In the final days before His death on the cross, Jesus prayed His longest prayer. In His prayer, Jesus spoke of His confidence in the Bible. In John 17:17 Jesus prayed, “your word is truth”. In John 17:12, Jesus promised that “the Scripture might be fulfilled”.
Jesus was a Bible teacher who knew that His life would fulfill prophetic promises given hundreds and thousands of years prior. This proves that God both wrote the Bible through human authors and writes human history through human actors. The following are just some of the numerous Scriptures which Jesus fulfilled:
• 1000 B.C. – “my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9). Jesus was betrayed by his close friend Judas Iscariot.
• 500 B.C. – “they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’…So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter” (Zechariah 11:12–13). Judas betrayed Jesus and threw the money in the Temple before he hung himself.
• 1000 B.C. – “…they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (Psalm 22:18). Roman soldiers stripped Jesus nearly naked, and cast lots to see who got His clothing.
• 1000 B.C. – “a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet” (Psalm 22:16). Hundreds of years before crucifixion was known to have been practiced, it was promised that Jesus would be nailed through the hands and feet by evildoers.
• 700 B.C. – “he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). Jesus died between two guilty thieves as promised.
• 1000 B.C. – “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken” (Psalm 34:20). Jesus died quickly enough that they did not have to break His legs on the cross.
• 1000 B.C. – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1). Jesus quoted this verse with His dying breaths.
• 700 B.C. – “He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people” (Isaiah 53:8b). Jesus died for the sins of others.
• 700 B.C. – “they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death…” (Isaiah 53:9). Jesus was buried in the tomb of a rich man named Joseph after He died.
• 1000 B.C. – “you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). Three days after dying, Jesus did not remain in the grave decaying.
• 1000 B.C. – “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train” (Psalm 68:18). When Jesus returned to Heaven, He took believers who died in faith with Him.
• 1000 B.C. – “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool’” (Psalm 110:1). Today, Jesus is seated in Heaven ruling as King of Kings and will one day make all His enemies a footstool for all eternity.
Which of these prophecies is your favorite? Why?