Chapter
4.
The
Proof of the Bible (Prophecy)
Prophecy
As we have
mentioned in the foregoing chapters, the ultimate proof of the
authenticity of the Bible is prophecy.
This is the facet of Christianity that sets itself apart from all
other religions.
It is
estimated that the Bible is actually close to 25% prophecy.
Many of the prophecies of the Bible have already come to pass,
thereby authenticating the Bible itself. However, there are hundreds of
prophecies that have not yet taken place, which gives those who have
studied and learned of these a chance to see them fulfilled in the future.
There are, of course, numerous subtle prophecies.
We will be looking at a few of the major ones.
It is
estimated that there are 300 direct prophecies in the Old Testament of the
first coming of the Messiah, Jesus. The
mathematical odds of one man being born and fulfilling just 20 of these
prophecies is a number with 57 zeros after it.
In other words, mathematically impossible! Yet Jesus fulfilled them all.
Wouldn’t you consider this a major point of proof that He is who
He claimed to be?
As we
mentioned before, from the very beginning God promised a deliverer, a man
who would redeem the human race. A Messiah!
However, as we
look at the pictures that the Old Testament prophecies paint of the
Messiah, we see that He is to play two entirely different roles. One
picture is as the Suffering Messiah who comes to earth as a man who would
pay the price for man’s sin in His own body.
The other is of a man who would come as the King of Kings, a
warrior-king, and He would defeat Israel’s enemies and set up God’s
Kingdom on earth. The reason the majority of the Jewish people living in
Israel at the time of Jesus missed the Messiah was that they were
disregarding the prophecies of the suffering Messiah in favor of the king
Messiah. They so wanted the
Messiah to throw off the bondage of Rome and to free the Israelite people
that they flat overlooked the Scriptures that He had to come first to pay
the price for our sins as part of the redemption scenario.
Chief among
these prophecies is Isaiah 53, the first coming of the Messiah from the
Old Testament.
Isaiah 53
Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm
of the LORD been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we
see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; he
was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are
healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned,
every one, to his own way; and the
LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened
not His mouth; he was led as a lamb
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He
opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who
will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the
living; for the transgressions of
My people He was stricken.
And they made
His grave with the wicked-- but with the rich at His death, because He had
done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; he has put Him
to grief. When You make His soul an
offering for sin, he shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous
Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He
poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the
transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
The
Second Coming of the Messiah
The following
is the prophecy of the second coming of the Messiah from the New
Testament.
The
Day of His Coming Foretold
Probably the
most significant prophecy in the Bible about the Messiah is the prediction
of the very day that He would enter into the city of Jerusalem and
proclaim Himself as King.
This prophecy
can be found in Daniel 9:24. It
relates to an earlier incident in Leviticus 25:3 when God told His people
that they were to work the land for six years, and the seventh year they
should not work the land as it was a Sabbath year.
They were required to let the land rest.
Leviticus 25:
3-4
Six years you
shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and
gather its fruit; but in the seventh
year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath
to the LORD.
However, the people of Israel did not obey God (does this sound
familiar?); they did not keep the Sabbath year for 490 years.
God said, “You owe Me seventy years of Sabbaths.”
This is why the children of Israel were taken into captivity by
King Nebuchadnezzar to fulfill and pay back these seventy years of
Sabbaths. This all happened
during the life of the prophet Daniel.
One day Daniel was praying and seeking God.
Daniel 9:20-23
Now while I
was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people
Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy
mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel,
whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly
swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he
informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O
Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the
beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to
tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand
the vision:”
Let’s take a look at Daniel 9:24. This is what the angel Gabriel said
to Daniel:
Daniel 9:24-10:1
Seventy weeks
are determined
For your
people and for your holy city,
To finish the
transgression,
To make an end
of sins,
To make
reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in
everlasting righteousness,
To seal up
vision and prophecy,
And to anoint
the Most Holy.
Know therefore
and understand,
That from the
going forth of the command
To restore and
build Jerusalem
Until Messiah
the Prince,
There shall be
seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street
shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in
troublesome times.
And after the
sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall
be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people
of the Prince who is to come
Shall destroy
the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it
shall be with a flood,
And till the
end of the war desolations are determined.
Then he shall
confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the
middle of the week
He shall bring
an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the
wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the
consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out
on the desolate.
The
Seventieth Week of Daniel
When these
seventy weeks were complete, this would usher in the kingdom of God.
These seventy weeks are actually seventy weeks of years and would
accomplish seven things.
1.
To
finish the transgression, (the 490 years of not keeping the Sabbath)
2.
To
make an end of sins, (to
bring an end of sin on the earth, i.e. Adam’s transgression)
3.
To
make reconciliation for iniquity, (Christ
paid the price for our sins)
4.
To
bring in everlasting righteousness, (to
bring the world into conformity with God’s Kingdom)
5.
To
seal up vision
6.
And
prophecy, (to fulfill all the
prophecies of the Bible)
7.
And
to anoint the Most Holy. (to crown Jesus as King or as some think to anoint the Holy Place)
These seven things would bring an end to this world as we know it.
Let’s look further.
Daniel 9:25
Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks,
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Fig 1
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
The idiom of “week” of years was common in Israel in those days.
From secular history we know the commandment to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem was given by King Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 B.C.
This is the starting point; the Bible says from that day forward we count
173,880 days and the Messiah would present Himself to Jerusalem.
If you follow carefully the life of Jesus, you will see that on numerous occasions they tried to worship
Him and make Him king. He
continually told them, “No, don’t do that. My time is not yet.”
Until one day He specifically sets up a scenario.
He tells two disciples to go and a get a young donkey (unbroken). He tells them that if the owner asks why they want it to tell
him, “The Master has need of it.” He sits on this unbroken donkey (a
miracle) and starts to ride on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem,
fulfilling
Zechariah 9:9
Behold, your
King is coming to you;
He is just and
having salvation,
Lowly and
riding on a donkey,
A colt, the
foal of a donkey.
The people were lining up on both sides of the road singing a psalm.
It was Psalm 118. It
was understood by the Jews in general, and especially by the Jewish
leadership, that this psalm was to be sung only when the true Messiah
presented Himself to the people! That’s
why the Jewish leaders came to Jesus and demanded that He get the crowd to
stop proclaiming Him as the awaited Jewish Messiah.
Luke 19:37-40
Then, as He
was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole
multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud
voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:
"Blessed
is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!”
Peace in
heaven and glory in the highest!
And some of
the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your
disciples." But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would
immediately cry out."
The
Day Jesus Enters Jerusalem as King!
This was April 6, A.D. 32 -- 173,880 days since King Artaxerxes
Longimanus gave the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem--the very
day predicted centuries before by the prophet Daniel to be the day the
Jewish Messiah would present Himself as King.
As the illustration (Figure 1) shows, this paid back sixty-nine weeks of
years that Israel owed to God. However,
it still left one week of years, or seven years, owed to God by the Jews.
Daniel 9:26-10:1
And after the
sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall
be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people
of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy
the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it
shall be with a flood,
And till the
end of the war desolations are determined.
Verse 26 states that the Messiah will be “cut off” (killed).
“And the people of the Prince (Antichrist, or false messiah) who
is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end shall be
with a flood” (dispersion). Which
is exactly what happened in A.D. 70. The Jewish people lost their homeland
and were scattered around the world. It would be 2000 years until they
would return to their land, Israel.
Now this leaves the seven years left to accomplish the seven items we
discussed.
1.
To
finish the transgression,
2.
To
make an end of sins,
3.
To
make reconciliation for iniquity,
4.
To
bring in everlasting righteousness,
5.
To
seal up vision
6.
and
prophecy,
7.
And
to anoint the Most Holy.
As of this writing, these things have not yet been accomplished.
We still have sin and iniquity and it is obvious that
“everlasting righteousness” has not yet arrived.
There is this matter of the seven years still owed to God by the Jewish
people. You will notice in the illustration, a gap after the Crucifixion
of Jesus Christ. God has put
aside the Jewish people and has given the Gentiles a chance to evangelize
the world. However, God is
not yet done with the Jews. At
some point in the future, God is going to remove His church from the earth
as written in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:50. This is
commonly referred to as the “Rapture” (from the Latin Vulgate) of the
church.
The
Rapture of the Church
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord
Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise
first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:50-54
Now this I
say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor
does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We
shall not all sleep,(die) but we shall all be changed-- in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,
and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this
mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying
that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
Then he shall
confirm a covenant with many for one week [seven years];
But in the
middle of the week [three
and a half years]
He shall bring
an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the
wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the
consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out
on the desolate."
This
antichrist (this end-of-time false christ or messiah) will set up his
kingdom. He will call it the kingdom of God; however, it will definitely
be a counterfeit kingdom. This
is what 90% of the Book of Revelation is all about.
It is a detailed account of what will happen during those seven
years and specifically the last three and a half years known as the
“Great Tribulation Period.” It
ends in a battle called “Armageddon,” which never really happens,
because of the return (Second Coming) of Jesus the King.
At the end of
this seven year period of tribulation, Jesus will return as King and
fulfill all the prophecies of the Bible concerning Him. He will return as the warrior King, not the suffering
Messiah.
It says of Him
(Jesus) at that time He will be covered with blood; however, this time it
won’t be His blood– it will be the blood of His enemies.
Who are Jesus’ enemies?
Jesus said in
Matthew 12:29--
He who is not
with Me is against Me…..
Everyone that is not with Jesus is against Him
Trust me; you want to be with Him and not against Him!
The
Jews, a Fulfillment of Prophecy
The Jewish people themselves are a fulfilled prophecy.
Do you realize that in the entire history of mankind, that no
people or nation that has been disbanded and scattered over the entire
earth, has ever remained a people and returned to their land and became a
nation again?! Only the Jews
have done this. Obviously, it
was by the mighty hand of God.
The Jews were scattered by the Roman Empire from their land of Israel in
A.D. 70, and their ancient homeland of Israel was taken from them.
They were dispersed into the entire world, into every country
As you might imagine, God has something to say about this in His Word.
God proclaims that towards the end of time or in the last days, God
would gather His chosen people back into their land of Israel.
Ezekiel 36:24-31
For I will
take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and
bring you into your own land.
Then I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you
from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
I will give
you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of
stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put My
Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep
My judgments and do them.
Then you shall
dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and
I will be your God.
I will deliver
you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply
it, and bring no famine upon you.
And I will
multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that
you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
Then you will
remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will
loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your
abominations.
The
Valley of Dry Bones, a Metaphor for Israel
Ezekiel 37:1-28
The hand of
the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and
set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.
Then He caused
me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the
open valley; and indeed they were very dry.
And He said to
me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O
Lord GOD, You know."
Again He said
to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear
the word of the LORD!’
Thus says the
Lord GOD to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into
you, and you shall live.
I will put
sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath
in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD."
So I
prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and
suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.
Indeed, as I
looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them
over; but there was no breath in them.
Then He said
to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the
breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe on these slain, that they may live.'"
So I
prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Then He said
to me, "Son of man, these
bones are the whole house of Israel.”
…and I will
make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king
shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor
shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.
They shall not
defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable
things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from
all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse
them. Then they shall be My people,
and I will be their God.
David My
servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd;
they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.
Then they
shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where
your fathers
dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their
children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince
forever.
Moreover I
will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting
covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will
set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
My tabernacle
also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My
people.
The nations
also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in
their midst forevermore.
God has not given up on Israel, as some are saying and have been saying
for centuries. God will deal directly with Israel in the last seven years
of man’s time upon this earth.