Why does Bible Prophecy matter?

This really struck me!

Because that’s a fundamental reason why Bible prophecy matters.

When over 100 events foretold in the Bible have happened just as it says they would, a person either has to deny history or believe that the Bible is true.

Because the prophecies in the Bible that have come to pass are so easily verifiable. Biblical texts can be dated, and any events they prophesy can be dated, so it’s easy to check if the prophecies have happened just as the Bible said they would.

So, have any happened that we can verify?

Off the top of my head, I can think of three that could easily be disproved by history – yet, importantly, have not been disproved, and are, in fact, easy to verify:

• The birth, life and death of Jesus Christ, and when He would come.
  • Micah 5:2/Matthew 2:5-6; Zech 9:9/Matthew 21:4-5; Isaiah 53/Matthew 27:38
  • Daniel 9:25

• The four Gentile kingdoms that would rule the known world: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.
  • Daniel 2:31-43, 7:2-7, 17

• The return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel after being dispersed among the nations.
  • Ezekiel 36, Jeremiah 16:14-15

All of these can be verified – locations, people, nationalities, scale, even the dates in the case of when Christ would come the first time – by contemporary historians and accounts, by visiting the cities and countries these prophecies reference even today (think: Jerusalem, Israel, Babylon, Iran, Greece, Rome…), by visits to museums, even by quick searches on the internet for historic maps and timelines and travel blogs! These all corroborate, or literally testify to prophecies in the Bible that have been fulfilled.

And the evidence that prophecy has come to pass just as God’s prophets wrote down is rather overwhelming when one sits down and actually considers what’s there to see.

• Micah 5 mentions Bethlehem by name, and…

It’s actually there!

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel...” Micah 5:2

• Daniel 9:25 gives us the exact information for calculating when Israel’s Messiah would appear to His people the first time:

“Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks“

The command to restore the city of Jerusalem came to pass and is recorded in Nehemiah, and of course the Messiah coming to His people is recorded in Luke 19. (The “weeks” are referring to 7 year periods; 7 years = 1 week.)

Here’s a precise calculation of the days in between:

If you want to study this for yourself, I can’t recommend The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson highly enough! It’s all about the 70 weeks of Daniel, and gives you all the necessary components for calculating the dates.

• The succession of world empires prophesied in Daniel is even easier to verify. Just visit the British Museum in London, and you can see artifacts from every single one! (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.) King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a statue, with a gold head, sliver chest and arms, bronze belly and thighs, iron legs, and feet made of mixed iron and clay, and if we study history, we see that Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome were all world empires that succeeded each other.¹

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(Somehow I didn’t manage to get any pictures of their prolific collection of Greek artifacts…)

Here’s a summary of what Daniel wrote concerning those kingdoms in 504 BC, during the reign of the first kingdom of the prophecy, Babylon, and it’s king, Nebuchadnezzar:

This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay…. This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory… But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything… {Daniel 2}

Actually, some skeptics think the book of Daniel must have been written after the fall of the Roman empire because this passage describes history so exactly!

• My last example is Israel becoming a nation again after the Jews had been scattered in over 100 nations all over the world for nearly 2,000 years. And this is pretty easy to verify. You can hop on a plane to go see it.

Here’s a clip about Israelis celebrating their 73rd independence day back in April:

I love this quote from The Prophecy Pros Illustrated Guide to Tough Questions About the End Times concerning Israel becoming a nation:

“Experts also call it the super-sign because of the sheer magnitude (and statistical impossibility) of this sign coming to pass… Jeremiah’s prophecy reminds us that Israel becoming a nation again was a greater miracle than Moses parting the Red Sea.”

And here’s that Jeremiah prophecy:

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.” {Jeremiah 16:15-16}

I could go on, but the point of the quote (from the top of this post) is clear.

…prophecy admits of no half-faith.

Either the Bible is wrong or it’s right, and if so many prophecies have come to pass exactly as God said they would, now we’re just waiting for the remaining prophecies to play out in real space, time and history.

There are 333 prophecies about Christ alone. 109 were fulfilled when He came the first time – so there are 224 left to go! Including:

• His coming to gather the church in the clouds
• His coming again to stand on the Mount of Olives (just outside Jerusalem)
• His defeating the Antichrist and the armies gathered against Him when He returns to earth

So, if you have a half-faith in what you’ve heard about the Bible (or even no faith), how do its verified prophecies impact you? What are they saying about God and His ability to bring to pass whatever He says?

Either there are prophecies that have come to pass or there aren’t. And the precision and accuracy of the Bible’s prophecies that have occurred so far are realities we can either accept or deny. But they have happened and we can see that.

Because God promised they would.

Prophecy in the Bible is all about God. That’s it.

If they didn’t come to pass as He said, then they would prove Him a liar, weak and incapable of keeping His promises – His word would mean nothing, and in-correctly fulfilled prophecies would invalidate everything else He’s ever said. It’s His name that’s at stake.

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel…
‘Besides Me there is no God.
And who can proclaim as I do?
Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me,
Since I appointed the ancient people.
And the things that are coming and shall come,
Let them show these to them.
Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’ ” Isaiah 44:6-8

But fulfilled prophecy shows Him to be the all-powerful, all-knowing, self-existing, faithful, loving, one true God that He proclaims Himself to be.

And remember, there are hundreds of prophecies yet to happen.

So let’s believe God and be looking for them, because they could be happening soon!