2 Peter 1:19 “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Jesus’ coming, his power, his love, and his sacrifice make the words of the prophets more certain. In as much as the prophets were just writers for God himself, none of their words were ever in question. But Jesus is the fulfillment that ends all doubt.

Some people are impressed with the secular prophecies of Sixteenth Century French Astrologer Nostradamus. He is said to have predicted the rise of Napoleon and Hitler, the assassination of President Kennedy, even the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York. I won’t take time to repeat what he actually wrote here. You can look it up later for yourself if you like. But his prophecies have all the detail of a typical horoscope. They are vague enough to describe about anything you like.

The Biblical prophet Micah named the city where the promised Savior would be born. From Micah the Jewish rabbis could tell you where it would be before it happened. Isaiah tells you where he would grow up, details about his healing ministry, and together with David and Zechariah these men describes Jesus’ last days and the scene at the cross as though they were standing there themselves.

Well over 450 specific Old Testament prophecies can be identified which Jesus fulfilled. Statistically, the chances of one person fulfilling just eight random predictions made hundreds of years before the fact, like place of birth, betrayal by a friend, gambling for his clothes, and manner of death is about one out of 10 to the 17^th power.

To illustrate what that looks like, that is like burying every inch of the state of Texas under silver dollars two feet deep, and then telling someone there is one particular silver dollar in that pile that you have in mind, and that this person, free to travel the entire length and breadth of the state, could pick the right one. That’s for getting eight prophecies right, not 450 (www.biblebelievers.org.au/radio034.htm). “We have the words of the prophets made more certain.”

What’s the conclusion? “You will do well to pay attention to it,” and not just because the words are so certain, so true. When we give our attention to what is written about Jesus, whether Old Testament or New, something special happens. A light goes on inside. A new day replaces the darkness in our hearts. Faith rises like a star and we live in the happy certainty that Jesus loves and saves us.