HOW DO WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS FROM GOD?

 

Prophecies of Worldwide Empires and Nations

Were Fulfilled One or More Centuries Later

(Remember, years count backwards, so that 700 BC was 91 years before 609 BC)

 

Before looking at the chart below understand that God reacts to us with the “boomerang effect.”

Unless we are forgiven sinners, he does to us what we do to him

 

"The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.  The Lord is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands."  (Psalm 9:15-16)

"In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises."  (Psalm 10:2)

"The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.  But their swords will pierce their own hearts."  (Psalm 37:14-15)

"Let the heads of those who surround me be covered with the trouble their lips have caused."  (Psalm 140:9)

"He mocks proud mockers."  (Proverbs 3:34)

"Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?" (Proverbs 6:27)

"If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it; if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him."  (Proverbs 26:27)

"Woe to you, O destroyer, you have not been destroyed!  Woe to you, O traitor, you have not been betrayed.  When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed."  (Isaiah 33:1)

"According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes."  (Isaiah 59:18)

"I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices."  (Ezekiel 7:8)

"As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head."  (Obadiah 1:15)

 

 

BIBLE PROPHECY AND YEAR MADE

 

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA PROOFS

 

 

UNHAPPY  PROPHECIES

 

ASSYRIAN / NINEVAH EMPIRE

630 BC - "He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert."  (Zephaniah 2:13-15)

FULFILLED:

609 BC - "Thus after the fall of Nineveh in 612, the fall of Harran in 610 and Ashur-urballit's attempt at reconquering the latter in 609, Assyria ceased to exist.  (Vol. II, pg. 967)

 

 

AMMONNITE NATION

760-750 - "For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath.  Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day. Her king will go into exile and his officials together."  (Amos 1:13-15)

626-586 - "The days are coming when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it will become a mound of ruins....Yes afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites.  (Jeremiah 49:2,6)

FULFILLED:

165-163 BC - "Their chief city, Rabbath Ammon (later Philadelphia, the modern Amman, capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan)....their civilization flourished from the 13th to the 6th century BC....continued until the fall of the Assyrian empire in 612 BC....Little is known of the history of Jordan under the Neo-Babylonians and Persians....It was not until the Hellenistic rule...that the country prospered, trade increased and new towns were built."  (Vol. I, pg. 799, Vol. 13, pg. 82)

 

 

BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

700-681 BC - "Isaiah...saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah....An oracle concerning Babylon....She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations....Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces....Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter of Babylon....Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day."  (Isaiah 1:1; 13:1,20,22; 47:1,9)

626-586 BC - "What a horror Babylon will be among the nations!  The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.  Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land where no one lives, through which no man travels.  This is the message Jeremiah gave...in the fourth year of his [Zedekiah's] reign."  (Jeremiah 51:41-44, 59)

FULFILLED:

539 BC - "After a short war Babylon was taken without fighting in 539....This is the end of the history of Babylonia."  (Vol. II, pg. 967-968)

 

 

EDOMITE NATION

626-586 BC - "The terror you inspire...you who live in the clefts of the rocks, who occupy the heights of the hill....Edom will become an object of horror; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds....so no one will live there; no man will dwell in it."  (Jeremiah 49:16,17)

593-571 - "I will make you desolate forever, your towns will not be inhabited....I will treat you in accordance with the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them and I will make myself known among them when I judge you."  (Ezekiel 35:9,11)

FULFILLED:

525 BC - "The heyday of the Edomite kingdom extended from the 13th to the 8th centuries BC, although it continued to exist several centuries longer....Following its recovery (734 BC) of Elath, Edom, like Judah, experienced a progressive decline....during the first part of the rise of the Persians to power...resulted in the weakening and destruction of the Edomite state."  (Vol. 7, pg. 981)

 

 

EGYPTIAN KINGDOM

593-571 BC - "The land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan [400 miles S. of Cairo] as far as the border of Cush [Africa].  No foot of man or animal will pass through it; no one will live there for forty years....At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered.  I will bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry.  There they will be a lowly kingdom....and will never again exalt itself above the other nations.  (Ezekiel 29:10-11)

FULFILLED:

562 - "Nebuchadrezzar III....reigned from 605 to 562.  In 605, as crown prince, he defeated the Egyptians under Necho II at Carchemish....Nebuchadrezzar died in Aug. or Sept. 562 [43 years later]."  (Vol. 16, pg. 156)

 

 


GRECIAN EMPIRE

c. 550 BC - "In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, I Daniel, had a vision....a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground....I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns....The goat became very great....The two horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia.  The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king.  The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power."  (Daniel 8:1,5-7, 20-21)

FULFILLED: 

320 BC - "By the rebellion of Cyrus II, king of Persia....the Medes were made subject to the Persians.  In the new empire they retained a prominent position; in honour and war they stood next to the Persians....and many noble Medes were employed as officials....The Greek world was exhausted and leaderless in 354 BC when a new power was growing in the north....Alexander III, called the Great (356-323), king of Macedonia....at an assembly of the Greek League at Corinth was appointed generalissimo....From his accession Alexander had set his mind on the Persian expedition....on June 13, 323, he died in his 33rd year; he had reigned for twelve years and eight months....No heir had been appointed to the throne....The empire could hardly survivie Alexander's death as a unit....The provinces became independent kingdoms and the generals...took the title of kings."  (Vol. I, pg. 571-575, Vol. 15, pg. 68)

 

 

JUDAH

626-586 BC - "I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon...and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations.  I will completely destroy them....this whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years."  (Jeremiah 25:9,11)

700-681 BC - "Of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, 'Let it be rebuilt,' and of the temple, 'Let its foundations be laid.'  This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of, to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor....I summon you by name [before born] and bestow on you a title of honor though you do not acknowledge me."

FULFILLED:

605-535 BC - "Nebuchadrezzar III....reigned from 605 to 562 BC.  In 605 BC, as crown prince, he defeated the Egyptians....and won all Syria and Palestine... Nebuchadrezzar died in Aug. or Sept. 562....Cyrus...in 538 BC [67 years later] authorized the return to Palestine of the Jews deported by Nebuchadrezzar and made arrangements for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem."  (Vol. 16, pg. 156, Vol. VI, pg. 960)

 

 

MEDIAN AND PERSIAN EMPIRE

C. 535 BC - "In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel....it concerned a great war....Three more kings will appear in Persia [Cyrus II, Cambyses, Smerdis/Guamata, Darius I ~ named before birth or rise to power] and then a fourth [Xerxes], who will be far richer than all the others.  when he has gained power by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.  Then a mighty king [Alexander the Great] will appear who will rule with great power and do as he pleases.  After he has appeared, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven." (Daniel 10:1; 11:2-12)

FULFILLED:

354 BC - "In 514-513 Darius I led the forces of the Persian empire across the Bosporus into Europe...conquered some Greek islands....A strong Persian expeditionary force sailed acrosss the Aegean in 490 BC....In the spring of 580 BC, Xerxes entered Europe with a vast army, supported by a large fleet....The coalition won a series of successes against the Persians in Europe and Asia which culminated in an attack on a Persian army and a navy...about  466....
defeated the Persian army....Alexander [the Great of Greece] regarded himself as the legitimate head of the Persian empire and therefore adopted the dress and ceremonial of the Persian kings....At this critical juncture Alexander died in Babylon in June 323 BC."  (Vol. 10, pg. 796-799, Vol. 17, pg. 656)

 

 

HAPPY PROPHECIES

Due to a Gregorian calendar error, Jesus was actually born BC 4, not AD 1.

 

 

BIBLE PROPHECY AND YEAR MADE

 

 

FULFILLED IN JESUS’ LIFE (BC4 – AD29)

 

 

c. 1420 BC - Genesis 22:15,18 - "Abraham....through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed."

 

Matthew 1:1 - "A  record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham."

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 89:3,4,27 - "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations....I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth."

 

John 7:42 - "Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?"

 

c. 530 BC - Daniel 9:24-27 - "Seventy 'sevens' [490 years] are decreed for your people and your holy city [Jerusalem] to finish transgression [punishment]....and to anoint [crown] the most holy.  Know and understand this:  From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One [priest-king], the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens' [49 years] and sixty-two 'sevens' [+434 years]....After the sixty-two 'sevens,' [434 years] the Anointed One [priest-king] will be cut off and will have nothing....He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven' [set of 7 years].  In the middle of the 'seven' [3-1/2 years] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering"  [sacrifice himself - Hebrews 10:3-5].

 

['weeks' = years.  7 days in a week represent years.]
49 years + 434 years = 483 years

BC 457 city walls of Jerusalem rebuilt
AD +26 Jesus, at age 30, began to preach (Luke 3:23)
      483 years

Jesus preached 3-1/2 years (count the annual Passovers he attended), then was crucified, being the sacrificial Lamb of God (John 1:29, 18:28 and 19:16-18).  After that, sacrificing animals at the Temple became unnecessary (Hebrews 10:3-5

 

c. 700 BC - Isaiah 7:14 - "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son."

 

Matthew 1:24-25 - "When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus."

 

c. 686 BC - Micah 5:2 - "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathat, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

 

Matthew 2:3-5 - "When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.  'In Bethlehem in Judea,' they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written.' "

 

c. 600 BC - Jeremiah 31:15 - "A voice is heard [way over] in Ramah, mourning and great [loud] weeping.  Rachel [ancestress of King David] weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."

 

Matthew 2:16 - "When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi."

 

c. 700 BC - Hosea 11:1 - "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son." 

 

Matthew 2:14-15 - "So he [Joseph] got up, took the child [Jesus] and his mother [Mary] during the night and left for Egypt where he stayed until the death of Herod."

 

430 BC - Malachi 3:1 - "See, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me.  Then suddenly, the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come." 

 

John 1:19; 29 - "Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.  He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, 'I am not the Christ.'  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Lo, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!' "

 

c. 700 BC - Isaiah 40:3 - "A voice of one calling:  'In the desert prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.' "

 

Matthew 3:4-5 - "John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around this waist.  His food was locusts and wild honey.  People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan."

 

c . 1000 BC - Psalm 91:10-12 - "Then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.  For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."

 

Matthew 4:11 - "Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him."

 

c. 700 BC - Isaiah 35:4-6 - "Say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance [against Satan]; with divine retribution he will come to save you.'  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy."

 

John 20:30-31 - "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 78:2 - "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old."

 

Matthew 13:34 - "Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without uising a parable. "

 

c. 485 BC - Zechariah 9:9 - "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

 

Matthew 21:7 - "They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them."

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 41:9 - "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."

 

John 13:21, 26 - "Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, 'I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.'...Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. "

 

c. 485 BC - Zechariah 11:12 - "I told them, 'If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it."  So they paid me thirty pieces of silver."

 

Matthew 26:14-15 - "Then one of the Twelve ~ the one called Judas Iscariot ~ went to the chief priests and asked, 'What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?"  So they counted out for him thirty silver coins."

 

c. 485 BC - Zechariah 11:13 - "And the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter' ~ the handsome price at which they priced me!  So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter."

 

Matthew 27:5-7 - "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left.  Then he went away and hanged himself.  The chief priests picked up the coins and said, 'It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.'  So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners."

 

c.  700 BC - Isaiah 53:7 - "He was oppressed and afflicted; yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth."

 

Matthew 27:12 -" When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer."

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 69:21 - "They put gall in my food, and gave me vinegar for my thirst."

 

Matthew 27:34 - "There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it."

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 22:18 - "They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."

 

Matthew 27:35 - "When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots."

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 22:7-8 - "All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads; "He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him.  Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."

 

Matthew 27:39, 41, 43 - "Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their head....In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him....'He trusts in God.  Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, "I am the Son of God. " ' "

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 22:1 - "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?"

 

Matthew 27:46 - "About the tenth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani?' ~ which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' "

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 31:5 - "Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth."

 

Luke 23:46 - "Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' "

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 34:20 - "He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken."

 

John 19:32-33 - "The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.  But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs."

 

c. 485 BC - Zechariah 12:10 - "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication.  They will look on me, the one they have pierced."

 

John 19:34 - "Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water."

 

c. 700 BC - Isaiah 53:9 - "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth."

 

Matthew 27:57-60  - "As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.  Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.  Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock."

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 45:6, 8 - "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom....All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia."

 

John 19:39 - "He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.  Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.  Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices, in strips of linen."

 

c. 1000 BC - Psalm 16:10-11 - "Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.  You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."


c. 700 BC - Hosea 6:2 - "After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence."

 

Matthew 27:62-64; 28:6, 12-13 - "The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.  'Sir,' they said, 'we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise again."  So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day.  Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell people that he has been raised from the dead.  this last deception will be worse than the first'....'He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.  Come and see the place where he lay'....When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, 'You are to say, "His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep." '"