The Fingerprint of the Messiah

Every person who has ever lived on planet earth is unique in the truest sense of the word. Every individual has a distinguishing personality, odd quirks, and a different body type. Additionally, no two humans have the same fingerprints. Fingerprint experts have observed for many years that all people, including identical twins, have differentiable impressions on their fingers (Jain, 2002). Males, females, boys, and girls all possess differing fingerprints. Furthermore, because he was fully man, Jesus Christ had a unique fingerprint. However, not only was his actual fingerprint unique, but the writers of the Old Testament painted a distinct picture of the coming Messiah. In other words, they created a fingerprint that described in unparalleled definition the birth, life, and death of Jesus of Nazareth. Twenty-first century Christians should investigate the marvelous subject of the Messianic prophecies and rejoice in the wonder that Jesus fulfilled each of them.

The Definition of Messianic Prophecies

The Bible, by and large, is a book of prophecy. However, Messianic prophecies are a special subset of prophecies, concerned with the first coming of the Messiah. That is, these prophecies were spoken by the writers of the Old Testament in order for the coming Messiah to be absolutely known. The Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the Old Testament to carefully paint a portrait so that Jesus Christ would not be missed or mistaken for some other religious leader (McDowell, 1999). If a person declared to be the Messiah, the people of that day could easily explore the Old Testament to see if the fingerprint matched. This was an easy and surefire method of authenticating the Savior and exposing any fraudulent wannabe. Remarkably, Jesus Christ fulfilled each of these prophecies, verifying that he indeed was the Messiah.

Examples of Messianic Prophecies

Messianic prophecies vary in their focus on different stages of Jesus’ life. For example, several of the prophets gave specific details concerning the birth of Christ. The prophet Micah foretold that Jesus Christ would be born in Bethlehem, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2). Moreover, Isaiah predicted that Jesus Christ would be born of a virgin, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Thus, these two prophecies taken together reveal that the Hebrew Bible demanded that the Messiah be born of a virgin in Bethlehem (Cabal, 2007). Amazingly, the New Testament authors record the fulfillment of these prophecies (Matthew 1, 2). 

          Christ’s birth is not the only aspect of his life mentioned throughout the Old Testament. The divine nature of Christ is mentioned throughout the writings of these prophets. For instance, in the above verse given by the prophet Micah, it reveals that Jesus Christ’s “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” This suggests that Christ has existed from eternity (Cabal, 2007). Eternality is an essential attribute of the nature of God. He never had a beginning and neither will he have an ending. Thus, whenever Christ was born to Mary and Joseph, he did not become God; rather, he became man. Norman Geisler summarizes this idea of the Incarnation best when he states that Jesus Christ did not subtract deity; he added humanity (Geisler, 2007). Therefore, the prophet Micah prophesied that the coming Messiah would possess a divine nature, offering another ridge in the unmistakable fingerprint of Jesus Christ.

         Finally, the Old Testament authors describe the death of Christ. Again, the prophet Isaiah wrote in that “he [Jesus] was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). Biblical scholars agree that this verse is a Messianic prophecy concerned with the death of the coming Messiah. It is difficult to comprehend, but when Isaiah prophesied, crucifixion had not yet been a method of execution. Josh McDowell (1972) noted, “The type of death pictured in Isaiah 53 and Psalms 22 did not come into practice under the Jewish system until hundreds of years after the account was written” (p. 170). Because of its divine inspiration, the New Testament confirmed the fulfillment of this prophecy. The tax collector Matthew records, “Then were there two thieves crucified with him [Jesus], one on the right hand, and another on the left hand” (Matthew 27:38). These examples, along with several other phases of his ministry, are clearly inscribed within the Old Testament and corroborate the truth that God’s Word contains no errors.

The Probability of the Messianic Prophecies

The probability of one man fulfilling each of these is mind-boggling, but Peter Stoner, a noted mathematician, offered a useful illustration of how improbable it is for one person to meet only eight of the prophecies: 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. This number of silver coins is dumped over the state of Texas, reaching a height of two feet. Next, one silver coin is marked. Then, a blindfolded man is selected and dropped somewhere randomly in this vast state. The man is instructed that he can walk anywhere he desires but can choose only one coin. The probability that this man selects the correct coin is the same probability that one man fulfills only eight of the Messianic prophecies (Cabal, 2007). Add in all the other prophecies, and the likelihood exceeds the comprehension of the human brain, serving as a tremendous reminder of the greatness of God.

References

Cabal, T. (2007). The Apologetics Study Bible. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Pub.

Geisler, Norman. Systematic Theology in One Volume. Minneapolis: Bethany House,

2011.

Jain, A. K., Prabhakar, S., & Pankanti, S. (2002). On the similarity of identical twin fingerprints.

Pattern Recognition, 35, 2653-2663.

McDowell, Josh (1999). The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Nashville, TN: Nelson

Publishers.

McDowell, Josh. Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Historical Evidences for the

Christian Faith. San Bernardino, CA: Campus Crusade for Christ International, 1972.