Hi, I wanted to bring to this the subject of free will. Practically everything we do and think is a choice of some kind. Our choices shape our thinking and actions, our thinking shapes our beliefs. We can make up our minds about the things we will and won’t accept every day, like ‘I will never like Marmite’ or ‘There is no God’ or ‘Jesus never existed’.
Objective truth says that 2 + 2 = 4 but our views can colour how (or if) we will accept objective truth.
There is a weight of historical evidence for the gospel accounts of the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophecies - including those that related to the manner and place of his birth, something over which he had no control. The quantity and quality of ancient manuscripts is overwhelming. Christians do not have to rely on blind faith, but have a strong basis of sound historical evidence for Jesus. Yet millions of people will never accept he ever existed. (There are also other accounts outside the bible that speak of Jesus and John the Baptist, for example the prolific Jewish historian Flavius Josephus etc). He is an interesting article about the OT prophecies about the Jewish Messiah and the chances of them being fulfilled, forgive me if this is a bit long, but this really is amazing, please consider that just one of the OT prophets - Isaiah, who authored many of the messianic prophecies lived 700 years before Jesus was born. Here is an excerpt: (the full article is here https://firmisrael.org/learn/how-many-prophecies-did-jesus-fulfill/
“How many prophecies did Jesus fulfill? The Bible is full of Messianic prophecies. Mathematician Peter Stoner counted the probability of one person fulfilling even a small number of them. And he concluded, the chance of a single man fulfilling “just” 48 of the prophecies found in the Tanakh (Old Testament) would be one in (10 followed by 157 zeros)!
In other words, that’s an unimaginable number. And how many prophecies did Jesus fulfill? Almost seven times that many.
What if He was Messiah prophesied? After all, Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) fulfilled not just the 48 specifically Messianic prophecies. In fact, He fulfilled more than 324 individual prophecies that related to the Messiah.
To the Jewish People, this is more than a matter of random interest. That is to say, the Messiah has been prophesied in Scripture with great specificity.
15 Messianic Prophecies Jesus Fulfilled - Here is a list of important Messianic prophecies that Yeshua fulfilled. Additionally, see their corresponding New Testament references:
1) Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem.
See Micah 5:2; fulfilled in Matt. 2:1-7; John 7:42; Luke 2:4-7
2) Messiah is to be preceded by a Messenger.
See Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; fulfilled in Matthew 3:1-3; 11:10; John 1:23; Luke 1:17
3) Messiah is to enter Jerusalem on a donkey.
See Zechariah 9:9; fulfilled in Luke 35-37; Matthew 21:6-11
4) Messiah is to be betrayed by a friend.
See Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14; fulfilled in Matthew 10:4; 26:49-50; John 13:21
5) Messiah is to be sold for 30 pieces of silver.
See Zechariah 11:12; fulfilled in Matthew 26:15; 27:3
6) The money for which Messiah is sold is to be thrown “to the potter” in God’s house.
See Zechariah 11:13; fulfilled in Matthew 27:5-7
7) Messiah is to be born of a virgin.
See Isaiah 7:14; fulfilled in Matthew 1:18-2:1; Luke 1:26-35
8) Messiah is to be hated without cause.
See Isaiah 49:7; Psalm 69:5; fulfilled in John 15:24-25
9) Messiah is to be silent before His accusers.
See Isaiah 53:7; fulfilled in Matthew 27:12
10) Messiah is to be executed by crucifixion, by having His hands and feet pierced.
See Psalm 22:16; fulfilled in John 19:28
11) Messiah is to be given vinegar to quench His thirst.
See Psalm 69:21; fulfilled in Matthew 27:34
12) Messiah is to be executed without having a bone broken.
See Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:21; fulfilled in John 19:33-36
13) Messiah is to be buried with the rich when dead.
See Isaiah 53:9; fulfilled in Matthew 27:57-60
14) Messiah is to be raised from the dead.
See Isaiah 53:9-10; Psalm 2:7; 16:10; fulfilled in Matthew 28:1-20; Acts 2:23-36;13;33-37; 1 Corinthians 11:4-6
15) Messiah is to be executed by crucifixion as a thief.
See Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 53:5, 12; fulfilled in Luke 23:33; John 20:25; Matthew 27:38; Mark 5:27, 28
The Possibility of Jesus Fulfilling every Prophecy, as mentioned in the beginning, mathematician Peter Stoner applies the modern science of probability to just eight of these prophecies. This lead him to conclude that the chance of the prophesied Messiah fulfilling all eight is one in 100,000,000,000,000,000.
In order to comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates:
“…we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly. Blindfold a man and tell him that he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one?”^
“Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing just eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote in their own wisdom… ”
Now bear in mind Jesus was rejected by so many people in his own day, people who saw him work the miraculous firsthand, right in front of their eyes, heal people and even raise the dead. Practically all the religious Jewish leaders rejected Jesus, their hearts were hardened against him. They had made up their minds (I believe this has a lot to do with the heart) and made their choice. We have free will to make our choice - accept or reject. Believe Him or not.
The truth is that the vast vast vast majority of people will never accept Jesus. Not even if he was to appear in person to them and work the same miracles to prove his divinity. Even his own disciple Thomas refused to believe Jesus had risen unless he put his hand in his side (where he was pierced by the Roman’s spear at his crucifixion) and put his fingers in the holes in his hands. Thomas said he must "see," and touch - "lay his finger in the print of the nails” to believe. Jesus told Thomas that he believed because he had seen but blessed are those that have not seen, and yet believed.