What Do Numbers and Math Have to Do with Messiah?

March 2023

“I am a logical man. I was a math professor. I know facts and figures. Spirituality is something different, something harder to prove. It does not work on that type of logic.” Saul, a Jewish eighty-two-year-old, made these statements to our missionary. He meant it is hard for him to believe in Jesus because he could not verify the validity of the gospel message. What would you say?

Prior to his comment, while they were speaking, our staff member asked the Lord to give him wisdom, discernment, and divine understanding. People meet Jesus all the time in diverse ways, but how was God going to get through to Saul? What our missionary said next came from the Lord in answer to his prayer.

He said he understood trying to accept God through logic was challenging, but it was not impossible. The man was immediately curious and asked how. Our staff member replied, “My father thought similarly to you. But it was ultimately numbers and math that convinced my dad Jesus was the Messiah.” “Really?!” Saul responded. “How?” “Well, it was not until my dad read Daniel chapter 9, in which God lays out the exact time the Messiah would come and die after a specific number of years, when He recognized the Messiah’s identity. My father realized if the Messiah was to come, it had to be between 30 and 33 ad.” Saul finished the sentence, “That is the time Jesus is said to have died on the cross.” Exactly! Saul put it together for himself. He told our staff member he had never heard the Scriptures prophesied the timing of the Messiah’s arrival.

Please pray for Saul as our missionary continues to minister to him, and as his believing wife continues to pray for him.