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.~Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)
Ever wonder what your chances are? Ever wonder how likely it is that something might happen to you? Here are some interesting odds to consider, according to the laws of probability:
- Getting the flu this year: 1 in 10
- Catching a ball at a major league ballgame: 1 in 563
- Bowling a 300 game: 1 in 11,500
- Being struck by lightning: 1 in 576 thousand
- Winning the California lottery: 1 in 13 million
- Meteor landing on your house: 1 in 182.14 Trillion
- Fulfilling 8 Old Testament prophecies about the messiah:
- 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1017)
There are over 300 Old Testament’s prophecies about the coming messiah and only one person in history fulfilled them all: Jesus Christ. The odds of this happening are beyond our ability to even imagine. The number is so large that the only rational explanation is that God made it happen. The prophecies fulfilled by Jesus prove that there is a God and that Jesus is that God!
Here is a list of eight Old Testament prophecies surrounding Christmas and where they are fulfilled in the New Testament:
- Born of a virgin: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23
- A descendant of Abraham: Genesis 12:1-3; 22:18; Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16
- Of the tribe of Judah: Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23, 33; Hebrews 7:14
- Of the house of David: 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1:1
- Born in Bethlehem: Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7
- Taken to Egypt: Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:14-15
- Herod´s killing of the infants: Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:16-18
- Born the Savior: Psalm 22:9, Luke 2:7
This Christmas remember that Jesus didn’t fulfill only eight prophecies. He fulfilled them all! What are the odds? They’re astronomical. However, the odds are far better that we don’t take this baby born in Bethlehem seriously enough. Let us take him seriously and place our complete trust in him.
24 more Christmas readings like this are found in Alan’s Christmas Reboot eBook that can be found here.