Page 10 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible revised

Chapter 2: The Witness of Prophecy

Connect…

Did you know that the test of a true prophet in the Bible is that they can predict future events and are
accurate 100% of the time? Did you know that in the Old Testament, if someone claimed to be a
prophet and predicted an event, but it did not come to pass (he failed the test), he was to be stoned to
death!

People today look in the newspaper to read their horoscope to find out what is going to happen in their
future. We would love to know what is just around the corner in life. Well, the prophets in the Bible
predicted with 100% accuracy events hundreds of years into the future, and they hit the target 100% of
the time. This gives support to the validity of the Bible. Today we are going to view witnesses from
prophecy and archeology that validate the accuracy of God’s Word. Sounds exciting?

Objectives…

1. The student should be able to give examples of a few of the hundreds of fulfilled prophecies in the
Bible and how they were fulfilled in detail to validate the authority of those who wrote Scripture.

2. The student should be able to demonstrate see that as we dig through archeological evidence, the
history and places of the Bible are validated.

The Lesson ...

The Witness of Fulfilled Prophecy

The fact that the Bible contains prophecies that are fulfilled already in history is
an indication that God is the author of Scripture. One of the strongest
indications that Scripture is inspired by God is the fact that it is absolutely
accurate and demonstrates divine omniscience with regard to future events.
No man can precisely predict the future. But God is not limited to time and
therefore knows every future event before it happens. And he has revealed in
great detail specific events to his prophets, sometimes several hundred years
before the events. This speaks to the fact that the Bible was written by God
and that His revelation is valid.

Bible scholars have said there are as many as 2,500 different prophecies in the
Bible, all relating to future history, and 2000 of them have already been
fulfilled with no errors.
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