The Place of Predictive Prophecy

Abstract: The scriptures of the various world's religions share many characteristics. They
differ markedly, however, in theology. The Bible has an edge over its competitors—the
Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Church Fathers, the scriptures of Hinduism, Buddhism,
Taoism, and the unwritten lore of animalistic tribes. This edge also sets it above the wit
and research of modern men. This edge is predictive prophecy. No other scripture has
genuinely shown itself to have been full of foreknowledge. No other scripture is worthy
of faith. And faithlessness in the Bible is irrational if one is willing to search for truth.

Outline:

I. The Bible's great predictive prophecies

a. Tyre
b. Babylon—the city
c. Jerusalem
d. Babylon—the nation
e. Persia
f. Greece
g. Rome
h. The Papacy
i. Jesus
j. The time element
k. Europe
II. The Bible's Use of Predictive Prophecy
III. The Underestimates
a. The Devil
b. The Old Testament
c. The Honesty of Man
IV. The Nature of Faith

God predicted the fall of Tyre to Babylon. He foretold the manner of the conquest and the
unlikely millennia-long future of the site.

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. 8 He shall slay with the
sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a
mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. 9 And he shall set
engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy
towers. 10 By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee:
thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the
chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is
made a breach. 11 With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets:
he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to
the ground. 12 And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy
 merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant
houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of
the water. 13 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of
thy harps shall be no more heard. 14 And I will make thee like the top of a rock:
thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the
LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. Ez 23:7-14

Even before Babylon had conquered the known world God foretold, through Isaiah, how
she would fall from that pinnacle – at the sword of the Medes. The manner of the siege
was foretold. And the unlikely result was declared, one that has defied the efforts of
might men even in modern centuries.

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as
for gold, they shall not delight in it. 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. 19 ¶ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 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. 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. Is 13:17-21

Jesus predicted not only the fall of Jerusalem, but also the manner of the destruction of
Herod's temple. He saw an event that seemed utterly unbelievable and prophesied of it
with the word "verily."

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him
for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye
not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone
upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Matt 24:1-2

The earlier conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was foretold along with a time
prophecy. Babylon was given seventy years to reign. She conquered Jerusalem in 538 BC
and Daniel learned while a captive in the capital city of that empire that the captivity
would end in 607 BC. So it did when Cyrus fulfilled Isaiah's and Jeremiah's prophecies
and Babylon fell.

And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations
shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 And it shall come to pass, when
seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that
nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will
make it perpetual desolations. Jer 25:11-12
For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I
will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to
this place. Jer 29:10
 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years,
whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would
accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Dan 9:2

To the king Nebuchadnezzar God revealed that if one counted Babylon as the first empire
(from Daniel's time) to control the then-known world, that there would be only three
more before that area would be controlled by 10 more-or-less independent nations to rise
out of the fourth empire. These would persist until the end of the world. As foretold,
Babylon was succeeded by Persia, Greece and Rome. The latter was broken into nations
as foretold. And those nations, fifteen centuries later, still persist despite was work of the
world's greatest generals to unite them under a fifth empire.

As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should
come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what
shall come to pass. 30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any
wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make
known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of
thy heart. 31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image,
whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was
terrible. 32 This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver,
his belly and his thighs of brass, 33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part
of clay. 34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote
the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 35
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces
together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind
carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the
image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 36 This is the dream;
and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37 Thou, O king, art a
king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and
strength, and glory. 38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of
the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made
thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39 And after thee shall arise
another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall
bear rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron:
forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that
breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41 And whereas thou
sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall
be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou
sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of
iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 43
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves
with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not
mixed with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up
a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to
other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it
shall stand for ever. 45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of
 the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the
clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what
shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation
thereof sure. Daniel 2

God further predicted, by the same prophet, that the first king of the third empire would
be famously powerful. Yet he would not leave his mighty kingdom to his children.
Rather, it would be divided among four others. (Daniel 8:21-22; 11:2-4).

Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to
strengthen him. 2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand
up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by
his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. 3
And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do
according to his will. 4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken,
and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor
according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up,
even for others beside those. Dan 11

These predictions were so striking fulfilled that skeptics a century before Christ urged
that they had been written after the facts.

This empty argument has been handed down and picked up by persons more culpable for
its use. What the early skeptics unwittingly did is confirm that the book of Daniel existed
long before the time of Christ, long before the rise of Rome, long before the break-up of
Rome, etc. “Nothing can be done against the truth, but for the truth.”

And the skeptics also undermined themselves. They urged that Daniel was written in the
time of the Maccabees and, among their arsenal of evidence, was the famous fictitious
character of Darius that is featured in chapters 5-6. No such man had ever existed. The
wrings of history showed no trace of this prince of Persia.

Many skeptics died confident in this argument. Voltaire rested in arguments of this kind,
especially easy of picking out the fictional race of the Hittites from the “lore” of the Old
Testament.

But since that time Darius and the Hittites have been found in the tablets of archeology.
And the fact that Darius was soon forgotten, disappeared from records, and was unknown
in the time of the Maccabees, is a powerful argument against the idea that the book was
written at that time.

And Bible predicted further, in symbols, that Persia would conquer Lydia, Babylon and
Egypt and that the third kingdom would be incredibly fast in the spreading of its
dominion. Four wings betokened the work of Alexander the Great..
 2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds
of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up from the
sea, diverse one from another. 4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I
beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and
made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. 5 And
behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side,
and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus
unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a
leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also
four heads; and dominion was given to it. Daniel 7

The fourth beast, however, would be a fourth kingdom that would become a federation of
independent kingdoms. Three of these would be destroyed under the influence of one
that, though small and late, would rise to preeminence over the others.

7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and
terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake
in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all
the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and,
behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were
three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes
like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. Daniel 7

Such detailed foreknowledge of the birth of Europe, the end of the Heruli, Ostrogoths,
and the Vandals, and of the rise of the Vatican to prominence over what became known
as the “Holy Roman Empire” is incredible. But the foreknowledge added more – that the
three kingdoms subdued before Rome would continue to have a national existence
(unlike the three tribes just mentioned). And behold Greece, Iran, and Iraq today, their
national existence continuing beyond their allotted period for world dominion. (By way
of contrast, when Rome’s dominion will be taken away at Christ’s coming, Rome will
have no more national existence.)

11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I
beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the
burning flame. 12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion
taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 13 I saw in the
night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of
heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people,
nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed. Daniel 7.

How could a man, living before the time of Christ, have predicted three powers to rise
and remain and three others to rise and be gone? This is the challenge the Bible gives to
other religions, to duplicate its foreknowledge.
That the fourth kingdom would do these things was prophecy and is now history. And
more was predicted. The eleventh kingdom, the Vatican, would develop into a
persecuting religious power of blasphemous nature. This kingdom would exist, as the
dominant state for 1260 years.

And 1260 years from the very beginning of papal civil rule over Rome brings a man to
1798. In that very year the city of Rome became, again as in its ancient past, a republic.
The civil authority of the Vatican over Italy’s people disappeared.

Incredible.

I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the
most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 23 Thus he
said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be
diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it
down, and break it in pieces. 24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten
kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse
from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great
words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and
think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time
and times and the dividing of time. 26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall
take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 27 And the
kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Daniel 7

God foretold that, from the time that a Persian emperor would command to build
Jerusalem and to restore its worship and municipal government, there would be 483 years
until the Messiah (anointed one) came on the scene. (Daniel 9:24-26). That Jesus was
baptized and anointed right on time is incredible.

Before Cyrus was born he was pointed out by name by the prophet Isaiah. God foretold
how Cyrus would enter Babylon. And why did God foretell these things? He did it so all
in the nation of Israel could know that He was God.

Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to
subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him
the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; 2 I will go before thee, and
make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut
in sunder the bars of iron: 3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and
hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which
call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and
Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee,
 though thou hast not known me. 5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is
no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they
may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside
me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. Is 45:1-6

Prophecies about Jesus: While scores of special prophecies about Jesus were fulfilled in
his life and mentioned by the gospel writers, the events of these prophecies have not
made their way into secular works of history (they not being on a national scale). For this
reason they are not elucidated in this work.

The Place of Predictive Prophecy in Scripture

God versus men and their gods – the trial of Isaiah 41-48

Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of
Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the
former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them;
or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we
may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and
behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is
he that chooseth you. I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the
rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon
morter, and as the potter treadeth clay. Who hath declared from the beginning, that we
may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that
sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words. Is
41:21-26

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my
praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things
do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. Is 42:8-9

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the
first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and
shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and
the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. Fear ye not,
neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even
my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. Is 44:6-8

Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to
subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the
two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the
crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the
bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret
places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am
the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even
called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I
am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee,
though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and
from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. Is
45:1-6

Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this
from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there
is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I
have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not
return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Is 45:21-23

Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and
there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
pleasure: Is 46:8-10

I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my
mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. Because I
knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; I
have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it
thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my
molten image, hath commanded them. Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye
declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou
didst not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the
day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them. Yea,
thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not
opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a
transgressor from the womb. Is 48:3-8

--- Document yet unfinished. Yet to be done:

I. The Underestimates
a. The Devil
i. Show that men wholly underestimate the success of the Devil in
deluding “scholars”, confusing facts, and outwitting opponents in
open arguments. Show how the Bible bids men evaluate God
without interacting with the Devil and his faithless followers.
Show how this is the only sensible way to go forward when
dealing with two intelligences both much greater than your own.
b. The Old Testament
i. Show how love, faith, kindness, mercy is the amazing teaching of
the Old Testament, and how the genocides ordered by Jehovah
were, in the long run, the best thing that could be done for the
 salvation of as many rebellious persons as possible. Show how
God’s intention was to dispossess Canaan without bloodshed.
c. The Honesty of Man
i. Show how men are, as a race, dishonest, and how this fact muddles
the conclusions of many unwary researchers.
II. The Nature of Faith
a. Show how faith is no “leap in the dark” but, rather, a step into the light.
Demonstrate how faith rests on evidence and how demonstration is not
safely possible in things pertaining to morality.

In the mean time, while this article waits to be finished, persons are bidden to visit
www.bibledoc.org and to read the article on “The Draft” which covers “The Nature of
Faith” issue and the Old Testament issues mentioned above.