History Recorded In Advance - How Fulfilled Prophecy Confirms the Bible

One of the most powerful arguments for the truth of the Bible is the prophecies in it which have been fulfilled. This goes far beyond accurately recording historic events as they happen. Many passages in Scripture actually predict historic events long before they happen. These fulfilled prophecies help strengthen our faith in the Bible as more than “just a book”. They confirm what we’ve known all along, that this Book is, in truth, the Word of Almighty God. No human author could have written such accurate prophecies of events that occurred hundreds of years in the future!

Let’s examine some of these prophecies to demonstrate this point. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just a few of the prophecies that I personally find most amazing.

Destruction of Tyre

Because of its great pride and wickedness, God used Ezekiel to announce judgement on the city of Tyre. Pay attention to this passage from Ezekiel 26:3-12:

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord God; ‘it shall become plunder for the nations. Also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.’

“For thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses, with chariots, and with horsemen, and an army with many people. He will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields; he will heap up a siege mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a defense against you. He will direct his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. Because of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, the wagons, and the chariots, when he enters your gates, as men enter a city that has been breached. With the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets; he will slay your people by the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water.”

We can see a few important points in this prophecy:

#1 - Many nations will come up against Tyre
This has been fulfilled repeatedly since the time of Ezekiel. Although there had been no successful attack against the city for centuries before Ezekiel, the Babylonians set up a siege against them just months after Ezekiel spoke these words.
Then, like waves of the sea, nation after nation set themselves against the city. The Persians, the Greeks under Alexander, the Egyptians, and the Syrians all had their turn at attacking and plundering the the city. This city, once considered invincible, repeatedly had its riches plundered by many nations.

#2 - Nebuchadnezzar would lay siege to Tyre
Shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar turned his attention to Tyre - a city that had never been successfully conquered. His forces laid siege to the city for thirteen years before finally breaching the walls and storming the city. Thousands of Tyre’s inhabitants were slaughtered in the streets. Buildings were demolished, and the city was turned into ruins.
But it wasn’t a complete destruction of Tyre though. If Nebuchadnezzar had wiped Tyre out completely, then the prophecy of “many nations” attacking it couldn’t be fulfilled. So what happened?
A half-mile out to sea - in the Mediterranean - was an island stronghold that belonged to Tyre. This smaller part of the city was heavily fortified and could only be reached by boat. As Nebuchadnezzar was besieging the mainland city (called “Old Tyre”), thousands of its inhabitants retreated  to this fortress on the water. Old Tyre was destroyed, but Babylon wasn’t willing to drag the siege on any further. They left without attacking the Island.

#3 - The city would be thrown into the sea
This Island fortress continued standing for another 200 years - although the city was attacked several times. But in 333 BC, Alexander the Great attacked Tyre with his Greek army. This young man was a brilliant commander, and didn’t consider a naval attack on the island fortress to be effective or reasonable. It was simply too heavily fortified to lay siege from the water. So what was his solution?
Alexander ordered his men to start pulling up the ruins of Old Tyre on the mainland. Using these remains of buildings, stone-paved streets and old fortified walls, Alexander began building a land bridge from the mainland city out to the island fortress. Fulfilling the biblical prophecy in minute detail, the Greek soldiers actually laid Tyre’s stones, timber and soil “in the midst of the water.” The entire city of Old Tyre was literally thrown into the sea!

The Return of the Jewish Captives

In 2 Kings 20:16, a prophet named Isaiah delivered this message to the king of Judah, “Hear the word of the Lord. ‘Behold, the time is coming when everything that is in your house, and that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left..’” This was the first time that Babylon was identified as the nation that would destroy Jerusalem - although this was later prophesied again by Isaiah and other prophets.

This prophecy was delivered around 715 BC. It was completely fulfilled more than one hundred years later in 587 BC, the year that Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and carried the Jewish survivors away as prisoners. When Isaiah delivered this first prophecy, Babylon wasn’t even an enemy...but 128 years later, they fulfilled it perfectly.

But Isaiah wasn’t done prophesying. Through the Spirit of God, this man now looked through the Babylonian captivity, and saw their return.

Isaiah 44:28 is an incredible prophecy - one that should cement the Bible’s identity as the authentic Word of God:
“...Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” and to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”’ Here we see God not only proclaiming that Jerusalem and the Temple were going to be rebuilt, but also specifically naming the king that was going to make it happen.

Think about this for a minute: Can you give me the name of the next President of the United States? How about the name of the President fifty years from now? One hundred and fifty years? Can you even tell me if the United States will still exist one hundred and fifty years from now?

One hundred and fifty years after Isaiah prophesied, the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and proclaimed freedom to the Jewish captives. He allowed them to return and even funded their rebuilding of the Lord’s temple. God hand-picked this man to be king and to had a plan for him more than a hundred years before he was born!

(Side note: Herodotus tells us about a time when Cyrus’ own grandfather tried to kill him as a baby. The men that were sent to murder the infant prince couldn’t bring themselves to do it...so they sent him to live with a shepherd instead. We can see, even in the pages of “secular” history, how God preserved the life of this heathen man to fulfilled His plan.)

Long before Babylon was even thought of as an enemy, God prophesied of events that came to pass exactly as He said they would:
Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem
the Jewish captivity in Babylon
the release of the Jewish captives
King Cyrus’ rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple.

All of this happened...exactly the way God said it would!

Daniel’s Prophecies

The book of Daniel had several amazingly accurate prophecies concerning future events. Many of these events - things that were still in the future when Daniel wrote them - are now recorded in ancient history for us to see.

It’s undeniable that these prophecies were impeccably accurate. So much so, in fact, that many Bible critics declare that the book must have been written by someone else after the events happened. This argument falls apart when you look at the context of the book. When it’s examined, it’s easy to see how Babylonian culture and customs were written about first-hand. The writing style and the content of the book of Daniel shows us without a doubt that it was written during the time of the Babylonian captivity - not centuries later.

Why is that important? Because when we look at these prophecies in the book of Daniel, we can be sure that they were written hundreds of years before the events actually took place!

For the sake of brevity: I’ll give you the scripture references for each of these prophecies; it would be good for you to take the time to look them up and see them for yourself!

Succession of Kingdoms

Daniel 2

This was Daniel’s first prophecy - and one that actually saved his life. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and was becoming frustrated that none of his wise men could interpret it. In a fit of anger, he began to execute his counselors and magicians. Daniel asked him for more time to fast and pray for the interpretation of the dream. When God gave the dream and the interpretation to Daniel, he declared it to the king.

The king dreamed of a statue. The head of the statue was made of gold, the chest and arms were made of silver, the stomach and thighs were made of bronze, and knees and legs were made of iron, and the feet were made from mixed iron and clay.

Daniel’s interpretation was this: each of those different materials represented a major world empire - one that would rule over the land of Israel.

The head of gold represented the Babylonian empire. This was the empire that Daniel was currently living in, and the only one that he could naturally know of at the time of the king’s dream. Everything that came after this point in Daniel’s interpretation was foretelling of future events.

The chest and arms of silver represented the Medo-Persian empire. Daniel would live to see this empire take over - a little less than seventy years later. Like the statue’s two arms, this was a single empire that came together from two separate kingdoms: the Medes and the Persians. In fact, Daniel served as second-in-command under a Median general-turned-king named Darius.

The stomach and thighs of bronze represented the Greek empire under Alexander the Great. It’s interesting that God used bronze as a symbol of the Greeks. Is it coincidence that the soldiers of Alexander’s army were all equipped with spears, shields, and armor all made of bronze?

After the Greeks, another empire would arise, one so strong that it was symbolized by the legs of iron. This was none other than the mighty Roman empire. Roman legions conquered a region that included what we now know as England, Morocco, Egypt, the Ukraine, and even into the subcontinent of India!

But the Roman empire’s weakness came from the diversity of peoples that they ruled over. Try as they did, these different cultures just didn’t mesh together into one people. And so, over time, the empire began to fracture. This division became sharpest when Rome divided into two separate empires - the Western Roman Empire (ruled from Rome itself) and the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire). This divided Rome was symbolized by the feet of iron and clay.

Daniel was given insight into events that stretched hundreds of years into the future! In fact, the last event he saw in this prophecy was the division of the Iron empire - this wasn’t fully complete until 285 years after Christ!

Seventy Weeks

Daniel 9:24-27

Later in Daniel’s life, God gave him more insight into events far into the future. Not only did God reveal some details of His great master plan in this passage, but we also see His timeline showing exactly when the events would happen.

In this prophecy, Daniel used the symbol of one “week” to show seven years. He declared that there would be sixty-nine weeks from the time that the order was given to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem until the time when the Messiah would be “cut off, but not for Himself.” Assuming seven years per week, this would amount to 483 years in this prophecy.

First, notice that this timeline started when the decree went out to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This didn’t happen when Cyrus’ first declared freedom to the Jewish prisoners. It wasn’t until 445 BC, during the reign of Artaxerxes the first, that Nehemiah was commissioned to rebuild the walls of the Holy City.

Using a 360-day year (a calendar year that was used by both Jews and Babylonians - and so would’ve been used by Daniel), 483 years lands us right in 30 AD...the exact year that Jesus died and rose again! Daniel prophesied the very year that Jesus would be crucified, and he also declared the reason…”not for Himself.”

The Prophecy of Daniel 8

The most amazingly accurate and detailed prophecy in the book of Daniel is found in chapter 8. Although there are no names mentioned, the Daniel’s prophetic vision is clear and precise. Here are some of the events that Daniel saw and recorded, events that we now look back on in history. Remember, when the book of Daniel was written, these were all still future events!

The dual empire of the Medes and the Persians - 8:3
This empire was represented in Daniel’s vision as a ram with two horns. One of the ram’s horns came up later than the other, and ended up being the larger of the horns.
This is exactly how the Medo-Persian empire was formed. The Medes came first, but then the Persians arose and became the stronger of the two. Cyrus the Great unified the Medes and the Persians into a single empire.

The Medo-Persian conquests “westward, northward, and southward - 8:4
This is well documented in history. Cyrus pushed west in his aggressive military campaign. His son Cambyses pushed southward. After them, Darius the first secured his hold in the north.

The Greek empire of Alexander the Great and their defeat of the Medo-Persians - 8:5-7
This was seen by Daniel as a goat with one horn attacking and destroying the previously mentioned ram.
There were many military clashes between the Persians and the Greeks through history. But once Alexander unified the Greek cities into a single empire, they finally defeated the Persians. Alexander successfully assimilated the massive Medo-Persian empire into his own.

The four successors of Alexander - 8:8
After the one-horned goat defeated the ram, the single horn fell off and was replaced by four smaller horns.
Alexander had no children. When he died his kingdom was split up among four of his greatest generals.

Antiochus Epiphanes - 8:9-15
Daniel then saw a “little horn” growing up out of one the four horns. Daniel then prophesied that this horn would exalt itself, invade the “Glorious land” and take away the daily sacrifices. This little horn would also “cast truth to the ground”.

We now know that this was speaking of a man named Antiochus Epiphanes. This was a king that came from the lineage of one Alexander’s generals. He invaded Israel and slaughtered many Jews. He forbid any kind of worship to Yahweh, and stopped all sacrifices. He even forbid the Jews from reading (or even owning) the Scriptures - thus “casting truth to the ground.”

The demise of Antiochus - 8:25
In verse 25, we see one more prophecy that has been fulfilled in history. Daniel declares that this “little horn” - who we know is Antiochus - would be “broken without human means”.
Josephus tells us that Antiochus Epiphanes died in a fevered fit of madness in his own palace. He didn’t die in battle, he wasn’t assassinated by an enemy, he didn’t even die accidentally...he died raging like a madman. The horn that exalted itself so greatly was then broken without human hands!

Of course, there are many, many more prophecies in Scriptures that have been fulfilled. These are only a few of the most notable prophetic messages that the Bible gives us.

When we look back through the timeline of history we can see how the Bible got it right over and over again. There can only be one explanation for these beautifully fulfilled prophecies in the Bible - it must be the Word of an all-knowing God!