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Study Section 2: The Witness of Prophecy

2.1 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?

2.2 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.

2.3 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 one thousand different prophecies in the Bible, all relating
to future history, and many of them have already been fulfilled. The Bible lays out prophecies regarding
people and kings and cities and nations. There are 20 consecutive chapters of prophecy in Isaiah. There
are seventeen consecutive chapters of prophecy in Jeremiah, nine in Ezekiel, and two in Amos. Doom is
predicted for Ammon, for Moab, for Edom, for Philistia, for Babylon, for Tyre, for Sidon and many other
places. And in every case, the doom came to pass. For example, Isaiah said there would come a king
named Cyrus and he will release Israel from its Babylonian captivity. Isaiah gave us his name 150 years
before he was even born. And that is found in Isaiah 44:28.

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