And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures like a sound of thunder, saying, Come and see. -- Rev 6:1

Introduction

Before entertaining this question, we must first set the groundwork for our discussion. Namely let us look at the definition of the words regarding a Prophet and Prophecy.

 When one thinks of a prophet or prophecy they think normally of someone who can tell the future or knows what is going to happen before it happens. Let’s have a look at the words more closely.

A Prophet?

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prophet: \Proph"et\, n., literally, one who speaks for another, especially, one who speaks for God and interprets his will to man.

Prophecy?

Well if you looked up the word prophecy in a thesaurus you’d find similar words like: prediction, forecast, divination, foresight, etc.

If you looked at the word as found in the scriptures you’d find that the word stems from the New Testament Greek word prophetus (n) or propheteuo (v). Simply put, this word means to speak for God, to be a mouthpiece for the Lord - to speak divine revelation.

Is the God and the Holy Bible the only Source for Accurate Prophecy?

What About:

• Other Religions?
• Oracles of Ancient Greece?
• Nostradamus?
• Supermarket Tabloids?
• Psychics?
• Astrology?
• Fortune Cookies?
• The Weatherman?

Are any of them worth Listening to?

“And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 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.” - Deuteronomy 18:21-22

While some of these crystal ball gazers may be able to hit upon something that actually does occur or come to pass, it’s not because they know the future. It has more to do with the law of averages: If you “predict” enough future events, one of them is bound to happen eventually.

A good rule of thumb to remember when you are hearing of those that ‘appear’ to be able to tell the truth such as Psychics, and other forms of fortune telling, is the saying, “Even a Clock that doesn’t work, is correct 2 times a day”

So many people are caught up in the world reading their horoscopes, or even visiting psychics to find out what will happen in their future. To me the concept of psychics has always been an interesting one, for I always thought “If Psychics are for real… and I REALLY needed one… wouldn’t they call me?”

I remember one time in my Psychology class at University. We were all sitting there one day and the professor told us all to write our names, and birthdates on a piece of paper. We then passed the piece of paper to the front, and the professor collected them all and announced that he was going to send them out and have our horoscopes done. Of course immediately I raised an eyebrow and frowned, and wished that I could withdraw my piece of paper, however the outcome of this event is strong evidence for the fallacy of the horoscope idea.

Next week during class the professor handed each of us an envelope with our names on the front. Within each envelope were our horoscopes. Every student read what was contained within and he began to ask questions about the contents. He asked, “How many thought this was a good indication or prediction of their lives”. He also asked how accurate we felt the horoscopes were. I refrained from comment for obvious reasons, but it was quite clear from the reaction of many in the room (approximately 200 or so) that the general consensus was that the documents before each person were accurate representation of each of them.

The professor then surprised everyone by asking us to pass our papers to the right of us. To the surprise of many, the new papers, the new horoscope they were now holding, was EXACTLY THE SAME as the original one that had our name on it.

So what does that tell you? You see it’s all just a sham. It’s another one of Satan’s ways of undermining one of God’s attributes. Only God is omniscient but by the mere suggestion that psychics have some ability to see the future creates a mockery of God’s, and only God’s character. Only God has rightly claimed to be all knowing and the master of prophecy… man’s best efforts fall very, very short. Remember:

“Even A Clock that doesn’t work… is correct twice a day”

Peter talks of trickery and clever tales of man verses God’s truth in 2 Peter Chapter 1

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. – 2 Peter 1:16

False religions, superstitions, false predictions are built upon clever tales, or clever tricks, but Christianity is built upon God’s revelation of himself to man through the scriptures. You see unlike the many tales and legends that have transpired throughout the ages… only the Holy scriptures have withstood the test of time as being the accurate and inerrant word of God, for only God could have known, and foreseen the things that transpired and are to come.

God tells us of his abilities in his word:

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: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. -- Isaiah 46:9-11

“And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” -- Daniel 2:21

The Lord determines what will happen in history and future and He brings it to pass as he so predestined. Considering that concept, it is quite easy to believe that whatever he tells us IS to come – WILL.

Listen to God’s ominous warning to those who dare to claim they speak in his name and he sent them not.

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. - Deuteronomy 18:20

With such a warning as this you would wonder why people would even pretend to do this… but yet they do.

Deuteronomy continues to tell us how to identify these false prophets. So simple in application, and yet people choose to believe regardless of the outcome.

And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 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. -- Deuteronomy 18:21-22

While researching this very topic I came across this old Chinese Proverb that is simple in verse and yet so truthful to the point at hand.

“It is very difficult to prophesy, especially about the future”

Biblical Reliability?

Well we all know of the reliability of the local weatherman, and have our doubts in the accuracies in horoscopes and psychic readings, but what of the reliability of the word of God?

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. – 2 Peter 1:20-21

“… your word is Truth.” - John 17:17

“Your Word is true from the beginning; and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” - Psalm 119:160

“Surely the LORD God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”- Amos 3:7

“For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” - Hebrews 4:12

So saith scripture, now how about a look at some historical proof?

Prophecy Fulfilled – Christ the Messiah

One of the most amazing events of prophecy occurred many years ago in the birth, life, death and resurrection of the one called ‘Christ’. Join me as we look at a list of only a few of such prophecies and consider the fulfillment of each.

“And He said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms about Me. And He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures.” - Luke 24:44-45

• He would be born of a virgin - Isaiah 7:14
• He would be the Son of God - Isaiah 9:6
• He would be born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2
• He would ride triumphantly into Jerusalem… yet meek and lowly… and riding on a donkey - Zech 9:9
• He would be betrayed by a friend. - Psalm 41:9
• He would be meek and humble – Isaiah 53:2
• He would come out of Egypt – Hosea 11:1
• They would set a price on him of 30 pieces of silver which would then be thrown into the potter’s field. – ch. 11:12-13
• We would despise Him and reject Him… He would feel the pain of rejection. – Isaiah 53:3
• We would turn our backs on Him and look the other way as he went by. – Isaiah 53:3
• He would be rejected by Israel. – Isaiah 49:7
• He would suffer… be brutally beaten and suffer. – Isaiah 52:14
• He would be beaten, bloodied and die for our sins. – Isaiah 53:5-7
• Yet he would remain silent during his ordeal. – Isaiah 53:7
• He would be crucified. – Psalm 22:14-17
• He would have stakes… nails... driven through his hands. – Zech 13:6
• He would be mocked during His time of suffering and death – Psalm 22:7-8
• His side would be pierced. – Zech 12:10
• He would be buried in a rich man’s grave. – Isaiah 53:9
• He was innocent… without guilt… without sin. – Isaiah 53:9
• He would be raised from the dead. – Psalm 16:10
• He would be a sacrifice for all our sins. – Isaiah 53:10
• His side would be pierced. – Zech 12:10
• He would be buried in a rich man’s grave. – Isaiah 53:9
• He was innocent… without guilt… without sin. – Isaiah 53:9
• He would be raised from the dead. – Psalm 16:10
• He would be a sacrifice for all our sins – Isaiah 53:10

There are 120 distinct prophecies about Christ that can be found in the old testament. These prophecies were written down over 300 years prior to Christ’s birth and death.

The mathematical probability of every one of these prophecies being fulfilled through the life of one man is profound. It has been calculated to be:

1
chance in
8, 400, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.

Now I know what the mathematicians are thinking. "How did you come up with that number? It is impossible to assign a probability to events as obscure and varied as the prophecies pertaining to Christ." And they are correct, and I really don’t know how the number was calculated; I only provided it for interests sake. At the same time however, I can offer some compelling thought to the process and apply some of our own numbers.

For an example. Let’s take a couple of the prophecies and apply a probability of 50% to each one. Let’s say for starters:

• He would be born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2

Ok… for the sake of argument we are saying that at the historical time of Christ a person had a 50% chance of being born in Bethlehem. Now you and I both know that the probability was much lower than 50%. The world was a very large world by then, and there were many cities and towns. However, for the sake of our experiment, we are assuming that everyone born in the time of Christ had a 50% chance of being born in Bethlehem. That means we had 1 chance in 2 of being born there.

Ok, now on with another.

• He would ride triumphantly into Jerusalem… yet meek and lowly… and riding on a donkey - Zech 9:9

Let’s say there is a 50% chance of this happening to someone. We know that this is of course ridiculous. You would have a very, very small chance of fulfilling this one. This is not a common thing to have happen to anyone. (and don’t get me started on the virgin one – Isaiah 7:14)

But for the sake of argument, we have two prophecies, each with an arbitrary 50% chance of occurrence, and already the probability of one man fulfilling them both is:

1 chance in 4.

As we add more and more such prophecies, and assume a very generous probability of 50% to each one, we find the following:

and so on…

So we can see through our simple experiment that if each of the prophecies of Christ could be assigned a 50% probability, the chance of one man fulfilling even 10 of them is 1 chance in 1024. That would mean you would have a .09765% chance of fulfilling 10.

As I mentioned before, there are 120 distinct prophecies pertaining to Christ. Under our formula that would mean 1 chance in 1, 329, 227, 995, 784, 920, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.

To put this in perspective, the chances of winning Canada’s Lotto 649 jackpot is 1 chance in 13,983,816.

No charlatan soothsayer, crystal ball gazer, horoscope or weatherman could ever hope for the kind of odds demonstrated by the 100% fulfillment of all prophecies in scripture. And the reason is simple:

When examining the prophetic abilities of anything or anyone outside those written in the Holy Scriptures, one thing becomes clearly evident: In order to accurately predict the future one must either be omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Or Have a direct connection with the ONE who does meet those requirements.

So then to answer our original question, "What is Bible Prophecy?"

We can now answer:

Bible Prophecy is God's infallible message to man, written by or spoken by the prophets as chosen by God. Quite simply the study of Bible Prophecy is the study of history written in advance by God Himself.

-- J.R.Hall

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