What do you think of people who claim to predict the future? Do you cast their predictions aside? Or do you adhere to their predictions? Have you heard someone predict something was going to happen and it did? Have you heard someone falsely predict the future?
There are tons of predictions given by thousands of people. Some of them valid. Many of them invalid. Those that are valid are typically based on historical data, trends are identified, and forecasts are made. The more reliable the data, the more reliable the prediction.
We often make predictions ourselves. The data we use is often our very own experiences. The older we get, the more experiences we have to base our predictions on. Perhaps that is why the wise person is often portrayed as being an older person. But age alone does not make one wise. It requires putting together our experiences and casting aside our preferences to make an objective prediction.
On the other hand, there are hundreds of prophecies, predictions, foretelling’s, about Jesus from the prophets of the Old Testament. Depending on how they are counted, Jesus fulfilled between 300-500 prophecies. According to mathematician Peter Stoner, the odds of Jesus (or any person) to have fulfilled just 8 of the prophecies was astronomical. By his calculations, with the aid of several students from a handful of his university classes, the odds are the same as if we covered the state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep, marked one silver dollar, mixed them all up, blindfolded a person, and gave them one chance to choose the marked silver dollar. As more prophecies are added, the odds increase exponentially.
Matthew purposely highlights the fulfillment of several prophecies in his gospel. His purpose is to convince his Jewish audience that Jesus was the coming Messiah they had been waiting for. His recording of the fulfillment should also convince us who Jesus is. We have eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecy, not the least of which was Him being raised from the dead three days after being crucified.
I pray we all believe Jesus is who He says He is. I pray we believe Jesus is the Son of God. I pray each one of us will trust the eyewitness accounts and strengthen our faith in Jesus. Trust the eyewitnesses. Believe Jesus is the Son of God. Put your faith in Him. Accept Him as Savior. Make Him your Lord.
Matthew 12:17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
Marty Pressey 