True in the past. True for the future
Introduction to the Bible Preamble
Alexander the Great was a one of the characters I had to study for my history exams as a 15-year-old. Alexander was one of the most iconic military leaders who changed the face of Europe and Asia (326-323 BC).
Did I pay attention? Did I care? No. What has he to do with me? During history lessons, my brain was either elsewhere or asleep.
At 63, I discovered by accident that the prophet Daniel in the Bible made prophecies about Alexander the Great. I was suddenly awakened to how the Bible was written in the context of human history. The Bible is not just myth or the imaginative writing of man.
The more I study the Bible, the more it amazes me. There are different kinds of literature in the Bible – history, law, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, gospel, epistles, and apocalyptic. Recently I began to take an interest in the prophetic books of the Bible.
Dictionaries define prophecy as a prediction of what will happen in the future. Bible prophecy, however, does not simply seek to predict the future, but to change the present.
The Bible records approximately 2500* prophecies—2000 have been fulfilled and 500 await their fulfilment. “In his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner applies the modern science of probability to just eight prophecies regarding Christ. He says, ‘The chance that any man might have …fulfilled all eight prophecies is one in 10 to the 17th. That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.’ (one hundred quadrillion).”
Here’s a sampling of prophecies concerning Christ’s life that have been fulfilled.
If the Bible has proven itself to be true in the past, then it is safe to conclude that all that is written about the future is also true, even if they have not happened yet.
What a long winded way of saying the Bible is reliable and how amazed I am at the it!
Let’s do a little study on Matthew 6:24-34 tomorrow. There is comfort for the anxious. But I shall not run ahead of myself. There are treasures you must discover for yourself.
Source
*Prophecy is unfolding day by day. Hence the numbers cited from sources may vary depending on when the article were written I don’t want to make this an academic study. I think the point to note is how many prophecies in the Bible have been fulfilled.
Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible – Hugh Ross, Reason to Believe
How much of the Bible is prophecy? – Got Questions
Fulfilled Prophecy: Seven Compelling Evidence – Answers in Genesis
Probability of Prophecies Fulfilled – Bible.org
Guess what: prophecies aren’t predictions about the future – Peter Enns, PhD