4 Numbers to Celebrate This Christmas
4 Numbers to Celebrate This Christmas
If there’s ever a time to take a break from number crunching, it’s Christmas.
We’re happy to report that the numbers below have absolutely nothing to do with budgets, shopping lists, mall visits, or credit card bills, but everything to do with the real reason Christmas is worth celebrating.
300+
There were more than 300 ancient prophecies written about the Jewish Messiah, as recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible or the Jewish Torah. Jesus fulfilled many of them when he came to earth more than 2,000 years ago, and He will fulfill the rest when He comes again.
8
Dr. Peter Stoner was a mathematics and science professor who wanted to take a look at the probability of one man fulfilling even a few of the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. So Dr. Stoner picked 8 major prophecies (including the Messiah coming from Bethlehem, being betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver, and being pierced in his hands and feet) and worked to figure out the probability of those events coming true in one man’s life.
1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (or 1 x 1028)
That’s the probability of one man fulfilling the 8 prophecies Dr. Stoner included in his calculations, which were published in the 1950s book, Science Speaks.
1
One man did fulfill all 8 of those ancient prophecies, and many more, and that man is Jesus.
But the most convincing evidence that Jesus is the Messiah isn’t in the numbers—it’s in the powerful, visible life change people experience when they earnestly invite Jesus Christ to be their Savior.
Whether we’re talking about Paul—the biblical persecutor-turned-believer—or that friend who accepted Christ and has never been the same, Jesus has the power to change us from the inside out. Through Him, addictions are obliterated, dying relationships are restored, and hopelessness is replaced with endless hope.
That’s what we celebrate on Christmas Day and every day. Jesus, the Messiah—the perfect fulfillment of ancient prophecy, and the answer to our deepest longings.
Merry Christmas.
