ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN ON ADVENT AND THE CHRISTMAS MYSTERY

A Jewish scholar who became a Christian and who knew the Old Testament very well and all of the traditions of the Jews, said that at the time of Christ the rabbis had gathered together 456 prophecies concerning the Messiah, the Christ, the conqueror of evil who was to be born and to enter into a new covenant with mankind. Suppose the chances of any one prophecy being fulfilled by accident, say the place where he would be born, was one in a hundred.

     Then, if two prophecies were fulfilled, the chances would be one in a thousand. If three prophecies were to coincide in Christ, that would be one in ten thousand. If four, one in a hundred thousand. If five, one in a million. Now if all of these prophecies were fulfilled in Christ, what would be the chance of them all concurring at the appointed moment, not only in place but also in time, as was foretold by the prophet Daniel? Take a pencil and write on a sheet of paper the numeral 1, and draw a line beneath it. Under the line write 84, and after 84, if you have time, write 126 zeros. That is the chance of all of the prophecies of Christ being fulfilled. It runs into millions and millions, trillions and trillions.

     The crucifixion of Jesus was foretold in Psalm 22:16-18 approximately 1,000 years before Christ was born, long before this method of execution was even practiced. Some Bible scholars suggest that more than 300 prophetic Scriptures were completed in the life of Jesus. A list of some fulfilled prophecies is on the Jews for Jesus website.  All other religions, without exception, go from man to God, either by contemplation or by a kind of mortification and self-denial. One, for example, is the eightfold path of Buddha.

But with our Blessed Lord, religion comes from God to man.   

   We need help and, particularly, redemption from sin.   

                                             ~  from the book Through the Year with Fulton Sheen