The Inspiration of the Scriptures #5

There are many prophecies recorded in the Old Testament and it can be proven that all of them came to pass. In this article, space will permit a consideration of only a few of them; however, I believe these few will suffice to establish the truthfulness of the inspirational claim made by the writers of the Bible.

In Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51 and Isaiah chapters 13 and 14, the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah foretold the capture and total destruction of the city of Babylon. They also said it would never be rebuilt.

In Jeremiah chapter 47, Amos chapter 1, Zephaniah chapter 2, and Zechariah chapter 9, we hear all these prophets predict the downfall and disappearance of the cities of Gaza and Ashdod. In Nahum chapters 1, 2 and 3, and Zephaniah chapter 2, these two prophets foretold the destruction and complete desolation of the city of Ninevah.

Isaiah wrote in Isaiah chapter 23 that the city of Tyre was to be destroyed and forgotten. In Ezekial 25, Joel 3, and Amos 1, we hear these three prophets forecast the destruction and disappearance of Edom.

Today it is a well known historical and geographical fact that all these aforementioned cities were destroyed and never rebuilt.

Now keep in mind that these prophets foretold the coming of these things many years before they actually took place. Yes, my friends, these men were recording history before the fact.

About 1450 BC, Moses in Deuteronomy the 28th chapter penned his prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and the horrible persecution and sufferings of its inhabitants. Beginning with verse 49, he presented a detailed picture of the destruction of the city and its people. He said that a nation from the North whose language they would not understand, would come against them. He then said these people would destroy their crops and herds and lay a siege upon the city which would result in such extreme hunger that even some of the mothers would eat their own children.

This prophecy was not fulfilled until after all the Bible had been written; however, we have a detailed account of its fulfillment in the history of Josephus. Josephus was a historian of the first century who accompanied Titus and the Roman Army when they marched against Jerusalem in AD70.

My friends, inasmuch as everyone accepts Josephus's description of this event as being accurate and inasmuch as it is in harmony with the one Moses wrote fifteen hundred years earlier, then how, oh how, can we doubt that Moses was not an inspired writer?

In Daniel the 2nd chapter, we find the account of Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

After describing the great image the king had seen in his dream, Daniel told him that the four parts of the image represented four great kingdoms which would rise and fall. Daniel told the king that the stone he had seen represented the kingdom of God which would be established in the days of the kings of the last kingdom.

All right, what had Daniel told the king? He had told him four kingdoms were to come and go before God established His kingdom.

Some 65 years later, Nebuchadnezzar's great Babylon was overthrown by the Medo-Persian Empire and it became the second great world power. In 331BC, the Macedonian Empire under the leadership of Alexander the Great, overthrew the Medo-Persians and became Daniel's third great world power.

A few years before Christ was born the great Roman Empire, Daniels fourth and last great world government made its appearance. Then in the year 33AD the (church) kingdom of God was established.

All these historical facts are well known by those who have studied ancient history. So we may all know assuredly Daniel spoke truthfully when he said God revealed these facts unto him.

All the pages of this pater would not provide sufficient space for recording all the history the writers of the Bible penned hundreds and sometimes thousands of years before it came to pass. But it seems to me the few examples of such writings found in this small portion of this one page, should be enough to convince us that the writers of the Bible were inspires by an all knowing Supreme Being.

Whose mother's son today will step forward and accurately write the history for next week? The forty sons who wrote the Bible gave flawless accounts of hundreds of historical events years and years before they came to pass.

By: Tommy Hodge

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