The Bible is From God (series)


TITLE: Bible is From God – Prophecy (1 of 4)

TEXT: 1 Kings 13:2

PROPOSITION: The statements of prophecy prove the Bible had to come from God and not a product of man.

Definition

  1. Prophecy – most think about making predictions

  2. Prophet = forth teller (speak for God) and foreteller (future events)

  3. Today there are many charlatans in the religious world

Requirements

  1. Specific – not some generic “there will be a disaster”

  2. Time lapse – a space between the prophecy and the fulfillment

  3. Clear statement – names, places, numbers

  4. Not fit a historical pattern – mood, political climate

    1. Follow the polls and predict next US president

    2. This would be an educated guess

Historical Prophecy

Tyre – Ezekiel 26:3-5

  1. Babylon will destroy the city – (7)

  2. City will be scraped bare (4)

  3. Rubble spread into the sea (5, 12)

  4. Never be rebuilt (14)

  5. People moved to an island

  6. Babylon scraped the old city and threw it into the sea

  7. This created a land bridge to the island

Assyria – Isaiah 10:5-6

  1. Because of idolatry Israel will be invaded by Assyria (5-6)

  2. But Assyria would be punished (12)

  3. They will be punished for their wicked deeds (24-25)

  4. Both parts of this prophecy came true

Josiah – 1 Kings 13:2

  1. God named the man who would be king

  2. Stated that he would be young child as king

  3. More than 350 years before he was born

  4. Josiah began to rule at age 8

Cyrus – Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1

  1. The Temple will be rebuilt

  2. Jerusalem will be restored

  3. A king named Cyrus will decree it

  4. More than 100 years before he was born

  5. Can you name who will be US president in 2107?


Messianic Prophecy

  1. There are about 300 statements in the OT about the birth, life, work, death and resurrection of Jesus

  2. Select just 8 of them – ones that are beyond anyone's control to fulfill

  3. What is the chance of “anyone” fulfilling these prophecies?

  4. Peter Stoner, a computer statistician did the calculations

    1. The number is too large to even understand or comprehend

    2. The number is 10 to the exponent of 17 (1 followed by 17 zeros)
      The odds are: 1 out of 100,000,000,000,000,000

    3. Take silver dollars – LOTS of silver dollars

    4. Cover the state of Texas with them

    5. Cover Texas 2 feet deep in silver dollars

    6. One coin has a mark on it

    7. Walk into Texas; any direction, as far as you want

    8. Dig as deep a you want; select one coin

    9. What is the chance that the coin you select will have a mark on it?

  5. Peter Stoner showed that if you did that with 48 prophecies – the number would 10 to the power of 157 (1 followed by 157 zeros)

 


The Bible is From God (series)