Isaiah 41:22-23 "Tell us you idols, what is going to happen....Tell us what the future holds so we may know you are gods..." Ever wonder if something actually comes from God? Many religions make the claim that they hold the words of the true God. But do they really?
The Bible demonstrates a clear requirement for divine inspiration. A requirement I believe we can all agree on. That requirement is that the future must be accurately predicted in order for someone or something to qualify as a god. In fact, Isaiah here in the above verse is challenging his pagan counterparts by demanding their "gods" prove themselves by predicting the future. If they fail to do so they are not gods.This makes sense, after all, only someone who knows the future can predict the future in accurate detail.
So let's apply this requirement to the Bible and see if it passes the test. Reasons to believe ministries have done thorough research into this matter and came up with some truly awe inspiring results. The Bible contains roughly 2500 prophecies throughout the old and new testaments. Upon identifying these prophecies they held it to the utmost scrutiny and used observable evidence and historical records to confirm that an astonishing 2000 of these prophecies have been confirmed to the minutest of details. The other 500 have yet to occur in the future!
A few major prophetic statements include Micah 5:2, Genesis 25:23 and Isaiah 7:14. Micah 5:2 states "but you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times". This is a clear reference to Christ being born in Bethlehem written about 700 years before his birth! Furthermore Genesis 25:23 contains prophecy that can be observed today! Genesis 25:23 is a record of what God foretold about Rebecca's twin sons. This verse says "The Lord said to her,'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.". The younger son was named Jacob later known as Israel and the older son was named Esau later known as Edom. Jacob's descendants became the nation of Israel and Esau's descendants became the nations in current day Palestine. Even today they are still in conflict and Israel continues to be the stronger military and economic power. Israel has been conquered before but never by a nation of the people of Edom. Lastly, Isaiah 7:14 is one of hundreds of prophecies about Christ's life. This verse says "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." Not only does Isaiah accurately predict the miraculous virgin birth which is confirmed in the Gospels, but also foretold of a title given to Christ mentioned many times in the New testament!
Today we covered 3 of the possible 2000 confirmed prophecies in the Bible! No other religious book can accurately predict as many prophecies to such detail as the Bible. The God of the Bible exceeded the requirement laid out in Isaiah 41:22-23 and stands alone in the sheer quantity of prophecy and quality of prophecy compared to other religions. Therefore the evidence of the Bible being the true Word of God is in the prophecy!
