Did you know that archaeologists and historians alike have repeatedly verified specific Bible prophecies made hundreds of years before their fulfillment? You probably haven't heard much about this, because it's not the kind of facts they or most people are comfortable publicizing or talking about.

Nevertheless, it's time that you were made aware of such prophecies and their fulfillment, for they can help change your life and prepare you for the events foretold regarding our future.

God declares that His prophecies are sure: ". . . I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand . . .'" (Isaiah 46:9-10).

He challenges any skeptic to do what He does—prophesy the future and make it come to pass! "'Present your case,' the Lord says. 'Bring forward your strong arguments' . . . Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; as for the former events, declare what they were, that we may consider them, and know their outcome; or announce to us what is coming" (Isaiah 41:21-23, New American Standard Bible).

Why prophecy?

Between a fourth and a third of the Bible concerns prophecy, so God obviously considers it quite important. But why did He inspire so much prophecy to be recorded for us?

One reason is that, as noted in these two passages from Isaiah, fulfilled prophecy proves God's existence. No mere human being can accurately and consistently predict future events in great detail hundreds if not thousands of years before they take place. Yet the biblical prophets did so hundreds of times.

God revealed the future through these human messengers, inspired those messages to be written down and preserved for us, and then He brought those very specific prophecies to pass—hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years later. Nothing but a divine, supernatural Being could possess such power.

But there are other important reasons for prophecy, too. We might consider prophecy as foretelling the result of mankind's conduct, good or bad.

The bedrock of why prophecy exists is based on the fundamental principles of human behavior found in Leviticus 26. Here God reveals the outcome of human affairs depending on how people conduct themselves toward Him and each other.

Humanity is without excuse since God makes His Word available to all people. From Israel and Judah's occasional obedience to God to their protracted wholesale rebellion against Him, the Bible is full of examples that show how Leviticus 26 is a pivotal foundation underlying so much of Bible prophecy.

The consequences of our actions are spelled out with crystal clarity in Bible prophecy: Do well, reap blessings—do evil, reap curses. Since God made us, He knows how we can best function. His laws are designed for us to enjoy happy, healthy lives. Leviticus 26 is a motivation to do well and a warning to avoid evil. Prophecy is an outgrowth of this formula.

Notice these points one respected Bible dictionary makes regarding prophecy: "Scripture plainly presents prediction as a manifestation of God's power glorifying His Person, exalting His redemptive work in Christ, and setting forth the divine character of His revealed Word. Scripture not only presents the prophetic word as a demonstration of God's power and wisdom, but it presents His response to man's need.

"Since man is ignorant of what a day may bring forth, the revelation of God's will for the present and the disclosure of His plans and purposes for the future are of inestimable benefit to the believer. In the light of these facts, widespread neglect of biblical prophecy is not only tragic but inexcusable" (The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988, p. 1040, "Prophecy," emphasis added).

Prophecy is not given in a capricious manner. It is given to encourage the righteous to strive for their reward and as a warning to those who persist in evil (see Hebrews 6:10; Matthew 13:43; 25:46; Malachi 4:1). God's Word is faithful, merciful and sure.

Prophecy keeps us on track

Exactly how do human beings bring blessings or punishment on themselves? Consider the example of King Saul of Israel.

Saul was humble before he was anointed as king over Israel. Slowly he strayed from God. Finally, God gave Saul a defining test to reveal His loyalty to Him: Go and completely destroy the merciless Amalekites (see 1 Samuel 15).

God remembered that the Amalekites had cravenly attacked the weak, the sick, the elderly and the young years earlier when Moses led the Israelites through the desert (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). And He knew that such national traits are passed down to succeeding generations. In God's judgment, the Amalekites were so cruel and heartless that, for the safety of other peoples around them, they needed to be eliminated. God told Saul to carry out this sentence.

Saul attacked the Amalekites, but he didn't honor God's instructions completely. He let slip God's earlier admonition to the entire nation: "If you fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God. However, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers" (1 Samuel 12:14-15).

Saul failed the test. He did not completely destroy the Amalekites. He failed his people and he failed his Creator. God rejected him as king, telling him through Samuel: ". . . Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king" (1 Samuel 15:23).

Comparing 1 Samuel 12 with chapter 15, the prophetic formula worked flawlessly. Obedience brings a favorable outcome. Disobedience brings an unfavorable one.

This is why it's so important that we study biblical prophecy: Prophecy benefits humanity because it can help keep all of us, whether an individual, a family or a nation, on track with God.

How does it do this? Recognizing that Bible prophecies have been fulfilled builds faith—which not only helps us believe in prophecy, but encourages us also to act responsibly on that belief.

Prophecy builds faith

Archaeologists and historians may spend their lifetimes exploring or digging up the past. This can be helpful if we learn from others' mistakes. As the noted philosopher George Santayana put it, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

While it's relatively easy to dig up some remnants of the past, and perhaps even to extrapolate from the past some likely possibilities regarding the future, accurately predicting the future is exceedingly difficult.

For example, parents with newborn babies have no idea what their children will be doing in 20 years. So consider how difficult it would be to single out specific nations when they are no more than small tribes and then predict in detail what their end would be! This is far beyond any human being's ability, yet that is precisely what Scripture claims to do.

The wise build faith in the Bible and its promises by investigating whether its prophetic claims have proven accurate and true. If the Bible's prophecies regarding events that have already transpired have been proven true by archaeologists and historians, doesn't it make sense for us to pay close attention to what Scripture says will yet happen in the future?

Daniel foretells rise and fall of empires

Many of the Bible's prophecies have been validated—showing it to be the genuine Word of God. Some of the major fulfilled prophecies include the rise and fall of the empires that would dominate the Middle East for many centuries.

The Hebrew prophet Daniel, in the book that bears his name, prophesied events fulfilled many centuries ago as well as major events yet to come. His book reveals a history of the region, written in advance, from Daniel's time right up to the return of Jesus Christ.

Yet at the end of the book God instructed Daniel to "shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase" (Daniel 12:4). This indicates that certain major prophecies that previously wouldn't have made sense will be understandable as the end approaches.

The accuracy of Daniel's prophecies of remotely distant events is spectacular. For example, in the "70 weeks" prophecy recorded in Daniel 9:24-27, "Daniel predicts the precise year of Christ's appearance and the beginning of his ministry in A.D. 27" (Gleason Archer, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, 1985, Vol. 7, p. 9).

Another amazing prophecy recorded by Daniel is his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter 2. In the second year of his reign the Babylonian king had a troubling dream that none of his counselors could explain. Babylonian culture placed considerable emphasis on dreams, and Nebuchadnezzar was convinced that this one was of great importance (Daniel 2:1-3).

His dream gives us a "disclosure of God's plan for the ages till the final triumph of Christ" and "presents the foreordained succession of world powers that are to dominate the Near East till the final victory of the Messiah in the last days" (Expositor's, pp. 39, 46).

Without prior knowledge of its content, Daniel explained the details of the dream to Nebuchadnezzar: "You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay" (Daniel 2:31-33).

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that his Babylonian Empire was represented by the head of gold (verses 37-38). The silver, bronze and iron components of the image, or statue, represented three powerful empires that were to follow mighty Babylon (verses 39-40).

This interpretation provided an astounding preview of history. Nebuchadnezzar's dream occurred and was interpreted by Daniel about 600 B.C. The image represented, in symbolic form, the sequence of great empires that would dominate the region's political scene for centuries.

Nearly all reputable biblical scholars agree on what the other parts of the image represented. The image's chest and arms of silver represented the next empire, "Medo-Persia, which began with Cyrus the Great, who conquered Babylon in 539 [B.C] . . ." (Expositor's, p. 47). This empire defeated Babylon and ruled the Middle East for the next two centuries.

The belly and thighs of bronze symbolized the next empire to dominate the area. "The bronze empire was the Greco-Macedonian Empire established by Alexander the Great . . . The bronze kingdom lasted for about 260 or 300 years before it was supplanted by the fourth kingdom" (ibid.).

The rise of Rome

Then came the most dominant empire of all, represented by the image's legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay. "Iron connotes toughness and ruthlessness and describes the Roman Empire that reached its widest extent under the reign of Trajan" (ibid.). Trajan reigned as emperor A.D. 98-117, and the Roman Empire itself ruled for many centuries.

The fourth empire was depicted as having 10 toes. The feet and toes were composed partly of iron and partly of clay, as verse 41 explains. What does this mean?

"Verse 41 deals with a later phase or outgrowth of this fourth empire, symbolized by the feet and ten toes—made up of iron and earthenware, a fragile base for the huge monument. The text clearly implies that this final phase will be marked by some sort of federation rather than by a powerful single realm" (ibid.). The Roman Empire, then, is eventually prophesied to transition into a final phase composed of a coalition or federation of peoples and/or nations.

Additional aspects of this succession of empires were revealed to Daniel in a later dream. This time the four empires were represented by four beasts: a lion (Babylonian Empire), a bear (Medo-Persian Empire), a leopard (Greco-Macedonian Empire) and a fourth beast described as "terrible" and unlike the other three (Daniel 7:1-7).

Notice what verse 7 says about this fourth creature: "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet." What does this description mean? This, too, is a reference to the great power of Rome, which crushed all who opposed it. "Thus the superior power of the colos-sus of Rome . . . is emphasized in the symbolism of this terrible fourth beast" (Expositor's, p. 87).

But notice that the next few verses, 9-14, take us seamlessly right through to Christ's establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth: "Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed" (verse 14).

What is this telling us? That this Roman system will exist again at the time of the end when Jesus Christ returns to rule the earth. The system has never completely gone away. It has continued through periodic revivals over the centuries—and the final revival of this empire will fight Christ at His coming.

Revelation 17 also helps us in understanding how this will take place. In this chapter another beast is mentioned, and its 10 horns are specifically identified as symbolizing "ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast" (verse 12).

These 10 rulers "are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast" (verse 13). This final phase or revival of the Roman Empire will lead directly into Christ's return, because these 10 rulers "make war with the Lamb"—Jesus Christ—at His return to earth (verse 14).

All of this concurs with Daniel 2:41-43, which explains the meaning of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream having feet of iron mixed with clay. "Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom . . . this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle . . . the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay" (New International Version).

The rulers and nations that make up this final federation, then, will be of different peoples. This unwieldy confederation will be difficult to hold together, and indeed it will not last long. As we saw in Revelation 17, Jesus Christ will destroy this alliance at His return: "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Daniel 2:44).

The greater part of these prophetic events, as detailed by the two dreams recorded in Daniel, has already been fulfilled. Their detailed completion affirms the divine inspiration of the Bible. The odds of any person foreseeing this on his own defy credibility. As Daniel explains, "There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days" (Daniel 2:28).

Will future prophecies come to pass?

Since God has brought to pass His prophecies pertaining to events now past, who are we to presume He can't bring about His prophecies of events still future? Let's outline the major events prophesied to happen in these and related prophecies that will dramatically change the world in the coming years:

• God says that the rise of this end-time world government (symbolized by a "beast" in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 and 17) will bring about a time called the "great tribulation" (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 7:14)— a time of global turmoil unparalleled in human history.
• He also calls the human head of this end-time power "the beast" (Revelation 17:12-13) and tells us that a powerful religious figure called "the false prophet" will work in conjunction with the Beast to incite a great persecution of those who do not submit to the authority of this system, including true Christians (Revelation 19:20; 13:15).
• At the right time, God promises to send Jesus Christ, the Messiah, back to earth to save mankind from itself by waging war against the Beast, the False Prophet and their end-time empire (Revelation 19).
• After Christ destroys these evil human beings and their forces, He will then direct His attention to Satan and the demons and remove them and their unseen, unrecognized influence and power (Revelation 20:1-3).
• Christ will then become the ruler over the earth, and His government will be established on earth for 1,000 years and more.

All these things are prophesied to take place—and they surely will.

We have addressed only a few of the prophecies recorded in the Bible, sure prophecies of God that came to pass. The Scriptures contain many more such prophecies that could well directly affect your life and the lives of your family.

Will you take them to heart, believe God and heed His warnings of the dangerous times ahead? GN