Music recording by Ben Doggett. From Blessed Assurance by Fanny Crosby, 1873. View the Lyrics. Narration by Aimee Riegert.

Devotional by Joseph A. Kohm

Image: Hatshepsut was the daughter of Pharoah Thutmose I and served as queen regnant of Egypt around 1479–1458 BC. Parallels with the biblical account have led some to suspect that she may have been the custodian of Moses described in the biblical account of Exodus.

The Old Testament is filled with more than 300 prophecies pertaining to Jesus. The Introduction to this devotional referenced the book Science Speaks, by Professor Stoner and eight well-known Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah. These eight include that He would be born in Bethlehem, He would be proceeded by a messenger (John the Baptist), He would enter Jerusalem on a donkey, He would be betrayed by a friend (Judas), He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver, that those 30 pieces of silver would be used to purchase a field, that He would remain silent before His accusers, and finally, that His hands and feet would be pierced when crucified with thieves. The mathematical probability of one individual fulfilling all eight prophecies is 1 in 10. That is 10 to the 17th power or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. Incredibly, when we read the New Testament, all eight prophecies, and many, many more are fulfilled.

The example Professor Stoner uses to illustrate the mathematical probability of these eight prophecies being fulfilled by one person is to imagine the state of Texas being covered by silver dollars two feet deep and then giving a blindfolded person access to the whole state to pick out one specifically marked silver dollar.

The Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, is a book about God and tells the story of a loving Father with a plan for all history, creation, and redemption, carried out sacrificially by His son Jesus Christ, then perfected through His disciples and followers by the power of the Holy Spirit until He returns again. The multitude of fulfilled Old Testament prophecies provides us with a blessed assurance that we can place our absolute trust in what we read on its pages.