“Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:12
Fulfilling Promises
Super Bowl III will be forever remembered for Joe Namath guaranteeing that his New York Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts, an 18-point favorite and owners of the NFL’s best defense.
It was brash, but Namath backed it up by leading the Jets to a 16-7 victory. The win would help the upstart AFL, which the Jets were a part of, merge with the established NFL, where the Colts were members.
It was considered bold at the time (1969) because the two previous championships had resulted in lopsided wins by the NFL (35-10 and 33-14, both by the Green Bay Packers). Other predictions, though, like Patrick Ewing’s guarantees with the New York Knicks, didn’t come to pass all of the time.
Namath wasn’t the first to make bold predictions and back it up, though, and he certainly wasn’t 100 percent sure that the Jets would win. He thought they would, but he didn’t know for sure. No athlete can know for sure his or her team will win.
God’s predictions, though, are always true, and we know they will come to pass.
One example, of many, is when the prophet Isaiah boldly predicted that Christ would come, suffer and die on a cross for us—more than 700 years before Christ came to earth (for the full prophecy, read Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Even more astounding was the prediction by David, in Psalm 22, that Jesus would die by crucifixion. That prophecy, in Psalm 22:14-18, came about even before crucifixion on a cross had been invented.
Although anyone can make predictions, only God can truly guarantee that the prediction will come to pass. Put your faith in God’s promises, because anything else is just someone’s wishful thinking.
— BRETT HONEYCUTT
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