avatarSheng-Ta Tsai

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Do Old Testament Prophecies Prove Jesus Is the Messiah?

The biblical passages Christians cite as prophecies are shocking

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

One Christian website claims, “Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry.” This is an impressive number. I mean, if there were all these predictions about Jesus that actually came true, it would be pretty strong evidence for Christianity.

Christians themselves often bring up these prophecies when talking to non-believers, trying to make the case that Jesus was really special because so many prophecies were about him.

But here’s the thing: when you take a closer look at these prophecies, you start to see some problems.

I recently got a list of 30 prophecies on X, and instead of going through all of them, I will focus on the common issues they have in this article. Then, I’ll dive into a few examples to illustrate these problems.

Too broad

I don’t know how Christians manage to read the first prophecy with a straight face: “Messiah would be born of a woman”.

I mean, who else would they be born of? A man? A donkey? It seems like such a basic requirement that it’s almost comical to call it a prophecy.

If this is the kind of specificity we’re talking about, then I could easily make a prophecy too: “The richest person in the world a century from now will have a (gasp!) brain!” Are you impressed? Probably not!

Prophecies number 4, 5, and 6 also fall into this trap. Being a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob simply means being an Israelite. It’s pretty logical that the Israelite Messiah would be, well, an Israelite. So, it’s not exactly mind-blowing prophecy material.

Not a prophecy at all

I’m always puzzled when Christians point to Old Testament passages that clearly aren’t prophecies and claim they predict a future Messiah. It’s like they don’t know what a real prophecy looks like.

Take number 26, for example: “Messiah would be praised by little children.” The passage they reference is Psalm 8:2. So, theoretically, if I look up Psalm 8:2 in the Bible, I should see a prediction about a future Messiah being praised by little children, right?

Wrong!

Psalm 8:2 is not even a prediction:

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

If you read through the entire Psalm, it becomes clear that it’s a song of worship, praising God for His deeds and qualities.

And if you look at the supposed fulfillment in the New Testament, Matthew 21:16, you’ll see Jesus quoting the Septuagint version of Psalm 8:2.

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

“‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”

Jesus doesn’t explicitly claim that Psalm 8:2 is a prophecy about him being praised by children. He’s simply using the scripture to illustrate that God delights in the praises of children.

It does seem like a bit of a stretch for Christians to interpret Psalm 8:2 as a prophecy and then see Matthew 21:16 as its fulfillment. It makes me wonder just how much mental gymnastics they’re willing to do to make the connections fit.

Here’s another one: number 11. It claims that the Messiah would spend some time in Egypt, citing Hosea 11:1. But if you look at that verse, it’s not a prophecy at all — it’s just a retelling of the exodus history:

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

Give this verse to anyone who isn’t a Christian, and ask them if they can find any prophecy in it. Chances are, they’ll probably tell you that it doesn’t sound like a prediction at all — and they’d be right!

Prophecies number 15, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, and 29 all face the same problem.

Prophecy not about the Messiah

The list of prophecies aims to establish Jesus as the promised Messiah. However, it’s interesting to note that some of the included passages aren’t actually about the Messiah at all. Take Isaiah 7, for example, which is referenced in both number 3 and 10.

In that passage, a boy is mentioned, but there’s nothing to suggest that he’s the Messiah. In fact, if you look at the context, it’s pretty clear that the prophecy’s focus isn’t on the boy, but rather on the military threat that King Ahaz was facing. The boy serves as a timing indicator, indicating that before he grows up, the enemy kings would be defeated. It’s got nothing to do with predicting a future Messiah.

Number 13 refers to Isaiah 40:3–5, but what many Christians overlook is that the passage isn’t about preparing the way for the Messiah; it’s about preparing the way for Yahweh, the God of Israel. The same goes for number 14.

Prophecy not actually fulfilled

Number 2 refers to Micah 5:2, which can indeed be interpreted as a prophecy about the Messiah:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans[a] of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

But did Jesus truly become a ruler over Israel? No, far from it. Not only did he never hold any public office, but he was actually arrested and crucified by the rulers of Israel at that time!

Photo by Grant Whitty on Unsplash

Even if we’re more forgiving and consider the idea that Jesus had the backing of most Jews to be their king, the reality doesn’t match up. In fact, the majority of Jews in the first century rejected Jesus. Even today, there are very few Jewish Christians.

So, even if we assume that Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem, he still wouldn’t meet the criteria for fulfilling the prophecy in Micah 5:6 because he never ruled over Israel at any point in time.

Numbers 8 and 9 face the same problem.

Number 30 is quite amusing. It claims that “the Messiah would be silent before his accusers.” However, when we look at the accounts in the Bible, Jesus wasn’t silent at all. He engaged in conversation with Pontius Pilate (Luke 23:3; John 18:33–38) and spoke at least seven times while on the cross, as recorded in the four Gospels. So, if Christians are being honest, they’d have to acknowledge that Jesus didn’t match that description.

Prophecy fulfillment only claimed by the biblical authors without further evidence

Here’s the thing: a lot of what we know about Jesus comes from the New Testament, written by people who already believed he was the Messiah. Without other independent sources to back it up, it’s hard to say for sure if these supposed prophecies really happened.

Let’s take number 7, for example. How do we know Jesus was actually a descendant of Judah, who lived 1,500 years before him? Not many families keep records that long, and even if they did, who’s to say those records are accurate?

When we look at the genealogies of Jesus provided in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we see some major differences. But without any way to verify either of them, we’re left in the dark. We can’t even be sure who wrote those Gospels in the first place.

If Christians choose to accept everything written in the Gospels as reliable, even when it comes to details the authors may not have had solid sources for, that’s up to them. But if they can’t offer a convincing explanation for how they’re certain that Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, it’s understandable for non-believers to remain skeptical.

№12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 25 suffer the same issue.

Final thoughts

In my examination of these so-called prophecies, I haven’t found a single one that doesn’t suffer from the problems I’ve listed. It makes you wonder: if God truly wants people to recognize Jesus as His chosen Messiah, why give prophecies that are so vague and open to interpretation, even cringeworthy at times?

I am sure there’s nothing stopping God from communicating clear prophecies with enough detail that they couldn’t be misunderstood and their fulfillment couldn’t be artificially manufactured.

But we have none of that in the Bible.

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