Jesus and his followers accepted and utilized the tool of prophecy to determine and foretell religious authenticity.
One: Jesus informs the people a prophecy has been fulfilled:
Jesus went to a synagogue and read a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah where it said, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began saying to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’”. Luke 4:16-21
Two: Jesus encourages his disciples in the application of prophecy:
“The disciples asked him, ‘Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first’? Jesus replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.” Matthew 17:10-13
Three: Jesus directs the disciples to prophecies in the Book of Daniel to answer a question about his return:
“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us’, they said, ‘when will these this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age’? Jesus answered: …’So when you see the abomination that causes desolation, spoken through the prophet Daniel-let the reader understand’…” Matthew 24:3-21
Here Jesus is referring to the prophecy in Daniel where it says, “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. Blessed is he who waits and reaches the end of the 1335 days.” Daniel 12:11,12.
Also, “The rebellion that causes desolation” in Daniel 8:13,14 gives 2300 days.
Four: Jesus gave prophecies for the coming of future prophets:
“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38
And again:
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” John 16: 12,13
Five: The followers of Jesus carried on with Jesus’ example of utilizing the prophecy tool:
The first pages of the New Testament, in the Book of Matthew, go right into how Jesus fulfilled many prophecies from the Old Testament. The very first thing Mark talks about is a prophecy fulfilled by John the Baptist. The first sentence of the Book of Luke uses the word “fulfilled”, and he then writes of eyewitnesses, personal investigation, and visiting angels prophesying the near future. The Book of John mentions prophecy in certain places for example Chapters 4, 12, and 19. The Book of Acts starts right off talking about prophecy being fulfilled concerning Judas.
The point of this is that Jesus and early Christians recognized prophecy as a way to know things. There have been many great people who have come along over the years and created huge masses of believers. But did these people fulfill any prophecies?
My belief in the Baha’i Faith is based largely upon the fulfillment of prophecy by its founders.
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