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Are Prophecies Reliable
When called upon to assist Nebuchadnezzar with recall and interpretation of his dream, Daniel told him “the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure” (Daniel 2:45). Is this for real? Are prophecies reliable? Can we be sure that these insights on the future are indeed given by God, and that they do indicate “what shall come to pass hereafter”? Can we trust our future to uncertainties?
These fascinating questions deserve equally good answers. Yet the best way to approach them is to view past prophetic utterances, verify their fulfillment, and then on that basis examine the future to determine whether or not prophecies are reliable.
After creating humans, God placed them in the garden and gave them dominion over everything, but proscribed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them eating from it would result in death. When they disobeyed and should have died, God said: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The enmity between the church and the woman is renowned, but what of the bruising heel and crushing head?
Paul said: “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law . . . ” (Galatians 4:4, 5). This says when the world was at peace, under one government, spoke a common language, and longed for something better, God sent the woman’s seed. On the cross the devil bruised Jesus’ heel but overreached himself in the process. By killing Christ, he thereby secured his own demise, and when Jesus rose triumphant from the grave He began the process of crushing the serpent’s head, which will be completed after the 1,000 years. Besides this prophecy there are 332 additional Old Testament prophecies about Jesus that were fulfilled (Free, 1976).
After Jezebel engineered Naboth’s death so that Ahab could have his field, the prophet Elijah predicted: “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel” (1 Kings 21:23). When Jehu became king and visited Jezreel, Jezebel was cast out of the window. Later, all they found of her was her “skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands” (2 Kings 9:35). The dogs fulfilled the prophecy but refused to eat her sense organs.
Ezekiel predicted the destruction of the city of Tyre (Ezekiel 26:3). This prophecy was first fulfilled through Nebuchadnezzar’s 13-year siege when he took the mainland and the inhabitants moved to the island. It was also fulfilled in Alexander’s campaign 250 years later. Ezekiel 26:14 predicted that Tyre would be “like the top of a rock” useful only as a place “to spread nets upon” met fulfillment (Free, pp. 262, 263). The prophets predicted the destruction of Tyre. Today it is no more than a fishing village. The prophet’s word has been fulfilled.
Now let’s look at Daniel 2:31-35 and the prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. In vision, Nebuchadnezzar saw an image with a golden head, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay. He saw that a stone was cut from the mountains without hands and smote the image on its feet, breaking it to pieces. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar he was the head of gold, but there would be succeeding world kingdoms. In fulfillment, the kingdoms of Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome followed. The kingdoms of Europe succeeded Rome. We have seen the demise of each kingdom and are now living in the days of the feet. That the feet were made of iron and clay, substances that cannot unite, suggests disunity. No more will there be a world empire to again unite all the countries of the world. Thus, we have seen the failure of Britain, Napoleon, Charlemagne, Hitler, Russia, etc., to unite the world. Even now the world’s economic systems are crumbling.
We can indeed say the prophecies are reliable. We can trust our future to them. They tell us we are living in the days of the feet of iron and clay that are weak and divided; that cannot, and will not unite. What is the next great event to unfurl? It is the cutting of the stone from the mountain without hands. What does this refer to?
The stone is the kingdom of God. Daniel told the king: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). On God’s great prophetic clock, the next great event will be the coming of Christ; to set up His everlasting kingdom. It will herald the destruction of sin and sinners; death will be vanquished; and there will be no more pain. It will not only unite the kingdoms of this world with the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; it will usher in everlasting peace, joy, and happiness. The families of earth will be reunited with the family above, and we will live forever and evermore. I want to be a part of that experience. What about you? Trust the prophecies and prepare.
BERTRAM L. MELBOURNE, PH.D., is professor of Biblical Language and Literature, Howard University School of Divinity, and pastor of the Rockville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Maryland.
References
Free, Joseph P. Archaeology and Bible History. Wheaton, Ill.: Scripture Press Publications, Inc., 1976.
Freeman, David Noel. Archaeology of the Bible Book by Book. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1976.
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