EL CAJON, Calif. (BP) — The last aurochs — wild, huge cattle — died in Europe in 1627. They were the ancestors of modern domesticated cattle. How do we know they existed? History, in the form of cave drawings.
Why is man driven to record the past in pictures, words, songs and stories? Since nothing can be done to change what has happened, why the compulsion to record it? It may have something to do with the observation of Spanish philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Looking ahead, looking back
But when it comes to biblical history, there is another reason for recording it: Looking back, the historical record of God’s faithfulness to His people and His Word builds confidence as we look ahead.
What wouldn’t the average person give for a book that describes the future of the world and the human race! Fortunately, such a book exists — God’s Holy Word. Looking forward, our fears are dispelled by what the Bible tells us about the future.
But how do we know what the Bible says about the future will come to pass? Simply by looking back to the prophecies that have already been fulfilled. With every prediction and promise that history confirms, the predictions and promises regarding the future are made all the more certain.
Dr. Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe, a “science-faith think tank,” writes that there are approximately 2,500 prophecies in the Bible, about 80 percent of which (or 2,000) have been fulfilled to the letter with no errors. He cites, for example, 13 unrelated biblical prophecies, all of which came true, and calculates the probability of all 13 happening randomly or accidentally. Following are six examples:
1. Before 500 B.C., Daniel prophesied accurately that the Messiah would begin His ministry 483 years after the Persian King Artaxerxes issued a decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, and that He would be “cut off” (killed) prior to Jerusalem being destroyed a second time (Daniel 9:25-26).
2. Around 700 years before the event, the prophet Micah accurately named Bethlehem as the town in which Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would be born (Micah 5:2).
3. In the fifth century B.C., Zechariah correctly predicted that the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13).
4. Four hundred years before the invention of crucifixion, David the psalmist and the prophet Zechariah described in excruciating detail the way the Messiah would be killed (Psalm 22; 34:20; Zechariah 12:10).
5. Moses foretold (with additions by Jeremiah and Jesus Christ) that Israel would be conquered twice and carried into slavery, first by Babylon and then by Rome. These destructions of Jerusalem happened in 607 B.C. and A.D. 70. It was also predicted that the Jews would one day return to their homeland, which happened in 1948 (Deuteronomy 29; Isaiah 11:11-13; Jeremiah 25:11; Hosea 3:4-5; Luke 21:23-24).
6. Five hundred years prior to the events, Joshua predicted that Jericho would be rebuilt by one man; that the man’s older son would die when the construction began and his younger son would die when it was complete (Joshua 6:26). The prophecy was fulfilled in the family of a man named Hiel (1 Kings 16:33-34).
The chances of these 13 prophecies being filled to the letter, according to Dr. Ross’s calculations, is about one in 10138, or one in 10-with-138-zeroes-added. This amounts to history being written before the fact! (See http://www.reasons.org/fulfilled-prophecy-evidence-reliability-bible.)
Look back, look ahead
What are the implications of such calculations about the reliability of biblical prophecy? Very simple: If you are concerned about the future, you should do two things. First, study what the Bible says about the future. And second, remember that 2,000 promises, predictions and prophecies in the Bible have already been fulfilled.
The world is full of the records of man looking back and recording what happened in the past. But only the Bible is full of the records of God writing the events of history before they take place. Our task is to keep an eye on the future. God has told us what is going to happen. We can have confidence that what He has predicted will become history right before our eyes.
