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The Bible claims that all Scripture is
inspired of God (2 Tim 3:16). No prophecy was ever made by an act of
human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (2 Pet 1:21).
According to a poll published in Life magazine in December 1998,
only 33% of Americans believe the Bible is the Word of God. Many who
consider themselves “Christians”, even many preachers, believe that the
Bible came only from the mind and pen of men. It is amazing that men live
by and preach from a book that would have to be considered a lie and a
fraud if its claim to be the Word of God is not true. But, is there any
evidence, any reason to believe, the Bible’s claim to be the Word of God?
The God of the Bible has given man reason to
belief in Him and in His prophets. He challenged the idols to bring
forward their strong arguments for men to believe in them. He said to
them, “Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may
know that you are gods; Indeed do good or evil, that we may anxiously look
about us and fear together.” (Isa 41:23) Idols cannot speak, much less
predict the future, but the God of the Bible declared things before they
happened through His prophets so that when they happened men could say,
“He is right” (Isa 41:26).
An example of predictions made by Bible prophets that were
fulfilled and remain fulfilled are the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah
concerning the great ancient city of Babylon. From the lists of kings
mentioned at the beginning of their writings (Isa 1:1, Jer 1:3) we date
Isaiah’s predictions from about 700 B.C. and Jeremiah’s some time before
586 B.C. Notice these very specific predictions
made by Isaiah
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and Jeremiah about
Babylon:
1) The Medes would
destroy them (Isa 13:17-18; Jer 51:11,28)
2) The city would be
conquered easily, while the Babylonians were drunk (Jer 51:30-32, 38-40,
57-58).
This was a
remarkable prediction to make for, at the time it was made, Babylon was a
city of tremendous fortifications. The city had 14
miles of walls surrounding it. The outer wall was 311 feet high
(30 stories) and was 87 feet wide (11 car widths). In
addition, there were 250 watchtowers that were 100 feet higher than
the walls. But Jeremiah reported that God’s attitude was, “You can
build up to heaven, but I will destroy you!” (Jer 51:53)
3) The city would be
completely destroyed: (Isa 13:19-22; Jer 50:3,12, 39; 51:61-64)
a)
As when God overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah.
b)
Never to be inhabited.
c)
Arab would not pitch his
tent there.
d)
Shepherds would not make
their flocks lie down there.
e)
It would be left as a
place for wild beasts.
Read on to see that “God is right”, Isaiah and Jeremiah did speak as
prophets of God, and that you can have confidence that God, not men was
behind the writing of the Bible… |
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Darius the Mede destroyed Babylon on October 13, 539 B.C. The Medes
diverted the Euphrates River that flowed through Babylon and, ignoring
simply the high walls, entered the city in the abandoned riverbed. The
city was taken easily, as the Babylonians were celebrating a feast and
were drunk.
Alexander the Great thought to restore the great temple of Babylon, but
found the project too costly. The Seleucids, who controlled the ruins of
Babylon after him, also counted the cost and decided that reconstructing
Babylon would be just as costly as building a new city. So they built
Seleucia, 40 miles north of Babylon’s ruins. Everyone living in the area
of the ruins then left for the new city.
By the time of the reign of Augustus Caesar (27 B.C. – A.D. 14), the
writer Strabo said, “The great city has become a desert.” In A.D. 116,
the emperor Trajan described the once glorious Babylon as “mounds and
legends of mounds.”
In 1853, Austen Layard described the site, as “a naked and hideous waste.
Owls stare from the scanty thickets and the foul jackal stalks through the
furrows. Truly, the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees’
excellency is as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” Floyd Hamilton
wrote in 1927, “Travelers report that the city is absolutely uninhabited,
even by Bedouins. |
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There are various superstitions
current among the Arabs that prevent them from pitching their tents there,
while the character of the soil prevents the growth of vegetation suitable
for the pasturage of flocks.”
Saddam Hussein had a dream to rebuild
Babylon (55 miles south of Baghdad). Under his direction, in 1982 workers
began recon-structing the 600-room palace of Nebuchad-nezzar. They laid
more than 60 million sand-colored bricks on top of the original bricks.
The new bricks were inscribed, “In the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of
Iraq, who rebuilt civilization and rebuilt Babylon.”
The Gulf War interrupted Saddam’s
building. Operation Iraqi Freedom crushed his dream. God said that
Babylon would be desolate forever. Saddam said he would rebuild it. Is
it any wonder that he lost the war and was deposed from power? “God is
right”, Isaiah and Jeremiah were His prophets. Men could not have
foreseen either the destruction of Babylon or its continued desolation for
2543 years and counting. You can believe that the Bible is what it
claims, the Word of God!
Want to see more evidence? Please contact us for a correspondence course
or an in home study of the abundant evidence available to convince us to
believe in God, the Bible, as well as Jesus. |
