12.13.06 thequest UPdate

thequest family,

As we get closer to Christmas, sometimes we get so familiar with the story that we forget how amazing it is. The whole story is almost "unbelievable." Then consider the fact that many of the details were actually predicted centuries before. Check out these 9 different prophecies and how they were fulfilled in the chart below.



Frankly, it is quite amazing that the prophets hit the nail on the head over the course of so many years. So amazing that to put it in perspective, we talked about an illustration found in Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell:

"The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner in Science Speaks...Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies..."we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 17th power." That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability Stoner illustrates it by supposing that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.

This means these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 1017 of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ."

Wow does that ramp up my faith! I hope it does yours. I hope it encourages you to talk to others about our Jesus this amazing season!

It is truly all about Jesus!
Press On,

Mike

Here's a little worksheet from thequest INSTITUTE with more information::
What the Bible says about Jesus' Birth in the Old Testament (PDF)

To see the rest of the this week's UPdate HERE