The Case for Jesus the Messiah – Incredible Prophecies that Prove God Exists/Part 2

Editor’s Note: This material was first published in book form in 1989 by the John Ankerberg Evangelistic Association (now known as the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute).

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The Biblical Text

Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened… and what is yet to come— yes, let him foretell what will come…Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? (Isa. 44:7, 8, emphasis added)

God promised to speak through His prophets and said this would be proof that He was God, indeed the true God for all the earth. He even challenged one and all to make statements about the future that would be as accurate as His statements about the future.

It is significant that in the most Messianic of all the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah, God speaks most frequently of His ability to predict the future. He challenges the false gods (idols) and their prophets to prove their case.

For example:

Declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so that we may know that you are gods. (Isa. 41:22-23)

Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord? (Isa. 45:21)

I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass…. Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, “My idols did them.” (Isa. 48:3, 5)

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by His Holy Spirit. (2 Pet. 1:20-21)

All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name. (Acts 10:43)

… So I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—that the Christ [Messiah] would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to His own people and to the Gentiles. (Acts 26:22,23; emphasis added in the above verses)

Concerning this last statement it is important that we understand what people usually meant when they used the word and spoke about the “Messiah.”

Read Part 3