22. March 2025
The Bible is the word of God
The Bible is the word of God…
How do we know that the Bible is the word of God? To me to comes down prophecy and foretelling of the future. No other source, religious or not, foretells ANY events in the future. Who else could foretell the future other than a God who is not bound by time. The God of the Bible.
Some of the events foretold in the Bible are very precise. While some could be left open to debate. However, can you refute a prophecy that call out the person involved by name? In the prophecy of Cyrus the Great and the Gates of Babylon God does just that. Through Isaish, God called out Cyrus by name, and foretold how he would defeat Babylon.
In Isaiah 44:28-45:1 (written between 701 and 681 BC), you will find a prophecy about Cyrus the Great that was ultimately fulfilled hundreds of years later in 539 BC.
(Isaiah 44:28-45:1 ESV) who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’” Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:
In this passage, the prophet Isaiah stated that God would open the gates of Babylon for Cyrus and his army. Despite Babylon’s remarkable defenses, which included moats, and walls that were more than 70-feet thick and 300-feet high (with 250 watchtowers) Cyrus was able to enter the city and conquer it. Cyrus and his troops accomplished this by diverting the flow of the Euphrates River into a large lake basin. Cyrus then was able to march his army across the riverbed and directly into the city to capture it.
The book of Daniel has some of the most accurate and detailed foretelling of history found anywhere in the Bible. Several of these prophecies where told to Daniel by an angel. The following is an amazing prophecy about Alexander the Great and how is kingdom will be broken into four parts (i.e. four winds.) Keep in mind that Daniel lived 200 years before Alexander.
(Daniel 10:20 ESV) Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come.
(Daniel 11:3-4) “And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 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.”
Alexander the Great is easily placed in the prophecy here. Alexander finally defeated the Persians at the battle of Arbela in 331 B.C. He continued his campaign all the way to the borders of India and south through to Egypt. His dominion was far greater than that of the Persian empire.
Alexander died in 323 B.C when he was at the height of his power. As foretold in Daniel, no part of his kingdom went to his family. Immediately following Alexander’s death 36 of his generals scrambled for power and by 314 B.C. Seleucus gained Babylon in 312 B.C. and established a long line of kings. Lysimacus and Ptolemy assumed the title of kings in 305 B.C. and Cassander about the same year. Once again as foretold, this established the four divisions of Alexander’s former kingdom into north, south, east, and west, or the four winds. These four directions are according to Palestine, Daniel’s homeland.
A phophecy about one of Alexendar’s Generals.
(Daniel 11:5) “And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.”
The King of the south, Ptolemy Soter, who had Egypt, Palestine and part of Syria in the south, is the king of the south at this point of the prophecy. He was to be strong and ruled from 323 B.C. to 285 B.C.
Lysimacus took over Cassander’s territory and then Lysimacus lost all of it to Seleucus Nicator who now has three quarters of Alexander’s kingdom, leaving Ptolemy in the south with a quarter.
Another amazing foretelling of the future from Daniel. This phophecy provides details regarding how two kings tried to “join themeselves” 300 years before it actually happened.
(Daniel 11:6) “And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.”
Ptolemy Philadelphus 285 - 247 B.C., the second king of the south, and Antiochus Theos 261 - 246 B.C., the third king of the north, joined themselves together. Ptolemy Philadelphus’ daughter Berenice went to Antiochus Theos to become his wife and join the kingdoms together via marriage.
Antiochus divorced Laodice his wife and married Berenice. However, Berenice’s father, Ptolemy Philadelphus, died in 247 B.C. When word reached Antiochus of his death he immediately threw Berenice out and took back his ex-wife Laodice, with her two sons Seleucus Callinicus, and Antiochus Hierax. Laodice then had Antiochus Theos poisoned, 246 B.C., and had Seleucus Callinicus pronounced as king in his stead.
Berenice was put to death by the orders of Laodice and also all of Berenice’s Egyptian attendants that she had with her. The son that Berenice had to Antiochus was also murdered at the same time. This completely cleared the path for Laodice’s son, Seleucus Callinicus, to rule.
Chapter eleven of Daniel is one continuous prophecy that covers not only Alexandar the Great, but always the Roman Empire and beyond. I have pointed out just a few of the prophecies here. At some point, I will do an article covering more of the prophecies in Daniel eleven. The Bible is full of foretelling of the future, and it’s not just in Daniel. Who other than God would have the ability to foretell the future.
Jesus foretold the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. In 33 A.D. Jesus foretold that the Temple would be destroyed and the prophecy was carried out by the Romans in 72 A.D.
(Luke 21:5-6 ESV) And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
Thirty-Seven years later, in 70 A.D., the Roman Army, under Titus, did just as foretold by Jesus. To put down a Jewish rebellion, they sacked Jerusalem. Then in their anger and frustration at the cost of the siege, they tore down every stone of the Temple.
Jesus also foretold of his death. Some non-believers stated that Jesus did not expect to be crucified. However, that is not the truth. Jesus knew he was going to be crucified, and he told his disciples this.
(Mark 10:33-34 ESV) saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
Babylon Will Rule Over Judah for 70 Years. You can read the first such prophecy in Jeremiah 25:11-12. This prophecy was written sometime from 626 to about 586 BC and was not fulfilled until about 609 BC to 539 BC (approximately 50 years later, depending on your calculation)
(Jeremiah 25:11-12)"…This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt," declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate forever”
In this passage of Scripture, Jeremiah said that the Jews would suffer 70 years of Babylonian domination, and that after this was over, Babylon would be punished. Both parts of this prophecy were fulfilled! In 609 BC, Babylon captured the last Assyrian king and took over the holdings of the Assyrian empire, which included the land of Israel. Babylon then began to flex its muscles by taking many Jews as captives to Babylon and by destroying Jerusalem and the Temple. This domination of the Jews ended in 539 BC, when Cyrus, a leader of Persians and Medes, conquered Babylon, bringing an end to the empire. The prophecy also had another fulfillment: the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem’s Temple in 586 BC, but the Jews rebuilt it and consecrated it 70 years later, in 516 BC. Restoring the Temple showed, in a very important way, that the effects of Babylonian domination had indeed come to an end.
Babylon Will Be Reduced to Swampland. In Isaiah 14:23 (written between 701 and 681 BC), the prophet makes yet another prediction that does not come true until 539 BC.
(Isaiah 14:23). “‘I will turn her into a place for owls and into swampland; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,’ declares the Lord Almighty”
In Isaiah, the prophet makes the bold claim that Babylon, which had been a world power at two different times in history, would be brought to a humble and final end. But not only that, Isaiah claims that Babylon would be reduced to swampland! Well, after Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BC, the kingdom never again rose to power, that is certain. And history tells us that the buildings of Babylon fell into a gradual state of ruin during the next several centuries. Interestingly, when archaeologists excavated Babylon during the 1800s, they discovered that some parts of the city could not be dug up because they were under a water table that had risen over the years!
Tyre’s Stones, Timber and Soil Will Be Cast Into the Sea. In a remarkable prophecy, the prophet writes in Ezekiel 26:12 (written between 587-586 BC) that Tyre’s stone, timber, and soil will be thrown into the sea. This prophesy was fulfilled in 333-332 BC.
“They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea” (Ezekiel 26:12).
The prophet said that Tyre’s stones, timber and soil would be thrown into the sea. That’s probably a fitting description of how Alexander the Great built a land bridge from the mainland to the island of Tyre when he attacked in 333-332 BC. It is believed that he took the rubble from Tyre’s mainland ruins and tossed it - stones, timber and soil - into the sea, to build the land bridge (which is still there).
There are countless other accurate prophecies in the Bible. I just covered a few of them here. I could write a whole book regarding the prophecies of the Bible. The bottom line is that God uses prophecies in the Bible to show mankind, that he is the one true God, his word is the truth, and that he alone is in control of our futures. The great news is that we know the truth of what our future holds for us through God’s prophecies in the Bible. It is up to each one of us to understand God’s plan for mankind by reading and studying the Bible.