Prophecies Fulfilled In Jesus' Death

Rembrandt's Painting of the Crucifixion

Every detail of Jesus' death on the cross was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Eight hundred years before the time of Jesus, David, king of Israel, described the Crucifixion in great detail in Psalm 22:

I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, "Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him!" 

My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint....

My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth....

My enemies surround me....

They have pierced my hands and feet. 

I can count every bone in my body. 

My enemies glare at me and gloat.

They divide my clothes among themselves, and throw dice for my garments 

(vv. 6-8, 14-18).

It reads like the Gospel accounts, yet when David wrote it, crucifixion had not yet been devised!

The Book of Isaiah was written about 700 years before the time of Christ, yet Chapter 53 reads like an eyewitness account of the trial and execution of Jesus. Verse 7 says:

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not  His mouth.

In the Gospels we read that He was tried by the high priest, the Sanhedrin (Jewish ruling council), and Pilate (the Roman governor--only he could give the death penalty). Jesus had no defense attorney, and He refused to speak on His own behalf. Only when He was forced to answer a direct question did He even open His mouth.

When Pilate turned Him over to the Roman soldiers to be scourged, they dressed Him as a king and pressed  a crown of thorns on His head to mock Him. Blindfolding Him, they struck Him and tried to get Him to prophesy who had hit Him. Through all this, He did not utter a word--just as Isaiah had prophesied.

Isaiah 53:9 describes Jesus' burial:

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death. 

Neither violent nor a deceiver, Jesus did not deserve to die. Crucified as a common criminal between two thieves, He would have been buried in a mass grave, but Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy and influential man, asked Pilate for the body of Jesus and buried Him in his own newly hewn stone tomb.

At least 16 specific details of the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament were fulfilled to the letter in of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. According to the laws of probability, the chance of these events happening in the life of one individual is infinitesimal!

Fulfilled prophecy is one unimpeachable proof that the Bible is the Word of God. Biblical prophecies span many millennia, deal with individuals, cities, nations, world events, and cover moral, social, and spiritual movements, as well as the physical universe, the kingdom of God, and Jesus Christ.

They are detailed and specific, often contrary to all normal expectations, and given long in advance of their fulfillment. Yet, literally hundreds of prophecies have been perfectly and meticulously accomplished. That's why we can have confidence that those which have not yet been fulfilled will be fulfilled to the last detail.

No other book in the world contains such specific prophecies. Other so-called prophecies are so vague that they could be "fulfilled" in many ways, but the Old Testament prophecies were so detailed that their fulfillments were obvious.

Fulfilled prophecy is God's seal of authenticity as 

the Author of the Scriptures.

Books by AnnaLee Conti

Available at http://annaleeconti.com/books.html