Dare 2 Share -
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you
about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. (II Peter 1:16)
There are well over 300 fulfilled prophecies concerning Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. According to author Lee Strobel, the statistical probabilities of just 49 of these prophecies to be actually fulfilled is 1 x 10157. That’s one out of 10 with one hundred fifty seven zeroes! That is the same statistical chance of a blind man randomly picking a pre-marked molecule after wandering a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion billion universes!
When you do the math on the prophecies that have already been fulfilled, it’s impossible to honestly walk away from the Scriptures believing that it was random chance. In fact, I believe it takes more faith to deny Jesus Christ than to accept Him and His claims. Why? Check this out: Unlike ancient foretellers and modern “psychics”, God’s standard for fulfilled prophecy is 100%.
According to Deuteronomy 18:21-22,
“You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take please or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.”
If you missed even one prediction, you were a false prophet. If you were a false prophet, you were put to death. Think about that for a moment. If the “forecasters” on the psychic phone networks out there lived in Old Testament times, they would have had a very short career span (as well as life span). Yet some people today put more stock in those freakshows than they do the Word of God!
As for Christians, we have people like Daniel on our "psychic hotline"- remember the story of Daniel and the bad kitties? Anyway, he did much more than avoid being Lion Chow. For example, five hundred years before Christ even lived; Daniel predicted the demise of the Babylonian Kingdom, the rise of the Persian, Grecian and Roman kingdoms. He also predicted accurately the rise and fall of Alexander the Great and the four generals that would take over after his death.
Kinda sends a chill down my spine!
Daniel even foretold precisely the time of Christ’s death in Daniel 9:25-26. We could on and on, but the point is that your faith in the Bible being God’s Word is no leap in the dark. In fact, the Bible backs up its claims far better than any other religious text.
So don’t be intimidated by those around you who chatter against God’s Word. They have no idea what they are talking about, and truth is on your side. When you do the math, it is crystal clear that the Word of God stands head and shoulders above every other book ever written. It is, without a doubt, the book of books.
Also, don’t be afraid to completely trust the words of Scripture. It is God’s message to the world, and following its truth is the only hope of life in the universe.
Questions:
1) Why do most unbelievers refuse to do the math?
2) What are some ways you can defend your faith more effectively?
3) Why do some Christians doubt God’s Word?
4) What do you need to do to study God’s Word on a regular basis?
