THE BIBLE PROVEN BY PROPHECY
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall not pass away.
The Prophecies both warn those against whom they are
made and reassure us that His Word is sure. Had the
Bible NOT been the ‘sure word of prophecy’ that it is,
it would have been discredited many times over.
How can you tell if the prophet is of God? Deu
18:20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a
word in my name, which I have not commanded him to
speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods,
even that prophet shall die.
Deu 18:21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we
know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
Deu 18:22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the
LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is
the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the
prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be
afraid of him.
I. The Law of Chance as it relates to prophecy.
To announce an event which will eventually happen is NOT
prophecy. Many warned of the possibility of storm damage
to New Orleans, this was NOT prophecy. If one had given
the date, height of the storm surge, wind velocity,
death toll and flooding from a broken levee and the
chaos which followed, this might have been considered
prophetic.
If one draws a random line on a blackboard and someone
draws another that intersects it, the point of
convergence might well be accidental. If a third line
crosses at the same point, the chances of accidental
convergence lessens, For each additional line the
argument for purposeful design increases. So it is with
God’s prophecies. Consider the prophecy concerning the
City of Babylon;
I. An Improbable Prophecy. Jer 50:1 The word
that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land
of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Jer 50:2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and
set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say,
Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken
in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are
broken in pieces.
Jer 50:3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation
against her, which shall make her land desolate, and
none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall
depart, both man and beast.
A. Consider the size and magnificence of this
city.
1. Two great walls encircled the city. The outer wall
made a circuit of about fifty miles.
2. Many of the houses were of two or three stories.
3. It was the world center for the worship of Bel and
other false deities with many great temples.
4.The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of
the seven Wonders of the ancient world.
5. The River Euphrates ran through the center of the
city and was traversed by a bridge a thousand feet long.
6. It was the seat of Government for at least four
successive empires. Hammurabbi, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus,
Alexander.
B. Consider these ‘Converging Lines’ of Prophecy
concerning Babylon.
1. It was to fall during a surprise attack. Jer
51:31 One post shall run to meet another, and one
messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon
that his city is taken at one end,
.
2. It was to take place during a time of feasting and
revelry
Jer 51:39 In their heat I will make their feasts,
and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and
sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.
3. Their conquerors were to be the Medes and
Persians.
Isa 13:17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against
them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold,
they shall not delight in it.
Isa 13:18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to
pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the
womb; their eye shall not spare children.
Isa 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty
of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
4. It will never more be inhabited. Isa 13:20 It
shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in
from generation to generation:
a. Beasts of the desert will lie there. Isa
13:21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and
their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and
owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
Isa 13:22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry
in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant
palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days
shall not be prolonged.
b. Arabian shall not pitch tent there
Isa 13:20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it
be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall
the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the
shepherds make their fold there.
c Shepherds will not make their fold there.
Isa. 13:20 neither shall the shepherds make their
fold there.
d. will become pools of water for wild fowl.
Isa 14:22 For I will rise up against them, saith the
LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and
remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
Isa 14:23 I will also make it a possession for the
bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with
the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
History records the step by step fulfillment of
these converging lines of prophecy.
The Medusa and the Persians, under Syrups, in 539 B.C.,
conquered the city without a fight by surprising it
during the drunken orgy of Belshazzer. Alexander the
Great added it to the Grecian Empire and after his death
the Seleucids abandoned the city following the division
of his empire in order to found the new capitol city of
Seleucia. They stocked Babylon with wild game and made
it a royal hunting ground. As the buildings fell into
decaying ruins venomous serpents so multiplied among the
ruins that even the bold Arabian nomad would not pitch a
tent there. Because of the wild animals, the shepherd
kept his flocks away.
C. The prophecy concerning Tyre.
1. I will scrape the dust from her-
Ezek 26:4 And they shall destroy the walls of
Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her
dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
2.She will become a place for fishermen to dry
their nets.
Ezek 26:5 It shall be a place for the spreading of
nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it,
saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the
nations.
3. Even the name of the conqueror is given.
Ezek 26:7 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I
will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a
king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with
chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much
people.
History records the fulfillment. Because of his
fear of the Babylonians, the king of Tyre moved his
government to an island just off shore. Nebuchudnezzars'
army used the debris of the old city and all the soil to
build a causeway to the island. The site was later used
by fishermen as a place to spread their nets on the
rocks to dry.
Prophecies of other cities and nations could be
multiplied and you might like to pursue some of these in
independent studies. Do not fail to follow the
fulfillment of prophecy in the daily news concerning
Israel and Jerusalem!
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