Christmas is almost here… the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.  You know the remarkable story:   Jesus was born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary.  Roman emperor Augustus decreed a census should be taken, so Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem because of their lineage to King David.  It came to pass that while they were in Bethlehem, the Child was born.  A star foretold the birth of the Christ Child, and wise men followed it to worship Him.  These wisemen gave gifts to Jesus of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Soon after the birth of Jesus, Joseph had a dream that he should take the Baby and His mother and flee to Egypt to escape King Herod’s edict to kill all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two.  Upon their return from exile, Jesus was raised in poverty in the town of Nazareth.

It’s a beautiful story.  Emmanuel (which means God With Us) came and pitched His tent among us humans to save us from our sins and reconcile us to our God (John 1:14).  But did you know that each of the circumstances I mentioned above, surrounding the birth of Jesus, were revealed by the prophets centuries before He was born?  They are each recorded in the Bible’s Old Testament.

In the mid-1950s, a professor named Peter W. Stoner and over 600 of his students calculated the odds of one man fulfilling just eight of the prophecies foretold in the Bible about Jesus.  Their conservative conclusion was as follows:  “Let us simplify and reduce the number by calling it 1 in 10²⁸.  Written out this number is 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.”

Stoner then divided the probability of these eight prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of one person throughout history by estimating the number of people who have lived since the days of the prophets.  He figured that there were conservatively about 88 billion folks who had lived since the time of the Bible prophets in the Old Testament.  He and his students concluded the probability of one person accidentally fulfilling eight of the prophecies about Jesus was 1 in 10¹⁷ or one in one hundred quadrillion people.  Amazing!

These numbers are mind-boggling… but there is more.  Stoner made his calculation of probability on a mere eight prophetic signs that Jesus is the Messiah.  Stoner estimated that the probability of fulfilling 48 prophecies was one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion.  Yet the Old Testament Bible contains approximately 400 prophecies fulfilled by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus!

But can we believe Professor Stoner’s work?  The American Scientific Association wanted to be sure.  After their review, they stated, “The mathematical analysis … is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound, and Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way.”

In a few short days, we will celebrate the birth of Jesus.  You or someone you know may be struggling and want to ask if Jesus is truly the Messiah.  I can give you over one hundred quadrillion reasons to say, “Yes, indeed, He IS.”

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  Listen carefully, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call His name Immanuel (God with us).”  Isaiah 7:14

 

If you would like to read more about Peter Stoner’s findings, please click here: Christ of the Prophecy

If you would like to learn more about some of the prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus, please click here:  353 Bible Prophecies fulfilled in Jesus