"'It shall be when these signs come to you,
do for yourself
what the occasion requires, for
God is with you.' ...
Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel,
God changed his heart;
and all those signs came about on that day"
(1 Sam 10:7, 9).
Samuel foretold very specific things that would happen to Saul as a confirmation that God had indeed chosen him to be king,
and the signs came to pass exactly
as he said they would.
The Torah makes surgically precise prophecies
the test of a true prophet
(Deut 18:21–22).
Not only did the prophets know they were foretelling things
that would take place in the future, but so did those who heard
their prophecies, otherwise they could never have been tested.
Why does this matter? I have heard more times than I can count believers claim the prophets didn't understand what they were saying about the Messiah, and only through the New Testament can we understand the fuller (Holy Spirit intended) meaning of the Old Testament. Not only does this make a mockery of biblical prophecy, but also destroys the apologetic foundation for defending the New Testament's claims about Jesus.
For if the other prophets didn't foresee things the Messiah would do
ahead of time,
then the New Testament's "proof" that Jesus is the Messiah is nothing more than circular reasoning. No worries! The life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus is proof that the Old Testament
prophets were 100% correct!
"Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the
patriarch David that he both died and was buried,
and his tomb is with us to this day.
And so, because he was a prophet and knew that
GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT
one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE,
he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that
HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES,
NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.
This
Jesus God raised up again,
to which
we are all witnesses"
(Acts 2:29-32).
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