Proof of Prophecy, Power, and Truth

“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”  2 Peter 1:21

Peter was an eye witness to fulfilled prophecy. In 2 Peter 1 he states: 

"For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain."

Jesus would have gone down in history as a rabbi who did many miracles, showed compassion for the poor and for sinners, was a thorn in the side of the religious elite, and taught wonderful life lessons through his story telling, except for the prophecies about him and the fulfillment of those prophecies. 

Human prophets wrote prophecies under the influence of the Holy Spirit. They spoke of times, situations and precise outcomes so far in advance of the events that it would otherwise have been impossible for them to know what to write if it had not been for a divine outside influence on them. 

Then in a brief 30 + year period in history, while Jesus was on earth, hundreds of the prophecies about the Messiah came true. There were prophecies about the manner of his birth, the place of his birth, the focus of his ministry, his horrible death and his resurrection from the dead. 

Peter testifies to being present to see first hand the fulfillment of many of the prophecies about Jesus. After being trained by Jesus he and his colleagues were commissioned as disciple-makers. From his testimony in his writings we have the assurance that Jesus is who he claimed to be and we pick up the mandate to be disciple-makers in our generation. We go forward in confidence because we have believed the testimony of people like Peter. We have also a lived experience of knowing Jesus and being changed by his presence in our lives. Therefore our testimony is added to the ancient message coming down to us through the centuries past and we take up the mandate to be disciple-makers in our generation.