Prophecy

Recap: God has something to say about knowledge. The bible is a reliable collection of historical documents. It was written by eyewitnesses in the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. Continuing that thought, these witnesses reported supernatural events in fulfilment of specific prophecies.

I emphasize specific, because that’s just what this is. These are not some vague Nostradamus type of predictions that can be applied to any given world event. These are specific prophecies bound by time, geography and biology. Each of these prophecies were made hundreds — and in some cases, over a thousand — years before the birth of Christ. Here’s a list along with the estimated times these predictions were written:

• Genesis 3:15 / 12:3 (1445 B.C.)
• Exodus 12:1-28 (1440-1400 B.C.)
• Leviticus 1:4-5 (1440-1400 B.C.)
• Numbers 24:17 (1440-1400 B.C.)
• Deuteronomy 32:43 (1440-1400 B.C.)
• Joshua 5:13-17 (1405-1385 B.C.)
• Judges (Forshadowed in the judges) (1043 B.C.)
• Ruth 4:12-17 (1030-1010 B.C.)
• 1 Samuel 2:10 (931-722 B.C.)
• 2 Samuel 7:12-16 (931-722 B.C.)
• 1 Kings (Forshadowed in the kings) (561-538 B.C)
• 2 Kings 4:42 (561-538 B.C.)
• 1 Chronicles 5:2 (450-430 B.C.)
• 2 Chronicles 9:22 (450-430 B.C.)
• Ezra 4 (Forshadowed in Zerubbabel) (457-444 B.C.)
• Nehemiah (Forshadowed in Nehemiah himself) (424-400 B.C.)
• Esther (Forshadowed in Mordecai) (450-331 B.C.)
• Job (Forshadowed in the sufferings and following blessings of Job)
• Psalms 16:8-10 / 22:6-8 / 110:4 (1410-450 B.C.)
• Proverbs 8:22-23 (971-686 B.C.)
• Song of Solomon (Forshadowed in marriage) (971-965 B.C.)
• Isaiah 7:14 / 9:6 / 11:1-2 / 35:5-6 (700-681 B.C.)
• Jeremiah 23:6 (686-570 B.C.)
• Ezekial 34:23-24 (590-570 B.C.)
• Daniel 7:13-14 (536-530 B.C.)
• Hosea (Forshadowed in Hosea’s faithfulness to his adulterous wife) (750-710 B.C.)
• Joel 2:32 (835-796 B.C.)
• Amos 8:9 (750 B.C.)
• Jonah 1:17 (Foreshadowing) (775 B.C.)
• Micah 5:2 (735-710 B.C.)
• Habbakuk 3:3 (615-605 B.C.)
• Haggai 2:6-9 (520 B.C.)
• Zechariah 6:12-13 / 9:9 / 11:12-13 / 12:10 (480-470 B.C.)
• Malachi 3:1 (433-422 B.C.)

My aim was to list just ONE from each Old Testament book. I couldn’t resist sharing more than one in some cases because of things they say that are commonly known about Jesus, even to unbelievers. If you don’t believe Jesus, you have to wrestle with this: it was told what kind of birth He would have, into what lineage He would be born, what kind of life He would live, how He would die, how people would react to his death, in what manner He would be buried AND what He would do after His death. There are at least 400 prophecies/foreshadows directly concerning Jesus that were written hundreds of years before His incarnation and He fulfilled them all.

If you don’t believe Jesus, you have to wrap your head around a naturalistic explanation for all of that — let alone the other things we know concerning scripture. Believe Moses! You have no reason not to. Jesus said that what Moses has written is true. If you do not believe Moses, you can’t believe Jesus. That’s who Moses was speaking of when he wrote (I use him as a representative of the entire Old Testament. You get the point, right?)

Further Study
400 Prophecies of Christ (Book)
Prophecies Jesus Fulfills (Video)
Jesus in Every Book (Webpage)

*Note: The date of Job is unknown, but it’s considered to be the oldest book of the bible.