If you were to take a single stick, about the thickness of a pencil, you would probably say you could break it with no problem. You would most likely be able to do the same if another stick, the same size, was tied to it. Keep adding sticks, one at a time. How many sticks, bundled together, do you think you could break, using just your own bodily strength? My point is this. There comes a time when you can no longer break a bundle of sticks with your own strength when you keep adding sticks to the bundle.
All of the prophecies concerning the birth, life, ministry and death of Jesus/Christ are just like those sticks. Taken separately or even two or three at a time, you could easily explain away their fulfillment as just coincidence. Most people believe that there are only a very few prophecies that pointed to the life and death of the Messiah. Because of their misunderstanding of those prophecies, those same people feel they can easily explain away that Friday evening during the spring Passover of 0031, when the person they considered a "crazy, delusional, religious fanatic" died on the cross just as the Passover was beginning.
It is because of that mistaken belief that so many people have and which is the same belief I also used to have when I was unaware of the truth, that I am going to list all of the prophecies I know of that concerned Christ and his life on this Earth.
I mentioned earlier that the disciple John had said that if all the things Jesus/Christ did while living on this Earth were written down, he supposed the Earth itself could not contain the volumes.
Jesus himself said that you could search the scriptures from cover to cover, trying to find eternal life and in the end all you would find would be him (Jesus). I did not believe that when I first became a Christian but now I believe it completely. At the beginning of this book I mentioned how truth was progressive. You never realize how progressive it is when you first begin to learn about God and his universe. There is so much in the Old Testament that points to the Messiah that it would take volumes to describe. I am not going to go into it in that depth but what I am going to do is make a list of all the prophecies that I know of in the Old Testament that speak of Christ and the life he would live as a member of humanity.
It is quite a list and if you take the time to read these scriptures for yourself, in context, you will be amazed at the detail that is given concerning some of the most obscure moments of what Jesus/Christ was to do and go through when he walked this Earth.
It would be rather interesting if someone out there were to go through all of the scriptures that the life of Jesus/Christ fulfilled and compute what the odds would be for one person, on the entire planet, to fulfill those predictions exactly and at the exact moment they were to be fulfilled in the history of Earth. Although I am not an odds maker I can guarantee that I would never gamble if the odds were that stacked against me.
The very first prophecy is found in the book of Genesis, right after Adam and Eve had disobeyed the God of creation and had received the promise from their creator that he would step in and save humanity from the fate of eternal death.
PROPHECYFULFILLMENT
1. The Messiah would be born as a human 1. Galatians 4:4 Genesis 3:15 Revelation 12:5
2. Would be a descendant of Jacob 2. Matthew 1:2 Numbers 24:17
3. Would be a descendant of Judah 3. Luke 3:33 Genesis 49:10
4. Would be a descendant of David 4. Matthew 1:18 Isaiah 9:7 Isaiah 11:1, 2 Psalm 89:35, 36
5. Would be born in Bethlehem 5. Matthew 2:1 Micah 5:2
6. Would come out of Egypt 6. Matthew 2:14, 15 Hosea 11:1
7. Would be called a Nazarene 7. Matthew 2:23 Isaiah 11:1
8. Someone would precede (go before) him 8. Matthew 3:1-3 Isaiah 40:3 John 1:23 Malachi 3:1 Luke 7:27 Malachi 4:5
9. Would make his home in Galilee 9. Matthew 4:12-14 Isaiah 9:1, 2
10. Would be filled with God's Spirit 10. Matthew 3:15 Isaiah 11:2 Luke 4:18 Isaiah 61:1
11. Would be a prophet 11. Matthew 13:57 Deuteronomy 18:15
12. Would preach God's word 12. Luke 4:17-21 Psalm 40:7-9 Isaiah 61:1
13. Would be a teacher 13. John 3:2 Isaiah 50:4
14. Would teach in parables (stories) 14. Matthew 13:3 Psalm 78:2
15. Would do miracles 15. Matthew 11:3-5 Isaiah 35:5, 6
16. Would bear our burdens 16. Matthew 8:15, 17 Isaiah 53:4, 5
17. Would be rejected by his own people 17. John 1:11 Isaiah 53:3
18. Would suffer greatly 18. Matthew 16:21 Isaiah 53:3-7 Matthew 26:37, 38 Luke 24:46 Hebrews 5:8
19. Would enter Jerusalem on a young donkey 19. John 12:12-15 Zechariah 9:9
20. Would be betrayed by a friend 20. Matthew 26:25 Psalm 41:9 John 13:18-27 Psalm 55:12-14
21. Would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver 21. Matthew 26: 15 Zechariah 11:12
22. The money would be returned and used to buy 22. Matthew 27:5-7 a potter's field Zechariah 11:13
23. Would be abandoned by his disciples 23. Mark 14:27 Zechariah 13:7
24. Would be accused by false witnesses 24. Matthew 26:59 Psalm 35:11 Psalm 109:2
25. Would remain silent when accused 25. Matthew 27:2, 14 Isaiah 53:7 1 Peter 2:23 Psalm 38:13, 14
26. Would be struck in the face 26. Matthew 27:30 Zechariah 13:7 Matthew 26:67 Micah 5:1
27. Would be spit on 27. Matthew 26:67, 68 Isaiah 50:6 Matthew 27:30
28. Would be whipped on the back 28. Mark 15:15 Isaiah 50:6
29. His body would be disfigured (mutilated) 29. Read any gospel or because of the beatings he would receive watch Mel Gibson's Isaiah 52:14 movie "The Passion"
30. His hands and feet would be pierced 30. John 20:27 Psalm 22:16
31. His body would be pierced 31. John 19:34, 37 Zechariah 12:10
32. Would die with the guilty 32. Mark 15:27, 28 Isaiah 53:9, 12
33. Would pray for his enemies 33. Luke 23:34 Isaiah 53:12 Psalm 109:4
34. Would be ridiculed as he died 34. Matthew 27:39-43 Psalm 22:7, 8 Mark 15:29-32 Psalm 42:10 Luke 23:35, 36 Psalm 109:25
35. People would gamble for his clothing 35. John 19:23, 24 Psalm 22:18
36. A crowd would watch him die 36. Matthew 27:36 Psalm 22:17 Luke 23:35 Isaiah 52:14
37. Would be abandoned by God 37. Matthew 27:46 Psalm 22:1-3
38. Would suffer severe thirst 38. Matthew 27:48 Psalm 22:15 John 19:28 Psalm 69:3, 21
39. Would commit his spirit to God 39. Luke 23:46 Psalm 31:5
40. His friends would stand far off 40. Luke 23:49 Psalm 38:11 Psalm 87:8
41. None of his bones would be broken 41. John 19:33, 36 Exodus 12:46 Numbers 9:12
42. Would be poured out like water 42. John 19:34 Psalm 22:14
43. There would be darkness at his crucifixion 43. Matthew 27:45 Amos 8:9
44. Would be buried with the rich 44. Matthew 27:57-60 Isaiah 53:9
45. Would voluntarily give up his life 45. Matthew 20:28 Isaiah 53:5, 6, 11, 12 John 10:8-11 1 Peter 2:24
46. Would not remain dead 46. Mark 16:5, 6 Psalm 16:10 Acts 13:35 Psalm 30:3
47. Would be resurrected on the third day 47. Matthew 12:40 Hosea 6:2 Mark 8:31 John 2:19
48. Would return to heaven 48. Mark 1:19 Psalm 68:18 Luke 24:51 Acts 1:9
Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." - John 5:39.
I have written all of this out to help prove the Bible right. God has already laid everything out. All we have to do is assemble it and we will find that it makes a work of artistic machinery that can never be rivaled.