by Brian Giese
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Christian apologists have long said that the three greatest miracles of the Christian faith are the creation of the universe, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and His bodily resurrection from the dead. To these a fourth awesome miracle could be added—fulfilled Bible prophecy.
This fourth miracle has overarching importance because fulfilled prophecy gives powerful evidence of the divine origin of the Scriptures. Many professed Christians today overlook the importance of the infallibility of the Bible. For example, I have heard Christian leaders say, “I can accept anyone as a brother or sister in Christ if they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.” But wouldn’t you also want to know if they believe in the authenticity and authority of the Scriptures?
After all, how can we know anything about Jesus apart from the Bible? He is our Lord and we must obey His commands. How can we know what He commands if we doubt His Word?
Since we are so dependent on a reliable Bible, how does prophetic evidence support the Word we have? Estimates vary regarding the number of Bible prophesies which have been fulfilled, but well over 300 are Messianic prophecies concerning the person and work of Christ.
The Old Testament, written centuries before the birth of Christ, tells us that Jesus would be a descendent of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Jeremiah 23:5-6), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), and born in the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). It says He would perform miracles (Isaiah 35:4-5), would be rejected by His people (Psalm 118:22), and that His hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:16). The Old Testament even predicts that He would die for our sins (Isaiah 53:5-6), that those who killed Him would gamble for His clothes (Psalm 22:18), and He would rise from the dead (Psalm 16:10).
The more details given in a prophecy, the less likely it will occur unless God is in it. For example, if you predict that there will be an earthquake on a certain day in California and it happens, that could be pure coincidence. But if you publicly announce that there will be a high-magnitude quake with an epicenter of Oakland, California, in the middle of the afternoon on a certain day, and it happens exactly as you say, the news media would be all over you wanting to know how you knew.
So, it is with the Bible. The odds are astronomical against any one person fulfilling the predictions listed above. No mere mortal could make such precision predictive prophecies apart from access to the foreknowledge of God. Add to these hundreds of other fulfilled prophecies and you have the most profound evidence available to support the divine origin of the Bible.
That is why we can believe the Apostle Peter when he wrote: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).
Some of the comments you hear on TV, social media, radio, etc., centers around this thought, “God saved President Trump’s life.” If that is true, why didn’t God save the life of Corey Comperatore — the fireman who was assassinated by the rogue gunman? When I hear the statement, “God saved Trump’s life/turned his head” my mind immediately goes to the wife and children of Comperatore and the other injured victims. What must they think? Was President Trump’s life more important than their injured or lost lives? No, of course not.
Let us look at the subject of interpreting providence, and what do we mean by providence? Providence is that which is directly influenced and affected by the hand of God. There are three reasons why events happen. 1) God causes them. 2) Nature affects them. 3) The freewill choices of people. All events can be categorized under these three causes.
So, after January 20, 2025, we are in anticipation of many things we have been promised by the incoming president. Reducing prices and inflation. Closing our borders. Rolling back DEI, LGBTQ. On transgender rights he would end “boys in girls’ sports,” a practice he insists, is widespread. But his policies go well beyond standard applause lines from his rally speeches. Among other ideas, Trump would roll back the Biden administration’s policy of extending Title IX civil rights protections to transgender students, and he would ask Congress to require that only two genders can be recognized at birth. Reductions in burdensome regulations. Targeting the elimination of the federal involvement in our nation’s education. Eliminating the green new deal. Improving the defense of our country.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, as much as these things sound good and make us feel better about the direction of our country they are not enough. While the new administration may be able to improve our physical life, our society still has a spiritual problem. As described in Romans 1:21-32 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.
Christian apologists have long said that the three greatest miracles of the Christian faith are the creation of the universe, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and His bodily resurrection from the dead. To these a fourth awesome miracle could be added—fulfilled Bible prophecy.