"Aha!" you say. "The Tanakh (Old Testament to the Jews) claims to be thousands of years older than that. There must be many discrepancies." The Septuagint along with the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls proved that assumption wrong. I won't spend a lot of time here, especially since Vodie Baucham covered the it so well. Suffice it to say, The Old Testament holds up to scrutiny just as well as the New.
What I would like to do now though, is cover some predictive prophecies that have come true to the letter. I'm not going to cover Messianic prophecies, either (though Jesus fulfilled over 300 of them) because I covered some of them in my post, "Who is Jesus?"
The book of Deuteronomy gives us the test of a prophet. It says in 18:22,
"If the prophet speaks in the Lord's name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared."
Bear in mind that, just before this in verse 20, God told them that there was a death penalty for presuming to speak for God and leading the people astray. The office of prophet wasn't to be taken lightly.
The prophecy of the destruction of Tyre stands out to me because of the unusual details that were given in the prophecy and because it is a very easy prophecy to date. This gives it credence.
Ezekiel tells us that his visions and prophecies began in the fifth year of Johoiachin's captivity. This is almost unanimously accepted as 597 BC. This is the second deportation of the Jews and is documented in 2 Kings 24:10-20.
I know you're thinking, "Of course the Bible will validate itself. You're going to have to do better than that." Indeed I will. This event is also recorded in ancient Chaldean records (Free and Vos, 1992, p. 194). Since Ezekiel's visions began five years after this deportation, all we have to do is a little math to see that this is 592 B.C. Ezekiel was very good at dating his prophecies, so based on dates given throughout his book, we can determine that the prophecy of the destruction of Tyre given in chapter 26, was given in 586 B.C.
First, a little about the city. Tyre was a Phoenician city located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean north of Israel. It was one of the most prosperous and established cities in the world at the time of Ezekiel's prophecy. As a matter of fact, King Hiram of Tyre helped out with materials and ships with the building of Solomon's Temple.
Everything I'm about to tell you (not just about Tyre, but all of it) is historical and can be Googled so I'm going to cut out a lot of details for the sake of brevity. The thing about Tyre, aside from the fact that it was considered impregnable, is it had a unique advantage. Tyre had an offshore island to which, in the unlikely case that the city on the mainland was about to be breached, they could flee.
Ezekiel spoke of the city's specific riches then predicted (linked above):
1. Many nations would come against it
2. The inhabitants of the villages and fields of Tyre would be slain
3. Nebuchadnezzar would build a siege mound against it.
4. The city would be broken down and the stones, timber and even the soil would be thrown into the sea.
5. It would be made a bare rock
6. The city would become a place where fishermen spread their nets
7. The city would never be rebuilt.
Shortly after this prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar did lay siege against the city; a siege that, according to Josephus, lasted for 13 years. The unprecedented length of the siege was due to the island fortress which was easily defended against conventional tactics. But, what Nebuchadnezzar did do was raze the mainland, fulfilling part of the prophecy. But don't forget that 'many nations' caveat. According to history, Tyre went through many years of war with many nations leading to Egypt taking Tyre 'by assault' after another siege. But, that didn't end the city. It took Alexander the Great to do that.
Alexander the Great wanted to make a sacrifice at the temple of Herecles but the Tyrians refused. Again, they considered the island impregnable. They underestimated Alexander who demolished was was left of Old Tyre and set tens of thousands of men to work. He used the 'stones, timber and soil for this undertaking, scraped the land down to bare rock, and threw it all into the sea to build a causeway. Old Tyre on the mainland and the island fortress were utterly destroyed. And, while there is a city today called Tyre, the ancient location of the city lies beneath the Mediterranean sea, just as Ezekiel predicted. And just for added effect, here's a photo.
I'm going to try to do one of my famous 'running lists' here:
1. Babylon will rule Judah for 70 years, Jeremiah 25:11-12.
2. Judah would be delivered by a king named Cyrus, Isaiah 45:1.
(This was prophesied around 700 B.C. and fulfilled in 539 B.C.)
3. Babylon would be permanently overthrown, Isaiah 13:19.
4 Babylon, the jewel of the world would become swampland,
Isaiah 14:23. (Excavations in the 1800 could not be completed
due to the fact that part of the city was under water.)
5. The Jews will survive Babylonian captivity and return to their land,
Jeremiah 32:36-37.
6. The Ninevites would be drunk when overthrown, Nahum 1:10
(According to Diodorus Siculus, an ancient historian, "The Assyrian king gave much wine to his soldiers. Deserters told this to the enemy who attacked that night.")
7. Nineveh would be destroyed by fire, Nahum 3:15. (Archaeologists confirmed a layer of ash covering the ruins, see: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
8. Edom would be destoyed, Jeremiah 49:16. (Edom no longer exists and it's capital is now part of Jordan.
There are literally hundreds of fulfilled predictive prophecies in the Old Testament. These are just a few of the ones that can be dated and are historically verified but we can't do a post on predictive prophecy without including Daniel and Ezekiel's 'Valley of Dry Bones'.
The book of Daniel is so prophetically accurate that people say it must have been written after the fact. But, Daniel is probably the most verified book in the old testament. It is said that when Cyrus overthrew Babylon, Daniel showed him Isaiah's prophecy containing his name and that is what prompted Cyrus to show favor to Judah, and allow them to return home. He even gave money for the rebuilding of the temple.
Daniel 8:20-21 predicted that the Persians would overthrow Babylon and that the Greeks would overthrow the Persians. Both of these predictions were by name. He also predicted, to the day, the abomination of desolation by Antiochus Epiphanes and the arrival of Jesus on the scene (see Chuck Missler's study of Daniel Introduction for charts, graphs and calculations). Josephus wrote that the High Priest Jaddua showed Alexander the Great that Daniel had written about him. This caused Alexander to spare Jerusalem.
And the hum-dinger of all prophecies, (drum-roll please) the restoration of Israel! I can show you how The Messiah was predicted (really, I can) but if that would do it, the Jews would all be Christians. So, I'll stick to the one prophecy that cannot be denied and is unprecedented in all of world history.
In 70 A.D., Titus of Rome sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, just as Jesus prophesied. You can actually see carvings of the temple treasures, like the Menorah, being carried off on the Arch of Titus in Rome. The Jews were dispersed to the four corners of the world. Almost 2000 years later, beyond all reckoning, Israel was restored as a nation and the Jews were gathered from the four winds.
Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of mankind but it didn't surprise the Jews, nor did it surprise the Christians. This had been prophesied thousands of years before by the prophet, Ezekiel in his famous vision, 'The Valley of Dry Bones', Ezekiel 37.
I'm confident that Biblical prophecy is real. That being said, the unfulfilled prophecies are the ones that should worry you if you aren't a Christian. The prophecies of Daniel and Jesus are very much in play right now. Daniel is only 12 chapters long and is an easy read. His prophetic visions don't even start until chapter 7, although the book starts out with Nebuchadnezzar's dream of human history. Jesus prophesied the signs of the end and said that the generation in which we live would not pass away before He returns, Matthew 24.
I urge you to repent and be saved today. If you have questions, email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com. There is a simple video on You Tube, "What Must I do to be Saved?", that you can watch, also. Here are some relevant posts and articles:
The Gospel
Advise to New Believers
They Would Have a Bramble as King (Antichrist)
I'm praying to see you there!
I know you're thinking, "Of course the Bible will validate itself. You're going to have to do better than that." Indeed I will. This event is also recorded in ancient Chaldean records (Free and Vos, 1992, p. 194). Since Ezekiel's visions began five years after this deportation, all we have to do is a little math to see that this is 592 B.C. Ezekiel was very good at dating his prophecies, so based on dates given throughout his book, we can determine that the prophecy of the destruction of Tyre given in chapter 26, was given in 586 B.C.
Everything I'm about to tell you (not just about Tyre, but all of it) is historical and can be Googled so I'm going to cut out a lot of details for the sake of brevity. The thing about Tyre, aside from the fact that it was considered impregnable, is it had a unique advantage. Tyre had an offshore island to which, in the unlikely case that the city on the mainland was about to be breached, they could flee.
Ezekiel spoke of the city's specific riches then predicted (linked above):
1. Many nations would come against it
2. The inhabitants of the villages and fields of Tyre would be slain
3. Nebuchadnezzar would build a siege mound against it.
4. The city would be broken down and the stones, timber and even the soil would be thrown into the sea.
5. It would be made a bare rock
6. The city would become a place where fishermen spread their nets
7. The city would never be rebuilt.
Shortly after this prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar did lay siege against the city; a siege that, according to Josephus, lasted for 13 years. The unprecedented length of the siege was due to the island fortress which was easily defended against conventional tactics. But, what Nebuchadnezzar did do was raze the mainland, fulfilling part of the prophecy. But don't forget that 'many nations' caveat. According to history, Tyre went through many years of war with many nations leading to Egypt taking Tyre 'by assault' after another siege. But, that didn't end the city. It took Alexander the Great to do that.
Alexander the Great wanted to make a sacrifice at the temple of Herecles but the Tyrians refused. Again, they considered the island impregnable. They underestimated Alexander who demolished was was left of Old Tyre and set tens of thousands of men to work. He used the 'stones, timber and soil for this undertaking, scraped the land down to bare rock, and threw it all into the sea to build a causeway. Old Tyre on the mainland and the island fortress were utterly destroyed. And, while there is a city today called Tyre, the ancient location of the city lies beneath the Mediterranean sea, just as Ezekiel predicted. And just for added effect, here's a photo.
I'm going to try to do one of my famous 'running lists' here:
1. Babylon will rule Judah for 70 years, Jeremiah 25:11-12.
2. Judah would be delivered by a king named Cyrus, Isaiah 45:1.
(This was prophesied around 700 B.C. and fulfilled in 539 B.C.)
3. Babylon would be permanently overthrown, Isaiah 13:19.
4 Babylon, the jewel of the world would become swampland,
Isaiah 14:23. (Excavations in the 1800 could not be completed
due to the fact that part of the city was under water.)
5. The Jews will survive Babylonian captivity and return to their land,
Jeremiah 32:36-37.
6. The Ninevites would be drunk when overthrown, Nahum 1:10
(According to Diodorus Siculus, an ancient historian, "The Assyrian king gave much wine to his soldiers. Deserters told this to the enemy who attacked that night.")
7. Nineveh would be destroyed by fire, Nahum 3:15. (Archaeologists confirmed a layer of ash covering the ruins, see: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
8. Edom would be destoyed, Jeremiah 49:16. (Edom no longer exists and it's capital is now part of Jordan.
There are literally hundreds of fulfilled predictive prophecies in the Old Testament. These are just a few of the ones that can be dated and are historically verified but we can't do a post on predictive prophecy without including Daniel and Ezekiel's 'Valley of Dry Bones'.
The book of Daniel is so prophetically accurate that people say it must have been written after the fact. But, Daniel is probably the most verified book in the old testament. It is said that when Cyrus overthrew Babylon, Daniel showed him Isaiah's prophecy containing his name and that is what prompted Cyrus to show favor to Judah, and allow them to return home. He even gave money for the rebuilding of the temple.
Daniel 8:20-21 predicted that the Persians would overthrow Babylon and that the Greeks would overthrow the Persians. Both of these predictions were by name. He also predicted, to the day, the abomination of desolation by Antiochus Epiphanes and the arrival of Jesus on the scene (see Chuck Missler's study of Daniel Introduction for charts, graphs and calculations). Josephus wrote that the High Priest Jaddua showed Alexander the Great that Daniel had written about him. This caused Alexander to spare Jerusalem.
And the hum-dinger of all prophecies, (drum-roll please) the restoration of Israel! I can show you how The Messiah was predicted (really, I can) but if that would do it, the Jews would all be Christians. So, I'll stick to the one prophecy that cannot be denied and is unprecedented in all of world history.
In 70 A.D., Titus of Rome sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, just as Jesus prophesied. You can actually see carvings of the temple treasures, like the Menorah, being carried off on the Arch of Titus in Rome. The Jews were dispersed to the four corners of the world. Almost 2000 years later, beyond all reckoning, Israel was restored as a nation and the Jews were gathered from the four winds.
Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of mankind but it didn't surprise the Jews, nor did it surprise the Christians. This had been prophesied thousands of years before by the prophet, Ezekiel in his famous vision, 'The Valley of Dry Bones', Ezekiel 37.
I'm confident that Biblical prophecy is real. That being said, the unfulfilled prophecies are the ones that should worry you if you aren't a Christian. The prophecies of Daniel and Jesus are very much in play right now. Daniel is only 12 chapters long and is an easy read. His prophetic visions don't even start until chapter 7, although the book starts out with Nebuchadnezzar's dream of human history. Jesus prophesied the signs of the end and said that the generation in which we live would not pass away before He returns, Matthew 24.
I urge you to repent and be saved today. If you have questions, email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com. There is a simple video on You Tube, "What Must I do to be Saved?", that you can watch, also. Here are some relevant posts and articles:
The Gospel
Advise to New Believers
They Would Have a Bramble as King (Antichrist)
I'm praying to see you there!
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