Empirical Fullfillment of Prophecy
In reviewing Towns' article "ARGUMENTS THAT THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD", I found all of the information compelling, but what stood out the most was the empirical fulfillment of prophecy. I strongly believe that the bible is God's word, but the fulfillment of prophecies validates any ambiguity. Town's states "Christianity is the only religion that gives fulfilled prophecies as one of its bases for credibility" (p.4 ). That notation alone speaks volumes; other religions are waiting for prophecies to be fulfilled, while the Bible has already fulfilled hundreds if not thousands of prophecies.
The lineage of Jesus is a compelling prophecy because many of these were fulfilled in the Old Testament prior to Jesus birth. His birth is unique because of the prerequisite requirements to fulfill the prophecy which included being born of the lineage of David, His date of birth, He was delivered in Bethlehem and born to a virgin mother. Daniel 9:25 scripture speaks to the coming of the Messiah “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,[a] the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble" (Holy Bible). The scripture refers to the Anointed One, followed by the ruler; this is a direct foreshadowing of Jesus.
Towns articles states “Some say that certain Old Testament prophets wrote after the events happened” (pg 5). This theory was proven inaccurate when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and validated that the text related to this was written and collected prior to Christ birth. Although all the prophecies have not been fulfilled the vast majority have been which more than what other religious can account for. Our beliefs as Christian are not only based off of our personal relations ship with God that is built through the Holy Spirit, but can be tied back to the proven fulfillment of prophecies that are found in
The lineage of Jesus is a compelling prophecy because many of these were fulfilled in the Old Testament prior to Jesus birth. His birth is unique because of the prerequisite requirements to fulfill the prophecy which included being born of the lineage of David, His date of birth, He was delivered in Bethlehem and born to a virgin mother. Daniel 9:25 scripture speaks to the coming of the Messiah “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,[a] the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble" (Holy Bible). The scripture refers to the Anointed One, followed by the ruler; this is a direct foreshadowing of Jesus.
Towns articles states “Some say that certain Old Testament prophets wrote after the events happened” (pg 5). This theory was proven inaccurate when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and validated that the text related to this was written and collected prior to Christ birth. Although all the prophecies have not been fulfilled the vast majority have been which more than what other religious can account for. Our beliefs as Christian are not only based off of our personal relations ship with God that is built through the Holy Spirit, but can be tied back to the proven fulfillment of prophecies that are found in