         |
|
 An online correspondence course One of the great proofs of the inspiration of the Bible is the fulfillment of prophecy. Although we often think of the prophets solely as predictors of the future, they were first of all speakers for God -- God's means of communicating with man. Early in Israel's history the prophet was called a "seer" -- one who sees (1 Samuel 9:9). They were teachers of God's word, advisors to national leaders, conveyors of warnings, interpreters of events, and, at periods in history, the conscience of the people. Important in the messages of the prophets were their supernatural visions of the future. Sometimes this aspect of prophecy has been called history written beforehand, although this is really an oversimplification since the predictions were usually limited in scope with meanings not apparent until interpreted at a later date. Nevertheless, when a prediction of future events is fufilled hundreds of years later it is strong evidence that the prophet possessed supernatural vision. Occasionally one might make a lucky guess, but when dozens of prophecies are accurately fulfilled, the possibility of chance is greatly diminished. The Bible contains many of these fulfilled prophecies which should help convince us that its writers were guided by divine inspiration. For any prediction to be unquestionably true several conditions must be met. (1) The prophecy clearly must have been made before the events depicted. (2) It must have been beyond the power of men to foresee. (3) It must not be a vision of hope or fear. (4) It must not be a scientific or political forecast. The amazing predictions of Jules Verne in foretelling the day of the submarine and other scientific developments were simply scientific forecasts and not true prophecies. (5) The prophecy must be clear and its fulfillment plain. If it is capable of many explanations it does not, by itself, constitute proof of the inspiration of its author. Most of the biblical writings should be understood literally, although, of course, figures of speech are often used and should be understood as we employ such figures today. Prophetic predictions, on the other hand, are frequently written in symbolic or allegorical language. Thus John the Apostle saw a vision of seven stars and seven golden candlesticks or lampstands (Rev. 1:12-20). He was not to seek a literal interpretation of the vision, but rather was informed by Jesus that the seven stars represented seven angels of the seven churches of Asia while the seven candlesticks were the seven congregations themselves. Although such visions sometimes have a literal meaning, many have misinterpreted prophecy by searching for a literal fulfillment when a symbolic one was intended. Let us consider several examples of fulfilled prophecy. THE GREAT IMAGE. In Daniel 2 we are told about a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The king forgot his dream and the prophet Daniel was called in to explain it. He not only reminded Nebuchadnezzar of the content of his dream, but gave him its interpretation. In the dream the king saw a great image. Its head was of fine gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet part of iron and part of clay. Then he saw a stone cut out without hands which smote the feet of the image, breaking the feet in pieces and completely destroying the rest of the image. The stone then became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Daniel explained that the image represented four kingdoms. The first one, signified by the head of gold, was that ruled by Nebuchadnezzar. It was to be succeeded be a second kingdom depicted by the silver and followed by a third one of brass. The fourth would be a divided kingdom as strong as iron and as brittle as clay. The little stone cut without hands was to be a kingdom which the God of heaven would set up in the days of the fourth kingdom "which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever." (Daniel 2:44.) Of this prophecy one writer has said, "One who does not know that here the correspondence of prediction and history is perfect is ignorant of the simplest elements of history." (Everest, The Divine Demonstration, pp. 295, 296.) The great Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar (the head of gold) fell to the Medes and Persians (the breast and arms of silver.) Alexander the Great, with his brazen-coated soldiers, in turn, overthrew the Persian kingdom and replaced it with the Greek (the belly and thighs of brass.) The fourth kingdom, both strong and brittle, was the Roman Empire. The last of the four great kingdoms, it was a divided empire with two capitals. It was strong enough to become the greatest of all, yet brittle enough to crumble without any great external force being launched against it. The little stone which struck the great image is the kingdom of Christ set up by God in the days of the Roman Empire. Unlike the other kingdoms it is spiritual. As predicted by Daniel it will never be destroyed, but "shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms." It has been said that "Christianity is a growth in the world rather than a revolution or a conquest; yet a growth such as the world had not seen before." The similarity between prophecy and events is amazing. Remember that Daniel's prophecy came before all but one of these kingdoms had become a major power. THE JEWS. Before his death Moses called the children of Israel together. He informed them that God would bless or curse them in relation to their obedience to him. They chose to disobey and reaped the curses rather than the blessings. Some examples from Deuteronomy 28 follow: "And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee." (verse 37.) Such expressions of contempt as "that beats the Jews" and "I'll Jew you down a notch" illustrate the fulfillment. "The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young." (v. 49, 50.) This was fulfilled in the Roman conquest of the holy land in 63 B.C. and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Romans came from a great distance, spoke Latin which Israel could not understand, and had as their ensign the eagle, the bird mentioned in this prophecy. Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived through the siege of Jerusalem, says of the Roman ferocity, "They did not so much as spare young children." "They slew those whom they overtook, without mercy, and set fire to the houses whither the Jews were fled, and burnt every soul in them." "But together with those whom they had orders to slay, they slew the aged and infirm." Josephus describes how a mother ate her own child during the siege which he said took over a million lives, thus fulfilling verse 57. "And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind." (v. 64,65.) The fulfillment is so well known as to require little comment. The Jews have been scattered throughout the world, forced to live in ghettos, and killed by the millions in persecutions. Truly, in their wanderings the sole of their foot has found no rest. NINEVEH. The capital of the Assyrian Empire was once the world's greatest city. It is unlikely that a city has ever been so hated. The atrocities of King Assurbanipal were so terrible as to bring horror to the hearts of the most hardened. Once he cut off the hands, feet, ears, and noses of the people of a conquered city, put out their eyes and raised two mounds outside the city -- one of human heads and another of human limbs. Then he burned the children with fire. Small wonder that God determined to destroy the city. At its zenith Nahum and Zephaniah predicted its utter destruction. Nahum said, "And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her?" (Nahum 3:7.) Zephaniah declared, "And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness." (Zeph. 2:13.) Two hundred years later when the historian Xenophon passed the ruins of Nineveh, he took the debris for the ruins of a Parthian city. When Alexander the Great fought the battle of Arbela a short distance away after Nineveh had been laid waste, he didn't even know he was close to what was once the world's greatest city. Nineveh fell, never to rise again. BABYLON. The Babylonian Empire succeeded the Assyrian. Several times the Bible predicts the end of Babylon. A graphic illustration is Isaiah 13:19-21. "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there." Babylon was then the queen of the world. Its hanging gardens were renowned as one of the seven wonders of the world. A huge ancient city, it was fifteen miles on each side and had walls 300 feet high and eighty feet thick extending thirty-five feet below ground. Yet this great city was so utterly destroyed that only a cheerless waste now greets the visitor. One traveler has said of it, "Nothing is left of Babylon but heaps of earth trodden under foot of men!" How could any prophecy be more explicitly fulfilled! THE TEMPLE. Mark says of Jesus, "And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Mark 13:1,2.) Mark's gospel was in general circulation ten to twenty years before the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. Josephus says the stones of the temple were "white and strong," thirty-seven feet long, eight feet high, and eighteen feet broad. That they should be almost completely torn down seems beyond comprehension. When Titus conquered Jerusalem he decreed that the temple should be spared. But, says Josephus, "One of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window." The building burned and Titus ordered it demolished. So completely was this done that the very ground on which the temple stood was plowed and the foundations dug up. Truly, as Jesus had prophesied, not one stone was left upon another. Many other prophecies could be given to demonstrate the inspiration of the Bible. In another lesson those relating to the Messiah will be studied. Fill in the blanks: 1. Fulfilled prophecy is proof of the __inspiration__ of the Bible. 2. The four universal empires represented by the image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream were __Babylonian__, __Medes and Persians__, __Greek__, and __Roman__. 3. The Jewish historian who related an account of the siege of Jerusalem was __Josephus__. 4. Two prophets who foretold the destruction of Nineveh were __Nahum__ and __Zephaniah (or Jonah)__. True or false: F 1. Prophecy is history written after it happens. T 2. A scientific forecast is not prophecy. F 3. Prophecies usually should be interpreted literally. F 4. The breast and arms of the great image were of brass. F 5. The children of Israel disobeyed God and received God's blessings as a result. F 6. Babylon was an average size ancient city. T 7. Jesus prophesied that every stone in the temple would be thrown down. In each passage one or more prophecies are made. In the first column tell who the speaker is, or, in the case of a book of prophecy, who the writer is, even though God may be represented as speaking. In the second column write the persons, cities or countries which are the subject of the prophecies. Where several are referred to more than one blank is supplied:
Back to the Table of Contents | On to Lesson 9 > > > |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home
Members | About Us | Worship and Classes | Staff and Leadership
Ministries | Missions | Online Resources | Intranet | Youth | Contact Us
Back To Top