The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this. –-C. S. Lewis, Miracles

C. S. Lewis contends the Incarnation is the “central miracle” of Christianity, that all other miracles reveal and result from it. During Advent, we celebrate this central miracle, the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. But as we remember this miracle, I’d also like to consider the miracle of Old Testament prophecy.

There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the coming Messiah. Centuries before Christ was born in Bethlehem, prophets foretold the circumstances regarding and the significance of his birth, life, and death. In the books of Genesis, Isaiah, Zechariah, Psalms, Jeremiah, Numbers, 2 Samuel, Hosea, Malachi, Micah, and Daniel, prophets foretold that Jesus would:

• be born of a virgin in Bethlehem
• come from the line of Abraham and from the tribe of Judah
• be an heir to King David’s throne
• be called Immanuel
• spend a season in Egypt
• be rejected and despised by his own people
• be a Nazarene
• be declared Son of God
• speak in parables
• be a light in the darkness
• enter Jerusalem on a donkey
• be betrayed and falsely accused
• be hated without cause and crucified with criminals
• suffer—his hands, feet, and side pierced
• pray for his enemies even as he suffered and died
• be a sacrifice, an atonement for human sin
• ascend into heaven and be seated at the right hand of God
• return as Messiah a second time

Each Advent season, we hear some of the most quoted prophecies from Isaiah:

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.” Isaiah 53:5

That there are so many other prophecies in so many other Old Testament books, however, should give us pause. It gives me pause, for the number and accuracy of these prophecies are miraculous. It seemed miraculous to American mathematician and astronomer Professor Peter Stoner, too. Stoner was a co-founder of the American Scientific Affiliation, a professional organization for Christians in the scientific field. In his book, Science Speaks (first published in 1958), he and Robert Newman (who held a doctorate in theoretical astrophysics from Cornell University, a M.Div. from Faith Theological Seminary, and an S.T.M. in Old Testament from Biblical Theological Seminary) explore the statistical improbability of one man fulfilling just eight of these prophecies. After statistical calculations, they determined the odds of one man fulfilling even eight of these Old Testament prophecies are one in one hundred quadrillion. To help math-challenged people like me, they offer the following scenario as explanation:

Suppose that we take 100,000,000,000,000,000 dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom.

Ultimately, Stoner and Newman concluded that “[n]o human being has ever made predictions which hold any comparison to those we have considered, and had them accurately come true. The span of time between the writing of these prophecies and their fulfillment is so great that the most severe critic cannot claim that the predictions were made after the events happened.”

If the statistical improbability of one man fulfilling eight of the Old Testament prophecies is one in one hundred quadrillion, just imagine the odds of this same man fulfilling 300 such prophecies. Mathematically, this is beyond what I can comprehend. It’s a miracle of unimaginable proportions. And it gives weight to C. S. Lewis’ claim that myth becomes fact as these prophecies are ultimately realized in Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection.

The central miracle of Christianity is, as Lewis contends, the Incarnation. In his personal correspondence, he wrote:

God could, had He pleased, have been incarnate in a man of iron nerves, the Stoic sort who lets no sigh escape Him. Of His great humility, He chose to be incarnate in a man of delicate sensibilities who wept at the grave of Lazarus and sweated blood in Gethsemane.

Lewis understood the “humiliation of myth into fact, of God into man.” He understood this humility—a man who weeps, sweats blood, and suffers on a cross—would lead to greater glory. And he understood that “every other miracle prepares for this [God becoming man], or exhibits this, or results from this.” As we celebrate the miracle and mystery of the Incarnation, I’d like to remember the miracle of prophecy, too. I confess that, until recently, I hadn’t given this much thought. Yet, as I have considered this (with the help of mathematicians who understand probability), I’ve been humbled and astonished by the incredible odds of one man fulfilling even eight of the 300 prophecies about Jesus. I can’t help but think of Stoner’s example: the odds of one man fulfilling eight prophecies are akin to a blindfolded man attempting to locate one marked silver dollar out of one hundred quadrillion silver dollars scattered across the state of Texas.

And I confess it gives me pause to consider the realization of just one prophecy. I’m astounded by the realization of Micah’s prophecy, written 700-800 years before Christ’s birth, announcing that the “ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” would come from Bethlehem, “small among the clans of Judah.” It is in the spirit of this wonder that I prepare for the birth of the Christ child, for the man who “wept at the grave of Lazarus and sweat blood in Gethsemane,” and for the Savior who was “pierced for our transgressions.”