Deuteronomy 18:15-22 says,
15 Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16 according to all that thou desiredst of Jehovah thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
17 And Jehovah said unto me, They have well said that which they have spoken.
18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
20 But the prophet, that shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
21 And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken?
22 when a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken: the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him.
It seems that a common misunderstanding about prophecy is that it is a display of God's power, and nothing more. That God makes a prediction, it comes true, and then... nothing happens because we're done here. This is not the case. The purpose of a prophecy is to show that the prophet actually does speak for God. If a prophet makes a prediction that comes true, then, as Deuteronomy 18 says, that prophet speaks for God. That prophet then goes on to do his actual work, which is relaying God's will to the people.
As for the main point of the thread, first notice that if a prophet's prediction does not come to pass, then he is a false prophet (verses 21-22). Notice also that false prophets shall be executed (verse 20).
No concept of a far-future prophecy is covered. If a prophet made a prediction that didn't come true within 500 years, he would have been considered a false prophet. Plain and simple.
So considering that there were 500 years between the last Old Testament writing and the birth of Jesus, and considering the very high cost of actually producing a book back in these ancient times, the probability that scholars would write down the words of a false prophet in a book and then copy it multiple times and preserve it for centuries is basically 0%.
Therefore, a clear, unambiguous prophecy that is 100% about Jesus and 0% about anything else simply does not exist. No such prophecy was ever intended. It's gospel writers taking the Old Testament out of context that have created a mess.
15 Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16 according to all that thou desiredst of Jehovah thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
17 And Jehovah said unto me, They have well said that which they have spoken.
18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
20 But the prophet, that shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
21 And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken?
22 when a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken: the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him.
It seems that a common misunderstanding about prophecy is that it is a display of God's power, and nothing more. That God makes a prediction, it comes true, and then... nothing happens because we're done here. This is not the case. The purpose of a prophecy is to show that the prophet actually does speak for God. If a prophet makes a prediction that comes true, then, as Deuteronomy 18 says, that prophet speaks for God. That prophet then goes on to do his actual work, which is relaying God's will to the people.
As for the main point of the thread, first notice that if a prophet's prediction does not come to pass, then he is a false prophet (verses 21-22). Notice also that false prophets shall be executed (verse 20).
No concept of a far-future prophecy is covered. If a prophet made a prediction that didn't come true within 500 years, he would have been considered a false prophet. Plain and simple.
So considering that there were 500 years between the last Old Testament writing and the birth of Jesus, and considering the very high cost of actually producing a book back in these ancient times, the probability that scholars would write down the words of a false prophet in a book and then copy it multiple times and preserve it for centuries is basically 0%.
Therefore, a clear, unambiguous prophecy that is 100% about Jesus and 0% about anything else simply does not exist. No such prophecy was ever intended. It's gospel writers taking the Old Testament out of context that have created a mess.
