Inspiration Chapter 4

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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