How Do We Know Jesus’ Words Are True?
But how was Ravi to know that Jesus’ words are true? Ravi wanted to know if there was any real evidence backing up Jesus’ claims. As he examined the New Testament, Ravi came to realize that two objective tests confirm Jesus’ claims:
- Jesus fulfilled hundreds of prophecies written as much as 1500 years before his birth.
- Jesus defeated death, something no other person, or religious leader had been able to do.
Let’s briefly examine these evidences.
Throughout the Old Testament, references to a coming Messiah tell us about a man who would someday bring peace to Israel—and the world. However, this Messiah would first need to die for our sins. Over 700 years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah the prophet reveals that the Messiah will be:[18]
• Despised and rejected
• Pierced for our rebellion
• Crushed for our sins
• Beaten and whipped
• Led like a lamb to the slaughter
• Buried in a rich man’s grave
• An offering for sin
Each of these prophecies about the Messiah was fulfilled by Jesus Christ over 700 years later. Isaiah further told us that the Messiah had special credentials.
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…..and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”[19]
- Isaiah 9:6 : Isaiah 25:1; 40:9-11; Matt. 28:18; Luke 2:11.
- Isaiah tells us here that the Messiah is God himself—yet in some mysterious way, he will be born as a child. His credentials would be that of God himself.
Altogether, nearly 300 different prophecies, with sixty-one different details about the Messiah, were precisely fulfilled by Jesus hundreds of years after they were written by Isaiah and other prophets. And the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm that these prophecies were written well before the birth of Christ. (See “Was Jesus the Messiah?”)
The odds against one person fulfilling all of these prophecies are staggering. And there could have been no collusion, since they were written over a period of 500 years by men who didn’t know each other. Ravi writes,
“The spread itself defies natural explanation. Long before all converged in the person of Jesus Christ, His coming was envisioned, foreshadowed, and described in detail.”[20]
Click here to read page 7 of 8 about “Is Jesus the Only Way to God?”
Ravi was convinced that as the promised Messiah, Jesus was the “Mighty God” who came to die for us just as Isaiah had foretold hundreds of years earlier. He reasoned if we can believe God for hundreds of prophecies, then it makes sense to believe Jesus’ claims about himself.
