FULFILLED PROPHECY
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Numbers 23:19
One of the most basic Apostolic doctrines is the infallibility of the Word of God. This means that every word of the Bible is inspired by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, who cannot lie. Therefore, believers can place their faith in the Word of God more confidently than in anything else in this life. If God has said something, it will surely come to pass.
There are many different ways that believers can know this for certain. First, they know because the Bible itself declares that it is true. Second, they know because the prophets who performed miracles and wonders testified to its truth. Third, they know because the apostles, who also performed miracles and wonders, affirmed its truth. Fourth, they know because the Lord Jesus Christ declared it to be true, approved the prophets of the Old Testament, and commissioned the apostles of the New Testament. Finally, they know because of the results they experience when they obey the commands set forth in Scripture. For example, a believer can have confidence in the promise that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” because, upon hearing that promise and calling upon the Lord, that believer experienced deliverance.
However, one of the ways that believers can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Bible is infallible, and one that is often overlooked, is fulfilled prophecy. Thousands of events, people, situations, and specific details have been foretold in Scripture, and without fail, they have come to pass.
For example, in Micah 5:2, the prophet prophesied that the coming Messiah would be born in a little, seemingly insignificant town called Bethlehem. Isaiah 9:1 identified Galilee as the dwelling place of the Messiah, while Matthew 2:24 identified Nazareth as his dwelling place. Before these events came to pass, these prophecies surely seemed to make no sense at all. The passages appeared to contradict one another. Was Micah right, or was Isaiah right? How could the Messiah come from Bethlehem, Galilee, and Nazareth? Nevertheless, God does not make mistakes, never contradicts himself, and is not the author of confusion.
The mystery was solved when the parents of Jesus, who were from Nazareth, happened to be traveling at the time of his birth. They stopped in the little, insignificant town of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. Later, when Jesus began his ministry, he went into Galilee and became known as a Galilean. Thus, all three specific prophecies were accurately fulfilled without contradicting one another. Not only did the Holy Ghost know hundreds of years in advance who the parents of Jesus would be, but he also knew exactly what they would be doing on the day of his birth.
Another familiar example of fulfilled prophecy is Daniel's vision of world dominions. In the first year of Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel saw a vision of a great image with a head of gold, arms of silver, a belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet made of iron mixed with miry clay.
Daniel was not merely guessing about the meaning of this image. He went on to tell the king exactly what it meant. Daniel, a man who was also a slave, foretold the succession of world dominions extending into the present day. Later, Daniel explained these things in even greater detail. Babylon was the first world empire, followed by the Medes and the Persians. Then came the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great, followed by the Roman Empire. Finally, the mixture of iron and clay represented nations attempting to work together but failing to cleave to one another.
The significance of this prophecy is not always fully appreciated because these events are now familiar historical facts. Babylon fell, the Greeks rose to power, and the Romans eventually changed the face of the world. However, Daniel spoke these things and recorded them long before any of them happened. He declared these events while standing before the king who represented the head of gold.
Daniel understood that this knowledge did not originate with him, and he publicly gave the glory to God. In Daniel 2:20–22, he declared:
“Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: [21]And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: [22]He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.”
The truth is that Daniel himself often had no idea what these prophecies meant. Time and again, he acknowledged that his thoughts troubled him, and the revelations frequently confused him. Eventually, the Lord instructed him to seal up the prophecy until the time of the end. Daniel had faithfully performed his service, but there were some things that he did not need to understand. Even though the prophet was often confused, he knew a God who was never confused. Consequently, Daniel could confidently tell the king in Daniel 2:45 that the “dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”
Believers often fail to appreciate the full significance of these prophecies because they were foretold long ago and fulfilled long ago. Although they give glory to God, they tend to register in the mind as ordinary historical facts. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and Rome eventually took dominion from the Greeks. Yet the extraordinary truth is that these very specific events were foretold perfectly centuries before they occurred.
There are also many prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled, and most of these are not fully understood. This is often the nature of prophecy. The details may make little sense before their fulfillment, but once the events occur, their meaning becomes clear.
Perhaps nothing makes the significance of prophecy more apparent than witnessing a prophecy come to pass within one's own lifetime or observing how something that seemed impossible only a few years earlier has become entirely possible. Several examples illustrate this principle.
Until 1945, the prophecies foretelling the return of the scattered Jews to their homeland seemed almost impossible to understand. Isaiah 11:12 declares:
“And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
Likewise, Jeremiah 29:14 states:
“And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.”
The Jewish people had been scattered abroad for approximately two thousand years, and their ancestral homeland had come under the control of other populations, including Muslims and Palestinians. With every passing year, the fulfillment of these prophecies seemed increasingly unlikely. In 1882, there were only approximately 24,000 Jews living in Israel. By 1914, that number had increased to 85,000. In 1948, the Jewish population had reached 650,000, and in more recent years, it has grown to approximately seven million.
At the conclusion of World War II, international political decisions and the movement of populations helped make possible the reestablishment of the nation of Israel. From the perspective of biblical prophecy, these developments were directed by the hand of Almighty God, who made a place for his people and brought about the rebirth of Israel as a nation.
Another striking example is found in Zechariah 14:12, which declares:
“And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.”
Before 1945, the description in this passage seemed almost impossible to comprehend. How could a person's flesh consume away while that person remained standing? What could cause someone's tongue to consume away in the mouth and the eyes to consume away in their sockets while the person was still standing? Such an event seemed beyond human understanding, and even Zechariah himself may not have understood how it could occur. Nevertheless, these were not merely the words of Zechariah; they were words inspired by God.
In the modern world, however, there is at least one conceivable explanation for such destruction. Nuclear warfare could produce devastating effects upon the human body. This does not necessarily mean that Zechariah 14:12 is describing nuclear war. Rather, it demonstrates how something that once seemed impossible or even ridiculous can become entirely conceivable through developments in human technology. What previous generations could scarcely imagine is now recognized as a possibility.
Another example concerns a well-known atheist in the nineteenth century who mocked the idea that the Bible was infallible. He argued that Scripture was full of errors, could not be interpreted literally, and should not be taken seriously. One of the examples he used was Revelation 11:9, which describes the two witnesses who, after completing their prophecies, would be killed. The verse states:
“And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.”
The atheist questioned how such an event could possibly occur. How could people from different nations, languages, and regions of the world all witness the same event? From the perspective of the nineteenth century, such a possibility seemed absurd. He believed that this apparent impossibility demonstrated an error in the Word of God.
What he did not know was that decades after his death, an invention called television would transform the world. As technology developed, television stations eventually began broadcasting throughout the night. Later, satellite television made it possible for news and other programming to be transmitted around the world twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Today, people in different nations can witness the same event almost instantaneously.
Something that was not technologically possible within the lifetime of previous generations now makes perfect sense. The very possibility that the atheist had ridiculed became an ordinary feature of modern life. Although the critic has long since died, the God who inspired the Scriptures remains alive. The same God who spoke those words and breathed life into humanity continues to fulfill his promises. When God declares that something will happen, it will surely come to pass.
Another prophecy that may be considered in light of modern technological developments concerns the mark in the right hand or forehead. The development of microchip technology has raised questions about how such a mark might eventually be implemented. Although the precise nature of this prophecy remains uncertain, modern technology illustrates how circumstances that once seemed unimaginable may become possible.
Admittedly, there are many strange prophecies in Scripture that remain difficult to understand. Why must the Euphrates River be dried up to make way for the kings of the East? What are the mysterious creatures that sting with their tails and have hair like women's hair? Which country could provide an army of two hundred million troops? Who are the two witnesses? Who is the Antichrist? These questions remain subjects of interpretation and anticipation, and their answers will become clear in the fulfillment of God's prophetic Word.
Nevertheless, believers must never forget the declaration of Numbers 23:19 that God is not a man that he should lie. Falsehood is not part of his nature. His promises may not make sense to human understanding today, just as many prophecies did not make sense to Daniel, Zechariah, or Ezekiel. Yet God remains faithful to his Word.
Jesus himself assured his followers that “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.” Even the most honest human being will eventually disappoint someone or fail to fulfill a promise. God, however, is not subject to human weakness or dishonesty. He is not a man that he should lie, and everything that he has spoken will surely come to pass.