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The Bible is often
called inaccurate and filled with tall tales rather than an accurate
account of history. Creation, the Exodus from Egypt, and the miracles of
Christ are either doubted or deemed to be totally false. But every word is
true, from the creation of the universe to the prophecies of Revelation.
It has proved itself many times, if we will only study it.
Because Moses wrote
Genesis in the past tense it is called a myth. But God promised Abraham he
would have a son- a miracle from God- and he would be the father of many
nations. (Gen. 17:15) Today Israel and many other nations claim to be
descendants of Abraham. Many other nations have come and gone, but the
descendants of Abraham are still with us. He was promised Canaan (Gen.
17:8). Over 400 years passed (Gen. 15:13), but as prophesied, Israel
possessed Canaan.
In Genesis 48, Jacob
prophesied that Ephraim would be greater than Manasseh. In chapter 49
Jacob prophesies of Judah's ascendancy to the throne (fulfilled in David),
Zebulun would inhabit the sea coast, Benjamin would have fierce warriors,
and the fruitfulness of Joseph's descendants.
In Deuteronomy 28,
Moses lists the blessings if Israel kept covenant with God, and curses if
they failed. Examples of punishment were:
|
Verse |
Result |
Fulfilled |
|
21 |
pestilence |
Jeremiah 21:6 |
|
24 |
no rain will
fall |
I Kings 17:1 |
|
25 |
smitten before
their enemies |
I Samuel 4:3 |
|
30-1 |
crops and herds
destroyed |
Judges 6:4 |
|
32 |
sons & daughters
taken |
Daniel 1:3 |
There are over 40
prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament. A few of the
earlier ones follow:
(Gen 3:15
KJV) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel.
(Gen 12:3
KJV) And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth
thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
(Gen 49:10
KJV) The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the
people be.
(Num 24:17
KJV) I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there
shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel,
and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
(Micah 5:2
KJV) But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to
be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from
everlasting.
(Isa 11:1-5
KJV) And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a
Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest
upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel
and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not
judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of
his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the
rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the
wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and
faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
There are also a
number of the Psalms that refer to the coming of Christ called Messianic
Psalms, including Psalms 2, 8, 16, 22-24, 40, 41, 45, 68, 69, 72, 89, 102,
110, and 118. Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6 are familiar prophecies concerning Him,
as well as Zechariah 9:9 and 11:12.
Another good example
of prophecy fulfilled in the Bible is the story of Bethel:
(I Kings
13:1-3 KJV) And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word
of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar,
altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house
of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the
high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt
upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which
the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that
are upon it shall be poured out.
The exact event took
place in II Kings 23:15-16:
(II Kings
23:15-16 KJV) Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place
which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both
that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place,
and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned
himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent,
and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar,
and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God
proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
The prophets had
many examples of events that happened years later. Isaiah prophesied of
the impending fall of Damascus and Samaria in (Isaiah 8:3-4 KJV) And I
went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the
LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz. For before the child shall
have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus
and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
Assyria was in the
process of conquering Damascus when Isaiah proclaimed that Babylon would
destroy Assyria and the Medes would conquer Babylon, which would never
again be inhabited (chapter 13).
The prophecy took
place almost 200 years before it happened, and Babylon has never again
been inhabited unto this day. In chapter 23 Isaiah tells of the
destruction of Tyre by Babylon, and subsequent revival after the
destruction of Babylon. Jerusalem's destruction is fortold in chapter
29:1-4, but in chapter 31:8, God will defend Jerusalem from the Assyrian,
fulfilled in chapter 37:36. In chapter 44:28 and 45:1-4 Isaiah calls Cyrus
by name to subdue nations and open the two-leaved gates of the city of
Babylon. It is also fortold that Cyrus shall command the restoration of
Jerusalem, and the laying of the foundation of the temple. (The temple was
completed 20 years later, but it was Cyrus that sent Zerubbabel to
Jerusalem, Ezra 1:1-4.)
Jeremiah tells of
the 70 years that Israel would serve Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11), and that
Babylon would be destroyed (chapter 50). Ezekiel fortells of the
restoration of the nation of Israel (chapter 37:11-14).
Daniel tells of the
Gentile kingdoms to follow Babylon. The Medes and Persians would conquer
Babylon (chapter 8:20), and the Greeks would conquer the Medes and
Persians, and upon the death of the first king would be broken into four
divisions (chapter 8:21-22), which correspond to the kingdoms of
Alexanders four generals, Macedonia, Thrace, Syria, and Egypt. Daniel goes
on to prophesy of the coming of the Messiah in 69 weeks, which were weeks
of years that started in 445 BC (Nehemiah 2:6-8) and ended with the
Crucifixion of Christ in 30 AD
(prophetic years
were based on the lunar calendar, 360 days, or 475 solar years). Chapter
11 tells the history of Greece, ending with Antiochus Epiphanes and his
profaning of the Temple in Jerusalem, over 300 years before it happened.
This is prophecy
already fulfilled. Much is said about what is yet to come, but much
speculation arises concerning the future. God has promised to return and
take control of this world, and establish Israel as ruler over the world
under His direction. If all these things have happened as prophesied,
there is no doubt that future prophecy will be fulfilled just as stated in
the Bible. |
