Paul persuaded his hearers about the Gospel by fully testifying to the Kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets from morning to evening (Acts 28:23). The Law and the Prophets are God's 1-2 punch. They are how true converts are made, and people are legitimately won to Christ. Bible prophecy testifies to the divine authorship of the Bible. Only a divine Author could know the end from the beginning and declare, from ancient times, things that are not yet done (Isaiah 46:10). Only the God of the universe could breathe future predictions about the Messiah hundreds of years in advance. Then history would record how all of those prophecies would come to pass centuries later.
In my most recent search on this topic, while writing this, I have found estimates anywhere from 109 to 351 messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. Why such a large discrepancy? It all comes down to whether or not we count direct predictions, repeated prognostications, Old Testament allusions, indirect references to the ministry of Christ, and prophetic types. Do we count all of those or some of them? How do we choose which to keep and leave out? I used to be pretty set on the 109 number, but as I have read more this time, I now realize the number could be much higher. That only makes the odds of the complete fulfillment of all of them all the more miraculous.
A professor and 600 of his students at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, once calculated the odds that one man could fulfill all of these prophecies. Then the professor submitted his work for review by a committee at the American Scientific Affiliation. Keep in mind that Jesus fulfilled hundreds of predictions, but after only considering eight of them, the group concluded that the odds of one man fulfilling only eight prophecies was 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 or 1 in 10 to the 17th power. The professor demonstrated it this way: Mark 1 of 10 tickets. Then place all the tickets in a hat and thoroughly stir them. Have a blindfolded person draw one of them. The odds of picking the right one would be 1 in 10. Now let's repeat that scenario but instead place 100,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars and lay them all over Texas so that they cover the entire state two feet deep. Mark one of the silver dollars and stir them all thoroughly. The odds that a blindfolded person could pick one silver dollar out of all those silver dollars covering Texas two feet deep are the same odds that any one person could fulfill just eight of the Old Testament messianic prophecies. Yet Jesus fulfilled hundreds!
Fulfilled prophecy proves the authenticity of the Bible. The Law of God, found in the Bible, convicts the sinner after convincing that the Bible is true. Paul said he would not have known sin if not by the Law (Romans 7:7). Then he wrote in 1 Timothy 1:9-10 that the Law is not for righteous people, but for lawless people like the insubordinate, ungodly, sinful, unholy, profane, murderers, the sexually immoral including homosexuals, enslavers, liars, and perjurers. There is not a person on Earth except Jesus Christ who has lived a sinless life. All of us have fallen into at least one of those categories at some point in our lives. When the Law is properly used, it is not to make us more righteous. It shows us how sinful and hopeless we are and thus why we need Jesus Christ as a substitute to take our punishment. Psalm 19:7 says Yahweh's Law is perfect and converts the soul. Yahweh is an English pronunciation of the proper name of God the Father. It is often written as "LORD" in most Bibles.
One of my favorite shows that used to be on TBN was The Way of the Master featuring Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. They would often make the point from 1 Corinthians 1:18 that the message of the cross is, indeed, foolishness to those perishing. That is why their whole program and materials from their ministry at Living Waters emphasize the sinner's need to hear God's Law before the Good News can do its work. The Law shows the person without Christ their true hopelessness before God. Only then can they fully appreciate their need for a Savior. Without that, it all seems foolish or is taken too lightly. Romans 3:19 says the Law speaks so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world can be under God's judgment.
The bad news is that all have sinned and are under God's judgment. Everyone committing sin also commits lawlessness because sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). But the Good News is that Jesus willingly became our substitute. He was the only one not worthy of death. Yet, He chose to take our punishment in our place. The innocent took the punishment of the guilty so that the guilty could decide to go free or not. It is up to each of us whether or not we will accept or reject that pardon.
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