Some say that The Old Testament contains over 400 prophecies about the coming Messiah. Others place the number at around 300. This number may be correct but I will teach you about the most relevant ones on this series of my evening devotional.
Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled these prophetic writings and the odds of that happening are just incredible.
Mathematics & Astronomy Professor Peter W. Stoner chances of just 8 prophecies has made the statement that the (like these) coming true by sheer chance is 1 in 10 to 17 (100,000,000,000,000,000). That would be equivalent to covering the whole state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep and then expecting a blindfolded man to walk across the state and on the very first try find the ONE coin you marked (roughly equivalent to the Province of Ontario being 1.5 feet deep and Quebec about 1 foot deep).
The first prophecy in this series is that the Messiah would be born of a woman. This odd is one that self-eliminates since everyone is born of a woman but we will start with a foundation.
The Old Testament prophecy
Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
After the fall of mankind by Adam and Eve's sin God established new rules, a new environment and what would happen between the guilty parts of this act of disobedience.
The language is mysterious and is illustrated by an image of a man stepping on a serpent crushing its head and at the same time receiving a bite on his heel.
From the moment this proclamation was made, the clock was set waiting for the one who would crush the devil’s head to appear.
The offspring
The question among Old Testament scholars is, "Who is the offspring?". Today we have a large group of people that consider Jesus Christ to be the one mentioned by God in this prophecy but there is also a large group of people that do not agree with this.
Matthew 1:20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
The miraculous birth of Jesus caused him to be God's offspring of the woman since Joseph is "son of David" but Jesus is the "son of God".
The fulness of time fulfilled
Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
This means that when God has planned it, things happen when they are supposed to and nothing ever catches God by surprise.
In the Old Testament there were many prophecies that pointed to the coming of the Messiah. The one thing that was evident however is that no one knew when that exact moment would come.
Crushing the head of the serpent
The Greek word rendered as “crush” in Genesis 3:15 is (syntribô; Strong's #4937) in verse 20 means “to break the power of, deprive of strength, debilitate.” It can also be translated as “crush” or “bruise”.
God says plainly that Satan would be put down; the woman's Seed—The Messiah—would “bruise his head.” The Hebrew word for “bruise,” qâmal, means “to slay, kill.” When a person's head is “bruised” in this way—given a killing blow—he dies, while the same blow on the heel causes pain and damage, but not death. God's curse on the serpent signals what the ultimate end of Satan will be.
Revelation 12:7-9 shows someone who is called "the dragon" as “the ancient serpent, who is also called the Devil and Satan. The woman in Revelation 12 is fighting the serpent. On this prophetic scripture Jesus and Mary are on the same “team” for “crushing the head of the Serpent.
This is the first prophecy in this series that we will learn about the Messiah.
The Messiah - born of a woman