It’s commonly known and quoted that the Bible was written by 40 different authors in 3 different continents across 1500 years, but contains one cohesive account. That account is the history of God’s redemptive work amongst humanity, for His glory, and for our salvation. There are over 63,000 cross references (image below) that indicate the singular mind and intention behind the personalities and circumstances of each author. And the descriptions of the reliability, inerrancy and authority of Scripture can go one for quite some time.

Dr. Stephen Lawson, in teaching through the book of Romans in his weekly men’s Bible study, opens up this unified plan of the heart and mind of God by walking through some of the verses that preceded the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. The following section are his words recounting God’s Word:

(You can watch the following here)

“The Holy Scripture, now before we open this up for question let me just read something here to you, that the the gospel of Christ is woven through the entire Old Testament salvation in the gospel would come through and I just want to walk through the old through the Old Testament:

It would come through one who would be born of the woman, Genesis 3:15, who would be born of the seed of Abraham, Genesis 17:7, who would be born of the seed of Isaac, Genesis 21:12, who would be born of the seed of David, Psalm 132:11, who would be born of a Virgin, Isaiah 7:14, His name would be called Immanuel, Isaiah 7:14, who would be born in Bethlehem, Micah 5:2, who would be adored by great persons after His birth, Psalm 72:10, who would be called out of Egypt, Hosea 11:1, who would be preceded by a forerunner, Isaiah 40:3, who would be anointed by the Holy Spirit, Isaiah 11:2 and Isaiah 61:1, who would be a prophet like Moses, Deuteronomy 18:15, 2:18, who would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, Psalm 110:4, who would begin His ministry in Galilee, Isaiah 9:1-2, who would suddenly come into the temple, Malachi 3:1, who would be marked by meekness, Isaiah 42:2, and tenderness, Isaiah 40:11. who would be without any deceit in His mouth, Isaiah 53:9, who would be full of zeal for His Father, for God, Psalm 69:9, who would preach with parables, Psalm 78, – who would work miracles, Isaiah 35:5-6, who would bear reproach, Psalm 22:6, who would be rejected by His own brethren, Psalm 69:8, who would be a stone of stumbling to Jews, Isaiah 8:14, who would be hated by the Jews, Isaiah 49:7, who would be rejected by Jewish rulers, Psalm 118:22, who would be betrayed by a friend, Psalm 41:9, who would be forsaken by His disciples, Zechariah 13:7, who would be sold for – wait for this – thirty pieces of silver Zechariah 11:12, and the money would then be given to buy a potter’s field, Zechariah 11:13, who would be engulfed in suffering in His death Psalm 22:14-15, yet His suffering would be for others. Isaiah 53:4-6, who would be patient in His suffering and silent, Isaiah 53:7, who would be struck on the cheek, Micah 5:1, who would be marred beyond appearance as a man as, Isaiah 53:3 who would be spit upon and scourged Isaiah 50:6 who would be nailed through His hands and feet, Psalm 22:16, who would be forsaken by God, Psalm 22:1, mocked, Psalm 22:7-8, would be offered gall and vinegar, Psalm 69:21, who would be left naked with His garments parted and lots cast for His clothing, Psalm 22:18, who would be numbered with the transgressors yet he would intercede for His murderers while being put to death, Isaiah 53:12, not a bone in His body would be broken, Psalm 34:20, he would be pierced in His death, Zechariah 12:10, he would be buried with a rich man, Isaiah 53:9, yet His flesh would not see corruption because he would be raised from the dead before corruption would begin, Psalm 16:10.

You think that just happened? It’s all in the Old Testament. And the mathematical probability of all of these prophecies being fulfilled in just one person has been said, “If you took a map of the state of Texas, the reality of the map of Texas, now I remember when I was in the seventh grade I had Texas history and from the top of the Panhandle to the tip in the South it’s 801 miles I can’t remember what it is across, but if you covered the entire state of Texas with silver dollars ten feet high, and you marked just one of those silver dollars and you hid it in all of those silver dollars…and you flew over with a helicopter and you could say to that driver, “Drop me right here.” Climb down a ladder, reach in and pull out one silver dollar, the mathematical probability that you just reached the the marked silver dollar is less than all of these prophecies being fulfilled in one person.

It would take far more faith to reject all this than it would to believe all this if you just go by the evidence. And all of these prophecies were recorded hundreds of years before Jesus was even born, and most of these prophecies were fulfilled not by His friends but by His enemies who had the most to lose by their fulfillment and many of these prophecies were fulfilled before he was even born, you got to be pretty good to control what’s happening before you’re even born, so the point I’m making is the old testament is rooted and grounded it is nailed to the floor it is anchored in the Old Testament and the New Testament merely stands on the shoulders the broad strong shoulders of the Old Testament, and in a sense reaches higher with greater revelation, but it’s the same Gospel telling the same way of salvation that has come from God the Father and sending His son, Jesus Christ, into this world to be the savior of sinners/ There is no other way of salvation.”
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I love recounting the handiwork of God like this, all these seemingly loose ends all tied up together in one man, the God-man, Jesus Christ. No one could coordinate that from within the timeline of human existence and force their way into fulfilling all of those prophecies. There has to be a mind and a hand and a heart that exists outside of time that is coordinating this work, this life that was lived by Jesus and spoken of by all these authors and prophets to produce, at just the right time, the result that culminated in the salvation of all those whom God would call to Himself.

Just as He called history under His command to orchestrate these events, these prophecies and these works, He calls sinners to Himself for the benefit of His glory above all and alone, that we should be saved. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 LSB)

Jesus is who He says He is because He, as God, is the only one who could move unhindered throughout human history to place in the hearts of men the intentions, the pathways, the actions and the prophecies that led to the ultimate revealing of His saving work in history.

Turn to Jesus and live.
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