CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES (Part 6)
By: Cougan Collins
lgchurchofchrist@cableone.net
In our series, we have examined a lot of external evidence that offers
strong proof of Jesus’ existence and shows the validity of Scripture, but the
strongest evidence comes from the Bible itself. The Old Testament makes over
300 prophecies about Jesus’ birth,
life, and death. Jesus fulfilled all 300 + prophecies. Even if someone tried to
fulfill all these prophecies on their own, they would fail because some of the prophecies were fulfilled by the hands of others.
For example, Jesus had no control of where He
would be born (Micah 5:2; Mt. 2:1-6). He had no control over being
betrayed with 30 silver coins that would be used to buy a potters field
(Zech. 11:12-13; Mk. 14:10, 21). He would have no way to make the soldiers cast
lots for His clothing (Ps. 22:18; Jn. 19:27). These are just a few examples,
but they show that the only way Jesus could fulfill all 300 + prophecies was by being the Son of God.
I do not have the space to look at every prophecy
from the Old Testament, but I want to look at few that establish a timeline of
when Jesus would be born. Our first timeline comes from Daniel chapter 2 in which King Nebuchadnezzar dreams about an image that
represents four kingdoms. Our key verse is:
Daniel 2:44 "And in the days of these
kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed;
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
This verse is telling
us that during that 4th kingdom, which is
the
Genesis 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, Until
According to
Historians Solomon and Josephus,
Think about the significance of this. If the Jews had the power to kill at the time of Jesus’ ministry, He would have been put to death by stones instead of being crucified as prophesied (Ps. 22:16). It is amazing how God made everything work out so Jesus would be born while the Jews had their judicial power, yet lose that power by the time He began His ministry so He would die on the cross, which puts Jesus at the right time and place in history.
Just as side note, the New Testament is in perfect harmony
with Daniel, Isaiah, and Joel because John the Baptist and Jesus kept
proclaiming that the kingdom was coming. Isaiah said that the kingdom would
begin at
All this internal evidence shows how accurate the Old Testament prophecies were at predicting the coming of Jesus into the world, and the kingdom/church He would establish. Next week we will examine the empty tomb of Jesus.