King David of Israel, who was also a prophet, predicted in the name of God about a thousand years before Christ how the clothing of the crucified would be handled:

Forecast:

„They divide my garments among themselves and cast lots for my clothing.“ Ps 22:19

How was this prediction fulfilled a thousand years later? The apostle John writes about it in John 19:23-24:

Fulfilment:

„After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his outer garment and made four parts of it, one part for each soldier, plus the ephod. But the ephod was woven without seam from top to bottom. And they said to one another, ‘We will not cut it in two, but we will divide it by lot to whom it belongs. This was to fulfil the scripture that says, ’They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my robe. So the soldiers did.“

Noteworthy details are reported here. Jesus' clothing was to be handled in different ways:

1. they distribute my clothes
2. they cast lots for my robe

There was a guard of four soldiers under the cross. They distributed Jesus‘ clothes among themselves. Everyone got a piece. But one piece remained: the outer garment. They wanted to divide it into four parts so that everyone would get a quarter. As they did so, they realised that it was woven from one piece. It's valuable. The soldiers thought that if we cut it up, everyone would only have one piece of fabric. We then destroyed the actual value. So they said: ’It's better if one person gets the whole outer garment than just one piece of fabric each. How did they solve the problem? They cast lots. It happened just as it was prophesied a thousand years before.

Could we predict what will happen to a particular person in a thousand years?

Would we know how many items of clothing he will be wearing? And how many guards there are? David couldn't know that for himself either. There is only one possibility: God revealed it to him.

The first hint was given by Moses about 1,300 years before the fulfilment.

1st prediction:„It must be eaten in one and the same house; you must not take any of the meat out of the house. You must not break a bone.“ Exodus 12:46

This text tells of the institution of the Passover at the Exodus from Egypt. This reference is to the Passover lamb. This lamb was a symbol of the coming Saviour. We remember that John the Baptist spoke of Jesus when he came to him to be baptised by immersion in the Jordan,

„Behold, this is the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world.“ John 1:29

2nd prediction:

The next reference in this context was given about 300 years later by King David. However, this was still a thousand years before the fulfilment.

David knew the writings of Moses. But he says what Moses said about the Lamb said about a person, about a Righteous:

„He keeps every one of his members; not one of them is broken.“ Psalm 34:21

Fulfilment:

„But since it was the preparation day and the bodies were not to remain on the cross over the Sabbath - for the day of that Sabbath was a great one - the Jews asked Pilate that their thigh bones be broken and taken away. So the soldiers came and smashed the thighs of first one and then the other of those crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he had already died, they did not break his thighs.“ John 19:31-33

The preparation day referred to here is the day that precedes the Sabbath (Saturday), it is Friday. In the Bible it is called the preparation day because it is the day on which the preparation for the Sabbath takes place. In this case, it is the day we call Good Friday today. It is the day of Jesus' crucifixion.

The Jews had a request for Pilate. The crucified were not to hang on the cross during the Sabbath. They therefore asked for the legs to be broken so that the death of the crucified could be brought about quickly.

Pilate honoured this request. It was exactly the opposite of what was predicted in the Bible: not a bone of his body would be broken.

Assuming you had been in Jerusalem on this occasion and had known about the predictions, you would have given another cent for them to be fulfilled. The Roman soldiers had orders to smash the legs. They set to work. First they break the legs of one fellow crucified man, then the other. Strangely enough, they walk around Jesus. Were they shy? Did these Roman soldiers have any idea who Jesus was?

When they come to Jesus, they realise that he is already dead. Therefore, there was no need to carry out the command. And so, contrary to the command, Jesus' thigh bones are not crushed. Why? What had God predicted a thousand years earlier through David and over a thousand and three hundred years earlier through Moses?

„He (God) keeps every one of his members; not one of them is broken.“ Psalm 34:21

The prophecy has been fulfilled to the letter. But now comes something even more surprising. The soldiers are now doing something without orders. And what they are now doing without orders was predicted about 500 years earlier by the prophet Zechariah (also known as Zechariah).

Let us first read on in Joh. 19, 34-37:

3. prediction:

„...but one of the soldiers thrust his lance into his side, and at the same time blood and water came out. He who saw this [that was the disciple John] bears witness to it, and his witness is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For this was done that the scripture might be fulfilled, that not a bone of him should be broken. [Exodus 12:46] and yet another scripture says: "They will look upon him whom they have pierced. [Zach. 12, 10]

Without orders, one of the soldiers stabs Jesus in the side to make sure he is really dead. The soldiers realise that he is dead because the blood has already decomposed.

Three prophets make predictions that are fulfilled with ultimate accuracy. Moses 1,300 years before, David 1,000 years before and Zechariah (Zechariah) 500 years before the event. These three men, who were separated from each other by centuries and did not know each other personally, made consistent predictions.

How did they know that? Was it a probability calculation? Was it coincidence? There is only one reasonable conclusion: the revelations they had received all came from one and the same source. And this One was always there throughout all these centuries. God is from eternity to eternity. He revealed it to them. There is no other conclusion.

1st prediction:

„Even my closest friend, on whom I relied, who ate my bread, rebels against me from behind.“ (Prophesied by David about 1,000 years earlier in Psalm 41:10)

The following prophecy was given about 500 years before its fulfilment by the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah). It is found in Zechariah 11:12-13.

2nd prediction:

„I said to them: “If it pleases you, give me my wages; if not, let it be. Then they weighed my wages before me, thirty pieces of silver. But the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the silver founder (others translate: the potter), this marvellous prize that I am worth to them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the silver caster (or potter) in the house of the Lord."

Matthew 10:4 and Matthew 27:1-10 report what happened 1,000 and 500 years later respectively.

Fulfilment:

„...and Judas the Iscariot, who betrayed him. - When it was morning, all the chief priests and elders of the people made a decision against Jesus to hand him over to death. They had him led away bound and handed him over to Pilate the governor. When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he was condemned, he repented and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying: I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood. But they said, „What is that to us? Watch!“ Then he threw the pieces of silver into the temple, withdrew, went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said: It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, for it is blood money. They took counsel and bought the potter's field with it for the burial of strangers. That is why this field is called the Field of Blood to this day. Thus was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the valuation for him, as the sons of Israel had appraised him, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."

For every single point, there would have been many other possibilities. God, in his omniscience, knew thousands of years in advance what would happen. He had it predicted for us so that we could see his hand in the fulfilment and be strengthened in our trust in God.

In his book Science Speaks (Science speaks) on eight Messianic prophecies, „that according to mathematical probability a coincidence is impossible here.“ He says: „[...] we therefore see that the chance of the fulfilment of all eight prophecies in any one person (from then to now) is 1:10¹⁷ is“. That would result in a 1 with 17 zeros = 1:100,000,000,000,000,000,000. (The Bible on Test, Josh McDowell, CLV 2002, page 2501)

Stoner continues: „These prophecies were either written by the inspiration of God, or the prophets wrote them as they saw fit.

In such a case, the prophets only had a 1:10 chance¹⁷, that they were all fulfilled in one man; but they were all fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

This means that the fulfilment of these eight prophecies alone proves that God inspired the writing of these prophets with a certainty that can only be matched by a 1 in 10 chance.¹⁷ lacks absoluteness.

Stoner now considers 48 prophecies and says: „... We see that the chance of the fulfilment of all 48 prophecies is in one People 1:10¹⁵⁷ is.“