I once had a conversation with a Jewish man who completely disbelieved that the Scriptures were God’s revelation to humanity. He was a writer, an educated and articulate man, but he was completely ignorant of the many evidences for the truthfulness of the Christian faith and the Scriptures that reveal this faith. He said the Bible was simply a book written by men, like any other book. "OH?" I said. "THEN PERMIT ME TO READ YOU SOME STATEMENTS ABOUT SOMEONE IN THE BIBLE. I WANT TO SEE IF YOU CAN TELL ME WHO THESE STATEMENTS DESCRIBE." He agreed, and I flipped through my Bible and read:

They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. (Ps. 69-4)

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed. (Ps. 2:1-2)

Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. (Ps. 41:9)

Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. (Zech. 13:17)

And I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. (Zech. 11:12-13)

They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. (Mic. 5:1)

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?. . . All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. . .I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. . . For dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones; they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. (Ps. 22:1, 7-8, 14-18)

They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Ps. 69:21)

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isa. 53:4-5)

I read all these verses to him and several more. Then I said to him, "ABOUT WHOM DID I JUST READ?" "THAT’S OBVIOUS," he replied. "YOU WERE READING ABOUT JESUS OF NAZARETH. THOSE WERE VERSES ABOUT HIS LIFE AND MINISTRY AND ABOUT HIS SUFFERING, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION." "IS THERE ANY QUESTION IN YOUR MIND ABOUT THAT?" "NO," he answered, "THOSE VERSES COULDN’T REFER TO ANYONE ELSE BUT JESUS. WHAT’S YOUR POINT?" "MY POINT IS SIMPLY THIS," I said. "EVERY ONE OF THE VERSES I JUST READ TO YOU, WHICH YOU YOURSELF SAY REFERRED TO JESUS, WAS TAKEN FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. THE LATEST BOOK IN THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS WRITTEN SOME FOUR HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE JESUS WAS BORN. NOT EVEN THE HARSHEST CRITICS OF THE BIBLE WOULD EVER CLAIM THAT THOSE VERSES WERE WRITTEN AFTER HIS BIRTH, BECAUSE HISTORIANS KNOW THAT THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT WAS TRANSLATED FROM HEBREW INTO GREEK IN ALEXANDRIA A CENTURY AND A HALF BEFORE HE WAS BORN. NOW, IF THE BIBLE IS MERELY A BOOK WRITTEN BY MEN, WOULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THOSE PROPHETIC PASSAGES ABOUT JESUS CAME TO BE WRITTEN HUNDREDS OF YEARS BEFORE HE WAS BORN?" "I HAVEN’T THE FAINTEST IDEA," he replied. His agnostic, humanistic worldview could not explain the profoundly accurate prophecies of Christ contained in the Old Testament.

No other person in history has ever been the subject of so much prophetic writing. You will find no predictive prophecies whatsoever in the writings of the Buddha, Confucius, Muhammad, Lao-tse, or Hinduism. Yet the Old Testament alone contains well over two thousand prophecies, most of which have already been fulfilled. Of these prophecies in the Old Testament, 333 texts deal with the promised Messiah; they contain 456 specific details of His life - 456 specific ways in which the Messiah could be identified at His coming to Israel. One of God’s purposes in giving the Old Testament to the Jewish people was to bring forth the Messiah from among them and to identify Him to them when He arrived. Those prophecies are so specific in nature that they burn all the bridges behind them. Had they not been fulfilled, there would be room for excuse. How can they possibly be explained in terms of naturalistic, humanistic presuppositions? They can’t!

Of all the attacks that have ever been made upon the Scripture, there has never been, to my knowledge, one book written by a skeptic to disprove all the prophecies of Scripture. Though the Bible has been attacked at every other place, the one place where God rests the proof of His inspired Word and the credentials of His Son, Jesus, is on the prophecies of Jesus, which have infallibly come to pass.

Fred John Meldau, author of Messiah in Both Testaments, has pointed out that as few as five points of identification can single out any individual from all the billions of human beings on the planet. If someone, anywhere in the world, were to write on an envelope your name, street address, city, state, and nation of residence, that envelope would get to you based on those five points of identification. If the envelope said "U.S.A.," it would single out your location from more than 200 nations on the planet. If it listed your state, it would further single you out from among fifty states in the United States. The city would further narrow it down to a given locality. The address and street name would narrow it down to a single house. And the name would identify the person in that house to whom the letter is addressed.

The Scriptures identify Jesus as the Messiah not by five points of identification, or a dozen, or a hundred, but by 456 specific points of identification in 333 specific Old Testament texts. Does any doubt remain as to His origin and His identity? NONE WHATSOEVER!