Each week I have conversations with many people about the Bible, its relevance, reliability, and accuracy. Some of these exchanges are about the Messianic Prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. Nearly 40 years ago I began to study the prophecies of the Old Testament which predict the arrival of the Messiah. I discovered that there are at least 400 predictions that describe every aspect of what the Messiah will say and do.
When John the Baptist was arrested and placed in prison, he sent a message to Jesus through one of his disciples. John asked the Lord if He is the Messiah they were expecting, or should they wait for another:
The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” John’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’” At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.” ~Luke 7:18-23 (NLT)
The reason that Jesus directed John to what He had been doing, healing people and raising the dead, is because this is what the Old Testament prophets predicted the Messiah would do when He arrived.
Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. ~Isaiah 35:4-6 (NKJV)
In my book, “The Prophecies of the Messiah,” I document 400 Messianic Prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. One of the most profound of these is the occasion near the end of Jesus’ life when He was on the cross and the soldiers came to break His legs and those of the men who were also on two crosses next to Him.
When atheists and critics of the Bible object to the reliability or truthfulness of the New Testament, I often refer them to a few of these distinct prophecies that are seen in the New Testament which demonstrate the impossibility that the text could have been fabricated. The following exchange between a young man who claimed to be an atheist and myself, illustrates a few important points regarding New Testament reliability and the facts which prove Jesus Crucifixion and Resurrection as historical events that actually took place.
So when they came to write the stories in the New testament it was easy to make the predictions come true.
No, the writers of the New Testament state they did not realize that Jesus had been fulfilling these prophecies until after He had been risen. They state they know they are telling the truth, they saw Jesus dead and raised. Paul, a Hebrew scholar, documented these prophecies.
He didn’t. It’s a story. what is this about breaking legs? where did the Romans ever do that? they strung you up and left you to die. there was no time limit on it, they didn’t care after you were up there.
On the day Jesus died, the next day was a Sabbath. All the crucified had to be taken down before 6pm. The crucified often survived for days. They broke their legs to hasten death so they could be removed before the Sabbath. Jesus was already dead, they did not break His legs.
Where is the roman statute for this? they never took you down after you were on a cross, you were left to die and rot. that was the point. Why would the romans care about the sabbath? Someone made it up.
It wasn’t a Roman law, it was Jewish law… The Jews requested that bodies be removed from the cross before 6pm, the Romans conceded by breaking the shin bones, causing death in minutes.
John 19:31-35 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
John later commented that what had happened to Jesus, was a fulfillment of Exodus 12:43,46, Numbers 9:12, Psalms 34:20:
Categories: How Salvation Occurs, Jesus born to die, Jesus is the Messiah, Messianic Prophecies, Messianic Prophecy Bible, Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus, Prophecy, Religion vs. Relationship, Robert Clifton Robinson, Salvation is a free gift, The Historical Jesus, The Prophecies of the Messiah, These Things Were Written
Robert Clifton Robinson 
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