CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES
Fulfilled Prophecies That Prove The Bible To Be Inspired.
In former lessons we have noticed the wonderful unity and scientific accuracy of the Bible. These were presented as reasons for believing the Bible to be a Special Divine Revelation. We come now to our next reason, which are the many examples of fulfilled prophecies to be found in the Bible. Our proposition may be stated thus:
I. Man cannot know the future; only God can foretell history.
II. The Bible foretold history of nations and the coming of Christ.
III. Therefore the Bible is the word of God.
(Prophecy is the making known of that which was previously un-known, past, present, or future. A prophet is simply a mouthpiece for God.)
Our study shall be some examples of the second statement made above, which prove the third statement to be true. Before noticing these examples, we should note a quotation from “Internal Evidence of Inspiration”, by Harry Rimmer:
“It is necessary that we briefly state the tests of true prophecy. There has been so much of fraud and deception in the world, that we cannot expect men blindly to accept the Bible's claims to infallibility unless those claims can be sustained. To clarify the question and to show the nature of prophecy, let us consider these four rules:
- A prophecy must be the unveiling of the future or past that no mere human foresight could guess.
- A prophecy must be spoken so long before the event takes place that the lapse of time will preclude the agency of the prophet himself in bringing to pass the fulfillment thereof.
- Prophecy must contain sufficient number of details to exclude accident or guesswork.
- A prophecy is fully accredited only by its historical fulfillment.”
The Bible teaches that we should accept a prophet as having come from God only when his prophecies come to pass ( Deuteronomy 18:20 -22; Jeremiah 28:7-9 ). We may now put these prophecies to the test and see that what they said has come to pass. (Please read the corresponding scripture for each example for precise details)
I. Moses' Prophecy Concerning Israel (spoken fifteen hundred years before Christ – Deuteronomy 28 ), that stated:
• Blessing upon Israel if they should be obedient to the Lord. ( Vs. 1-14 )
• Cursing if disobedient, this becomes their ‘history foretold'. ( Vs. 14-64 )
• Foretold that they should have a king, about 400 years in advance. ( Vs. 36 )
• They should become a “hiss and a byword, ( Vs. 37 ) fulfilled in Jeremiah 29:18 hundreds of years later.
• A nation from afar would come against them. ( Vs. 49-50 ) This would be fulfilled first by Assyria , then Babylon , and finally by Rome once and for all.
• Great suffering would accompany the siege and during the siege they should eat their young ( Vs. 53, 56-57 ). See: Josephus, Wars, Book 6, Chapter 3, Paragraph 4, and Page 818.
• Their end should be a most fearful one. ( Vs. 64-67 )
• They should be scattered, taken captive, sold, till none should want to buy them. ( Vs. 68 ) See: Josephus, Wars, Book 6, Chapter 9, Paragraph 2, and Page 831.
The Jews stand as one of the greatest monuments of fulfilled prophecies.
II. Prophecies Concerning Egypt . ( Isaiah 19, Ezekiel 29,30 )
• Egypt was to become desolate in the midst of desolations.
• Their would be no more prince of Egypt ; it was to be ruled by strangers.
• It was to become the basest of kingdoms. “ Egypt has had many different masters through the centuries since the time of prophecy. First the Babylonians, then the Persians, then the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Turks, the French, and lastly the English, but all have been strangers and all have despoiled the land of its riches.” ( Hamilton , The Basis of Christian Faith, pg. 304)
• The land was to become less productive ( Ezekiel 30:12; Isaiah 19:5-6 ). Modern writers say the Nile now supports only a fraction of the former land it supplied and irrigated. The canals have diminished and dried up.
III. The Prophecy Concerning Nineveh ( Isaiah 10:12-14; Zephaniah 2:13-15; and the Book of Nahum ).
• This great and flourishing city state was to be destroyed.
• It was to be captured when its rulers and defenders were drunk.
• It was to be destroyed by water and fire providentially working with its enemies.
• From its destruction, it would not rise up a second time.
• It should become a desolation and dry barren place, like a wilderness or desert.
• Flocks should lie down there. Those who passed by should hiss and wag the head, in sympathy with the ruin which had mocked its former grandeur.
For nearly a century after Assyria took Samaria into captivity, it was plagued and besieged from all sides, from Babylon , Elam , the Medes, Phrygia , and Egypt . The last quarter of the seventh century B.C. saw the fall and decline of the Assyrian empire and its subjugation by the Chaldean conquerors of Babylonia , with Medes. Nineveh was taken in 612 B.C.
IV. Prophecy Concerning Babylon ( Isaiah 13:1-14:27; Jeremiah 50-51 ).
• It was to be entirely overthrown, as were Sodom and Gomorrah .
• It should never be inhabited nor dwelt in from generation to generation.
• The Arab should not pitch his tent there; nor do shepherds make their fold.
• Wild beasts of the desert should lie there.
• Her walls and foundations and palaces should be cut off.
• Those who passed by should be astonished at her plagues.
The life of the prophet Daniel extended from the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, through the reigns of the succeeding five kings, past the fall of Babylon , into the Persian Empire , through the reign of Darius the Mede, even unto the third year of Cyrus the Persian. The Babylonian empire lasted a total of seventy years and was never again a factor of prominence in the region.
V. Prophecy Concerning Tyre ( Isaiah 23, Ezekiel 26:1-28:19, Zechariah 9:3-4 ).
• The city was to be taken and destroyed by the Chaldeans ( Ezekiel 26:7-11 ).
• Again Tyre was to be taken and destroyed ( Ezekiel 27:32; Zechariah 9:3-4 ). Alexander the Great was the second destroyer in 332 B.C.
• Finally, the city was to be a place where fisherman would dry their nets.
During the siege by Alexander the Great, a causeway was constructed to assist in the siege. After the city was taken and completely destroyed the causeway remained and fishermen used it to dry their nets.
VI. Prophecy Concerning Sidon ( Ezekiel 28:20-24 ).
• It should be a scene of bloodshed and slaughter.
• Although we are told that Sidon should be a place of bloodshed, we are not told that it should be utterly destroyed, as was Tyre , its neighboring city. Notice how carefully the doom of both cities is foretold, yet no mistake is made confusing them.
By and large, the history of Sidon followed the course of that of all Phoenicia . In common with the rest of the lands of the Middle East , Sidon fell under the power in turn of Assyria , Babylon , Persia , Greece , and Rome . Brief lived patterns of alliance, periods of independence, parley, subjection, ill-advised revolt, destruction, and renaissance, were the common lot with the rise and fall of the great nations. Yet, Sidon did not completely fall.
If prophecies such as these should be spoken today about such cities as Houston , New York , Chicago , etc., or even the United States , men would say they could never come true. Yet, these cities and countries we have mentioned were great and important in the ancient world as our modern cities are to us today. How did these men know they would all pass away and be destroyed? And how could they describe their coming destruction so accurately? We must conclude that they were inspired of God as prophets, and thus what they wrote must have been the inspired word of God.
Another type of prophecy is the prophecies of the coming Christ, but we shall reserve these for a later lesson, since they prove both the inspiration of the Bible and the divinity of Christ.