20. December, 2017Uncategorized

The goal of this project is to examine some of the many Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, and see if these prophecies have come true.  Our premise is that if there are legitimate prophecies in the Old Testament of future events which the human author could not possibly have known on his own, then there must have been supernatural intervention in giving these prophecies.  If this is true, this would indicate that the Old Testament must be reliable, because God was involved in its writing.

General dating of the Biblical books:

Isaiah: written in the 8^th century B.C.

Micah: a contemporary of Isaiah

Jeremiah: written in the 7^th century B.C.

Zechariah: written in the 6^th century B.C.

Job: written as early as 2000 B.C., as late as 6^th century B.C.

Psalm 22: written by King David

A Selection of Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah:

From the New International Version of the Bible: 1)Job 19:25-27    2) Psalm 22:16-18             3)Zechariah 11:10-13

From the New American Bible (or others): 1)Jeremiah 23:4-6     2)Micah 5:1         3)Zechariah 9:9                 4) Zechariah 12:10

5) Isaiah 7:10-14        6) Isaiah 9:5-6    7) Isaiah 53:1-6                  8) Isaiah 53:7      9) Isaiah 53:8-9

10) Isaiah 53:10-12

Your first task is to find out what the Old Testament prophecies specifically say about the promised Messiah.  Write this down in your notes, along with the approximate date of when it was written.  Your second task is to discover how Jesus fulfilled each prophecy.  Below is a list of 13 passages from the New Testament in no particular order.  Read each one, and match each passage with the corresponding Old Testament passage.  Some choices might seem to fit more than one passage, but you want to find the best choice for each one.  Therefore, use each passage only once, and write the results in your notebooks.

New Testament fulfillment passages:

1. John 1:1,14-16
2. Mark 15:22-32
3. John 19:31-35
4. Matthew 27:11-14
5. Luke 2:1-5
6. Luke 2:6-7
7. Luke 19:28-35
8. Matthew 1:1-17
9. Matthew 27:1-7
10. Matthew 27:57-61
11. Luke 1:26-35
12. Luke 24:1-12
13. Matthew 26:26-28

Finished Project Requirements

Written below is what the finished project should look like. Each group of two should turn in only one project!  The groups should naturally divide up the work evenly.

Requirements:

1. Illustrated cover page, with drawings of events and people contained in the prophecies
2. 13 separate analyses, one for each prophecy.  Each analysis should consist of the answers to the three questions: a)When approximately was the prophecy written? (no need to duplicate this answer for multiple prophecies from the same book) b)what does the prophecy specifically say about the coming Savior? c) how does Christ fulfill the prophecy in the New Testament?  This part should include the matching verse from the New Testament.
3. Conclusion, which explains how the work you did in the project proves the Old Testament is reliable.
4. The whole thing should be typed!!

NIV Passages – found here:

Job 19-25-27: I know that my redeemer^[c] lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.^[d]
26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet^[e] in^[f] my flesh I will see God;
²⁷ I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.
    How my heart yearns within me!

Psalm 22: 16-18: Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce^[e] my hands and my feet. 17 All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

Zechariah 11:10-13: ¹⁰ Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹ It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.

¹² I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY!

To get a 10% bonus on the project, analyze one additional OT passage: Isaiah 60:4-6.  Find out where in the New Testament this prophecy is fulfilled.  I hope this will be an Epiphany for you!