Is there a God? The prophetic evidence
One of the longest debates in history is the disagreement between there being a God or not being one. Curiosities and doubts can arise for anyone trying to answer that question. Is there a God and if so does anyone actually know Him? With enough searching, it is clear that the Bible is an inspired book, and teaches that God does in fact exist. This can be shown through various methods. In this article, the prophetic words of the Bible will be compared to real life events to show the Bible has foreknowledge in a way no man can have. In the following article, Jewish history will be compared to the Bible, and objections from science will be examined to definitively prove that the Bible must be inspired by something greater than man and therefore that the God of the Bible truly does exist.
Tyre
By far, the strongest argument for the Bible being inspired is through the prophetic word being fulfilled. The common arguments against this point are:
- the prophecies were fulfilled through chance,
- they were written after they were fulfilled,
- the symbolism used could be twisted to fit a large amount of situations
- they were likely to happen anyway.
Although these are plausible arguments for a few prophecies, there are plenty of prophecies that defy all of them — one of which is the prophecy of Tyre found in Ezekiel 26. Tyre was a Phoenician city that was on the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. It was extremely wealthy and was in a very strategic location both economically and militarily. It is supposed that the city dated back to approximately 2,700 B.C. and was one of the oldest cities of the time (Butt)1. While reading through Ezekiel 26, it is bluntly stated that, “Many nations” (Ezek 26:3) will fight against Tyre. Josephus, quoting “the records of the Phoenicians,” says that Nebuchadnezzar “besieged Tyre for thirteen years in the days of Ithobal, their king” (Butt, op cit.). Nebuchadnezzar’s siege was the first attack against Tyre after the prophecy, matching the prophecy when is states, “For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people” (Ezek 26:7). However, Nebuchadnezzar failed to take the city, which allowed for the prophecy to be fulfilled to its full extent. If Nebuchadnezzar had taken the city, then only one nation would have come against Tyre, not multiple as the prophecy states. Throughout time the city was destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again multiple times. This being said, the more persuasive evidence that this prophecy had to be inspired comes out in the later parts of the chapter.
Alexander the Great’s destruction of Tyre show that this prophecy could only have been made by inspiration. Alexander besieged Tyre because they denied him the right to make a personal sacrifice in the city’s temple. Tyre moved from the main land to a small island just off the mainland to avoid Alexander’s army. After quickly destroying the original Tyre, Alexander made a plan to build a land bridge using debris from the original city to get to the island. After he completed the land bridge with his army, he destroyed the newer Tyre as well killing everyone on the island (Butt). When compared to the Biblical prophecy of Tyre’s destruction, the similarities and details can be shocking. Ezekiel states, “They shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water” (Ezek: 26:12) which is exactly how Alexander the Great made it to the island of Tyre. Furthermore the prophecy states:
“When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee; When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living; I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God” (Ezek 26:19-21).
In other words, water would cover the city and it would never be inhabited again. One of the strongest counterarguments relies on this point in an attempt to show this prophecy is false, because currently there is a city named Tyre in a relatively close location to the original location of Tyre. The issue with this claim is that the mainland ancient Tyre, which is what Ezekiel was predominantly prophesying about, is in fact currently lost underwater. “In approximately A.D. 1170, a Jewish traveler named Benjamin of Tudela published a diary of his travels” (Butt). In his diary he made the statement, “A man can ascend the walls of New Tyre and see ancient Tyre, which the sea has now covered, lying at a stone’s throw from the new city” (Butt), showing that in fact the original Tyre is underwater, fulfilling Ezekiel’s prophecy at all points.
Babylon
Another concrete prophecy that cannot be explained through mere chance is the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon. The part of the prophecy that best shows the Bible’s inspiration is:
“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures” (Isa 13:17-21).
The two major points in the prophecy are that the Medes would kill many Babylonians, and that Babylon would remain uninhabited. The prophecy, as many prophecies in the Bible, was fulfilled throughout different time periods in history. Around the time of 550 B.C., Babylon was captured by the Medes. There was no battle that took place, rather, the Medes took the city by surprise and Darius the Mede was made the new leader (Foster). It was through a series of rebellions that the Medes went on killing Babylonians, the first one being in 521 B.C. According to, “An inscription written on a rock cliff in Bisotun, Iran” (Foster)2the Babylonians elected their own king and tried to rebel. The rebellion was quickly defeated with most of the rebels being impaled. Another rebellion occurred in 482 B.C. Xerxes, the Median king of the time, sent an army to recapture the city which resulted in the destruction of all the idols of the Babylonian god. The city declined in power until Alexander the Great wanted to rebuild the city, but he died before he could complete the task. Over time Babylon was deserted little by little until it became entirely abandoned. The president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, attempted to rebuild Babylon, which would have defied the prophecy.
Ironically, during his rebuilding Saddam Hussein was, “Found hiding in a small underground bunker near a farmhouse in ad-Dawr, near Tikrit”.3This led to his trial and execution on December 30, 2006, making it so he could not rebuild Babylon as he planned, further showing that the prophecies of the Bible are concrete and inspired. Currently Babylon can be visited during times of peace but has remained uninhabited for nearly 2,000 years, truly fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy.
Probably the most prominent prophecy in today’s time would be the prophecies dealing with Israel’s return. Throughout the Bible, there are multiple prophecies dealing with Israel returning as a nation and the Jews returning to it. A few examples of this are:
“And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land” (Ezek 37:21).
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness” (Zech 8:7-8).
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa 11:11-12).
These are just three of many occurrences in which the Bible talks about Israel returning as a nation and as a people. In 1948, Israel did in fact become a state again. A nation coming back to its original location after nearly 2,000 years is unparalleled in history. Not just is it unparalleled, but the Bible predicted it multiple times. These prophecies about Israel are some of the strongest ones that go against any critic’s counterargument because one cannot say that these were written after their fulfillment.
As clearly shown, the prophetic word goes hand in hand with historic events. Throughout time, evidence has shown the Bible to be more and more accurate as humanity learns more about the past. Another major factor which plays into the Bible’s inspiration is the Jewish people. According to the Bible, they play a large role in God’s plan. In next month’s article, Lord willing, Jewish history will be compared with the Bible and a few scientific objections will be discussed in order to thoroughly conclude God truly does exist.
- Butt, Kyle. “Tyre in Prophecy.” Apologetics Press. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
- Foster, Ryan. “A Prophecy About Babylon Confirms the Accuracy of the Bible.” Beyond Today-Understanding Your Future. Web. 15 Nov. 2014
- “Saddam Hussein Bibliography.” com. A&E Networks Television, Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
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