The Red Tile

I hold in my hand today a very old book. I know it doesn’t look old. In fact, according to the front page, it was first published in 1988 based on a copy write from 1976. But actually this is not a book at all. It is a collection of historical documents and letters that spanned 3,500 years.

The oldest documents were written 3500 years ago by Moses. They covered the story of creation, the birth of the Jewish nation, the deliverance of the Jews from slavery, and the laws given by God to his people. Next we have Joshua covering the conquest of the Promised Land. We have the historical records of the time when judges ruled Israel, written 3000 years ago. We also have the record of the reign of King Saul, King David and King Solomon. We have the records of the kingdom divided into Israel and Judah and their various Kings that ruled. We have the recorded messages of Isaiah the prophet. From 2500 years ago we have the written prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. We then have accounts and letters from those who experienced Jesus either in the flesh or at a supernatural level. The last such letter written over 1900 years ago. So what I am holding in my hand is one of the oldest manuscripts preserved through history. As far as truth, it is written by man inspired by the Holy Spirit. As far as prophetic accuracy, it is 100% accurate.

In 1946 three shepherds discovered a cave with urns hidden in crevices. Inside these urns were scrolls, written by hand somewhere between 21 and 22 hundred years earlier. Included was a well preserved of the entire prophecy of Isaiah—the oldest copy of an Old Testament book ever to be discovered along with hundreds of partial manuscripts. What made this find so remarkable was the fact that these manuscripts were 98% accurate to the very books of the Old Testament that we read today. Hand written manuscripts passed from generation to generation for almost 4000 years with almost perfect accuracy. No other collection of books can make this claim.

Hidden inside this assortment of letters and documents are close to 400 prophesies about the Messiah, "the anointed" one who would come to save and liberate his people. Jesus fulfilled every one of them. If He had been a madman as some claimed and lived his life with the intention of fulfilling scriptures to point to himself as the Messiah, He could not have done so.

A science professor at Westmont College wrote a book explaining how only one person could possibly have fulfilled the prophecies. He worked with 600 students to calculate the mathematical probability of just eight of the Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled in any one person up to the present time. The probability is one chance in 10 to the 17th power. That’s a one with 17 zeroes after it.

Hard to comprehend? Imagine the entire world being covered with white tiles. Every bit of dry land was covered with little white tiles, one-and-a-half inches square. The bottom of just one tile would be painted red. A person would be allowed to spend their entire life walking around all seven continents until he found the tile he wanted to choose.

He would be allowed to bend down and pick up only one tile. The odds of him picking up the red-bottomed tile are the same as one person fulfilling just eight of the Messianic prophecies. Here are eight that Jesus fulfilled that He could not control.

1) Genesis 49:10 “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.” Jesus was born in the family of the Tribe of Judah.

2) Numbers 24:17 “I see him, but not here and now. I perceive him, but far in the distant future. A star will rise from Jacob; a scepter will emerge from Israel. It will crush the heads of Moab’s people, cracking the skulls of the people of Sheth.” Jesus was in the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

3) Jeremiah 23:5 “For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.” Jesus was a descendant of King David.

4) Isaiah 7:13-14 “Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).” Jesus was born of a virgin.