A Plan for Your Life | Jesus Advent

Topic 4

After a minister had spoken on the subject, “Why I Believe in Jesus,” a well-dressed young man paid him a visit in his study and remarked, “Your talk tonight was interesting, but everything you said about Jesus Christ came out of your Bible. Tell me, if Jesus ever lived on this earth, why doesn’t history tell about Him?”

“That’s a fair question,” the minister answered as he turned and took down several books. “But as a matter of fact, history does tell about Jesus Christ.”

“That I’d like to see for myself,” the young man responded.

“Well here is Letter 97 of Book 10 of Letters of Pliny the Younger, Roman proconsul in Bithynia, a province of old Asia Minor. Pliny wrote to the Roman Emperor, Trajan, telling him about events in his province. See, here he is asking counsel on how he should handle a new sect, the Christians. He tells of their rapid growth and of how they sang hymns composed to their leader, Christ. Pliny sent his letter about A.D. 110. The letter by Pliny offers historical evidence of the man, Christ, and of the spread of His faith in the days of His apostles.”

Surprised, the young man said, “Tell me more!”

Christ, the Heart of History and Prophecy

One of the things that makes Jesus utterly unique is this: His biography was written before He was born. Christ’s life story is a fulfillment of prophecy. Old Testament prophecies present a clear outline of Christ’s life in advance. The New Testament is His life story told in fulfillment.
We know the Old Testament was completed, at the very latest, 250 years before Christ’s birth; because the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, was begun about that time. No wonder that in writing the Gospels of the New Testament, Christ’s disciples were amazed at how accurately details in their Master’s life fulfilled Old Testament prophecies.

Anyone who carefully reads the Old Testament discovers that it continually mentions the coming Messiah. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God immediately promised them that He would send someone to our world to defeat the devil (Genesis 3:15). That Person, Scripture further reveals, would be the Messiah.

The Hebrew word “Messiah” in the Old Testament, which literally means “Anointed One,” corresponds to the Greek word “Christ” in the New Testament (see John 1:41; 4:25). Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

That’s a central premise of the New Testament. Living from five hundred to fifteen hundred years before Christ’s birth, the Old Testament prophets made scores of very specific predictions about the life of the Messiah. Their prophecies identify the city of Christ’s birth, His name, and His lifework. They disclose details of His trial and events connected with His death.

The prophecies show that when brought into court He would offer no personal defense, and they actually predict some of the very words He would speak in His dying hours. Even the year, the day, and the hour of His death are foretold. Messianic prophecies also reveal that He would come to life again on the third day.

At the very beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry, as people compared His life with Old Testament prophecies, what did they conclude?

“We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
—John 1:45.(Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptural texts in these guides are from the New International Version of the Bible [NIV].)

At His first public appearance, our Saviour appealed to prophecy to establish His identity. After quoting from an Old Testament passage, He declared:

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
—Luke 4:21.

Shortly after His resurrection, in what words did Jesus again remind two of His followers about the fulfillment of the prophecies that pointed forward to Him?

“He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the [Old Testament] Scriptures concerning himself.”
—Luke 24:25-27.

Fulfilled prophecies give convincing evidence that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

Christ’s Life a Fulfillment of Prophecy

Let’s look at a few of these prophetic passages from the Old Testament—and their fulfillment in the New Testament record of Christ’s life.

His Place of Birth

The Old Testament Prophecy:

“But you, BETHLEHEM Ephrathah, . . . out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
—Micah 5:2, NKJV.