Biblical Prophecy can be thought of as His Story, Gods own future unfolding through the ages and generations or as pre‐written history.
The TaNaKH/Old Testament written hundreds of years and some, more than a 1,000 years, before Yeshua/Jesus’ birth contains some
351 prophecies
that refer to the coming of the Mashiach, Yeshua/Messiah, Jesus, the Only Son of the one true living God; who fulfilled them through His life, death and resurrection.
Circumstances such as his birthplace, lineage, and method of execution were beyond Christ’s control and could not have been accidentally or deliberately fulfilled.
So what are the odds?
Mathematically speaking, they are staggering!
The actual odds of anyone fulfilling a small amount of prophecy is impossible!
1 person fulfilling 8 prophecies: The chance of this happening, they say, is 1 in 1017 power. Which is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000
1 person fulfilling 40 prophecies: 1 chance in 10 to the 157th power
1 person fulfilling 351 prophecies: completely impossible for anyone …except
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus!
We should recall that in Matthew 5, Yeshua/Jesus clearly told us:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
He fulfilled all prophecy concerning His Father’s plan of redemption spoken by the Old Testament prophets/ Nevi’im and in so doing, He fulfilled the requirements of the covenant directions for us. This is something none of us can do for ourselves.
At the time of Yeshua/Jesus there was only the Hebrew scriptures in the form of scrolls which were called collectively the TaNaKH
Which we know as
The הישנה ברית
Old Testament
Ta•nach.
Hebrew: תַּנַ”ךְ,
pronounced: taˈnaχ or təˈnax;
also Tenakh, Tenak, Tanach
In Hebrew Tanakh it is not a name it is an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text’s three traditional subdivisions of the Old Testament:
Torah (the Law) ‘Teaching’, also known as the Five Books of Moses
Ne•vi•eem (Prophets); and
Ke•tu•vim (Writings).
—hence TaNaKh
The three-part division reflected in the acronym Tanakh is well attested in the literature of the Rabbinic period. During that period, however, Tanakh was not used.
Instead, the proper title was Mikra
or
Miqra, מקרא,
meaning: reading
or
that which is read
because the biblical texts were read publicly.
Mikra
continues to be used in Hebrew to this day, alongside
Tanakh,
to refer to the Hebrew scriptures.
In modern spoken Hebrew, they are interchangeable.
The Torah, תּוֹרָה,
literally
teaching,
also known as the Pentateuch
or as previously mentioned, the Five Books of Moses.
Printed versions (rather than scrolls) of the Torah are often called
Chamisha Chumshei Torah
חמישה חומשי תורה
Five fifth-sections of the Torah
and informally a
Chumash.
The Torah includes:
the five books of Moses /Pentateuch,
following Be•re•sheet /Genesis;
Shemot /Exodus; and Vaikra /Leviticus.
Be•mid•bar / Numbers is its 4th book,
with Deuteronomy/ Devarim the 5th.
Each of the Torah books is named after either the very first word in that book (as in Genesis where the very first word ‘be•re•sheet’ is the name of the book), or the second (as in Exodus where it is the second word in the verse), with one exception occurring in the book Be•mid•bar (Numbers), which gets its name from the fifth word of the fifth verse of the book.
The Book of Numbers, Be•mid•bar, means in the wilderness.
Only the Creator and King of the universe/Melech haOlam could know beforehand and accomplish all that was written about the Messiah/Mashiach, the Redeemer of humanity. This historical accuracy and reliability sets the TaNaKH/ Bible apart from any other book or record by its reliable historical accuracy. The details of these prophecies mark the Word of God as being inspired by His Ruach HaKodesh/Spirit of Holiness.
If we question whether Messiah Yeshua/Jesus can be found in the TaNaKH/Old Testament the Word itself answers that in
Matthew 5:17‐20
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commandments (10 sayings); will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Again in John 5:39‐40, He says:
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:25–27
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!” John 5:39
And He clearly told the 2 on the Emmaus road in Luke 24:25
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Here is a list of the prophesies:
The Book of Genesis/B’resheet/ בראשית Beginning:
The prophecy of Yeshua/Jesus goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15. God fulfilled his promise from Genesis 3:15 by sending his son into the world as a baby. He was fully God and fully human. The offspring of the woman would eventually crush that old serpent, Satan.
In Genesis 3, God forewarned the Serpent that he would bruise the heel of the woman’s Seed (descendant), but that descendant would bruise the Serpent’s head, implying a death blow. When the Spirit of God conceived the Lord Jesus in Mary’s womb over 4,000 years later, He fulfilled the part of the prophecy that mentioned the Seed of the woman. The serpent bruised the Lord Jesus’ heel when He suffered crucifixion for our sins.
Revelation 20:10 glimpses the future time when the Lord Jesus will bruise the serpent’s head and destroy him.
God embedded a prophecy into His post-Flood promise to Noah, saying, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” We are reminded of God’s faithfulness and the Bible’s truth when we see the seasons change every year.
The apostle Paul explains how a prophecy God spoke to Abraham continues to be fulfilled, saying, “And the Scripture Genesis 12:3, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Other passages reinforce the “all the nations” aspect of this Genesis prophecy, and even now the gospel is going out into all the world, blessing people and changing lives.
Finally, God confirmed the Genesis 3 promised seed for each generation of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then Jacob/Israel prophesied,
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah…until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people,”
indicating that one of Judah’s descendants would become the long-awaited King of all. Christ, the King, was a descendant of Judah, just as Genesis prophesied.
Yeshua/Jesus fulfilled all 20 prophecies in Genesis.
The most significant being Genesis 28:8
For the real sacrifice
God had His own Son in mind
not Abrahams!
In the second book of the Torah
in the Hebrew Bible:
שמות, Šemot, Names
Book of Exodus
from Greek ἔξοδος, Exodos, meaning: going out;
we are told how the Israelites leave slavery in Egypt through the strength of Yehoveh/YaHWeH. The Book of Exodus narrates how Moses led the Israelites in building the Tabernacle Exodus 35–40 based on God’s instructions Exodus 25–31. Even though it was written long before Yeshua/Jesus.
Exodus contains 9 prophecies (21‐29) about Yeshua/Jesus.
He fulfilled all 9 in Exodus.
The Book of Leviticus
is the 3rd book of the Torah and of the
TaNaKH/Old Testament.
from Greek Λευιτικός, Leuitikos,
meaning: relating to the Levites;
Hebrew: ויקרא,
Wayiqra, or VaYikra
And He called
Most of its chapters 1–7, 11–27 consist of God’s speeches to Moses, in which he is commanded to repeat to the Israelites. This takes place within the story of the Israelites’ Exodus after they escaped Egypt and reached Mt. Sinai Exodus 19:1. Then in Leviticus, God tells the Israelites and their priests how to make offerings in the Tabernacle and how to conduct themselves while camped around the holy tent sanctuary.
Leviticus contains 7 prophecies (30‐36) about Yeshua/Jesus, He fulfilled all seven.
The Book of Numbers
בְּמִדְבַּר
Be•mid•bar,
means
in the wilderness.
is the 4th book of the Hebrew Bible,
and the 4th of 5 books of the Jewish Torah.
The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites. Numbers begins at Mount Sinai, where the Israelites have received their laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary. The task before them is to go in and take possession of the Promised Land. The people are counted and preparations are made for resuming their march. The Israelites begin the journey, but they murmur at the hardships along the way, and about the authority of Moses and Aaron. For these acts, God destroys approximately 15,000 of them through various means. They arrive at the borders of Canaan and send spies into the land. Upon hearing the spies’ fearful report concerning the conditions in Canaan, the Israelites refuse to take possession of it. God condemns them to death in the wilderness until a new generation can grow up and carry out the task. The book ends with the new generation of Israelites in the Plain of Moab ready for the crossing of the Jordan River.
Numbers also contains 3 prophecies (37‐39) about Yeshua/Jesus, all three prophecies in Numbers were fulfilled by Him.
De•va•rim,’ ‘Deuteronomy,’
Hebrew:
דְּבָרִים, Devarim, [spoken] words
from Greek
Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronomion, second law;
The Book of Deuteronomy is the 5th book of the TaNaKH/Old Testament and of the Jewish Torah. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land.
The 1st sermon recounts the forty years of wilderness wanderings which had led to that moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law, later referred to as the Law of Moses;
the 2nd reminds the Israelites of the need to follow Yahweh/Yahoveh/YHWH, and the laws He has given them, on which their possession of the land depends;
and the 3rd offers the comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored. The final 4 chapters (31–34) contain the Song of Moses, the Blessing of Moses, and narratives recounting the passing of the mantle of leadership from Moses to Joshua and, finally, Moses death on Mount Nebo.
One of its most significant verses is
Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema Yisrael,
which has become the definitive statement of Israelite/Jewish/Hebrew identity:
Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Verses 6:4–5 were also quoted by Yeshua/Jesus in
Mark 12:28–34 as part of the Great Commandment.
Deuteronomy contains 5 prophecies
(40‐44)
about Yeshua/Jesus; He fulfilled all five.
The Book of
Joshua Yehoshua יהושע
gives the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile. It tells of the campaigns of the Israelites in central, southern and northern Canaan, the destruction of their enemies, and the division of the land among the Twelve Tribes, framed by two set‐piece speeches, the first by God commanding the conquest of the land, and, at the end, the last by Joshua warning of the need for faithful observance of the Law (torah) revealed to Moses.
Joshua contains 1 prophecy
(45)
about Jesus. He fulfilled the prophecy.
ספר רות ב
The Book of Ruth
רות Rut – friendship:
is named after its central figure,
Ruth the Moabitess,
the great-grandmother of David.
The book tells of Ruth’s accepting the God of the Israelites as her God and the Israelite people as her own.
In chapter 1:16–17, Ruth tells Naomi, her Israelite mother‐in‐law,
“Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
Ruth contains 1 prophecy
(46)
about Yeshua/Jesus. He fulfilled the prophecy in Ruth.
The Books of Samuel/
Shemuel
שְׁמוּאֵל name of God:
1 Samuel and 2 Samuel,
make up part of the history of Jacob/Israel in the
prophets Ne•vi•eem’
portion of the
TaNaKH/Hebrew Bible/Old Testament,
which includes
Joshua,
Judges,
Samuel
and Kings
comprising a history of
the children of Israel/Jacob; i.e. the Israelites.
Samuel begins with the prophet Samuel’s birth and God’s call to him as a boy. The story of the Ark of the Covenant tells of Israel the Philistine oppression, which brought about Israels first king, Saul, being anointed by him. However, Saul proved unworthy and God turned to and chose David, who defeated Israel’s enemies and brought the Ark of His Covenant to Jerusalem/Yerushalayim. God then promised David and his successors an everlasting house/dynasty.
1&2 Samuel contain 6 prophecies
(47‐52)
about Yeshua/Jesus.
He fulfilled all 6 prophecies in Samuel 1 and 2.
Some biblical commentators believe the books of Joshua and Judges and 1&2 Samuel, were written to provide an explanation for the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah by Babylon in 586 BC and lay a foundation for a return from exile.
The Book of Kings:
melek מֶלֶך.
monarch, sovereign.
The Books of 1&2 Kings, are the 11th and 12th books and were originally a single book. They complete the early history of Israel presenting its’ history from the death of King David to the release of Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, which was a period of approx. 400 years between 960 and 560 BC.
Kings contains 1 prophecy
(53) about Jesus, He fulfilled the prophecy in Kings.
The Books of Chronicles:
Divrei HaYamim
הימים דברי
The Chronicles narrative begins with Adam and the story is then carried forward, almost entirely by genealogical lists, down to the founding of the first Kingdom of Israel 1 Chronicles 1–9. after a brief account of Saul the remainder of 1 Chronicles, is concentrated on the reign of David 1 Chronicles 11–29. The next section records the life of Solomon, David’s son. 2 Chronicles 1–9, and the final part is about the Kingdom of Judah with somel references to the 2nd kingdom of Israel 2 Chronicles 10–36. Judah is destroyed in the last chapter and the people taken into exile in Babylon, and in the final verses the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquers the Neo‐Babylonian Empire, and he authorizes the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the return of the exiles.
Chronicles contain 3 prophecies (54‐56) about Jesus/Yeshua. He fulfilled all 3 prophecies in Chronicles.
The Book of Job
Iyov
אִיּוֹב
is recorded as being in an obscure land called Uz, far from Israel, during an unknown time period, this book focuses on questions about God’s justice and asks why good people suffer attacks from the adversary/ hasatan /Satan.
שָׂטָ֖ן śātan
Throughout the book, Job, his wife, and his friends speculate on and discuss why he, an upright man, suffers. Job accuses God of being unjust and not operating the world according to principles of justice, and his friends believe that Job’s sin caused his suffering. Job decides to talk directly to God. And when he does his eyes are opened and he understands.
Job contains 2 prophecies
(57‐58)
about Yeshua/Jesus He fulfilled both prophecies in Job.
The Book of Psalms
תהילים
tehilim:
contains an amazing number of
102 prophecies about Yeshua/Jesus
(59‐160).
The name Psalms
is derived from the Greek translation,
ψαλμοί, psalmoi,
meaning: instrumental music
and includes, the words accompanying the music.
Yeshua/Jesus fulfilled all 102 prophecies in Psalms.
The Book of Proverbs is the
2nd book in the Ketuvim or Writings,
the 3rd section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible).
The full Hebrew title is Mishlei Shlomo,
or
The Proverbs מִ֭שְׁלֵי of Solomon/ שְׁלֹמֹ֣ה
מִ֭שְׁלֵי
The Book of Proverbs Mishlei/מִ֭שְׁלֵי
is a collection of writings relating to a way of life which lasted for more than a 1000 years. It highlights traditional Biblical wisdom, raising questions of values, moral behavior, the meaning of human life, and right conduct. The repeated theme is that the beginning of wisdom is having the fear of God; which means submission to the will of God. Wisdom is praised for her role in creation; acquiring her before anything else, and through her He brought chaos into order. Because humanity has life and prosperity by conforming to Gods’ order of creation, therefore, seeking wisdom is both the goal and essence of the godly lifestyle.
Proverbs contains 2 prophecies
(161‐162)
about Yeshua/Jesus.
He fulfilled both prophecies in Proverbs.
Song of Songs,
שְׁלֹמֹ֣ה shir hashirim
song of songs שיר השירים
or, as some know it, the
Song of Solomon,
separates itself from the other books in the Bible. There is no reference to covenant or laws wisdom or the God of Israel. The opening words introduce a poetic work whose subject is romantic love; the plot is about the courtship and marriage of a maiden referred to as the Shulammite and takes place in ancient Israel, in the woman’s garden and the king’s palace.
In modern Judaism the Song is read on the Sabbath during the Passover/Pesach, which marks the beginning of the grain harvest as well as remembering the Exodus from Egypt. Jewish tradition reads it as an allegory of the relationship between God and Israel, Christianity regards it as an allegory of Messiah and His bride/challach the Ecclesia/called apart ones.
Song of Solomon contains 1 prophecy
