Hi ,
I get really tired of reading the various interpretations of Scripture that wind up denuding it of its power! Everything from issues involving the creation week right down to end-time prophecies is fair game. There are many reasons people do this, but in all cases Scripture winds up getting diluted or rendered irrelevant - at least by people who do this and by the people they influence who get sucked into it.
Biblical prophecy is one of these areas. Specific to our interest at this time of year are those fascinating ones that were made about the coming Jewish Messiah - that were ALL fulfilled in Jesus!
There are over 300 of them, and many of these were totally unique! For example, Psalm 22 predicts his crucifixion - long before that practice was even used! Other issues, like His birthplace, his lineage, his crucifixion, etc. were beyond his control, and could not have been purposely, deliberately, or even accidentally fulfilled by Him.
Furthermore, the prophets lived at various times throughout history and included men like Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Zechariah, Samuel, Hosea, Malachi, and others. Most of them didn't know each other, and their prophesies were so unique that they couldn't possibly be copying each other. Therefore, the likelihood that all of them would be fulfilled in ONE man is an absolute impossibility -- unless Divinely
inspired!
In a book entitled Science Speaks, the authors say that the odds of just eight of the prophesies being fulfilled by one man is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000!! One of the authors, Peter Stoner, gives us an illustration of the odds. Briefly, it goes like this: Suppose that we take the above number of silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. This would cover the entire state two feet
deep. Now paint one of those silver dollars red, add it to the pile, then stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes, but he may pick up only one silver dollar from the pile. What are the odds that he will find, with only one chance, that exact red silver dollar? ZERO!
What always fascinated me is that the chief priests and teachers of the law specialized in knowing what the Scriptures taught. They, if anybody, should have clearly seen that all of these prophesies were coming true in the one man who claimed to be the Messiah. But, they refused to see the obvious!
Sounds like today, right? Secular scientists, who claim to be the "specialists", should clearly see design and purpose everywhere they look. But, many of them still refuse to see the obvious!
