Midweek Meditation
March 24th, 2026
Grab your coffee and spend some time reflecting on the parts of God’s Word that we covered together this past Sunday!
As you know, we are currently going through a short sermon series about why we believe what we believe. Remember, we’re not called to a blind faith – there are several compelling aspects of logic, history, science, archaeology, and scripture that all point to the reality and importance of faith in Jesus.
This past Sunday, we examined the concept of Biblical prophecy being fulfilled, and how that is another factor for why we believe in Jesus. Prophecy is “the declared will of God”; God speaks and says “this is how it is”. Sometimes, prophecy calls us back to something we already know, but other times, it points ahead to future events that haven’t happened yet. It is estimated that upwards of 25% of the Bible was prophetic in nature about future events at the time of its writing.
There are MANY Biblical prophecies that have been fulfilled since they were written. On Sunday, we focused on 30 of them, as follows:
1) God would turn Abraham into a great nation (Genesis 12:2; 4000 years ago)
- Fulfilled in the nation of Israel (one of the oldest existing people groups in history)
2) Israel would be slaves in a foreign nation for 400 years (Genesis 15:13)
- Fulfilled 500 years later via slavery in Egypt (Exodus 1-13)
3) Israel would receive a Promised Land (Genesis 12:7, Genesis 15:18-21)
- Fulfilled several hundred years later; restored again in 1948
4) Israel would be divided into two kingdoms (1 Kings 11)
- Fulfilled shortly after prophecy was made; kingdom split into Israel and Judah
5) Israel and Judah would experience a seventy-year exile in Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11, 29:10)
- Fulfilled shortly after prophecy was made; people taken as captives to Babylon, allowed to return home after exactly seventy years
6) The cities of Tyre and Sidon would be destroyed and thrown into the sea (Ezekiel 26-28)
- Partially fulfilled shortly after prophecy was made; fully fulfilled 250 years later when Alexander the Great and his men threw the rubble of Tyre and Sidon into the sea (Ezekiel 26:19)
7) A virgin would conceive a child, and the child would be God (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6)
- Fulfilled 700 years later when Jesus was born of a Virgin
8) The Messiah (Saviour [Jesus]) would be born of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10)
- Fulfilled 1500-2000 years later when Jesus was born of the tribe of Judah
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9) The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
- Fulfilled 500 years later in Matthew 2:1
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10) Jesus would have a ministry in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1)
- Fulfilled 700 years later as Jesus began his ministry in Galilee (Matthew 4:12-16)
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11) Jesus would stand in the temple in Jerusalem (Malachi 3:1)
- Fulfilled 400 years later (Luke 2)
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12) Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple (Matthew 24:1-2)
- Fulfilled about 40 years later (70 AD), after Jesus’ death, when the Romans destroyed the temple
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13) Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a young donkey (Zechariah 9:9)
- Fulfilled 500 years later when Jesus made his Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:6-9)
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14) Jesus predicted his own death (Matthew 16:21)
- Fulfilled shortly after when he was killed
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15) Jesus would be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 55:12-14)
- Fulfilled 1000 years later when Judas Iscariot betrayed him (John 13:18)
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16) Jesus would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13)
- Fulfilled 500 years later when Judas sold Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver; he even threw the money down in the temple as predicted, and the religious leaders used the money to buy a potter’s field as predicted
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17) Jesus’ followers would flee from him (Zechariah 13:7)
- Fulfilled 500 years later when Jesus’ disciples fled as he was being arrested
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18) Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him three times before the crow of the rooster (John 13:38)
- Fulfilled later that day (Mark 14:72)
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19) Jesus would suffer to pay for our sin (Isaiah 53:3-6)
- Fulfilled 700 years later when Jesus suffered on the cross
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20) Jesus would be silent before his accusers (Isaiah 53:7)
- Fulfilled 700 years later when Jesus remained silent while on trial (Matthew 27:12-14)
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21) Jesus would die by crucifixion (Psalm 22:16)
- Fulfilled 1000 years later when Jesus’ hands and feet were pierced while being nailed to the cross. Note that crucifixion hadn’t even been invented when Psalm 22:16 was written. Also note that the Jews had Jesus killed for blasphemy (he claimed to be God); the Old Testament penalty for blasphemy is death by stoning. The Jews lost their ability to legally put someone to death in AD 28 under the governance of the Roman government. Had Jesus died even ten years sooner than he did, the Jews could have killed him themselves, and would almost certainly have done so by stoning. Had Jesus been stoned, he wouldn’t have fulfilled the prophecy in Psalm 22:16.
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22) Soldiers would gamble for Jesus’ clothes (Psalm 22:18)
- Fulfilled 1000 years later as Roman soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ clothes while he was dying on the cross
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23) Jesus would be mocked during his crucifixion (Psalm 22:8)
- Fulfilled 1000 years later as Jesus was mocked (using the same language seen in Psalm 22:18)
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24) None of Jesus’ bones would be broken during his crucifixion and death (Psalm 34:20)
- Fulfilled 1000 years later, when the Roman soldiers did not break Jesus’ legs while on the cross, even though this was very customary (John 19:31-32)
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25) Jesus would be buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9)
- Fulfilled 700 years later when Jesus was buried in the tomb of a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57)
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26) Jesus would not stay dead (Psalm 16:10)
- Fulfilled 1000 years later when Jesus rose from the grave
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27) Jesus would appear in bodily resurrected form after rising from the grave (Isaiah 53:10, Matthew 16:21)
- Isaiah 53:10 fulfilled 700 years later, Matthew 16:21 fulfilled shortly after, when Jesus appeared in bodily form after rising from the dead
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28) Jesus would ascend to heaven (Psalm 68:18, John 3:13)
- Fulfilled 1000 years later when Jesus ascended into heaven (Acts 1:8)
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29) Jesus would become the cornerstone of a movement called the Church (Psalm 118:22, Matthew 21:42)
- Psalm 118:22 fulfilled 1000 years later, Matthew 21:42 fulfilled shortly after, when the Church was born (Acts 2), with Jesus as the Head of it
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30) The Gospel would spread across the world (Acts 1:8)
- Has been progressively fulfilled for the past 2000 years since it was predicted; still happening!
There is so much we could say about these prophecies and how they have been fulfilled, but we’ll leave it at this: the odds of one person fulfilling even 8 of these prophecies is 1 in 10 to the power of 17 (100 000 000 000 000 000). So what? What does it prove? Maybe nothing definitively. But it certainly makes a case that there must be SOMETHING to this person named Jesus. Maybe, just maybe, it’s all real and true.