A CASE STUDY OF PROPHECY: IS PROPHECY POSSIBLE? 

A CASE STUDY OF PROPHECY: IS PROPHECY POSSIBLE?  

By: Daniel McMillin

Prophecy Is an Excellent Piece of Evidence

Prophecy is one of the strongest pieces of evidence for apologetics.  If prophecy is possible, then there is a God Who eternally knows and sovereignly holds the future. If there is a God that has revealed Himself through His Word, then the Bible is inspired. Since the Bible contains prophecies of the coming Messiah, and every prophecy of Christ is fulfilled in the life of Jesus, then Jesus is God. Prophecy plays a pivotal role in apologetics. It is an impressive piece of evidence that plays a role in these three topics that are the foundational elements of our Christian belief. The existence of God, the inspiration of the Bible, and the divinity of Christ are the three pillars of our faith. With this in mind, we see prophecy as a tool that carves the pillars of our faith into something substantial that will ultimately structure our belief. It is a shred of dynamic evidence in the hands of the apologist.

J. Barton Payne lists 1,817 predications in the Bible, 1239 in the Old Testament, and 578 in the New. The Bible is unlike any other. 27% of the document contains predictive prophecy.[1]. Since the Bible contains such a high percentage of predictive prophecy within this document, it is appropriate that we should examine the authenticity of prophecy in order to know if it is possible. If prophecy is impossible, then this presents us with a problem that arises against the validity of the Bible. However, if prophecy is possible, then it makes all the difference in the world and is therefore vital to the topic of Christian evidences.

Prophecy Is the Product of a Divine Source

We face an issue within the course of this subject due to an anti-supernatural bias that taints one's interpretation of the Bible when reading prophecies. When one examines such precise predictions of the future, they must reason a natural explanation since, according to such skeptics, the possibility of prophecy cannot happen. Supernatural things do not occur because they are impossible. It is therefore vital to note that the Bible is, as Norman L. Geisler said, “unlike any other book, the Bible offers a multititle of specific predictions –some hundreds of years in advance –that have been literally fulfilled or else point to a definite future time when they will come true.”[2] 

Prophecy is classified as internal evidence that appeals to evidence beyond human production (Lipe 152). It does not originate from the human mind (2 Pet. 1:20-21) but is an argument that testifies to God’s omniscience. Man is limited in their knowledge, but God possesses complete, unlimited knowledge. Mankind is incapable of knowing the future without an omniscient Being (Ramm 81). We could push Scripture aside if it were merely the product of the human invention, then it could be counted as human reasoning. On the other hand, if the Scriptures are inspired, inerrant, and authoritative, then what they assert one must believe, what they are cannot be produced from the human mind alone. It must be the product of a divine mind.[3] 

If there is a God that knows and sees all things eternally, who knows and holds the future, then the possibility of predictive prophecy appears more probable. If the Bible contains such an ability as foretelling the future, then we are presented with “a sign of the Bible’s divine origin” (Geisler 455); it must be from God! The evidence indicates it is of divine origin. It testifies to be the product of God. If we were to read a prophecy and presuppose that God does not exist, that the supernatural is possible, and do not recognize the Bible’s claim of divine origin (2 Tim. 3:16-17), then our view of this holy document, the Bible, becomes skewed by an anti-God, anti-supernatural bias that cannot honestly approach this topic and question the possibility of prophecy. Because if one holds such presuppositions, they cannot honestly ask such a question since they affirm it is impossible.

How can one trust the validity of Scripture when it claims to be from the Lord and affirms that it contains predictions of the future? The Bible provides us with this answer in Deuteronomy 19:22:

If a prophecy that is made is inaccurate, it is the product of man and is of no concern. If a prophecy that is made is accurate, then it must originate from the Lord and is pivotal to our faith.

The Definition of Prophecy

What is prophecy? Prophecy has to do with much more than things to come. Prophecy deals with something beyond the realm of the future. Its purpose was to reveal the sovereign Lord. His ability to know the future makes Himself more compelling to His creatures. Prophecy is closely linked to revelation. It communicates His divine will. Prophecy brings to light the things that would remain in the shadows otherwise. Prophecies are not meant to be unsolved puzzles or obscure riddles. They are intended to communicate truth from the divine source that informs mankind about what He intends for man to know. Prophecy is both foretelling the future (Is. 7:14-17; 45:1-7) and forthtelling the Father’s will, that is, the “Word of the Lord” (Is. 1:10; 28:14; 22:15).

Our English word “prophecy” is derived from the Greek Word Propheteria, meaning an “act of interpreting divine will or purpose.” (BDAG) Charles M’ilvaine defines prophecy as “a declaration of future events, such as no human wisdom or forecast is sufficient to make; depending on a knowledge of the innumerable contingencies of human affairs, which belong exclusively to the omniscience of God: so that from its very nature prophecy must be divine revelation.”[4] 

Rules for and Reality of Prophecy

John Frame states that “Scripture does not merely claim to be the Word of God. It also presents us with reasons for believing its claims. It presents its claims in a credible way.”[5] This way that God has chosen is through prophecy. With this mode of God’s communication, there are specific rules that verify its authenticity. It is essential to note what constitutes as prophecy. Bernard Ramm notes five rules for prophecy: (1) Prophecy must be more than a good guess. It is more than a matter of speculation or mere conjecture.  (2) Biblical prophecy is not a matter of vague generalizations. (3) Predictive prophecy deals with events and states of affairs that are not logically necessary. (4) The fulfillment of predictive prophecy must be clear and not ambiguous. (5) Predictive prophecy must be remote in time.[6] With these rules in mind, we are able to look at the prophecies in the Bible and determine their validity in light of each account.

To preface, I will not examine every prophecy in the Bible since that task would be too exhaustive and occupy too much space that this paper does not allow. But I will review one prophecy from Daniel and keep these rules in mind. In Daniel 2, the prophet makes known king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the interpretation of it. Within this dream, there are details that present us with a glimpse into the future. He reveals that the image that the king saw, a statue that had a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet partly of iron and clay and then the destruction of it by the stone that became a mountain (Dan. 2:31-35). Daniel, after telling the dream of the king without ever hearing it revealed to him, then presents the interpretation of the dream. The elements that made up the image were the four world empires that would rise and fall. The head of gold is the Babylonian empire, the breast and arms of silver is the Medo-Persian empire, the legs of iron is the Greek empire, and the feet of iron and clay is the Roman empire. Finally, the stone that destroyed the statue and became a mountain that filled the earth is the Church. 

Daniel, who lived in the 6th century under the Babylonian empire, could not have possibly foreseen the rise and fall of these empires by simply guessing. This prediction was specific in nature and spoke of events that could only be fulfilled within the realm of the supernatural; otherwise, it would be impossible. “To foretell events and bring them to pass is among the most striking of all possible manifestations of the omniscience and omnipotence of God.” (Lipe 154) Indeed, as Daniel said, “there is a God in heaven” (Dan. 2:28). This shows that prophecy is not just possible but is real.

Objections to Prophecy

Prophecies Are Impossible

There are a significant number of objections to prophecy that will be addressed and then disproved. The root of the issue for many scholars and skeptics alike is the impossibility of prophecy. This is due, as already indicated, to anti-supernaturalism. If one does not believe that the supernatural is possible, then it follows that prophecy, which is only possible within the realm of the supernatural, is impossible. C.S. Lewis notes the procedure of such skepticism in his book Miracles, when he said:

“The ordinary procedure of the modern historian, even if he admits the possibility of miracle, is it to admit no particular instance of it until every possibility of ‘natural’ explanation has been tried and failed. That is, he will accept the most improbable ‘natural’ explanations rather than say that a miracle occurred…such a procedure is, from the purely historical point of view, sheer midsummer madness unless we start by knowing that any Miracle whatever is more improbable than the most improbable natural event.”[7] 

Prophecy is supernatural, and if prophecy is possible, as we have already affirmed, and the Bible accurately records prophecy, then the supernatural is possible. Since prophecy is possible, then the supernatural is possible.

The Bible’s Prophecies Are Subsequent

One of the ways to erase the supernatural elements of prophecies contained in the Bible is to argue that prophecies are subsequent. Many scholars will make the case that the predictive prophecies are actually prophecies after the fact. It merely appears to be a prediction of the future but is actually a product of an author who recorded past events after the events had already taken place. They claim that it is simply a literary style of ancient Hebrew narrative. A response to this argument is a bit more technical than the others, but to give a ready response, I would simply note that such an argument does not hold up when it is under pressure. It utterly dissolves and decays.

The Bible’s Prophecies Are Vague

Another objection to prophecy is that the language is vague. If the language of the prophecy is so ambiguous and clouded with mystery, then when something even remotely close matches this description, it can be counted as a fulfillment of prophecy. The issue is that it paints the Bible with too broad of a stroke in the sense that it makes the Bible appear only to contain vague predictions. Though there are some prophecies that can be vague, there are others that are rare and precise. Since there are specific predictions that foretell exact details, one cannot make the claim that the prophecies in the Bible are too vague. But nonetheless, even though some prophecies may be vague, they are still valid. “Vague predictions are sharpened by their fulfillment. Not all biblical prophecy is sharp. Some is vague and sharpened by its fulfillment.”[8] 

The Bible’s Prophecies Are Unoriginal

It has also been suggested that Biblical prophecy is unoriginal. Since “prophecies” are found in other religious books, it would seem that when it is found in the Bible, it is not too farfetched that it contains this element which makes it unoriginal. This attacks the usage of this argument along with its value in providing sufficient evidence of Christianity’s inerrant truth.[9] Since other religions claim to predict the future and they have not been established as true, then these alleged miracles contained in the Bible cannot be used to establish the truth of one religion above another. But the issue with this statement is that it is false. The prophecies of the Bible are unique for two reasons. (1) The Bible contains specific predictions that claim to be speaking of things years in advance before the events, and (2) the Bible contains reliable records of these predictions being fulfilled. Foster notes that “no well-accredited prophecy is found in any other book or even oral tradition now extant, or that has ever been extant in the world. The oracles of heathenism are not to be classed as exceptions. There is not a single one of them that meets the tests required to prove supernatural agency, which every Scripture prophecy evinces.”[10] 

Only the Successful Prophecies Are Recorded

It is also claimed that the Bible only contains successful prophecies that come true. The argument follows that since the prophets were fallible humans, they must have made mistakes even and especially with prophecies. When they made predictions of the future, they got some right and some wrong, but the ones that the prophets got right made the cut and were recorded in the Bible. So it follows that there was really nothing supernatural about the predictions but were only chance.

Geisler notes that there are three reasons why this argument is built upon a house of fallacies. (1) This is an argument of ignorance. There is no evidence that a prophet, at any time, ever failed at predicting the future and fell short of its fulfillment. If the critic could find one prophecy that fails, then their argument may hold up. However, since there is a lack of evidence, this claim cannot be made. It is a misleading claim because it assumes that there were prophets that failed. (2) This argument also falls flat on its face. It destroys its contention. As Geisler notes, “if all the prophecies in the Bible are good ones, then we have positive evidence that the Bible is unfailing in its predictive power.” (3) This is a false analogy. It assumes that prophets would make these guesses about the future by presenting vague predictions that may or may not come true and that if it does come true that the prophets would falsely attribute it to God. However, as already indicated, this is not how prophecy works.[11]  

The Power of Prophecy

What are the implications of prophecy if prophecy is possible? The supernatural is possible; the Bible, as a prophetic document, clearly originates from a supernatural source, that source knows and sovereignly holds the future, and since the Bible prophesies the coming Messiah and Jesus fulfills those prophecies, then He must be God. The power of prophecy is found in the impact it has on the Christian’s faith. It plants the seen in one’s mind that goes on to produce the fruits of one's faith. Since prophecy is possible, it becomes one of the most persuasive evidences of Christianity. For the apologist, it is vital that they acquire such a tool and use it efficiently in their interactions with nonbelievers as they share the Gospel. Justin Martyr notes the power of prophecy by saying, “this or nothing is the work of God, to declare a thing shall come to be long before it is in being, and then to bring about the accomplishment of that very thing according to the same declaration.”[12] 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Francis, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs. Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.

Geisler, Norman L. “Prophecy, as Proof of the Bible.” The Big Book of Christian Apologetics: An A to Z Guide. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Books, 2012.

Foster, R.S. The Supernatural Book: Evidence of Christianity. New York. Cranston & Curts, 1893.

Frame, John M. Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief. ed. Joseph E. Torres. Philipsburg, NJ. P & R Publishing, 2015.

Lewis, C.S. “Miracles.” Signature Classics. New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 2017.

Lipe, David. “The Predictive Prophecy of the Bible.” The Utterance of God. Parkersburg, WV. Warren Christian Apologetics Center, 2021.

Martyr, Justin. Apology. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids, MI. Eerdmans, 1952.

M’Ilvaine, Charles. The Evidences of Christianity. New York Collins and Hannay, 1833.

Payne, J. Barton. Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy. London. Hodder & Stoughton, 1973.

Ramm, Bernard. Protestant Christian Evidences. Chicago. Moody, 1953.

END NOTES

[1] J. Barton Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1973), 674-675.

[2] Norman L. Geisler, “Prophecy, as Proof of the Bible” in The Big Book of Christian Apologetics: An A to Z Guide (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012), 455.

[3] David Lipe, “The Predictive Prophecy of the Bible” in The Utterance of God (Parkersburg, WV: Warren Christian Apologetics Center, 2021), 151.

[4] Charles M’Ilvaine, The Evidences of Christianity (New York: Collins and Hannay, 1833), 185.

[5] John M. Frame, Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief. Ed. Joseph E. Torres (Philipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2015), 138.

[6] Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1953), 83-87.

[7] C.S. Lewis, “Miracles” Signature Classics (New York: Harper Collins Publishing, 2017), 391.

[8] Geisler, “Prophecy, as Proof of the Bible,” 460.

[9] Geisler, “Prophecy, as Proof of the Bible,” 460.

[10] R.S. Foster, The Supernatural Book: Evidence of Christianity (New York. Cranston & Curts, 1893), 111.

[11] Geisler, “Prophecy, as Proof of the Bible,” 462.

[12] Justin Martyr, Apology II, 14.