Probabilities of the Prophecies - Pastor Joseph Clark “I am not the King. Jesus Christ is the King. I’m just an entertainer.” — Elvis Presley Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” - John 20:29 ESV Can you envision how big the number 100,000,000,000,000,000.21 is? It is 100 quadrillion to the 21st power. The odds of winning the average pick 6 number lottery are 1 in 14 million. The odds of getting struck by lightning are 1 in 700,000. Theologians state that Jesus fulfilled over 400 Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. A math professor named Peter Stoner (June 16, 1888 – March 21, 1980) who was the Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy for Pasadena City College until 1953; Chairman of the science division, Westmont College, from 1953 to 1957; Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College; and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Astronomy, Pasadena City college, worked with 600 students to determine the probability of someone fulfilling just eight of the Messianic prophecies. The result was that the odds for someone to fulfil just eight of the prophecies was 1 in 1 quadrillion. And yet Jesus fulfilled all of them. Historians, and philosophers, Julius Thallus, Tacitus, Mara Bar-Serapion, Phlegon, Pliny the Younger, Suetonius, Lucian of Samosata:, Celsus, Josephus all lived within the era of Christ and accounted for his life and ministry. The Jewish Talmud and the Jewish Toledot Yeshu, both criticize Jesus, documenting in detail his life and ministry and refer to his miracles as “magic”. Historian’s have determined that Homer’s Iliad is one of the most reliable ancient texts for accuracy as they have located 600 original manuscripts. They also contend that the Bible is the first most reliable ancient text with over 6000, original manuscripts located and preserved. When the manuscripts are examined against later copies of the Bible, the translations and copies were found to be 99.5% accurately consistent. Archaeology has never disproved a single aspect of the Bible. As I have stated in previous articles, we do not get to cobble together our faith. Create our faith based on what pleases us, what does not challenge us, what does not make us uncomfortable. We did not create God, God created us. Therefore, the word, the Bible is our authoritative standard. God is the authority; the Bible is the authoritative standard. We choose to believe, not because it is believable (if it were easy to believe it would not be miraculous0, and not because it is easy. We choose to believe the easy stuff to believe, and we choose to believe the stuff that is hard to believe, and we choose to believe that which is challenging to believe. We believe it because it is the truth. God does not ask us to choose to have faith once we are convinced that everything is believable. I have heard many say: I am still trying to come to peace with what is in the Bible. I will believe it when I see it. No. you will see it when you believe it. The word of God was authored by the Holy spirit and written by human hands guided by the Holy Spirit. It is written exactly the way that God intended it to be read. It is written exactly the way God intended it to be interpreted, and it is most importantly, written exactly the way that God intends for us to walk it out and live it.