To go to the first post in this series please click here.
Approximately 30% of the Bible is concerned with prophecy. It is clear then that this topic has some important purpose. We can easily find some scriptures which show us three basic principles concerning prophecy:
1. God proclaims prophecy as a sign of His own divinity and power.
He clearly declares that prophecy is His domain and His alone:
“Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
(Isaiah 46:9-10)
2. God stakes His reputation on the trustworthiness of His prophetic statements.
In Isaiah Chapter 41, verses 21-23, God is confronting the idolatrous nations. He challenges them to produce idols or gods which can predict things to come or even to account for things that were, or to do anything at all, even good or evil. Observe how prophecy is also used here as an attribute of divinity:
“Present your case,” the LORD says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods;[emphasis added] Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
(Isaiah 41:21-23) [Note how God is speaking directly to the prophet, without an intermediary].
3. God sets a very high standard for prophetic accuracy.
‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ (Deuteronomy 18:20)
See also Deuteronomy 13:5.
One can see from this that God demands 100% accuracy from any prophet claiming divine revelation!
This is a fitting prerequisite for something that can only come from the divine.
Several things follow from these scriptures:
- That no living being can live up to this standard unless they are either divine themselves, or directly divinely inspired. In either case it would be God Himself who speaks.
- That once something is written in the word of God, it cannot be changed or altered. It is pointless to announce major truths or future events if these are to be changed, annulled or abrogated. No writer of scriptures could reveal prophecy unless He had complete confidence in the eternal preservation of what He was writing. If the Scriptures were subject to corruption, such changes would cause mismatch with future events, invalidating other prophecies also and rendering the word of God a shambles. This is not the case with the Bible.
- The scriptures, as they have come down to us, are utterly trustworthy and reliable. At the time many prophecies were written they must have seemed implausible to the readers and scribes. Yet those ancients had such a high regard for the Word of God that they maintained its integrity in spite of what may have seemed improbable. Today, because we have seen the exact fulfillment of many of these prophecies we know for certain that the scriptures were not changed. History itself has sealed and confirmed their authenticity.
- God is in control of history.
Please ask yourself these questions:
- Are there any other religions that put forward prophecy as a seal of authenticity? If not, then what proof does your religion offer that it is indeed a genuine revelation from God?
- Is there any prophet or spokesperson in your religion who claims 100% accuracy and can also show the proof?
Next in this series: The Proof of Proofs.
STUMBLE IT!
