Did you know that Bible scholars have determined that there are 456 promises in the Bible that predict specific historical events, utterances, and even dates related to the life of the Messiah? And those promises were predicted from 600-1000 years before the birth of the one about whom they were prophesied.
Many of those promises are so specific and so completely out of the control of the one about whom they are predicted that the probability of each of these 456 prophesies being fulfilled in the life of one and the same person is so astronomically high that it is considered an almost mathematical impossibility. Empower International Ministry considers it an inconceivable possibility that all 456 prophesies could be fulfilled in the life of one person, unless that person is God.
Did you also know that Bible scholars have determined that 455 of those 456 promises have been fulfilled in the life of Jesus of Nazareth?
Think about that…
Jesus has fulfilled 455 of 456 of those promises. That’s incredible. What are the mathematical possibilities of that happening? It's "ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE!"
Because of that "almost impossibility" that 455 of those 456 predictions have been fulfilled in the life of one person, I have gained great confidence in the trustworthiness of the message of the Scriptures. And I have gained great confidence in the trustworthiness of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
The incredible improbability of 456 prophies being fulfilled in the life of one man is so infinitesimally large that anyone who considers the numerical possibilities should also gain great confidence in the trustworthiness of the message of the Scriptures and the life of Jesus.
To grasp the enormity of the improbability of 456 promises being fulfilled in one person, let’s take just eight of these 456 prophesies and view the probabilities as Empower International Ministry has done.
What is the likelihood that Jesus fulfilled just eight out of 456 predictions about the Messiah?
For any eight different prophecies, it has been conservatively estimated that the chance of one man fulfilling just eight of these prophecies is a number so big that I don’t even know how to describe it!! We will begin with a mathematical number called a quadrillion.
A quadrillion is a number 1 with 15 zeros behind it. 1,000,000,000,000,000.
The chances of Jesus fulfilling just eight of these 456 prophesies, would be 1 in a quadrillion...with two more zeros added to it. It would be a number 1 with 17 (emphasis added) zeros behind it. 100,000,000,000,000,000. What would we call that number? Would that number be? One Hundred-quadrillion? Just a guess!
That would make the probability of one chance in a hundred-quadrillion that only eight promises of 456 are fulfilled in one man. That's a enormous probability!!
And that's just eight promises. What would the number be if we were attempting to calculate the probability of all 456 being fulfilled out of 456? Humanly incalculable?
But for now let's just stick with just eight promises. Even the number quadrillion, is so astronomically high that its impossible to imagine for most people.
Let me anecdotally illustrate how astronomically high that number is and how incredibly small the chances are of just 8 prophesies being fulfilled in one man's life.
Suppose I take one silver dollar and mark it with a red X and then toss it on the ground anywhere in the state of Texas. And then I continue placing other unmarked silver dollars all over the state of Texas filling the state 2 feet deep with silver dollars. Then I blindfold a man and ask him to travel anywhere in the state of Texas, as far as he wishes, north, south, east or west, and pick up any one silver dollar of his choice out from the entire state of Texas filled two feet deep with silver dollars.
What would the chances be that he pick up that one silver dollar with the red X on it? Just the same chance of one man fulfilling just 8 of those 456 promises.
We’ve been discussing one man fulling just eight of 456 prophesies and the astronomically small chance of one man fulfilling all eight.
What would be the probability of 48 prophecies being fulfilled in one person? Still 48 is a very small percentage of 456, but even so, the probabilities of one man fulfilling all 48 are even more so incredibly high that it's almost inconceivable. That number is the number 1 with 157 zeros behind it. That’s a huge number and I wouldn't begin to know the name nor consider it worth placing in writing here, but here goes just for visual affect....
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
That is a GIGANTIC number.
To further illustrate, let's use one of the very SMALLEST PARTICLES known to man, the electron, to demonstrate just how GIGANTIC this number is.
Remember the quadrillion? That’s a 1 with 15 zeros behind it. If we were to make a one inch line of electrons on a ruler, (_______) that one inch line would consist of a number of electrons that are 2.5 TIMES more than a quadrillion of them. That’s 1,000,000,000,000,000 electrons, two and a half times laid side by side, to make a one inch line of electrons. I cannot even begin to mathematically envision, much less explain how big this number is.
This is how big that number is…
If we were to count each electron in this one inch line at a rate of 250 electrons per minute for every hour in a day, and we counted day and night, every day of every week for every month of every year, it would take 19 million years to count that line of electrons one inch long.
Knowing that, let’s go back to our chances of one person fulfilling 48 prophesies.
Let’s suppose that we could shrink a human to the size of an electron. And we take an electron sized bulldozer and we push this line of electrons into a huge pile. Then if we took 1 electron out of that pile and colored it red and then threw it back in and thoroughly mixed it into the entire mass of electrons, then blindfolded a person and then let that person try to find that 1 red-marked electron.
What chance does that person have in finding that 1 electron? The chance is so small, that it would almost be impossible. This is the result of considering 48 prophecies of the 456 promise about Jesus the Messiah.
Obviously, the probability that 456 prophecies would be fulfilled in one man by chance is vastly beyond conception.
Now consider that I’ve already mentioned that bible experts have agreed that Jesus has fulfilled 455 of 456 promises? The probabilities are infinitesimally, astronomically, incredibly beyond comprehension. Yet Jesus did it!!
The enormity of this number is what should give us GREAT CONFIDENCE in what we believe…and give us GREAT CONFIDENCE in Jesus as being the person who He says he is.
And it should give us GREAT CONFIDENCE in the validity of the Bible.
Jesus has fulfilled 455 of 456 promises. Can you think of the last promise that Jesus has not fulfilled yet?
Yes, His Return!!
Many Old Testament passages foretell the ultimate triumph of Christ, which will occur when Jesus returns to earth in his ultimate victory.
You and I can be very confident that Jesus will return. How can we be so confident?
Because God has proved Himself faithful by fulfilling 455 out of 456 promises about the Messiah. He has Kept them all but the final one.
The greatest promise of all is yet to come…I am ready, are you?