Probabilities and Prophecies
Prophecies of Scripture verify that the Bible is real—that it is God’s Word. Only a fool would deny that Jesus Christ was a real, historical figure (basically every historian agrees that he was a real, living person), yet many people still choose to ignore the prophecies that surround this man, Jesus.
Scores of prophecies were told hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Prophets wrote down their “guesses” as to how this man would live, act and die, and all of their “guesses” came true. Some prophets predicted his birth, some his death. Some predicted his name, some his lineage. Some predicted the timing of his birth, some predicted the place.
All of them were right.
How is that possible? How could a bunch of random guys write a bunch of “random” things about one person and they all be right?
Imagine Ben Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Paul Revere each sitting at home, writing down random predictions about the presidential elections of 2008, when Barack Obama was first elected as president of the United States.
What if Ben Franklin wrote, “O thou, little Honolulu, from thee cometh the future leader of America.” Honolulu was not even part of America yet!
And at another desk, suppose Thomas Jefferson wrote, “He will be president of the United States for two terms.”
Suppose George Washington wrote about Barack Obama’s wife and two daughters, and suppose several other men wrote about some other aspect of Barack Obama’s life.
And suppose they were all right.
You would say, “How in the world did they know?! How could they have predicted Honolulu and two terms and two daughters and… That’s impossible!”
Of course it is impossible. A bunch of random guys from hundreds of years ago could never have predicted events from the 21st century.
Not Impossible With God
It is impossible for man, but not impossible for God.
With God, all things are possible. He knows the future.
In fact, when He wrote the Bible, He did tell a bunch of “random” guys (His prophets) to write a bunch of “random” predictions (prophecies) about some “future prophet,” (Jesus Christ) and all their predictions came true.
Jesus Christ fulfilled dozens of prophecies—a feat that is mathematically impossible. Mathematicians have calculated that for one man to fulfill even eight of those prophecies (even though there are at least 61 major prophecies about Christ), the chances are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s 17 zeros!)
If you spread out 100,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars, it would cover the entire state of Texas in a pile 2 feet deep. Now, suppose you mark one of those silver dollars, hide it somewhere in the pile, blindfold a man and tell him to randomly pick any one of those silver dollars.
The chances of him finding your marked silver dollar are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. Those are not great odds.
That figure accounts for only 8 prophecies. The Bible contains hundreds of prophecies.
The math alone is enough to convince me that the Bible is real. By all means, please try to prove it wrong! If you can prove those statistics wrong, I will reconsider!
I am so confident (not arrogant) that the Bible is God’s Word that I am literally staking my whole life, future and eternity on believing it and living by it.
A Rich, Fulfilled Life
Although mathematics (or, more accurately, probability) is not the reason I choose to love God, it certainly validates my faith. I do not have a blind faith. I have a logical, reasonable faith. I have a relationship with God that is as real to me as the 15 inch MacBook Pro I am using to type right now.
God has spoken to me through His Word basically every day since about 8th grade. It was between my 7th and 8th grade years at summer camp when I decided that if God was going to be real to me, I needed to spend time in His Word. Since then, I have not been perfect, but I have regularly read and studied the Bible for myself.
Nothing has changed me and helped me more than getting into the habit of reading my Bible. I am a more disciplined person today because I learned to be disciplined in my devotions when I was in high school. God is blessing my family today because of decisions I made from reading God’s Word as a teen. I am living a fulfilled, exciting life today because I chose to let God determine my life’s path when I was in junior high.
How About You?
If you are real about serving God, you must be real about His Word.
No one can make you love God. No one can make you love His Word. It has to come from you. There has to be something inside you that cannot be stopped. There has to be a passion inside of you that will keep you going.
Inspiration only lasts so long. You go to Christian summer camp and get fired up from the preaching, but weeks later all that fire is gone. Why?
Why do you lose the fire? Probably because you react to the emotion instead of relying truly on God.
Dave Ramsey says, “Children do what feels good. Adults devise a plan and follow it.”
Dave Ramsey says that about your budget. I am saying that about your walk with God. Make a plan to be in His Word.
Are you tired of living off emotions? Are you tired of getting fired up, only to lose the fire a couple weeks later? Are you tired of stinking, spiritually?
If so, then devise a plan and follow it.
God wants you to grow. God wants you to stay fired up. God wants you to be real with Him. God wants a relationship with you.
If you are serious about pleasing God, you must learn to love His Word. That is it. Devise a plan to know God through His Word, and follow that plan.
This post was excerpted from the book BIBS: Big Idea Bible Study, available from Calvary Baptist Publications.
