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of eternity.’ . . . And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the L ORD ” (Micah 5:2-4). Sure enough, some seven hundred years later, the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, just as the prophecy foretold.
    The prophet Isaiah, meanwhile, told us that the Messiah would be born as a male child, yet he would actually be God himself and would live and minister and bring divine light to the people of Israel. “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light,” Isaiah wrote. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:2, 6). Sure enough, God became flesh for a time by being born into the world as a baby boy named Jesus, who grew up to live, minister, and bring a great light to the people of the Galilee region, as well as to all of Israel and the world.
    The prophet Daniel, writing nearly six hundred years before the time of Jesus, told us that while the Messiah would come to make atonement for our sins and bring mankind into everlasting righteousness, something tragic would happen to him, and at some time after that, Jerusalem and the holy Temple would be destroyed by an invading power. God declared in Daniel 9:24-26 that a certain period of human history had been “decreed for your people [the Jews] and your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, [and] to bring in everlasting righteousness,” and then “the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,” and after that, “the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Sure enough, the Lord Jesus came early in the first century AD, he was “cut off” through a terrible torture and crucifixion at the hands of the Roman army around AD 32, and then in AD 70 the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, just as Daniel prophesied.
    The Prophecies Spoken by Jesus Came True
    Another reason we can trust the prophecies found in the Bible is that the prophecies uttered by the Lord Jesus himself have all come true, except for those that will be fulfilled in the Tribulation, by his second coming, and by events he spoke of that will occur after his second coming.
    For example, Jesus once told his disciples, who had not caught any fish after fishing all night on the Sea of Galilee, that they would catch some fish by casting their nets on the other side of the boat, and his prediction came true immediately. He told them, “‘Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.’ So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish” (see John 21:1-6).
    Another time Jesus pronounced that a fig tree that didn’t have any fruit on it would never bear fruit again, and it happened within twenty-four hours. “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” Jesus said. The next day, “as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered’” (see Mark 11:11-21).
    Jesus prophesied that the Second Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, and it came to pass about forty years later (see Matthew 24:1-2).
    Jesus prophesied that he would “go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day,” and his torture, execution, and resurrection dramatically and miraculously occurred less than three years later (see Matthew 16:21-23 and Matthew 26–28).
    Shortly before his death, Jesus prophesied that Peter would deny knowing him three times before the rooster crowed the following morning, and it happened just as he said it would—despite Peter’s intense promises to the contrary (see Matthew 26:31-35 and