I remember vividly the summer that wasn’t. I would wake hoping that a new day would bring sunshine and clear skies. Instead, another overcast day of intermittent rain. Even early July, statistically one of the driest, hottest weeks of the Canadian summer was soggy and cool. The lawn was waterlogged. All the veggies late. The farmers bit their fingernails as they eyed hay that needed cutting and wheat harvested.
Paradoxically, long range forecasts had predicted a warmer than usual summer. A Canadian forecaster admitted that they had been only 30% right that year. He even confessed that a non-techie could probably do as well. And yet, today’s meteorologists use the most sophisticated weather predicting equipment ever assembled.
Without any equipment, biblical prophets score an accuracy rate of 100%. By contrast if forecasters even score an unlikely high of 90%, an unpredictable hurricane—part of the 10% they miss—can still wreak devastation. Of course meteorologists have to rely on human calculations whereas biblical prophets relied on God’s inspiration. We should not be surprised that whatever God predicts comes to pass without fail.
The accuracy of the Bible’s prophecies should astonish us. Neither the Koran nor the Hindu Vedas nor the Bhagavad-Gita contain prophecy. The same can be said of Buddha’s sayings, those of Confucius, and the Book of Mormon. About 30% of the Bible’s content, however, consists of prophecy—part of that is prediction and part preaching.
Jesus’ life and death followed an outline laid out in prophecy centuries before his birth. In the gospels a repeated refrain draws our attention to this fact. “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. . . . this is what the prophet has written. . . . and so was fulfilled what the Lord has said through the prophet.”[1] The way Jesus’ life fulfilled prophecy is nothing short of miraculous.
But consider several more obscure prophecies. John Blanchard writes, “Around 920 B.C., an unnamed prophet told Jereboam, the first King of [divided] Israel, that his throne would one day be occupied by a king called Josiah, who would sweep away the widespread idolatry promoted by Jereboam. This seemed nonsensical to the all-powerful Jereboam but 300 years later Josiah “did just as predicted.[2]
Take another example. Between 740 and 700 BC Isaiah predicted a series of events including the fall of Jerusalem, the Babylonian captivity, the return of the exiles, and the rebuilding of the temple under someone named Cyrus. About 200 years later these events transpired exactly as prophesied. Without divine inspiration, Isaiah could not have known the name of the future king of a kingdom (Persia) that was not even in existence during his lifetime.
Scores of other examples could be cited. To demonstrate the impossibility of prophetic fulfillment being the result of chance, Peter Stoner picked 11 prophecies. As explained in his book, Science Speaks, he calculated that the probability of their fulfillment would be one in 8×1063. John Blanchard explains what this would mean. “If we were to scoop together a pile of coins equal to 100 billion stars in each of two trillion galaxies in just one second, and then add to the pile at the same rate every second, day and night, for twenty-one years, we would be ready for the test. If we then asked a blindfolded friend to pick out one marked coin from this incomprehensibly massive pile, his chances of doing so would be one in 8×1063, the same as the likelihood that” the prophets would have been accurate.[3]
I appreciate weather forecasters. They do the best they can with their equipment but when I want certainty about the future, I turn to the Bible. The future is in the hand of the Father. We need not fear the unknown. The trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will arise. Jesus will return with all his saints. Every eye will see him. There will be a day of judgment and all evil will be overcome. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire. Tears will be wiped away. The kingdom will come. All this, and much more, we can know for sure.
Eternal God, I read the prophets with amazement. Thank you for the astounding book you have given us. Accurate in all it affirms—past, present, and future. Although my understanding of all the details about the future is quite limited, I know I can trust you to work it out for your glory—perfectly. The future is in your hands. Amen!
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[1] See Matt. 1:22; 2:5,15,17; 3:3, etc.
[2] John Blanchard, Does God Believe In Atheists? Darlington: Evangelical Press, 2000, p. 409 Read Blanchard’s short, but excellent section on prophecy from page 407 to 410. For this specific prophecy compare 1 Kings 13:1,2 with 2 Kings 21:25 – 22:2; 23: 15-18
[3] Ibid, p. 409,410
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