Bible Reliability – Miracles & Prophecy
Now what about miracles and prophecy. These are issues that the critics of Christianity often point to. They tell us we are backward or delusional to believe such things. But what is the real problem.
The typical atheist & naturalist critiques are . Miracles cannot happen because they would violate the laws of nature.
Aren’t Miracles by definition Super-natural. Metaphysical vs. Physical or Material vs. immaterial. We agree that miracles violate the laws of nature. So it’s not a very challenging critique at all.
The real question is, can we provide evidence for the supernatural, immaterial, or metaphysical. And if we can, then miracles and prophecy are possible.
We are going to talk in detail about Jesus and the resurrection in the next session.
So, what is the greatest miracle in the Bible.?
Creation is the biggest miracle. If God can make everything, then resurrection is not a big deal. He’s God. And I think we have given a lot of evidence that the most plausible explanation for everything is God created it. So, that’s good. But what about all the other stuff in our Bibles. Is that true? Why?
For the moment, I’m going to set the idea of miracles to the side. I want to zero in on one particular type of miracle which is prophecy. More specifically, fulfilled prophecy. If we can show that prophecies in the Bible have come true consistently, then it is reasonable to believe that other prophecies will also. And if the prophecies in the Bible are true, then miracles are true. Which means miracles, all the miracles are possible if not probably true. We will talk about Noah’s flood in more detail in a couple session from now.
So can you think of prophecy that has come true. Obviously all of the messianic prophecies, but we will talk about that next time also.
What about some from Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. I will just focus on a couple of Daniel and one from Jeremiah to make my point.
- Daniel 2 (Four Kingdoms)
- Daniel 11 (Hellenistic Period)
- Jeremiah 25 (70 yrs Captivity)
Now I’m not going to read all of Daniel 2. But if you remember the story King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and God gave Daniel the interpretation. It was a foretelling of the future. This amazing prophecy predicted the next three empires.
First the Babylonian under Nebuchadnezzar, then the Media-Persian empire, followed by the Greeks, followed by the Romans, then a stone demolishes the statue and grows into a huge mountain which is a image of Christ who broke the hold of earthly empire and the stone that grew into a mountain is Christianity. Daniel gave this prophecy during the Babylonian rule, the Persian had not rose to power yet. There was no imagination of a Greek empire that can centuries after Daniel was dead, and the Roman empire. Well this came centuries later yet.
Fulfilled prophecy. At least the four kingdoms is a clear fulfilled prophecy.
What about Daniel 11 & 12. I think every serious scholar can recognize this is a prediction of the Greek divided kingdoms. It matches so well most critics just try to say it was written latter after the events. Yet the book of Daniel predates the Greek empire, it was already in the Hebrew scriptures. It is referenced by others all before these events took place. Fulfilled prophecy.
Jeremiah 25:11-12 (NIV) This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians
Jeremiah predicted the length of the captivity in Babylon. 70 years. And yes, roughly 70 years later, a Persian king Cyrus, reads another prophecy in Isaiah which named him. And Cyrus decreed that the Jews could return to Judah. Fulfilled prophecy several times over. 70 years is very specific and it came true.
So, yes we can definitely trust our Bible. We have lots of evidence for why we can trust it. The Bible is reliable, there are no contradictions. We can explain and counter every objection and critique with logic and reason and evidence. That does not mean we can convince everyone. But we can have confidence in our God and the word He has given us in the Bible.
Don’t forget if you do have questions you would like discussed email me at questions@punla.org.
Quick preview for next session. The historical Jesus and the resurrection.
Let close with a song praise you anywhere.
He is worthy of all of our praise.
Let’s close and pray.
Thank you and God’s Blessing my friends.
This is the end of How to Defend your Faith Session 8 (Next Session 9 the Historical Jesus)
