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WEEKLY DEVOTIONALS – 2011
The Bible – Absolute Truth – Week 19
BIBLICAL ACCURACY (Part Two)
(This week I will be quoting from the Book: Beyond Belief to Conviction; Pages 67-68)
Yet we must admit that Jesus was not the only Jew to be born into the tribe of Judah, in the city of Bethlehem, and buried in a rich man’s tomb. Is it possible to believe that some of the details of Jesus’ life happened to coincide with all those Old Testament prophecies?
For the answer to that question, we need only turn to the science of statistics and probability. Professor Peter W. Stoner, in an analysis that was carefully reviewed and pronounced to be sound by the American Scientific Affiliation, states that the probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled in one person is 1 in 10 to the 17th power
(that’s 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000).
Look at it this way: If you were to take 100,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars and spread them across the state of Texas, they would not only cover the entire state but also form a pile of coins two feet deep!
Now, take one more silver dollar, mark it with a big red X, toss it into that pile, and stir the whole pile thoroughly.
Then, blindfold yourself, and starting at El Paso on the western border of the state, walk the length and breadth of that enormous state, from Amarillo in the panhandle to Laredo on the Rio Grande all the way to Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico, stooping just once along the way to pick up a single silver dollar out of that two foot deep pile.
Than take off your blindfold, and look at the silver dollar in your hand.
What are the chances that you would pick the marked coin out of the pile of silver dollars the size of the Lone Star State?
The same chance that one person could have fulfilled just eight messianic prophecies in one lifetime.
In other words, it is nearly unthinkable to imagine that eight Old Testament prophecies about Messiah could have come true in one man - let alone the sixty major prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth - unless, of course, He is (as He Himself claimed) the ‘Messiah, the Son of the blessed God,’ the One who was and is and is to come.
(Mark 14:61; Revelation 4:8)
THOUGHTS TO PONDER THIS WEEK
- How do these statistics stir you to proclaim Christ to the world?
- What can you do today to live in Light of these truths - to conviction and profession?
- How grateful are you to God for His Amazing Grace?
Sandy Davis, for the team at Women In Discipleship (sm)
womenindiscipleship.org – P.O. Box 694, Goldenrod, FL, 32733 – (407) 325-2986
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