In the last post on Validity of the Bible we looked at Jesus’ “prediction” that Judas would betray Him, and that Peter would deny Him 3 times. After Judas had left, Jesus taught the remaining 11 many more things; in addition, He told them what was going to happen to them.
We know from John 16:1, and 16:4 why Jesus told them what would happen to them:
John 16:1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.”
John 16:4a But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
Jesus tells them, all of you will scatter:
John 16:32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone.
Matthew also records the Words of Jesus, but he points out that Jesus said, “as it is written”. This is a reference to Old Testament prophesy. This was foretold hundreds of years before:
Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
If Peter does what he said he’d do, or any of the others had the courage to stay with Jesus when He was arrested, just one of them, Jesus is wrong. But, just as Jesus said, they all scattered.
Jesus also told them the world will hate you, and you will be persecuted.
Jesus also told them they would be killed.
History records that all the apostles were martyred. We do not know how John died, but we know he was sent to a prison island and probably died there.
The entire group scattering is not that surprising, after all, there was a mob of people including several Roman soldiers, so the scene had to be quite frightening. I would guess that at least one of them, when Jesus said, “you will all scatter”, thought to themselves, “nope, I am going to stay with Him until the end.” But nobody did, they all fled.
With all of them fleeing not being surprising, what is surprising is that although they fled and hid in fear, all of them ultimately became bold and courageous and began their mission of preaching the Gospel. Then, just as Jesus “predicted”, they were persecuted for it, and they were warned to quit,
Acts 5:28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this Name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this Man’s Blood upon us.”
In this particular “scene”, one of the Pharisees exercised some sound logic:
Acts 5:34-39 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice,
Consider the wisdom of this man, further more, consider the fact that he could site two examples of situations where “movements” amounted to nothing when the leader died. One might say, what about other religions when the leader died and the religion continued on, like Islam, or Mormonism, or Jehovah’s Witness. The difference is, followers of these groups were not severely persecuted like followers of Jesus. In addition, Jesus gave the apostles authority to heal and raise the dead, further confirmation that what they did was of God, not man.
Before Gamaliel had spoke to the council, they were determined to kill them, but instead they just beat them.
Act 5:40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the Name of Jesus, and let them go.
Why did the apostles go from hiding in fear, to having the boldness to preach the Gospel in the face of persecution and warnings from those who had the authority to kill them? Answer: Jesus rose from the dead, spent more time with them before they watched Him ascend back to Heaven. I can see how that would give them boldness and courage!
Not only did they preach the Gospel in the face of severe persecution, but they never quit until they silenced them by killing them – just as Jesus said they would.
Let’s consider what we have looked at in these two posts and do the math, conservatively putting each “prediction” at a 1 in 10 chance of being fulfilled:
1. Judas Betrayal
2. Judas Betrayal foretold in Old Testament
3. Peter’s 1st denial
4. Peter’s 2nd denial
5. Peter’s 3rd denial
6. The rooster crow after the 3rd
These last three should probably be listed as 33 items since there were 11 of them, but let’s keep it at 1 each which would be even more conservative math.
7. All the apostles scattering
8. All the apostles being persecuted
9. All the apostles being killed
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10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000,000,000
That number is a BILLION! The probability of all 9 of these things happening is a very conservative 1 in a BILLION!!
A sceptic might look at this and say, “the story was written after the fact”. But that wouldn’t explain the willingness of the apostles to continuing preaching unto death. That would also have to mean they died for a lie. The sceptic might say, “they didn’t know it was a lie.” That would mean that someone other than Jesus convinced these frightened men that he was the risen Christ, and convinced these men to be bold and go preach Jesus until they kill you.
We are at a very conservative one in a billion probability, and we haven’t even looked at the more improbable prophecies of the birth and death of the Messiah that were foretold hundreds of years before.
Until next time, read these accounts as written in all three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and then read Acts, where you will find the accounts of the Apostle’s life after Jesus went back to Heaven.
