Room65 – The World Cup Oracles
David J. Nixon (August 2010)
Octopus making predictions (lucky!), Nostradamus (vague), Jesus (was the fulfillment of specific prophecies and gave specific PROPHECY which were fulfilled => culminating in His RESURRECTION 3 days after His death!)
Just a few weeks ago the World Cup was being played in South Africa. It was a tournament with many surprises and disappointments. There was the surprising behaviour of France; the lacklustre performance of England; and Spain’s victory.
One story that got my attention was the fun one of Paul, the oracle octopus. Maybe you heard about this creature that correctly predicted the winner of each match. He would choose between food in two different boxes (which each had a country’s flag) and the box he chose was meant to be his prediction of the winning country. I’m not sure Paul’s oracles were very scientific or anything more than good luck, but it certainly got me thinking about predictions.
Maybe you have heard of: Nostradamus. He is famous for making hundreds of so called predictions or prophecies about the future. Most interestingly some believe that he prophesied the rise of Hitler by saying a terrible German dictator would be called Hister and be born on the Danube – indeed Hitler was born in Austria in a village on the banks of the Danube. However, most scholars would agree that all of Nostradamus' prophecies only look convincing with the benefit of hindsight, as they all are so open and vague that they can be applied to various events after they have happened. So while interesting, he also must be dismissed.
Christ:
However, let me tell you about a very remarkable historical character whose whole life was steeped in incredibly accurate prophecy and predictions. Maybe you've heard of him: Jesus Christ.
(Matthew’s gospel focus)
Jesus is the only person whose biography was written hundreds of years before His birth:
- He would be born to a virgin mother, because His father would be God not man.
- He would be born in a small little town called Bethlehem
- He would have a ministry of healing people and showing compassion to the broken and destitute
- He would be a great teacher
- He would be the king over God’s global kingdom of justice, equity and peace
- He would be rejected by His own people and killed for them
If you pick up one of the historical accounts of Jesus' life you will see these prophecies, which we can historically validate as being written hundreds of years previously, were all exactly fulfilled. But that's not where the amazing nature of Jesus ends! Jesus made some incredible prophecies Himself, and one particularly I want us to consider one this evening.
Several times in His ministry He told those closest to Him that when He went up to Jerusalem the week of the biggest Jewish festival, Passover He would be taken prisoner by His own people, He would be given to the Romans who would crucify Him until He died. But then He said He would rise again from the dead three days later: “And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them a third time: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” (Matthew 20:17-19)
Now that's a prophecy:
It specifies the TIME when the predicted event will take place,
it specifies WHERE,
it specifies WHO will do it, who will kill Him,
the METHOD of His death,
AND also then says 3 days later a tremendous and impossible event will take place: Jesus would rise again from the dead. This is an event that has never happened before: a man to rise again from death of His own volition and prediction.
What makes Jesus really remarkable is this impossible prophecy was fulfilled. 3 days after His death He was seen again ALIVE! He even appeared to hundreds of people gathered together at one time, so this was no fabrication by His followers. Rather the reason people became His followers was because all of these events convinced people that Jesus was not just any other man, He was actually God come down as a human being - as ONLY GOD could do these things.
That is why I am a Christian - a follower of Jesus - because of these incredible prophecies that He fulfilled that show me that He truly is God. He makes the call which I have responded to, to dedicate my life to following Him.
Choice:
What do you think about Jesus? Have you ever looked into the astounding claim of His resurrection? Can I encourage you to take away one of the historical accounts of Jesus’ life, written by one of His friends Matthew. Read this unique man’s life, see His prophesied death and think about His resurrection. Will you respond by following Jesus?
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