Let us set the fate of God’s People, Israel, in contrast to the fate of her enemies.
The record of human history records how unerringly the Divine principle concerning cursing and blessing holds true. From the Egyptians to the Assyrians to the Babylonians down to our day, nations that blessed Israel were blessed, nations who turned against God’s People were cursed. Amos 1 is a historical example. Britain, in the twentieth century, from the Balfour Declaration favoring the Jews’ colonization of Palestine to the infamous White Papers, provides another striking example of both blessing and cursing. The United States treads the same dangerous ground today.
As to Babylon, Egypt, and Tyre, each in its turn fell to the Divinely directed events that fulfilled their prophetic destiny: Babylon was overthrown, eventually drying up and disappearing into the mists of history, a haunt for the wild animals of the desert. Mighty Egypt lost her grandeur as well as her power, then succumbed to permanent foreign domination, while her people degenerated into a base and ignoble race to this day. And Tyre, destroyed first by Nebuchadnezzar, was ultimately, literally, scraped bare by Alexander’s army in order to provide material for a causeway out to the island fortress of a second Tyre. Any encyclopedia or history book can provide fuller details. Everything happened as God said. (“Evidence That Demands a Verdict”, by Josh McDowell, provides a good compendium of quotes from historical sources to document the fulfillment of these prophecies).
Now consider: The first point made in the grid above is ever in danger of being falsified: Just find one example where this has not proved true and the certainty of God’s Word is forever lost.
Could the diverse histories of those who oppressed or made merchandise of God’s People be just shrewd guesses based on the knowledge of history and the political movements of the times? Why didn’t they get Egypt or Babylon or Tyre mixed up? How could the prophets know the history of these people in such exacting detail?
Most remarkably, these prophecies could be disproved at any moment in history. Egyptians could regain their national birthright and glory; the great city of Babylon could be raised up from its ruins (as Saddam Hussein attempted in recent years); and someone could rebuild the prosperous city Tyre on its ancient foundations. But none of these things have happened…yet; and those who believe the Bible would suggest that they never will. God’s word has and ever will stand firm.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One