Odds of Christ Fulfilling Prophecy

The focus of this topic is to look at the probability of Christ fulfilling the prophecies in the Old Testament.

So, what is probability? Probability, also known as "odds", is a branch of mathematics that measures the likelihood that a given event will occur. To begin, let's look at some interesting "odds":

Being struck by lightning in a year = 7 x 10 5 or 1 in 700,000

or 1 in 700,000 Being killed by lightning in a year = 2 x 10 6 or 1 in 2,000,000

or 1 in 2,000,000 Becoming president = 1 x 10 7 or 1 in 10,000,000

or 1 in 10,000,000 A meteorite landing on your house = 1.8 x 10 14 or 1 in 180,000,000,000,000

or 1 in 180,000,000,000,000 You will eventually die = 1 in 1

As you can see, the probability of being struck or killed by lightning, becoming president, or having a meteorite land on your house, progressively increases, given the event; however, someone somewhere will be that 1 in 10x, and that someone could be you.

Now, let's look at one of the most amazing probablity studies to be conducted. Dr. Peter Stoner, author of Science Speaks, applied the principle of probablity, which states that if the chance of one thing happening is "1 in M", and the chance of another independent thing happening is "1 in N", then the chance that they shall both happen is "1 in M x N", as it pertains to fulfillment of Biblical prophecies.

The Bible is full of prophecies, either events that have happened or events that will happen in the future. In Science Speaks, Dr. Stoner looks at the probability that one man, Jesus Christ, could have fulfilled even 8 of the 300 prophecies that pertain to Him in the Bible. Let's look at these eight prophecies from the Old Testament pertaining to Christ, their fulfillment by Christ in the New Testament, the probability of one man fulfilling each prophecy, and the sum of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies. Keep in mind, the time span between the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament fulfillment is hundreds, even thousands of years.

To answer the question what is the probability of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies, the principal of probability is applied. Therefore, multiplying all eight probabilities together (1 times 2.8 x 105 x 103 x 102 x 103 x 103 x 105 x 103 x 104) gives us 2.8 x 1028, or for simplicity sake 1 x 1028 or 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Given this and the time span between the writings of the Old Testament and the fulfillment by Christ in the New Testament, the prophecies were either given to the prophets by God, or the prophets just wrote them down as they thought they should be. With Christ fulfilling all eight prophecies, what are the odds the prophets were just guessing?