Narrowing Down the Field

Some have suggested that the fact Jesus fulfills so many prophecies can be canceled out because he was trying to fulfill them.  Now, we could argue the numerical improbability of this occurring, even if someone tried to act out each prophecy, but that is not what I want to look at tonight.  No, tonight I would like to look at a few prophecies that Jesus could not have possibly "worked on" himself.

In Genesis 12:3, " I will bless those who bless you,
       and whoever curses you I will curse;
       and all peoples on earth
       will be blessed through you."

God promises Abram, later renamed Abraham, that he will bless the entire world through his lineage.  The Messiah will come from Abraham.

Then in Genesis 17:19  we are told, "Then God said, 'Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.  I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.'"

God narrows down the Messiah's ancestors to the line of Isaac.

In Genesis 28:14 God establishes the line with Jacob, "¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring."

In Genesis 49:10 Jacob, called Israel by God,  has his line further focused to the house of Judah, "The scepter will not depart from Judah,
       nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
       until he comes to whom it belongs 
       and the obedience of the nations is his.

In 2 Samuel 7:12-13  David is promised through the prophet Nathan to be the ancestor of the Messiah.
      "When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."

Why is all of this important?  A quick look at the opening of Matthew answers that question.

Matthew Chapter 1

 ¹A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
    ²Abraham was the father of Isaac,
         Isaac the father of Jacob,
         Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
       ³Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
         Perez the father of Hezron,
         Hezron the father of Ram,
       ⁴Ram the father of Amminadab,
         Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
         Nahshon the father of Salmon,
       ⁵Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
         Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
         Obed the father of Jesse,
       ⁶and Jesse the father of King David.
      David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,
    ⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
         Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
         Abijah the father of Asa,
       ⁸Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
         Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
         Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
       ⁹Uzziah the father of Jotham,
         Jotham the father of Ahaz,
         Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
       ¹⁰Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
         Manasseh the father of Amon,
         Amon the father of Josiah,
       ¹¹and Josiah the father of Jeconiah^[a] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
    ¹²After the exile to Babylon:
         Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
         Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
       ¹³Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
         Abiud the father of Eliakim,
         Eliakim the father of Azor,
       ¹⁴Azor the father of Zadok,
         Zadok the father of Akim,
         Akim the father of Eliud,
       ¹⁵Eliud the father of Eleazar,
         Eleazar the father of Matthan,
         Matthan the father of Jacob,
       ¹⁶and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Jesus would have had no way of controlling these facts, if he wasn't God.  Isn't it kind of amazing that he fits into each one of these categories, categories that were written down hundreds and even thousands of years before his birth.