The Bible claims to predict events centuries and millennia ahead, all the way to the end of time.
Of course, anyone can make predictions. The crucial question is: Do those predictions come true?
The Bible sets up its own validation process: “How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken.” Deut. 18:21, 22. See also John 13:19. In other words, the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy confirms the inspiration of that prophecy and implicitly confirms the Bible’s reliability as a whole.
Someone has counted 2,500 prophecies in the Bible; it is thought that 2,000 of these have been fulfilled. Space permits only a handful of examples.
In the sixth century bc, the prophet Daniel recorded in chapters 2 and 7 of his book a series of totally astounding predictions.1 Writing in the time when Babylon was ruling supreme, he foretold that:
Three subsequent empires would have absolute world dominance: Medo-Persia, Greece, and a fourth power, easily identifiable in history as Rome. The four empires are described by way of different metals and body parts of a statue (ch. 2) and various beasts with specific characteristics (ch. 7). The way the symbols point to historical realities is nothing short of miraculous.
The Roman Empire would not be followed by a fifth world power but would splinter into ten divisions. Dan. 2:41–43. This was exactly fulfilled as the Roman Empire, under attack from the barbarian tribes, disintegrated into what eventually became the modern nations of Europe. Moreover, the prophecy said that these nations would never unite. As current events show, the European project is still only a dream.
An oppressive political-religious power (with multiple identifying marks provided) would rise to dominate Europe, would persecute God’s saints for a long period (Dan. 7:23–25), and would last all the way to the end of time. This power, active in the Middle Ages through the infamous Inquisition, still wields considerable political and moral influence today.
After many Judeans had been carried away to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar II following his conquest of the city, the prophet Jeremiah wrote to them that their captivity would end after 70 years. Jer. 29:10. In the meantime, the land of Judea would lie in ruins. This happened from 606/605 bc to 537/536 bc, when the Jews were allowed to return home.
The prophet Isaiah made an astounding prediction almost a century ahead of its fulfillment—the name of the Persian king who would allow the Jews to return from the Babylonian exile and would command the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple: “Who says of Cyrus, He… shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built, and to the temple, Your foundation shall be built.” Isa. 44:28. It was indeed Cyrus the Great (ruled 550–529 bc), the Persian king, who released the Jews and commanded the reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple. 2 Chron. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1–4.
Nearly 100 years before the event, the prophet Isaiah identified by name the Persian king who would free the exiled Jews.
Writing around 740 bc, Isaiah foretold that the Medo-Persians would fight against Babylon and conquer it, and that it would eventually be left desolate. Isa. 13:17–22; Jer. 50:9, 12, 13. This was about as unimaginable as if someone warned that New York would be abandoned. Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was the largest city of its time, covering four square miles (ten square kilometers). Yet in 539 bc, Babylon fell to the Medo-Persians. Dan. 5:30, 31. Later, the Persian King Xerxes partly destroyed Babylon, and, though still inhabited, it never regained its former glory. Alexander the Great stopped in Babylon on his return from subduing Asia all the way to northern India. He thought to make Babylon the capital of his worldwide empire and immediately set thousands of workers to clear away the ruins of the city, rebuild its temples, and construct a harbor. But Alexander fell ill suddenly and died in 323 bc in Babylon in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. Seleucus, one of the four generals who carved up Alexander’s empire, decided to rebuild Opis (110 miles away) as his capital. He renamed it Seleucia and carried away Babylon’s bricks to his city. By the first century ad, Babylon was a ghost town until it was completely abandoned. In the 1980s, Saddam Hussein started to rebuild parts of ancient Babylon on top of the ruins, stamping the bricks with the inscription, “This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq,” only to be stopped by the Gulf War and later the US military invasion.
The eleventh chapter of Daniel is so detailed in its predictions, and some of its fulfillments so easily identifiable, that historians talk of the “book of Daniel as a historical document.” In fact, so accurate are the prophecies that, to the minds of skeptical scholars, they could only have been written after the events that the prophecies predict. Starting with the history of the Persian Empire, it soon progresses to Alexander the Great and the division of his empire between his four generals and follows on with events from the Hellenistic era, the Roman Empire (Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius), the rise of the Papacy, the persecutions of Christians during the Middle Ages, the temporary downfall of the Papacy, the present, and the future.
Daniel recorded another most amazing prophecy that the Messiah would come 483 years (69 prophetic weeks, counting one year for a day; see Ez. 4:6) after the Persian edict to rebuild Jerusalem. Dan. 9:24–27. The decree that accomplished the restoration of the Jewish state, with its capital at Jerusalem, was the one given by Artaxerxes I in 457 bc. Fast-forward 483 years to ad 27 (not forgetting to add one year for the change from bc to ad) when Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan and crucified three and a half years later in ad 31.
The book of Daniel gave the precise dates for the start of Jesus' ministry and His death.
Ancient Jerusalem was an amazing city with pleasant gardens and opulent buildings. As Jesus visited the Temple—one of the wonders of the ancient world—with His disciples, they pointed to the magnificence of the buildings. The Jewish historian Josephus described the Temple as “being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from the solar rays.…Some of the stones in the building were forty-five cubits in length, five in height and six in breadth” (Jewish War, V. 222–224).
Yet, Jesus surprised His disciples by predicting that (1) “not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Mark 13:1, 2. Another time, Jesus foretold (2) the terrible calamity that would befall Jerusalem and its inhabitants, unlike any before or after in history. Mark 13:17–20; Luke 23:28–31. He (3) warned His followers to leave the city at the first signs of hostile Roman military inroads. Mark 13:14–16.
All three predictions came true. At the outset of the Jewish war, the Romans under Cestius Gallus (ad 66/67), and then Vespasian (ad 68), started out against Jerusalem, but both withdrew unexpectedly. This gave time to the Christians in Jerusalem to leave the city. Titus finally besieged Jerusalem (ad 70) and starved out the city. The misery that ensued was horrendous: cannibalism; bloody infighting between fanatical patriots and the civilian population; thousands of crucifixions; some Jews swallowing gold coins, trying to escape the blockade; and the Romans eviscerating countless people upon hearing the rumor. Titus determined to save the Temple. But after embittered fighting, it was set ablaze by the rash act of a Roman soldier against the repeated orders of Titus. The looting of gold was so extensive that it halved the price of gold in Syria. Finally, Titus ordered the Temple and most of the city to be razed to the ground.
At least 48 major prophecies exist in the Bible about Jesus. Each were written at least three centuries in advance. The mathematical odds that someone in history would fulfill all these criteria are infinitesimal. Here are just a few:
The prophecy in Genesis 3:15, given after the fall of Adam and Eve in Eden, deserves special attention. Concerning the Messiah, it says that “you [the serpent] shall bruise His heel.” This utterance has been interpreted as a metaphor that the Messiah would suffer while dying.
It is common knowledge that Jesus suffered during His crucifixion. But exactly how crucifixions took place was not known until recently, when the bones of a young man by the name of Yehohanan were discovered in an ossuary in northern Jerusalem. An iron nail was still attached to his right heel bone (calcaneum), piercing it through. The Romans had perfected crucifixion to a fine art, as the nail had to be inserted in a specific spot through the heel bone.
This is the only bioarcheological evidence of crucifixion. Jesus may well have been crucified by this method, which shows the accuracy of the Bible prophecy, down to the smallest details.
At the beginning, we mentioned the great statue of Daniel 2, describing major world empires in succession. The world’s kingdoms come to an end when the statue is crushed by a stone that grows into a great mountain. Vss. 34, 35. Daniel gives the interpretation: “the God of heaven [will] set up a kingdom, …and it shall stand forever.” Daniel 2:44.
That stone is Christ and His coming kingdom (Matt. 21:42–44; 1 Cor. 10:4). Jesus foretold the signs of His return: “wars and rumors of wars,” “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,” and the coming of false christs and prophets. Matt. 24:5–7, 24. Evil would increase in society. Matt. 24:12; 2 Tim. 3:1–4. At the same time, there would be “distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear.” Luke 21:25, 26.
But Jesus tells His followers not to fear: “Now when these things begin to happen…lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28, NKJV.
The wicked will not find comfort in these words. And when Christ returns, they will run to the mountains and rocks, and cry, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Rev. 6:16, 17, NKJV.
Jesus’ kingdom will be far different from our world! “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” Isa. 65:17. It will be full of joy, hope, and peace, for no one will “hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” v. 25. “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Rev. 21:4.
The accuracy of Bible prophecy down through history
gives us fervent hope for the future!
For an overview of the arguments that point to an early, sixth century BC authorship of Daniel’s book, see the article “Daniel in the Critic’s Den” in this issue.
