Bible Prophecy
Convincing Proof that God Exists
THE BIBLE is a most remarkable book.
Its account of the origin of evil; its unparalleled record of
God's dealings with the nation of Israel; its searching
message through their prophets; its "good news"
proclaimed by Jesus Christ and his apostles; above all, its
unerring analysis of the weaknesses of human nature and its
contrasting portrayal of the holiness, the truth and the mercy
of God, made especially plain in the person of His Son -- all
these are outstanding features found in no other book in the
world. They prompted Henry Rogers over 100 years ago to
declare: "The Bible is not such a book as man would
have written if he could, nor could have written if he
would." [In The Superhuman Origin of the Bible Deduced
from Itself] In other words, God is needed to explain its
existence.
In this short work we shall consider one of
the Bible's unique features: its prophecy. Now strictly
prophecy is not just foretelling the future. A prophet was one
who "spoke for" another, a spokesman; and prophecy
was the message the prophet spoke on behalf of God. But since
Bible prophecy contains quite a lot of "prediction",
or foretelling future events, for our purpose here we shall
take the term in that sense.
Who has
the Power of Prophecy?
But first we must settle an important question: Does the Bible
claim that the power of prophecy belongs only to God and is a
proof of His authority?
To this there is a decisive answer in the
prophecy of Isaiah. In the 41st chapter God challenges the
idols and the idol worshippers of the day to prove that they
possess divine powers. This is how He does it:
"Produce your cause, saith the Lord;
bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let
them (the idols) bring them (the reasons) forth, and declare
unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things,
what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter
end of them; and shew us things to come . . . (Isaiah
41:21-22), R.V.
The basis of this challenge is clear: the
pagan worshippers claim that their idols are gods. Very well;
let them produce the proofs. And the proofs demanded by God
Himself are that the idols shall announce future events, and
also declare "the former things", that is, explain
how creation took place in the beginning. The point is made
crystal clear in the next verse:
"Declare the things that are to come
hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods . . .
" (Isaiah
41:23).
Here God Himself is asserting that to be
able to foretell the future would be a proof of Divine power.
More than once in this part of Isaiah's prophecy, God declares
that He is the only one who has this power, for only He is
God; there is no other:
"Remember the former things of old: for
I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there
is none like me..." (Isaiah
46:9).
The God of Israel is here declaring that
there is no other worthy object of worship but Himself; and
goes on to assert the signs of His power in these terms:
"... declaring the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all
my pleasure" (Isaiah
46:10).
Come to think of it, whoever would dare to
say, My counsel shall stand except God? What man is there in
the whole world who could say any such thing? To carry it out
needs Someone who not only knows future events before they
happen, but has the power to see that they take place as He
has decreed. In other words, to utter prophecy which will
inevitably come true, you need God. No other cause can explain
it.
The New Testament makes the same claim.
When Jesus was about to leave his disciples, he promised them
the help of the Holy Spirit in their task of preaching the
Gospel in the world. One of the effects of this gift was to
be: "He shall declare unto you the things that are to
come" (John
16:13); in other words, the disciples were to be
given a knowledge of future events. It is certainly implied
that without the special gift they could not have done this.
Their ability to declare the future was to be an evidence of
the Divine power they had been granted.
Again, in the last book of the Bible,
chapter 1, verse 1, it is declared that God gave to Jesus
Christ a revelation, "to shew unto his servants the
things which must shortly come to pass . . " (Revelation
1:1). The knowledge of the future came from God
through Jesus; without that revelation, His servants could
have known nothing of it.
The conclusion is clear: the Bible says
quite definitely that the power to foretell the future belongs
to God alone.
Does the
Bible foretell the Future?
Well, we have only to examine history and our own experience
to realize that men of themselves have no knowledge at all of
the future. Why, we do not even know what will happen to us
tonight, or tomorrow on our way to work, let alone next year;
or of what will happen to the world in 100 years, to say
nothing of in 2000 years! If men had the slightest knowledge
of the future, how many decisions would have been different!
How many accidents would have been avoided! How many disasters
would never have been allowed to take place! How many wars
would never have been started! The experience of our own lives
and of the history of men both convince us that mankind has no
sure knowledge at all of what is yet to be.
But suppose the future has been
foretold, not once, but many times? And always in the same
book, the Bible, and in no other book in the world? Ought not
that to make us sit up and take notice? That is why we say
that the prophecies of the Bible are most important; they
deserve to be carefully examined, for a great deal depends on
them. They are a striking sign that there exists in the world
a power greater than mankind.
"Yes,
but..."?
Those who do not believe that the Bible is the word of God do
not like its prophecy at all. Once grant that it has correctly
foretold the future and you have gone a long way to admitting
the existence of God. So they try to explain it away.
"The prophecies", they say, "were not really
forecasts of the future at all -- they were written after the
events 'foretold'"
Now this argument can only be made to
appear to have any force if you can prove that the Bible
documents, especially those of the Old Testament, were written
a long time after the events they claim to foretell. It must
be stated clearly that they have no direct evidence for this;
the conclusion is the result of interpreting the evidence to
support their own theorizing. As a matter of fact, all the
research of the last 100 years tends to show that the Bible
documents are authentic: they really do belong to the age in
which they claim to be written.
But there is a short cut in this matter
which will do very well for our present purpose. No one can
deny that the Old Testament documents were in existence by
about 200 B.C., because they were being translated into Greek
about then [In what is called the Septuagint Version of the
Old Testament], and you cannot translate something that is not
there!
Another objection is to say, "Well,
these Bible 'prophecies' are really clever political forecasts
by people who could interpret the events of their day and
their likely outcome."
"Clever political forecasts",
issued in the centuries before Christ and remaining true for
over 2000 years to the present day? What sort of wizards do
they imagine the Bible prophets were to be able to accomplish
such feats? Merely to slate the matter thus is to show how
utterly improbable such an explanation of their words would
be.
But the surest answer to this objection, as
to all others, is to read some of the prophecies themselves.
So we begin with
PROPHECY CONCERNING BABYLON
In the
days of the prophets of Israel (850-560 B.C. approximately)
two great military powers arose in the territory around the
Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, now known as Iraq. The
earlier was the Empire of Assyria, with Nineveh as its
capital. During two centuries the Assyrians carried out
invasions of the territory of surrounding nations: southwards
they dominated the Chaldeans and their capital, Babylon;
eastwards they overran Syria, then advanced down the
Mediterranean coast, through Israel as far as Egypt. Their
policy was one of terror. Their aim was to terrorise local
populations into submitting and paying an annual tribute. To
this end they sacked and burnt towns, devastated the
countryside, massacred the inhabitants and took thousands away
captive to Assyria.
The second half of the 7th century B.C. saw
the decline of Assyrian power and the rise of the Babylonian.
In 612 B.C. Nineveh was conquered. Nebuchadnezzar, king of the
Chaldeans, rapidly created the new empire. The smaller nations
of the Middle East, rejoicing over their deliverance from
Assyria, soon found themselves overrun by the armies of
Babylon. In particular Nebuchadnezzar overran Israel, sacked
Jerusalem and burnt its temple, and carried thousands away
captive to Babylon. He then went further south and invaded
Egypt. The Babylonian Empire was the second phase of this
military domination arising from the area of the Euphrates.
In particular, Nebuchadnezzar, its greatest
king, made the city of Babylon a marvel in the world of the
Near East. He built enormous temples and palaces, and
surrounded the city with an immense protective wall. Babylon
became the glory and pride both of Nebuchadnezzar himself and
his Chaldean people.
It is difficult for us in these days to
realize the impact of such ruthless power and extravagant
wealth upon the inhabitants of the smaller nations. To them
the empires of Assyria and Babylon must have seemed terrifying
and invincible.
Utterly
Overthrown
Yet 100 years before Babylon reached the height of its power,
Isaiah the prophet foretold its overthrow in very specific
terms. In a chapter headed "The burden of Babylon",
this is what he said:
". . . The day of the Lord is at hand;
it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty . . . Behold,
I will stir up the Medes against them . . . And Babylon, the
glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall
be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be
inhabited . . . neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there;
neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there.
But wild beasts of the deserts shalt lie there" (Isaiah
13:6,17,19-21).
The fate of Babylon is clear: the attackers
are to be the Medes (a nation to the east of Babylon); the
city is to become a desolation, inhabited by neither man nor
beast. And let us remind ourselves that this clear prophecy
was uttered 100 years before Babylon arose to the height of
its power and glory.
Another prophet, Jeremiah, writing 100
years later, when Nebuchadnezzar was about to attack
Jerusalem, added to the forecasts of Babylon's downfall:
"Behold, I will raise up against Babylon
a destroying wind . . . Babylon is suddenly fallen and
destroyed . . . Prepare against (Babylon) the nations, with
the kings of the Medes . . . Babylon shall become heaps
(ruins), a dwellingplace for jackals, an astonishment and an
hissing, without inhabitant . . . The broad walls of Babylon
shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be
burned with fire . . . 0 Lord, thou hast spoken against this
place to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither
man nor beast, but it shall be desolate for ever . . ."
And finally the prophet is commanded to
bind a stone to the roll of the prophecy and to throw it into
the river Euphrates, declaring,
"Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not
rise again . . . " (Jeremiah
51:1,8,28,37,58,62-64).
The agreement between the prophecies of
Isaiah, written 100 years before Babylon arose to power, and
of Jeremiah, written when the empire and city were at the
height of their glory; is complete. To the people of those
days it must have sounded as it would to us if it were
prophesied that a great city like London, New York or Sydney
was to be destroyed and to remain a desolation for ever. In
this age of nuclear weapons such a fate would not be
inconceivable; but the prophets of Israel uttered their
predictions over 2500 years ago, long before anyone dreamed
that such total destruction was possible.
History reveals how the prophecies about
the fate of Babylon were progressively fulfilled. The first
despoilers were the Medes and the Persians in the 6th century
B.C. From that time the glory of Babylon began to fade. Then
came the Greeks under Alexander the Great, then the Romans;
after them various warlike tribes like the Parthians, the
Arabs and the Tartars. For centuries the actual site of the
ancient city of Babylon was a heap of ruins, shunned--so
travelers tell us--by wandering nomads. It was not until the
archaeologists began to explore the site in the first half of
the 19th century that the ruins of the great walls, the mighty
temples and gates, and the immense statues revealed to an
astonished world how magnificent ancient Babylon must have
appeared in its day.
So history reveals how Babylon, "the
glory of kingdoms", became ruined and deserted, just as
the prophets of Israel said it would.
We turn now to a second, and quite
different, example of the truth of Bible prophecy in
THE FATE OF EGYPT
Egypt had also been
a mighty power in the Middle East. The period of its greatness
was about 1600 B.C., when the armies of the conquering
Pharaohs pressed southwards into the Sudan, westwards along
the north African coast, and northwards through the land of
Canaan (later Israel) and into Syria. The discovery of some of
the ancient temples, monuments and tombs of Egypt has revealed
the glory of the Pharaohs at the height of their power.
But from about 1400 B.C. Egyptian power
began to decline, due to civil war and to the rise of Assyria,
and later Babylon. Nevertheless, during the period of Israel's
occupation of the land of Canaan, 1400-600 B.C., the Egyptians
interfered periodically in the politics of the Middle East,
with varying success. The Israelites, fearing invasion from
the Assyrians or Babylonians, were often tempted to seek
support from Egypt instead of relying in faith upon their God.
Now the prophets of Israel had something
very definite to say about the destiny of the Egyptians. The
prophet Ezekiel, whose pronouncements were made in the days of
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from about 600 B.C. declared
that as a result of the judgement of God Egypt was to be
desolate for 40 years. Then there was to be a revival, but not
to the former glory and power:
"Thus saith the Lord God: at the end of
forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples
whither they were scattered . . . and will cause them to
return to the land of Pathros [Pathros, in Upper Egypt, was
the original seat of Egyptian power], into the land of their
birth; and they shall be there a base kingdom (R.S.V., a lowly
kingdom). It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither
shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: and I will
diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations .
. . Thus saith the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols and
will cause the images to cease out of Noph (Memphis); and
there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt. .
." (Ezekiel
29:13-15; 30:13).
Again the sense of the prophecy is clear:
Egypt was to suffer the calamities of invasion and the
deportation of captives. Although no precise historical record
of these events has survived, they must have been the result
of the invasion of Egypt by the Babylonians, as Ezekiel
himself prophesied (see Ezekiel 30:17-20). But that was not to
be the end of Egypt. For after 40 years the captives were to
return to their own land. Egypt as a kingdom was not to be
destroyed: it was to survive but with greatly reduced power --
"a lowly kingdom", never presuming to exert power
over the surrounding nations any more.
A Lowly
Kingdom
And so it came to pass. From about 600 B.C. Egypt fell under
the domination of a succession of conquering invaders: first
the Babylonians in the 6th century B.C.; then the Persians,
from the 6th to the 4th centuries; then the Greeks in the 4th
century; then the Romans from the 1st century B.C. to the 5th
century A.D. They were followed by the Arabs and the Turks
from the 7th century A.D. onwards. Even the British ruled in
Egypt for a period in the 19th century. For 2500 years Egypt
has remained, as Ezekiel prophesied it would, "a lowly
kingdom", always dominated by others. But Egypt and the
Egyptians did not disappear. They still exist, and they have
even recovered a measure of independence in recent times,
thanks to massive financial support from the U.S.A. and Saudi
Arabia.
Let us store the case of Egypt away in our
minds while we consider a third example of Bible prediction of
future events, in
THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING ISRAEL
These
are the richest of all, both in the detail of their
predictions and in the abundance of the historical
confirmation of their truth. We shall confine ourselves to the
simple facts concerning Israel's remarkable destiny.
The Old Testament records for us how God
made distinct promises to Abraham (about 1800 B.C.) which
meant, among other things, that his descendants would become a
people (Israel) who would take possession of the land of
Canaan, later called Palestine. About 1400 B.C. the people of
Israel were brought out of Egypt at the Exodus under Moses,
and 40 years after began to take possession of the land
promised to them. But while they were still in the wilderness,
before they entered the land, they were solemnly warned by God
through Moses of the fate which would overtake them if they
turned away from their God to worship idols and imitated the
ways of the pagan Canaanites. The 28th chapter of Deuteronomy
is a most remarkable prophecy -- and was a terrible warning --
of the calamities which would come upon the Israelites if they
were disobedient. The reader is recommended to read the whole
chapter for himself. Here we have space only to outline the
main features:>
"But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt
not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to
do all his commandments ... the Lord shall bring thee, and thy
king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which
neither thou nor thy fathers have known ... And thou shalt
become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the
nations whither the Lord shall lead thee ... The Lord shall
scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth
even to the other ... And among these nations shalt thou find
no ease ..." (Deuteronomy
28:15,36-37,64-65).
Again the prophecy is quite clear. Israel
were to be scattered among the nations, there to live in very
uncomfortable circumstances, the object of scorn and contempt.
How forcibly their history has proved the truth of these
words! The scattering of the Jews throughout the world began
in the days of the Assyrians in the 8th century B.C. The
process continued through the Babylonians in the 6th century.
After a partial return from Babylon in the days of the Persian
kings, a community of Israelites lived in their land from
about 500 B.C. to the days of Christ, successively dominated
by the Persians, the Greeks and their successors, and finally
by the Romans. In A.D. 70, 40 years after the crucifixion of
Christ, there occurred the most terrible devastation of all.
The city of Jerusalem was sacked by Roman armies because of
rebellion; the temple was burned and the Jews were scattered
as captives over the Roman world (see cover illustration).
There they have been found ever since, literally "from
one end of the earth to the other".
And they have indeed, until very recent
times, found "no ease". Suffering persecution and at
times extermination-the pogroms in Russia in the 1 9th century
and Hitler's policy of genocide in the 20th are only the most
recent examples -- the Jews have everywhere been subject to
vilification and derision, so much so that their survival as a
recognizable race is one of the marvels of history. Again we
note the fact that this prophecy of Israel's fate has remained
true for over 2500 years. Who could have foreseen that,
despite all the scattering and the persecutions, the Jews
would remain for centuries a recognizably distinct race, right
up to the present day?
But there
is more ...
But the most incredible feature of the prophecies about the
destiny of Israel is yet to be told, for the prophets also
clearly foretell an unexpected change in Israel's fortunes.
Consider, for instance, these predictions through the prophet
Jeremiah, delivered nearly 600 years before Christ:
"For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and
Judah . . . and I will cause them to return to the land that I
gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it" (Jeremiah
30:3).
"Now therefore thus saith the Lord, the
God of Israel ... Behold, I will gather them out of all the
countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger ... and I
will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them
to dwell safely: and they shall be my people and I will be
their God ..." (Jeremiah
32:36-38).
"I will cause the captivity of Judah and
the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at
the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity . .
. (Jeremiah
33:7)
Again there is no doubt about what the
prophet is saying. The process of Israel's scattering and
persecution is to be reversed. The Jews are to return to the
very land from which they were expelled over 1900 years ago,
and to dwell there in comparative peace. The three brief
quotations from Jeremiah, given above, could be multiplied
many times over by similar declarations from Isaiah and
Ezekiel.
We have little need to go into great detail
to show how these prophecies of Israel's restoration have been
most accurately fulfilled. The Zionist Movement was active
among the dispersed Jews in many countries in the late 19th
century. The establishment of Palestine as a National Home for
the Jews in 1917 led to a rapid increase in their numbers in
the Land. When this provoked the hostility of the Arabs, the
Jews fought off an attempt to suppress them in 1948, and
established their own Jewish State. This was enlarged in 1967
after a second attempt in the Six Day War; as a result Israel
recovered much of their ancient historical territory, and
Jerusalem became the capital of their State under their own
rule, for the first time in 2500 years. In short, the
emergence of an independent Jewish State in the Middle East
has been a most unexpected development. Less than 100 years
ago no political observers would have thought it possible.
We are not here concerned with the
"politics" of the situation. We are concerned solely
with Bible prophecy. There are other things the Bible has to
say about the Jews. The prophets tell us, for instance, that
there is to be a great crisis in the Middle Fast, and that
Israel will be brought to repentance before their God. Only
then will the prophecies of final restoration and peace come
to pass. Here we wish solely to emphasize that the prophets
foretold the return of Israel to their land, and we in this
century have actually seen their predictions begin to be
fulfilled.
THREE PROPHECIES-THREE DESTINIES
It
will be useful at this point to summarize what we have
reviewed:
Babylon, that great power in the
Middle East, was to lose its empire and its magnificent
capital city was to become a site of desolate ruins, shunned
by man and beast. And so it came to pass.
Egypt, also a great empire, was to
remain a recognizable kingdom. The Egyptians were to continue
to inhabit their own land. But they would be constantly
dominated by other powers, remaining "a lowly
kingdom". And so they have been.
The fate of Israel was not to be
like either of these. Scattered from their own land into other
countries, and suffering severe persecutions and constant
contempt, they were to return to the very land from which they
were scattered, and to establish themselves there once again.
Let us note carefully the following facts:
-
The prophecies concerning these nations were uttered
about 2500 years ago.
-
Their truth has been demonstrated in history right up to
the present day.
-
The three cases quoted concern three different powers
with three entirely different fates. One was to
disappear into oblivion; the second was to remain, but be
subject to other nations; the third was to be destroyed,
its people expelled and scattered all over the earth, and
yet eventually to be restored in the original land.
-
These are not "political forecasts" of clever
political observers, but accurate predictions.
Who could
have known?
How is prophecy on this scale of time possible? There is only
one reasonable answer: somebody must have known beforehand.
But who could have known? Certainly no men of 2500 years ago,
or indeed since, could possibly have known. On purely human
grounds these prophecies are inexplicable. But then, the
prophets of the Old Testament did not claim human powers for
their predictions. They said they were speaking words inspired
by God. "Thus saith the Lord" is the constant
introduction to what they say. If God was behind what they
said, we realize who it was who "knew". There is no
other reasonable explanation. The prophecies we have
considered require the existence of God as their Author. That
makes sense.
The three examples already quoted were
intentionally chosen to illustrate the variety of the Bible's
prophecies. But there are many other examples. We could, for
instance, examine those concerning Jesus Christ: he was to be
in the line of Abraham, and of David; he was to be born in
Bethlehem; he was to be rejected by his own people, and yet
die an atoning death on their behalf; and many other details
-- all uttered centuries before he was born, and all
strikingly fulfilled in Jesus' birth, ministry, death and
resurrection.
But we will conclude our brief survey with
two further examples which will bring the prophetic programme
right up to our own day.
THE BIBLE AND THE NATIONS
The
prophecy of Daniel contains an impressive outline of the rise
and fall of empires, and of the state of the nations in what
used to be called "the civilized world" -- that is,
the nations of Europe, the Middle East, Egypt and the North
African coast, all surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The
prophecy was uttered when Daniel was captive in the court of
Babylon, in the 6th century B.C. Its truth has been
demonstrated in history from that day to the present time.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, full of
his own pride and glory, saw in a dream a great image of a
man, made up of five parts (see pages 15 through 17):
-
The head of the image was of gold.
-
Its breast and arms were of silver.
-
Its belly and thighs were of brass.
-
Its two legs were of iron.
-
But the feet and toes were composed of a mixture of iron
and clay.
Then a stone appeared, "cut out of the
mountain without hands". It fell upon the feet of the
image, brought it all crashing to the ground, and then ground
into powder all its elements, so that the wind swept them
away. The stone then became a great mountain and filled the
whole earth.
Nebuchadnezzar was much troubled by the
fate of this image, for none of his wise men could tell him
what it meant. But Daniel, the prophet of Israel, declared:
"There is a God in heaven that revealeth
secrets, and he hath made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what
shall be in the latter days" (Daniel
2:28).
So Daniel explained the meaning of the
image. The head of gold represented the dominion of
Nebuchadnezzar himself. It was to be succeeded by another,
inferior kingdom (the breast and arms of silver); and that in
turn by a third (of brass); then the fourth kingdom (the legs
of iron) was to be strong and violent, but the feet and toes
represented divided kingdoms, "partly strong and partly
broken" (Daniel
2:37-42).
One thing is clear: this image represented
a succession of powerful kingdoms, and it is not hard to
identify them. The first we know: it was the empire of
Babylon. In Daniel chapter 8 (Daniel
8:20-21) we are told that the successors were to be
Persia and Greece. The fourth power, "great and
terrible", is not explicitly named in Daniel's prophecy.
History abundantly verifies these predictions. About 530 B.C.
the Babylon power was overthrown by the Medes and Persians,
who eventually established the Persian Empire. It lasted for
200 years, and was then overthrown about 330 B.C. by Alexander
the Great who set up the Empire of Greece.
What great power succeeded the kingdoms of
the successor of Alexander? There can be no doubt about the
answer: it was the Empire of Rome. The Romans invaded the
territories of the former Greek Empire from the 2nd century
B.C. onwards. In the next 500 years Rome became the greatest
power on earth. Its Empire covered practically all the
territories of the first three, and spread far and wide into
Europe, the Middle East, and all the countries surrounding the
Mediterranean. Its conquests were carried out with ruthless
efficiency, well symbolized by the description, "strong
as iron". In the last two centuries of its existence it
was divided into two parts: the Western Empire, based on Rome,
and the Eastern, based on Constantinople -- the two
"legs" of the image.
A God
that Revealeth Secrets
But what happened after the break-up of the Roman Empire in
the 5th century A.D. onwards? It was not replaced by another
great empire -- there has in fact never been a fifth empire of
comparable dominion, despite the efforts of ambitious men to
establish one. The territory of the Roman Empire broke up
under the attacks of the barbarian tribes of Huns, Goths,
Visigoths and Vandals, who formed separate kingdoms of their
own. The nations of the present day Europe are the successors
of these kingdoms. Throughout their history of 1500 years to
the present day, those nations have remained in a divided
state, well symbolized by the image's feet, part iron and part
clay: "partly strong and partly broken . . . they shall
not cleave one to another" (Daniel
2:42-43).
How could Daniel have known that the great
dominion of Nebuchadnezzar would be succeeded by three others,
the fourth being exceptionally strong, but would never be
succeeded by a fifth? How could he have known that after the
fall of the fourth, its empire would disintegrate into divided
States, with little unity between them? Of course, of himself
he could know no such thing, nor could any other man. But
Daniel does not leave us without an explanation:
"There is a God in heaven that revealeth
secrets ... The great God hath made known to the king what
shall come to pass hereafter: the dream is certain and the
interpretation thereof sure" (Daniel
2:28,45).
How else can you explain that the prophecy
of Daniel chapter two should be in existence centuries before
Christ, and yet contain a forecast of the course of Empires
and nations accurate right up to the present day, well over
2000 years ago? If there is indeed "a God in
heaven", you can understand it. Without Him, there is no
reasonable explanation.
We shall comment in the concluding section
on the last phase of the image vision, when the stone strikes
the image on the feet and brings it all down. But for our
final prophetic example we turn to . . .
OUR OWN TIMES
Although their fulfilments have extended right up to the present day, the
prophecies so far considered have concerned events long in the
past (with the exception of the recent regathering of Israel
to their ancient land). Has Bible prophecy anything to say
about modern times, as a guide to us in these days?
Indeed it has: and what a contrast it makes
with the confident expectations of human thinking! The 19th
century was an age of optimism. Great developments were taking
place. Increased scientific knowledge led to rapid technical
progress, bringing greater industrial production. This in turn
meant more wealth (though not for the poorest people).
Education was being made available to all sections of society,
and beneficial results were confidently expected. Better
educated people would take more interest, it was argued, in
arts like literature, music and painting. The general moral
tone of society would be improved. Politicians promised a new
social order of justice and equality for all. As people became
better off, they would cease to envy one another. "Banish
poverty, and you'll banish crime" was the slogan. When
the finest powers of the human mind were developed, peace
would be established among the nations. Church leaders
confidently looked forward to the spreading of the Gospel all
over the world. Human progress and improvement, both in
individuals and in society, were taken for granted. The future
was bright.
Peace and
Progress?
What a shock the events of the 20th century have been! The
dream of progress and peace has faded. Two terrible world
wars, with millions of slain and untold damage and suffering,
have been followed by the development of the most frightfully
destructive weapons ever invented. The varying solutions in
which the "wise men" of the 1 9th century put their
trust have all been exposed as false. More widespread
education has not been followed by higher moral standards, but
by a growth in dishonesty, greed, violence and crime. The
Christian religion, far from converting the nations, is in
decline all over the earth. Democracy in politics has not
proved the magic cure for social evils that was expected.
Finally -- cruelest blow of all -- science has proved a
frighteningly double-edged weapon. Far from being an era of
peace, this "civilized" 20th century has become an
age of strife and violence. No wonder the attitude of so many
people is one of pessimistic resignation. There seems little
any one can do.
Now what has Bible prophecy to say about
all this?
It has a clear forecast of the "last
days", "the time of the end", when the career
of mankind in the earth will come to a critical point. It is
not a picture of continuing progress and peace, but rather of
world trouble and fear. The clearest and most striking example
of this is found in what Jesus says to his disciples, when
they asked him what would be the sign of his return to the
earth and of "the end of the world". He tells them
first about the fate of the Jewish people:
"They (the Jews) shall fall by the edge
of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations:
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles (the
nations), until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke
21:24).
Now this is a brief description of what we
have already considered in prophecy concerning Israel. The
Jews were to be driven as captives into all nations; Jerusalem
was to be subject to Gentile powers. Note that Jesus implies a
limit to this: "until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled". We have seen the beginning of this in our own
days: Jerusalem is no longer dominated by "foreign"
powers -- it is under the control of Israel itself.
World
Distress and Fear
So what he says next must also apply to the same days -- the
days of Israel's restoration to their own land. This is what
he foretells:
"And there shall be signs in the sun,
and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress
of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after (for
expectation of, R.V.) those things which are coming on the
earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Luke
21:25-26).
This is no picture of peace and progress.
it is a world of distress and perplexity, of fear seizing
men's hearts as they contemplate the events taking place on
"the inhabited earth" (as the word Jesus used
literally means).
The Apostle Paul, writing about 35 years
after the time of Jesus' prophecy, has this to say about the
character of the last days:
"... In the last days there will come
times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of
money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers,
profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless,
swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it
(II
Timothy 3:1-5), R.S.V.
This is an astonishing picture of a
civilization; mankind is throwing off all restraint and
indulging its own desires, reckless of consequences. Its
uncanny resemblance to the developments in our own world
cannot be denied.
So this is the position: whereas the
"wise men" of only 100 years ago were confidently
anticipating an era of progress and peace for the nations of
the world, the Bible, in the words of Jesus and Paul, was
foretelling a world of distress, fear, and perplexity, an age
of violence, self-indulgence and hatred. Our human
philosophers were wrong; Jesus and Paul were right. But they
spoke and wrote over 1900 years ago! How could they have
known? Only because neither of them spoke his own words, but
the words of God Himself. It was God who knew, and inspired
His Son and His apostle to reveal the character of the last
days.
CONCLUSIONS
There are certain
important conclusions to be drawn from our consideration of
these Bible prophecies.
If the Bible has proved to be so right in
its predictions about events in human history -- the fates of
Babylon, Egypt, and Israel, as well as the rise and fall of
empires, and the state of the modern world -- is it not just
as likely to be right in its predictions of events which have
not yet come to pass?
Take that image vision in Daniel, for
instance. We have not so far commented upon the final
development: the stone, "cut out of the mountain without
hands", smote the image on the feet, destroyed it, and
then itself "became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth" (Daniel
2:35). Now the general sense of this is plain: a
new element, not part of the image empires and kingdoms,
destroys them and takes their place in the earth. And since
"without hands" must mean "without human
hands" the stone must represent no ordinary human power.
But Daniel tells us himself what it means:
"In the days of those kings (that is,
the various kingdoms that followed the Roman Empire) shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed
. . . it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand for ever" (Daniel
2:44).
The present governments and powers of the
world are to be removed, in a sudden dramatic event, when God
intervenes and sets up His own government. To avoid
misunderstanding it should be said that it is not the
populations of the earth who are to be destroyed; it is the
power and authority of their human governments, to be replaced
by the new Kingdom of God. Many other prophecies tell us ot
the nature of this Kingdom; the uprightness of its rule, the
truth of its teaching, and the peace it will at last bring to
mankind through their recognition of "the God of
heaven". Read for instance Isaiah 2 for a clear and
striking picture of the nations in that age to come (Isaiah
2:1-4).
But how exactly is this great change in the
earth to be accomplished? The New Testament tells us. In fact
Jesus himself tells us in that prophecy of times of trouble
and fear for all nations. His next words are these:
"Then shall they see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke
21:27).
He is saying that he will come back
himself. The return of Christ to the earth is a frequent theme
in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles in the New
Testament. They agree completely with the prophets. Read Psalm
72 for a picture of his reign (Psalm
72).
Now this surely is what should concern us:
if the prophecies of the Bible about nations and empires have
proved so true over a period of more than 2000 years, are not
those other things they predict also likely to come to pass?
Is it not unreasonable to say: "Well, I accept that the
prophets were right in their predictions in these historical
matters, but I can't believe what they say about the future
for us." Why not? They have given evidence that they were
setting out not their own ideas, but the very purposes of God.
Whatever else they say must surely claim from us all the most
careful attention.
The
Vital Element
But of course there is more. These remarkable prophecies are
found in the Bible, and nowhere else in the world. There are
no other writings, no other books, no other human
pronouncements which can even begin to compare with the Bible.
But the Bible tells us that Jesus was the Son of God; the
things he said are preserved for us in the Gospels of the New
Testament. Together with the teachings of his inspired
apostles Peter, John and Paul, they reveal to us truths we
cannot know otherwise. They warn us of the reality of death;
they explain why the Gospel is "the good news",
"the power of God unto salvation" (Romans
1:16). They encourage us with the promise of a
lasting life in the new order which Christ will establish when
he comes. That is why we ought to be reading the Bible. It can
make the vital difference to us between the hopelessness of
death and the confident hope of everlasting life.
Careful reading of the Bible will convince
us that God exists, that He is in control, and that He calls
us to be disciples of His Son. The Bible is the book for us.
We do well to pay attention to what it says.