The Evidence of Prophecy
Another of the Bible’s most breath-taking claims is that it has power to read the future.
Isaiah 46:9-10: “Declaring the end from the beginning.”
2 Peter 1:19: “A more sure word of prophecy.”
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Amos 3:7: “God reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets.”
John 14:19: “I have told you before it come to pass.”
This is an audacious, dramatic claim, and obviously, at this
point, the Bible “burns all its bridges” behind it. There is no “backing out”
from a claim as emphatic and final as this. At this point, the Bible openly
submits itself to a practical, historical test. If it prophecies come true, its
claims to super-human authorship are thereby vindicated. If its prophecies fail to come true, the Bible’s claims
to Divine Inspiration are thereby demolished.
It is as simple as that.
From the many fulfilled prophecies, we will select four
outstanding prophecies, to whose exact fulfillment History gives a decisive
witness.
THE UTTER DESOLATION OF ANCIENT
BABYLON
Over one hundred
details are included in the many Bible passages which foretold the doom of
Babylon, whose empire rose to the height of its glory about 600 B.C. One of the
most magnificent cities of antiquity, Babylon appeared to have “everything
going for it.” It was built astride the Euphrates river, in the fabulously
fertile Mesopotamia plain. It boasted a population of over a million people. It
was surrounded by a vast and ingenious system of irrigation canals – providing
an apparently inexhaustible food supply. Its legendary “Hanging Gardens” were
one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Four-horse chariots could pass
abreast along the tops of its massive walls. Its ponderous gates were the pride
of its inhabitants, and the astonishment of its enemies.
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If ever a city seemed impregnable and indestructible, it was Babylon. Yet God’s prophet, Isaiah, who lived about 200 years before Babylon’s downfall, predicted its irreparable and final doom. “Babylon,” he wrote, “shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah!” (Isaiah 13:19)
Other prophecies filled out the picture of total and irreversible desolation:
Isaiah 13:20: “It shall never be inhabited.” (Repeated in
Jeremiah 50:13, 39).
Isaiah 47:1, 5, 7: “Come down, thou lady of kingdoms, and
sit in the dust!”
Jeremiah 51:26, 62: “Thou shalt be desolate forever.”
Jeremiah 51:63-64: “Babylon shall sink, and not rise.”
Jeremiah 50:13: “It shall be wholly desolate.”
Not one of these prophetic specifications has failed in its
fulfillment. H. V. Moreton, well known English author, is just one of a
multitude of modern travelers who have visited the ruins of ancient Babylon,
and marveled at the uncanny accuracy of the Biblical prophecies:
“The ruins are sixty miles south of Baghdad,” writes
Moreton, in his book, “Middle East,”
and the journey takes three to four hours. The road begins well enough, but
soon becomes rough and uneven. I knew we were drawing near when we crossed a
single railway track running over the sand, and I saw a notice-board bearing,
in English and Arabic, the words: Babylon Halt’….
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“The flat country stretches to the sky, featureless, bare, and arid, except to the west, where the Euphrates flows in a narrow belt of palm-trees. You see no river, but you see this line of foliage running for miles, like a green snake on the sand. Even the ‘waters of Babylon’ have deserted the city, for in ancient times the river ran along the west side of the Kasr, bringing with it the happy sound of water and the scent of flowers. As if obeying a command that no touch of life shall remain anywhere near Babylon, the Euphrates has carved a new channel for itself and has departed, taking all life with it….
“As we wandered over the lonely mounds, silent except for
the hum of the wild bee and the hornet, I thought how literally Isaiah’s
prophecy of the fall of Babylon has been fulfilled. It is, indeed, overthrown as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”
(pp. 173-184)
THE HUMILIATION AND DECAY OF ANCIENT
EGYPT
One of the most glamorous and romantic names in all history
is that of “EGYPT.” No piece of real-estate on earth is invested with more
excitement, mystery, or magic. Land of the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and the Nile;
home of the arts from distant antiquity; unequalled in luxury and magnificence.
Egypt has continued throughout the ages as a realm of deathless wonder. But the
foundation of her ancient greatness was not her military might – it was the inexhaustible wealth of her
soil. ‘The Gift of the Nile,”
and “The Granary of the World,” Egypt
became the symbol of limitless abundance and enviable prosperity. Fat-belled
grain-ships carried Egyptian wheat and barley to all the nations of the
Mediterranean sea-board. Papyrus reeds – raw materials of ancient paper – grew
in abundance in the marshes of the Nile, and the “papyrus-scroll,” an Egyptian
invention, became one of its principal exports to the surrounding nations.
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Also, in terms of natural defenses, the Egyptians were uniquely favored. On the South, they were protected by the Cataracts of the Nile; on the East and West by the sands of the desert, and on the North by the sea. Both militarily and economically they seemed invincible. Nevertheless, a succession of bitter humiliations brought this once-proud nation down to the dust, so that today’s Egypt is a pallid and anemic shadow of its former magnificence.
With uncanny per-vision, the Bible prophets foretold Egypt’s
descent from majesty to mediocrity. Two major characteristics mark these
prophecies:
1.
DECLINE,
to the point of virtual non-entity, yet (2)
2.
SURVIVAL
– a stubborn clinging to the tattered remnants of national existence – even at
radically-reduced status! Whereas Babylon and Assyria would be destroyed
utterly and sink into oblivion, Egypt would persist as a nation – though in
age-long humiliation and weakness. From these prophecies we select the
following significant details.
Ezekiel 30:14-16. Two of its proudest cities. Thebes (the Biblical
“No”) – the ancient capital of Egypt – and Memphis (the Biblical “Noph”), would
be brought to ruin.
Ezekiel 36:6, 18. “The pride of her power shall come down …. The pomp
of her strength shall cease.”
Isaiah
19:7, 9. “The paper(papyrus) reeds shall wither and be no more …. They that
work in flax
(linen)
shall be confounded.”
Ezekiel
30:13. “No more a prince in the land of Egypt.”
Not only has
Egypt’s original monarchy vanished without leaving a trace, but, since the
final, decisive conquests by Persia in 341 B.C. no native prince or ruler has
arisen possessing power that even approaches the power of the ancient Pharaohs.
Ezekiel 29:14, 15. “A base
kingdom …. The basest (lowliest) of kingdoms .... They shall no more rule over
the nations.”
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Once the luxurious and fabled home of the Pharaohs, modern Egypt has become a vast open-air museum; a dusty, sweaty show-case for the whole world; a gazing-stock for the curious of all nations. No longer a world-power – or even a great power – its best-known industry is “Tourism,” and its chief claim to international recognition consists of its ponderous, time-worn tombs and monuments – mute relics of its long-departed glory!
Take away this fabulous wealth of unique antiquarian treasures, and
what significant role would modern Egypt play in world affairs?
THE DELAYED JUDGMENT OF
ANCIENT TYRE
In the sixth century
B.C., Tyre, the proud Phoenician merchant-city, was one of the wealthiest and most powerful sea-ports in the world.
(For a description of Tyre’s prosperity and grandeur see Ezekiel 27:1-25;
Isaiah 23:3, 8, 11).
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Situated in a strong-fortified and strategic position, a few miles north of Palestine on the Syrian coast, Tyre was the “London of the East,” the “Mistress of the Seas,” and the commercial centre of the ancient world. The nearby forests of Lebanon furnished her with excellent building timber for her galleys. Ships from all nations anchored in her harbors, and she wielded an immense influence throughout Palestine, Asia Minor,, and the entire Mediterranean with her trading stations. “Tyrian purple” – the dye used for the robes of kings and nobles – was a household-word in those days. For our modern alphabet we are largely indebted to the Phonecian merchants. The alphabet, it has been well said, was their chief export. The Phoenicians were missionaries of culture. It was their function not to create civilization, but to spread it.
Tyre flourished for three
thousand years. In the time of Joshua, it was a “strong city”. In the days of
Solomon, it was one of the wonder-cities of the world. But because of its
pride, avarice, and wickedness, the Lord foretold Tyre’s sure destruction.
Ezekiel 26:1-21 contains a marvelously-detailed prophecy of the downfall of
Tyre:
(verse 3) Many nations
would have a part of her destruction.
(verse 7) Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon is expressly named.
(verse 9) Engines of war
would break down her towers.
(verse 12) Her stones and
timber would be buried in the sea.
(verse 4, 14) Even her
dust would be scraped up. Her site would be made bare as the top of a rock.
(verse 5, 14) She would
become a place for the spreading of fishermen’s nets.
(verse 19, 20) Never to
be inhabited again.
(verse 14) “THOUGH SHALT BE BUILT NO MORE.”
The fact that spoilers of
“many nations” would be involved suggests that this is a multiple prediction –
containing allusions to several sieges. History shows that the prophecy was
fulfilled in two main stages:
First, by Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon, and later – 250 years later – by
Alexander the Great, of Greece.
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After a long and exhausting siege lasting thirteen years, Nebuchadnezzar captured and destroyed the City. However, no great spoil fell into his hands, for the rulers of Tyre had transported their riches to an island about half a mile out in the sea. Frustrated – and probably disgusted – Nebuchadnezzar made no attempt to throw Tyre’s ruins into the sea, or to scrape up her dust! (See Ezekiel 29:18-20)
So, for the next 250
years, the ruins of mainland Tyre stood – an enduring challenge to the accuracy
of God’s prophetic Word. Meanwhile, a flourishing new city grew up on the
island, half a mile from the shore. Then Alexander the Great, with his
invincible Greek legions, swept southward on his campaign into Egypt, in 322
B.C. He called upon the island-city to surrender. She refused, and Alexander
promptly ordered his soldiers to take the ruins of the original, mainland Tyre
and with them build a cause-way, 200 feet wide, from the mainland to the
island-city. So urgent was the demand for materials, that the very dust of the old city was scraped up and dumped into the sea!”
Alexander then marched his legions over the solid roadway;
captured the island city, and left in half-burned, ruined, and almost
depopulated. The island Tyre is now a peninsula, made by the drifting of sand
against the causeway. But every vestige of the great mainland city, destroyed
by Nebuchadnezzar and cast into the sea by Alexander, has disappeared.
“THOU SHALT BE BUILT
NO MORE!” said God, and these daring, forthright, final words stand as an abiding
challenge to the enemies of the Bible. In spite of the natural advantages of an
abundant water-supply (the nearby springs of Ras-el-Ain pour out 10,000,000
gallon of water daily), and the fertile plains stretching away to the
mountains, Tyre has never been rebuilt.
THE AGE-LONG CRUCIFIXION OF THE
JEWISH PEOPLE
The Jewish race is at once a prodigy and a tragedy. A
prodigy – because it has survived the battering of thousands of years, while
its most powerful foes have dropped into oblivion. A tragedy – because its
footprints through history have been stained perpetually with its own blood.
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The plundered pyramids of Egypt lift their stony summits to the stars, and the Nile whispers of false gods forgotten – but the Jew remains. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are a tumbled ruin – but the Jew remains. The palaces of the Roman Caesars lie gaunt and desolate – but the Jew remains. And yet – in every generation, and in every land – the Jew has been feared, and hated, despised and persecuted.
Wherein lies the key
to this baffling historical enigma?
In the writings of Moses, God clearly foretold the turbulent
political and religious history of the Jewish people, for over three thousand
years ahead from 1400 B.C. to the present. But these prophecies contain one totally unexpected and uncanny
ingredient. The fate of the Jews would not be like the overwhelming
desolation of Babylon. It would not be like the piecemeal humiliation and
destruction of Tyre. Nor would it be like the slicing up of Rome’s empire among
a group of lesser nations. (Daniel 2:40-43) The future of the Jews was to be
more like an agonizing death-in-life –
an age-long crucifixion!
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Both Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 contain detailed forecasts of the appalling consequences of turning away from God. By disease; by drought; by famine; by pestilence, an outraged nature would turn upon the disobedient Jews. By siege; by starvation; by conquest, by captivity, the human enemies of the Jews would join in the grim debauch of humiliation and degradation. In days of siege, the chosen people would turn cannibal, and eat their own children. In days of captivity, their sons and daughters would be sold into slavery. They would be scattered among nations. They would become an astonishment; a proverb; a hissing; a byword. They would have no ease; no rest; no refuge. They would become “wanderers among the nations” (see Hosea 9:17). Jesus, in His day, predicted new dimensions of humiliation and anguish for the Jewish people (Luke 21:22-24).
And yet – incredibly – they would survive, and maintain their distinct, national identity,
through all time, as a separate people!
Just as the Gulf Stream, in the North Atlantic, remains a
“blue river in the sea” – preserving its individual quality and temperature,
unmingled with the surrounding ocean – so, the Jewish people would always
remain a solidarity. They would preserve the national characteristics that they
had centuries ago. They would always be recognized as Jews!
History contains no more baffling phenomenon than this unique
example of national survival. But the transcendent marvel is this: it was all foretold, with uncanny accuracy,
thousands of years in advance!
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Small wonder, then, that a Christian witness at the European court, when challenged by his Emperor to give one incontestable proof of the truthfulness of the Bible, replied: “The Jew, Sire! The Jew!
Conclusion
Prophecy is History written in advance, and history is
simply the echo of the voice of
prophecy!
David Hume, the notorious English skeptic, once declared: “A fulfilled prophecy is the greatest of all
miracles!” He recognized that an authentic prophecy is a type of utterance
that is obviously beyond the wisdom or power of unaided man.
Kautsch, a celebrated German critic of the Bible, confessed
that after years of patiently sifting the evidence, his doubts about the
trustworthiness of the Old Testament had “shriveled up into nothingness.” When
asked to name the one argument that had banished his doubts forever, he put his
finger on what he called: “The overmastering
phenomenon of Prophecy!”
No internal feature of the Bible stamps upon it more conclusively the signature of God than fulfilled prophecy. Consequently, in the presence of this “overmastering phenomenon,” we are compelled to ask: “If God did not produce the Bible – who did? Who could?”
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