One of the greatest proofs of the Bible's inspiration is prophecy.  Following are some of the prophecies of both secular and religious fulfillment.

Secular Prophecies

In Daniel 2 four kingdoms are described in the interpretation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar who was the king of Babylon.  The four were the Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greek and the Roman empire. Daniel 2:39-43  These four kingdoms occurred just as prophesied.

The following cities were prophesied to be destroyed and never rebuilt which has come true since they have not yet been rebuilt.  Nineveh (Nahum 1:10; 3:7,15; Zephaniah 2:13-14) Babylon (Isaiah 13:1-22) and Tyre (Ezekiel 26)

Knowledge would increase as well as the ability to travel great distances.  Of course, this has occurred given our present rise in technology. Daniel 12:4

Messianic Prophecies

Jesus would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
Fulfilled in (Matthew 1:18,25), "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary...was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit... But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."
Jesus' place of birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
Fulfilled in (Matthew 2:1) "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem."
Jesus would be preceded by a messenger (Isaiah 40:3) "A voice of one calling: 'In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.'"
Fulfilled in (Matthew 3:1-2) "In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.'"
Rejected by His own people (Isaiah 53:3) "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Fulfilled in (John 7:5) "For even his own brothers did not believe in him," and (John 7:48), "Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?"
Jesus' side pierced (Zechariah 12:10) "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one mourns for an only son."
Fulfilled in (John 19:34) "Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water."
Jesus would be crucified (Psalm 22:1, Psalm 22:11-18) "For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."
Fulfilled in (John 19:23-24) "When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. Let's not tear it, they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did." Jesus would be born of a virgin

Though nothing in the above lists prove biblical inspiration, they are strong evidence that it is indeed inspired.

No it's no suprise. Coincidence can be ruled out by the science of probability!

Their intention was to accurately record and testify to the events that they had seen.  Remember, the disciples were followers of Jesus who taught them to love, to be kind, faithful, and honest.
It could be said that the Bible is a book of history..and it is. The Bible describes places, people, and events in various degrees of detail. How could the disciples conveniently narrate to fullfill the prophecies when they didn't write these books until after the events happened. There would be to many inacurracies if they conveniently narrated the scriptures. Check this out with an open mind.

The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner in Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963) to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability. Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies, "we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 1017." That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that "we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep.

"Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man."

Stoner considers 48 prophecies and says, "we find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10157, or 1 in

100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000, 000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

The estimated number of electrons in the universe is around 1079. It should be quite evident that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies by accident."
This information was taken from the book Evidence that Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell.

12 Many bulls surround me;
       strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

 13 Roaring lions tearing their prey
       open their mouths wide against me.

 14 I am poured out like water,
       and all my bones are out of joint.
       My heart has turned to wax;
       it has melted away within me.

 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
       and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
       you lay me in the dust of death.

 16 Dogs have surrounded me;
       a band of evil men has encircled me,
       they have pierced my hands and my feet.

 17 I can count all my bones;
       people stare and gloat over me.

 18 They divide my garments among them
       and cast lots for my clothing.
          Psalm 22:12-18

What are the preceding versus about?

Yes, I have faith that these things happened. I believe the disciples where trustworthy people. No I can't give you an answer without the Bible because I place my faith in the Christ and I do not believe He would lie to me. You didn't answer my question...What are the preceding versus about?

Oh gosh, I can't believe you are actually trying to use these as evidence for Christianity. But at the same time I really think that reading Josh McDowell "apolegetics" is the first step towards becoming an atheist or agnostic. It was for me.  

We have been having an extended debate in the Deeper Thoughts sectionabout this prophecy issue (under Pandora's box thread and If God really speaks thread, but especially the Pandora's box thread.)

At first, years and years ago just like you I was amazed at the impossible odds to how so many prophecies could be fulfilled. What are the odds!!!  Well...... that is until you read the passages that they come from in context. Then you think to yourself that really seems to be a strange interpretation of that passage to make it into a prophecy.

There are two type of supposed messianic prophecy. First there are the prophecies of power, about a golden age when God will restore justice to Israel and send his anointed in *power and glory* Second there are supposed prophecies of a messiah who would come in weakness and powerlessness.  Well which is it? Is the messiah powerful and glorious or powerless and meak. Maybe he is both. The eternal square-circle.

Well the problem is with the second type. Most of the passage that Christian consider predictions of Jesus were never considered prophecies of the messiah until after Jesus actually had came and left. Most of these passages you list about a meek messiah where never considered prophecies to begin with, until after Christianity had *already* begun. After Jesus was crucified his followers turned to the scriptures to see if they could find *typologies* or old testament characters who had served God in a similar way. The passages that sounded like Jesus became *newly minted prophecies.*

The most damaging example is Isaiah 7:14 which you actually list, a bit embarrassingly. Go and read the whole chapter of Isaiah 7 and you will find that it had little to do with the messiah. It had to do with king Ahaz and the war with Syria and Persia. If you read the chapter you?ll see that it refers to in verse 16 ?for before the child knows good and evil the land whose two kings you dread (Syria and Persia) will be desserted.? So the passage itself points to a time hundreds of years before Jesus was even born!

Even more embarrassingly the word Virgin was never originally used in the passage. The original word is almah which means young woman, not virgin. The Greek version of the old testament mistranslates Almah as Parthenos (ie Virgin) And since the writers of the new testament couldn?t or didn?t go to read the old testament in the original Hebrew, they leaped upon the Septuagint?s translation and called it a prophecy.

The most troubling part about it (if you want to have faith) is that while the passages that Christian say have already been fulfilled have dubious prophetic quality. One the other hand, the ones of the First type that I mentioned above about the messiah coming in Power and Glory have a much longer and definite history of being regarded as prophecy long before Jesus was born. But these prophecies of a messiah of Power and Glory coming to usher in a golden age of peace have never been fulfilled, not least of all by Jesus.

It has been 2000 years. The prophecies that  most clearly prophecies speak of the messiah, speak of conquest and power and universal peace. But Christians are still waiting for Jesus to appear from the sky in power to fulfill them. And if we don?t destroy the planet with our waste and excess, Christians will be waiting another 2000 years. And that I can guarantee!

In the words of of the band disturbed

"'Out of zion shall come forth the law
And the word of the lord from Jerusalem
Nation shall not raise sword against nation
And they shall not learn war anymore
For the mouth of the lord hath spoken'


How long will we be waiting,
for your modern messiah,
to take away all the hatred.
It darkens the light of your eyes.  
Still awaiting?. Still awaiting?."

It's about the crucifixion of Christ hundreds of years before it happened!

I found this website today:
http://www.pleaseconvinceme.com/index/Is_There_Evidence_for_Jesus_Outside_the_Bible

I found this part the most interesting.


The first two statements are AMAZINGLY wrong. I'm wondering if other Christians believe this as well and this is why they don't question the historicity of the Bible.

Let me correct you my friend! There are actually two prophecies in Isaiah 7:13-17. 1) Isaiah prophesied the birth of Jesus through the virgin Mary approximately 700 years before it happened
2) Before the boy (Jesus) knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right the land of the two kings that King Ahaz dreaded would be laid to waste. Both of these prophecies were fullfilled to the letter. 60% of the passage you mentioned is about Jesus and Isaiah 7:14 is actually the most important verse in the whole chapter. 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" which means, "God with us." Matthew was referring to the prophet Isaiah my friend.



According to the Strong's Concordance it means, "virgin, young woman 1a) of marriageable age 1b) maid or newly married."  Therefore, the word "almah" does not always mean virgin.
If the Hebrews translated the word into the Greek word for virgin, then they understood what the Hebrew text meant here. Why would the Isaiah choose to use the word almah and not bethulah?  Probably because Isaiah wanted to demonstrate that the virgin would also be a young woman.  Is it still a prophecy?  Of course. Using the word's young woman in those days would strongly suggest that she was a virgin. Now,with the promiscuity in our modern times we could say more than likely say that she would not be a virgin.


Ooohhhh my lord,do you no how foolish that sounds. So...prophet Rubicon!! Tell me who is going to win the Super Bowl this year so I can hop on a plane to Las Vegas right now!


I will have to respectfully disagree with you Paul. There is only one person that could do that and that is Jesus. He is the only one who had knowledge of all these prophecies so of course he could put himself in those positions. He didn't do this just to pump up his ego he had to do it because it is all part of the Father's plan. Let's say someone prophesied four centuries ago that you would be born in Tampa to "insert your mother's name here". Can you tell me how "you" could arrange the city of your birth and the woman who would give birth to you. It's impossible for anyone to do unless they have divine knowledge.


The Bible was written by about forty authors over a period of approximately fifteen
hundred years. Some of these men never even heard of the others, and there was "no collusion"
among the forty. Two or three of them could have gotten together, but the others could not have
known each other. The only collusion going on was the "collusion of the holy spirt". And yet they have presented a Book that has the most marvelous continuity of
any book that has ever been written.