the thirty pieces of silver
and threw them into the house
of the Lord to the potter."
Matthew 27:6-7 "The chief
priests picked up the coins and
said, 'It is against the law to put
this into the treasury, since it is
blood money.' So they decided
to use the money to buy the
potter's field as a burial place
for foreigners."

Silent when accused during his trial

Isaiah 53:7 "He was oppressed
and afflicted, yet he did not
open his mouth; he was led like
a lamb to the slaughter, and as
a sheep before her shearers is
silent, so he did not open his
mouth."
Matthew 26:62-63 "Then the
high priest stood up and said to
Jesus, 'Are you not going to
answer? What is this testimony
that these men are bringing
against you?' But Jesus
remained silent. The high priest
said to him, 'I charge you under
oath by the living God: Tell us if
you are the Christ, the Son of
God.'"

He will suffer for others

Isaiah 53:4-5 "Surely he took
up our infirmities and carried
our sorrows, yet we considered
him stricken by God, smitten by
him, and afflicted. But he was
pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was upon
him, and by his wounds we are
healed."
Matthew 8:16-17 "When
evening came, many who were
demon-possessed were
brought to him, and he drove
out the spirits with a word and
healed all the sick. This was to
fulfill what was spoken through
the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up
our infirmities and carried our
diseases.'"

He will be crucified with sinners

Isaiah 53:12 "Therefore I will
give him a portion among the
great, and he will divide the
spoils with the strong, because
he poured out his life unto
death, and was numbered with
the transgressors. For he bore
the sin of many, and made
intercession for the
transgressors."
Matthew 27:38 "Two robbers
were crucified with him, one on
his right and one on his left."

His hands and feet will be pierced

Psalm 22:16 "Dogs have
surrounded me; a band of evil
men has encircled me, they
have pierced my hands and my
feet."
John 20:27 "Then he said to
Thomas, 'Put your finger here;
see my hands. Reach out your
hand and put it into my side.
Stop doubting and believe.'"

Will be mocked and insulted by the people

Psalm 22:6-8 "But I am a worm
and not a man, scorned by men
and despised by the peopple.
All who see me mock me; they
hurl insults, shaking their heads:
'He trusts in the Lord; let the
Lord rescue him. Let him
deliver him, since he delights in
him.'"
Matthew 27:39-40 "Those who
passed by hurled insults at him,
shaking their heads and saying,
'You who are going to destroy
the temple and build it in three
days, save yourself! Come
down from the cross, if you are
the Son of God!'"

Will be given gall and vinegar to drink

Psalm 69:21 "They put gall in
my food and gave me vinegar
for my thirst."
John 19:29 "A jar of wine
vinegar was there, so they
soaked a sponge in it, put the
sponge on a stalk of the hyssop
plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips."

His side will be pierced with a spear

Zechariah 12:10 "And I will
pour out on the house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
a spirit of grace and
supplication. They will look on
me, the one they have pierced,
and they will mourn for him as
one mourns for an only child,
and grieve bitterly for him as
one grieves for a firstborn son."
John 19:34 "Instead, one of the
soldiers pierced Jesus' side with
a spear, bringing a sudden flow
of blood and water."

Soldiers will cast lots for his clothing

Psalm 22:18 "They divide my
garments among them and cast
lots for my clothing."
Mark 15:24 "And they crucified
him. Dividing up his clothes,
they cast lots to see what each
would get."

Not a bone of his body will be broken

Psalm 34: 20 "He protects all
his bones, not one of them will
be broken."
John 19:33 "But when they
came to Jesus and found that he
was already dead, they did not
break his legs."

Will be buried in a rich man's tomb

Isaiah 53:9 "He was assigned a
grave with the wicked, and with
the rich in his death, though he
had done no violence, nor was
any deceit in his mouth."
Matthew 27:57-60 "As evening
approached, there came a rich
man from Arimathea, named
Joseph, who had himself
become a disciple of Jesus.
Going to Pilate, he asked for
Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered
that it be given to him. Joseph
took the body, wrapped it in a
clean linen cloth, and placed it
in his own new tomb that he
had cut out of the rock. He
rolled a big stone in front of the
entrance to the tomb and went
away."

He will be resurrected after his death

Psalm 16:10 "Because you will
not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One
see decay."
Matthew 28:9 "Suddenly Jesus
met them. 'Greetings,' he said.
They came to him, clasped his
feet and worshiped him."

He will ascend into heaven

Psalm 68:18 "When you
ascended on high, you led
captives in your train; you
received gifts from men, even
from the rebellious--that you, O
Lord God, might dwell there."
Luke 24:50-51 "When he had
led them out to the vicinity of
Bethany, he lifted up his hands
and blessed them. While he
was blessing them, he left them
and was taken up into heaven."