Jeane Dixon made the news after President Kennedy's assassination, when her prediction reported four years earlier in Parade magazine was recounted: "As to the 1960 election, Mrs. Dixon thinks it will be dominated by labor and won by a Democrat. But he will be assassinated or die in office, though not necessarily in his first term."

However, in January of 1960 she had claimed, "The symbol of the Presidency is directly over the head of Vice President Nixon." Either he or Democrat John Kennedy had to win the election. Additionally, three of the ten presidents who served in the 20th century had died in office, and two others were critically ill at the end of their term. The odds against her were not as high as we might think.

Further study of psychic claims made in 1975 and observed until 1981 concluded that only six of the 72 predictions were fulfilled in any way. A six percent accuracy rate is not impressive.

Does the Bible fulfill its predictions? When it makes prophetic statements regarding the future, do they come to pass? As we consider evidence for biblical authority, we should spend a moment with the fascinating subject of Messianic prophecy and its fulfillment by Jesus Christ. If any book makes promises it does not keep, we are justified in dismissing the rest of its truth claims. But if a book's prophecies rendered centuries earlier are clearly fulfilled in history, we can consider the rest of its claims to be trustworthy as well.

Jesus appealed repeatedly to Old Testament predictions regarding himself:

• At the beginning of his ministry, he read a Messianic prediction from Isaiah 61, then said to the waiting crowd, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Lk 4:21).
• He told his critics, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. . . . If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me" (Jn 5:39-40, 46).
• At the Last Supper, he warned his disciples, "It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment" (Lk 22:37).
• At his arrest he told the crowd, "This has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled" (Mt 26:56).
• On Easter Sunday night he said to the two disciples traveling to Emmaus: "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" Then, to explain what he meant, "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" (Lk 24:25-26, 27).
• After his resurrection he said to his astonished disciples, "Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms" (Lk 24:44).

New Testament writers made the same appeal, claiming repeatedly that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament predictions regarding the Messiah:

• At Pentecost, Peter cited prophecies from Joel 2, Psalm 16, and Psalm 110 in claiming that Jesus was the promised Messiah (Acts 2:14-36).
• He later explained Jesus' crucifixion to a crowd at Jerusalem: "This is how God fulfilled what he foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer" (Acts 3:18).
• Peter told Cornelius, "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 19:43).
• When Paul came to Thessalonica, "As his custom was, [he] went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. 'This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,' he said" (Acts 17:2-3).
• Paul described his message as "the gospel [God] promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures" (Ro 1:2).
• Paul's message could be summarized: "what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3-4).

Clearly, if Jesus did not fulfill Old Testament predictions regarding the Messiah, both he and his first followers were deceivers of the worst sort. Their movement depended entirely on the claim that he was the promised Messiah of God. It still does.

More than 300 times, the Old Testament makes claims or predictions regarding the coming Messiah. Jesus fulfilled every prophecy. Most scholars date Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, at ca. 400 B.C., demonstrating that these predictions were not made during Jesus' day. Translators who created the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, began their work ca. 250 B.C. At the very least, there were more than two centuries between the last prediction and Jesus' fulfillment.

Listed in order relative to Jesus' earthly life, here are some of the main prophecies to consider:

1. Born of a woman's seed (Gen 3:15 / Gal 4:4)
2. Born of a virgin (Is 7:14 / Mt 1:18, 24, 25; Lk 1:26-35)
3. Descended from Abraham (Gen 22:18 / Mt 1:1; Gal 3:16)
4. Descended from Isaac (Gen 21:12 / Lk 3:23, 34; Mt 1:2)
5. Descended from Jacob (Numb 24:17 / Lk 3:23, 34)
6. Part of the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:19; Mic. 5:2 / Lk 3:23, 33; Mt 1:2)
7. From the family line of Jesse (Is 11:1 / Lk 3:23, 32; Mt 1:6)
8. From the house of David (Jer 23:5 / Lk 3:23, 31; Mt 1:1)
9. Born at Bethlehem (Mic 5:2 / Mt 2:1)
10. Presented with gifts (Ps 72:10 / Mt 2:1, 11)
11. Children would die (Jer 31:15 / Mt 2:16)
12. Would be anointed by the Spirit (Is 11:2 / Mt 3:16, 17)
13. Preceded by a messenger (Is 40:3; Mal 3:1 / Mt 3:1, 2)
14. Would minister in Galilee (Is 9:1 / Mt 4:12, 13, 17)
15. Would perform miracles (Is 35:5, 6 / Mt 9:35)
16. Would teach parables (Ps 78:2 / Mt 13:34)
17. Would enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech 9:9 / Lk 19:35-37)
18. A friend would betray him (Ps 41:9 / Mt 10:4)
19. Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech 11:12 / Mt 26:15)
20. Money thrown in the Lord's house (Zech 11:13 / Mt 27:5)
21. Money used for a potter's field (Zech 11:13 / Mt 27:7)
22. Forsaken by his disciples (Zech 13:7 / Mk 14:50)
23. Accused by false witnesses (Ps 35:11 / Mt 26:59, 60)
24. Silent before his accusers (Is 53:7 / Mt 27:12)
25. Wounded and bruised (Is 53:5 / Mt 27:26)
26. Smitten and spit upon (Is 50:6 / Mt 26:67)
27. Mocked (Ps 22:7, 8 / Mt 27:29)
28. Hands and feet pierced (Ps 22:16 / Lk 23:33)
29. Crucified with thieves (Is 53:12 / Mt 27:38)
30. Prayed for his persecutors (Is 53:12 / Lk 23:34)
31. Friends stood afar off (Ps 38:11 / Lk 23:49)
32. Garments parted and lots cast (Ps 22:18 / Jn 19:23, 24)
33. Would suffer thirst (Ps 69:21 / Jn 19:28)
34. Gall and vinegar offered (Ps 69:21 / Mt 27:34)
35. Would be forsaken by God (Ps 22:1 / Mt 27:46)
36. Would commit himself to God (Ps 31:5 / Lk 23:46)
37. No bones broken (Ps 34:20 / Jn 19:33)
38. His side pierced (Zech 12:10 / Jn 19:34)
39. Buried in a wealthy man's tomb (Is 53:9 / Mt 27:57-60)
40. Would be raised from the dead (Ps 16:10 / Ac 2:31)
41. Would ascend to heaven (Ps 68:18 / Ac 1:9)
42. Would be seated at the right hand of God (Ps 110:1 / Heb 1:3)

What are the chances that one person could fulfill each of these predictions? Many of them were beyond Jesus' human control (such as the soldier's decision to thrust his spear into Jesus' side). Were they coincidental? Mathematician Peter Stoner once calculated the odds of one man's fulfillment of just eight of these predictions: one in 10 to the 17th power (one followed by 17 zeroes). That number would fill the state of Texas two feet deep in silver dollars. Stoner then considered 48 of the Messianic prophecies, and determined their odds to be one in ten to the 157th power.

Clearly, the Bible keeps its promises. And its central figure is who he claimed to be: the Messiah of God.