Articles
Why I Believe the Bible 2
The Bible makes some extraordinary claims. It says it is God’s inspired word (2 Timothy 3:16), and therefore able to make us complete (v. 17). It is an unbreakable authority (John 10:34-35), the Lord’s commandments (1 Corinthians 14:37).
Claims such as these call for proof, and the Bible provides that too. The remarkable unity of the Bible books, their unique style, and their lofty ethics all point to divine guidance in their writing. The Bible’s accuracy coincides with that. But the strongest evidence is something exclusive to Scripture: fulfilled prophecy.
The Case for Prophecy
To prophesy means to speak by inspiration, by divine guidance. The idea is forth-telling, not just foretelling. Yet while prophets often spoke of current matters, we especially use this term to describe their speaking about things future. The prophets did not conjecture, forecast, or make “educated guesses.” They declared with certainty what was to come. Man cannot do that. Only God can.
A Case of Prophecy
This was God’s challenge to idols (and those who worshiped them) in Isaiah 41:21-23. “‘Present your case,’ the Lord says. ‘Bring forward your strong arguments,’ the King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; as for the former events, declare what they were, that we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods; indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.”
Only those who are informed by God can tell the future with certainty. Earlier, when God promised to raise up prophets in Israel, He said that if what a prophet foretold failed to come to pass, it was a sure sign that God had not spoken to him (Deuteronomy 18:22).
God answered His own challenge in Isaiah 41. God was raising a deliverer (v. 2a), empowering him (vv. 2b-4), announcing him, and detailing his work (v. 25; 44:26, 28). He even called his name: Cyrus (44:28). This was all nearly two centuries before the event!
Isaiah lived in the eighth-century B.C. The Assyrians were the world power at the time. Isaiah foretold the rise of Babylon and the fall of Assyria. But Cyrus was a Persian king. The Persians followed the Babylonians. Thus, Isaiah had to look beyond the ruling nation of his day, then beyond the rising power, to foresee the next one and name the king who would lead it!
Also, consider the prophecy itself: Cyrus would order the return of the people of Judah to their homeland. That was a complete reversal of the policies of both the Assyrians and Babylonians regarding conquered nations.
This is just one example. There are many.
Prophecy and Jesus
Fulfilled prophecy also testifies to who Jesus is. He said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:29). Dozens of prophecies foretold Jesus’ lineage, His birth, events in His life, His character, the reaction to Him, His death, His resurrection, and His after-death life. Some of these are broad, others are quite specific. In time they ranged from 400 to 4,000 or more years before the event.
Some of these prophecies were unlikely in themselves: born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) or rising from the dead (Psalm 16), for example. Others formed unlikely combinations: He would be both an exalted king (Psalm 110) and a suffering servant (Isaiah 53). The mathematical odds against all these just being lucky guesses are staggering, even if you gave each one a 50/50 chance of occurring (and who would give those odds to these examples?).
Conclusion
Peter said we would do well to pay attention to the prophetic word, “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (2 Peter 1:19-21). Are you doing that?
