The Jesus Factor 06

[0:00] In applying the mathematical probabilities to an entirely different issue removed from the anthropic constants, the math still makes its ironclad demands divorced from opinion or preferences.

[0:17] Excerpting content by Josh McDowell, the author of New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, we read, No human explanation can possibly account for the precise predictions and fulfillment of Israel's Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, who arrived at the beginning of the first century A.D.

[0:40] His birth as the seed of the woman Eve was predicted in Genesis 3.15 and reported as fulfilled in Galatians 4, 4,000 years later.

[0:50] The prophet Micah predicted the Messiah's birthplace would be Bethlehem, 500 years before the event was fulfilled as recorded in Matthew 2. The same Micah declared Messiah to have preexisted in eternity, referenced in Colossians 1 and Revelation 1.

[1:10] The prophet Isaiah in chapter 7 prophesied 700 years previously he would be born of a virgin, as was precisely recorded in Matthew 1 and in Luke 1.

[1:23] Genesis 49 revealed Messiah would hail from the tribe of Judah and was later fulfilled in the genealogical table of Luke 3. Messiah was prophesied in Psalm 2 to be the Son of God and is identified as such by the voice of heaven at his baptism in Matthew 3.

[1:42] And he will be the seed of Abraham, as prophesied in Genesis 12 and fulfilled in Matthew 1. As the son of Jacob in Genesis 35 and fulfilled also in Matthew 1.

[1:55] Born of the tribe of Judah in Genesis 49, followed by fulfillment in Hebrews 7. That his family line would stem from Jesse in Isaiah 11, followed with fulfillment in Matthew 1.

[2:09] Jeremiah 23, 500 years earlier, prophesied Messiah would come out of David, as fulfilled in Luke 3.

[2:20] Isaiah records 700 years prior to his birth, he will be called Emmanuel, meaning God with us, and declared to be the same in Matthew 1 and in Luke 7.

[2:35] Messiah's priesthood was prophesied in Psalm 110 and verified in Hebrews 3, as after the order of Melchizedek. All these number more than a dozen, but the prophets collectively, with their prophecies and subsequent fulfillment thereof, as was the case with the previous anthropic constants.

[3:04] When one realizes these precise prophecies, some as early as 4,000 years prior to their fulfillment, others as little as 400 years prior to their fulfillment, are all followed by equally precise fulfillments, one cannot help but be awestruck.

[3:25] The incontrovertible evidence demanding an inescapable conclusion based on the mathematical probabilities simply speaks for itself.

[3:36] And the numbers? Ha ha! Ah yes, the numbers. Josh McDowell, in his book, published in 1972, was released in an updated expanded version in 1999, titled Evidence That Demands a Verdict, or Newer Evidence That Demands a Verdict.

[3:54] In it, he cites the analysis of mathematician Dr. Peter Stoner, who tested the probability of the prophecies regarding Jesus being fulfilled by coincidence.

[4:07] Initially, he processed only eight of the great number recorded. And please remember, math and its numbers care nothing for personal opinion, biases, or prejudices.

[4:24] Numbers only tell the bald, cold facts. So, what were the odds of just eight of the predictions and fulfillments by Jesus being coincidental?

[4:39] You may try pronouncing the number the math produced. What do you call the odds that are one in ten to the 17th power?

[4:52] That is the chance of one in ten followed by 17 zeros. Write it down if you wish. One.

[5:02] Then 17 zeros following and see if you know what to call it. Not even the U.S. Congressional Office of Budget would know what to do with a number like that.

[5:15] That's why it is expressed as a number to a certain power. It's kind of like dealing with distances in the universe by calling them light years rather than miles.

[5:28] But wait. That math equation processed only eight of the prophecies and their fulfillments. How many are there, all told?

[5:40] If the odds of eight being coincidental is unpronounceable with 17 zeros following, what would the number be followed by 48 zeros?

[5:56] The math would call it one in ten to the 157th power. Well, let's just forget it.

[6:09] Most of us forgot it with the 17 zeros and we don't want to risk brain sprain with this. What can you call it by trying to entertain numbers like that?

[6:24] Ridiculous. Absurd. Yes. Yes. And that is precisely what one must call it to attribute those prophecies and their fulfillment by Christ to be coincidental.

[6:39] How anyone can have enough faith to entertain even the possibility of a coincidence is mystifying. Yet, to realize there are atheists who insist they remain unconvinced.

[6:56] And these are they who would charge theists with operating by faith rather than by scientific facts like they do. But on the basis of the hard, cold scientific facts of math, there simply is no case at all to justify the atheist position.

[7:17] Thank you.