Acts 3:17-26
ACTS 3:17-26
17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’
24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
- Prophecy makes up about one-fifth of Scripture.
- Of that prophetic material, about one-third focuses on the second coming of Christ.
- There are over 650 general prophecies in Scripture, and about half of them concern Christ.
- Out of roughly 330 prophecies concerning Christ, around 225 point to His second coming.
- Of the 46 Old Testament prophets, fewer than ten speak directly of His first coming, but 36 speak of His second coming.
- There are over 1,500 passages in Scripture that refer to the second coming of Christ.
- That means roughly one out of every 25 verses in the Bible points to the return of Jesus.
- For every one time the Bible mentions the first coming of the Messiah, it mentions His second coming about eight times.
- Jesus Himself referred to His return 21 times.
- The New Testament tells believers to be ready for His return over 50 times.
- And when we consider the prophecies Jesus already fulfilled in His first coming, the odds become overwhelming.
- Even if someone tried to fulfill only 30 specific Messianic prophecies by chance, the probability would be astronomically small.
- If each prophecy had only a 1-in-10 chance of being fulfilled, fulfilling 30 would be about 1 in 10³⁰. That is 1 chance in 1 nonillion.
- And if someone considers the larger number often associated with Jesus fulfilling around 300 Old Testament prophecies, the odds are beyond human comprehension.
- Even at a very generous 1-in-10 chance per prophecy, fulfilling 300 would be about 1 in 10³⁰⁰.
- To put 1 in 10³⁰⁰ into perspective, scientists estimate there are about 10²² to 10²⁴ stars in the observable universe, around 10⁷⁸ to 10⁸² atoms in the observable universe, and even if every atom represented a chance, 10³⁰⁰ would still be unimaginably larger; so the idea that one man could accidentally fulfill hundreds of Messianic prophecies is not reasonable — it points to the fingerprint of God.