THE ODDS

There are approximately 330 specific prophecies in the OT predicting the coming of the Messiah. They were written no less than a minimum of 450 years before Jesus was born (Malachi was the last prophetic book included in the OT canon of Scripture). But the skeptic says, “Oh, it’s quite possible that Jesus fulfilled these prophecies by sheer coincidence. Eventually, somebody was bound to come along and tick all the boxes. Out of the billions of people ever born on the planet, somebody, somewhere, somehow, eventually would fit.” It’s a mathematical possibility. So perhaps Jesus of Nazareth just chanced to be the one of many throughout history to accidentally fit the prophetic fingerprint. And couldn’t he have deliberately done certain things to make sure that a few general predictions were fulfilled anyway?

Well, a certain mathematician, Peter W. Stoner calculated the mathematical probabilities for Jesus. You will find them in his book, Science Speaks. Stoner said that if you took just eight OT predictions that Jesus had absolutely no control over whatsoever, and somehow, they were fulfilled in Jesus, the statistical odds are mind-boggling.

If you took for example, any 8 prophecies over which Jesus had no control whatsoever (and there are many messianic predictions that Jesus had no control over), Peter Stoner calculated the mathematical probability would be one chance in one hundred million billion ... 1 in 10 17, or 10 to the 17^th power. ... 1 chance with 17 zeros after it!

That number is millions of times greater than the total number of people who have ever walked this planet! To put that number into a pictorial illustration, Stoner calculated that if you took one hundred million billion silver dollars, and poured them into Texas, the largest state in America would be covered with coins to a depth of two feet.

Now, if you painted one of those silver dollars tossed it into that mass of coins, and had a blindfolded man wander the whole state and bend down to pick up that one painted coin, his odds of picking up that coin would be one chance in a hundred million billion! And that’s the same odds that anybody in history would have of fulfilling just 8 messianic prophecies from the OT.

Stoner went on to compute the probability of fulfilling 48 messianic prophecies, which was one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion! That is, 1 in 9 10 157, or 10 to the 157th power ... 1 chance with 157 zeros after it! Of course, our minds are unable to comprehend this truly staggering number. It’s more than the number of atoms in our universe, and in fact, more than the number of atoms in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion billion universes the size of our universe. But Jesus fulfilled not just 8 specific prophecies, not just 48 prophecies, but at least 330, with so many of them that he had no power to control or interfere with. The odds of Jesus being the Messiah, the Son of God, are virtually one chance in infinity!

OBJECTION: Now, in case you think these figures are fabricated and exaggerated, let me read to you the foreword to Stoner’s book by H. Harold Hartzler, of the American Scientific Affiliation.

“The manuscript for Science Speaks has been carefully reviewed by a committee of the American Scientific Affiliation members and by the Executive Council of the same group and has been found, in general, to be dependable and accurate regarding the scientific material presented. The mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound, and Professor Stoner has applied In other words, Stoner’s mathematical calculations are peer-reviewed by the scientific community! Is it any wonder that the God of the Bible through his prophets confidently issue the challenge: Come on you so-called gods. You deities of Egypt. You gods of Babylon. Your idols of Persia. Come on you gods of Greece and the Roman pantheon. Come on you so-called prophets and seers of the pagans, “Announce to us what is coming, Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods” (Isaiah 41:22-23) It simply takes more credulity to believe the prophetic Scriptures are an accident than that they are God-breathed. Well, may we put our confidence in the “more sure word of prophecy” (or if you prefer, “the word of prophecy made surer”).

The Bible is the only book in this world that puts its reputation on the line with fulfilled prophecy. Truly there is no god, but the God of Israel, the God of the prophets and the apostles of the Messiah.

What a priceless treasure you and I hold in our hands when we have a Bible. The only book in the world that is God-breathed, of supernatural origin. The only book in the world full of remarkable prophecies. Let us be sure to “pay heed” to this “word of prophecy made surer”, for it is “a lamp shining in a dark and gloomy place.