Biblical prophecy can be divided into two primary categories. First are the Messianic prophecies found throughout the Jewish scriptures, the Torah, Prophets and Writings. These prophecies were provided so that the Jewish people would recognize the Messiah when he arrived. For many, the recognition only came afterwards, in the rear view mirror. The fulfillment of these prophetic statements are found throughout the Christian Greek scriptures, the Messianic Gospels and writings.
The second category are the End-Times, or End of the Age prophecies which are found throughout the entire Bible. These are developing and moving towards a climactic conclusion in the near future. Today, we can look around at the state of world and marvel at the accuracy of ancient prophetic pronouncements, where the prophets described events seen in vision, or described verbally by angelic messengers, which the prophet himself could not possibly have understood in his time.
There is a third category of prophecy which are the short-term, having more immediate prophetic fulfillments. This is where a true prophet of God is proven, as when Elijah foretold the death of Jezebel, or when Yeshua foretold the destruction of the Temple. When fulfillment follows right on the heals of the prophetic statement, the Prophet is proven, and his long term prophecies are considered reliable. This study will take a look, in brief, at the full spectrum of Bible Prophecy.
for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' - Isaiah 46: 9,10
Much of the Mosaic Law is prophetic. First we'll start with a short look at how the Messiah, the Son of God, as well as his detractors were reflected in the Ten Commandments. While not exactly intended as prophecy, this is an interesting exercise in how the Messiah did not come to destroy the Law and Prophets, but to obey and fulfill.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
In the greater fulfillment of this, the first commandment, slavery to sin is the bondage common to all mankind. God's plan for the salvation of mankind was carried out through the sacrifice of the Messiah.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work:
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
Yeshua never put His will before that of God the Father. He obediently gave all that He was to the honor and glory of God, and to fulfill his part in God's purposes.
Yeshua never deviated from the pure worship of God the Father. While we see a great deal of pagan idolatry which has been embraced by the so-called Christian churches, this did not come from the Jewish roots of the church. Jesus never spoke to the issue of idolatry. He didn't need to because he and his followers were all Jewish, and knew the commandment. They held themselves apart, and did not practice the ways of the pagans. Idolatry entered the Christian church along with the gentile influx of post-apostolic church.
The iniquity of the fathers was ultimately fulfilled at the crucifixion, after which came the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, followed by the diaspora. The generations that followed, indeed suffered for the sins of their forefathers. As it was written.
Yeshua did not covet equality with God the Father. Satan has coveted the throne of God, while the priests were jealous of the Messiah's popularity.
While on the cross he made sure of his mother Mary's care, giving the obligation over to the Apostle John. He remained in submission to His father to the point of suffering a humiliating death.
Even after death, He rested during the Sabbath. Jewish leaders violated the Sabbath by asking for Roman soldiers to guard the tomb. Pilate granted a watch of soldiers at the request of the Jewish leaders.
Yeshua faithfully performed all that God had promised of the Messiah in prophecy. In no way did He misrepresent God's will - to do so would be to take His Name in vain. The mob, prompted by the Jewish leaders, on the other hand, cursed and mocked the Son of God.
The priests and leaders conspired to have Him killed. The Romans carried it out. The Messiah did not resist and by His sacrifice has weakened the hand of Satan, the great murderer.
The priests and leaders formed an adulterous alliance with the Romans, while Yeshua remained faithful to the Father.
He rightly purchased mankind with His blood sacrifice. Satan is the thief.
Yeshua remained a true and faithful witness of God. The priests and leaders used lies, deceit, and falsehood to have Him convicted and condemned.
The following links will provide a short list we've compiled of Messianic prophecies. We've referenced the prophecies, where they are made in the Hebrew scriptures, and the prophetic fulfillment from the Christian scriptures. The odds against these prophecies all being fulfilled in the person of one individual is statistically beyond comprehension.
We cannot leave this page without pointing out the difference between the Ten Commandments as written, and the Roman Catholic version of the 'Decalogue'. Notice the absence of the second commandment, 'graven images'. Yes, they removed it. It was easy, it only took a clever bit of creative editing. Then in order to keep the number at ten, they divided the tenth commandment, 'covetousness', into two parts.
The Roman Catholic church has literally changed the Word of God to accommodate the money making industry of graven images, to which they devote so much attention. There is no fear of God in a church which makes such a mockery of the inspired word.
The Roman Catholic version of the Ten Commandments. This is how it is taught
believe in God, believe Holy Scripture, believe BECAUSE of prophecy
Some scholastic researchers have determined that about one third of the Bible consists of prophecy, about 80% of which has already been fulfilled, and only about 20% of which remains to be realized.
"I, the Lord (Yahweh), have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord (Yahweh), that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them." - Isaiah 42:6-9
In the passage quoted above, Yahweh is informing the prophet Isaiah that God will declare to him the future of things before they occur. Only God can do this. Note also, more creative editing of the inspired word. The Name of God, Yahweh, is edited out, and replaced with the 'title', Lord (see - purging God's name from scripture).
in their catechism schools and other instructions. Notice anything missing?
Prophecy is one of the most important aspects of the Judeo-Christian faith. The Bible is full of prophetic statements, from beginning to end. There is no other collection of holy writings like it. Some Muslims have tried to find prophetic statements in the Qur'an, in a vain effort to measure the holy book of Islam against the Bible of Judeo-Christianity. The best they can find are a handful of educated guesses made by the writer, including time-frames that never quite matched up.
The Bible stands alone as the Word of God. This fact is proven by the enormous amount of prophecy, short term, and long. Prophecy isn't meant to serve simply as some sort of early warning system, but serves the greater purpose of validating the claims that the God
of Abraham is indeed the One True God of Creation. Only the God of Creation could have such mastery of time, as the master architectural designer of three dimensional space, fused with the dimension of time. Yahweh exists in a realm apart from the physical universe, from which He can observe the beginning and the end of all events within His creation. From grandest galactic functions and phenomena, right down to the smallest elements of human activity. He can, and He does. Therefore prophecy is one of the first reasons for faith. By this, one can believe that God is God, and His Word is truth.
