The scope of just these particular types of Prophecies, of themselves, would encompass enough material for an entire separate study and has indeed produced much written material that one could peruse. For the sake of brevity, we shall examine only a few of them here. Let us begin with a man named Abraham. Surely this individual is one of the most revered individuals in the history of the world. He is renowned amongst the practitioners of the three largest belief systems in the world, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. As one ponders his life as recorded in Scripture it cannot be missed that God made certain prophetic promises unto him which have definitely been fulfilled in detail. It is written.
“”Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
[2] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
[3] And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.“
(Genesis 12:1-3)
Note three things spoken of in this passage. It is stated that Abram was to be the human source of a great nation. It is also stated that his name would be made great. The third promise here is that through him would all the families of the earth be blessed. have these three things come true? Yes! Most emphatically yes! As noted earlier, this man’s name which was changed a bit later from Abram to Abraham is high on the list of the greatest names ever to be spoken in the history of humanity! It was promised that of him would be made a great nation. Does history support this as a factual statement? Yes! Once more I say emphatically yes! The nation spoken of here is Israel which did indeed become a nation great of historical prominence, both ancient and continuing down to the present hour! What of the third item? Has this also been accomplished? Again, I must say yes with great affirmation! Each year around the world there are two celebrations which mark the fulfilment of this portion of this prophetic pronouncement. The first of these two is commonly called Christmas and marks the birth of Jesus, who is called The Christ. The second grand observance is also directly related to Jesus, The Christ of God, for on Easter the world acknowledges the death, burial and resurrection from the dead of this descendent from the lineage which flows back to the loins of Abraham.
It is important to note that at the time of the spoken promises given thus to Abram, he had no child and was well into his seventies. Yet God promised these things unto him and we, who look back through the lens of recorded history have seen His faithfulness to fulfill them. There are many other such things which we could examine concerning just this one man, however let us move forward.
It is recorded in Scripture that there would come upon the scene of world history a wicked king named Josiah who would perpetrate atrocities concerning the priests of Israel by burning their bones upon the altar and offering incense upon that same altar. It is written.
“And behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
[2] And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.
[3] And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
[4] And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
[5] The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.“
(I Kings 13:1-2)
The events which are recorded in the passage above occurred in the year of 975 B.C. In the year of 624 B.C the following record is given unto us. It is written.
“And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
[15] Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
[16] And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.“
(II Kings 23:14-16)
While these things are placed merely inches apart on the pages of this writing, it is crucial to understand that the time which elapsed between the spoken prophecy and the actions of Josiah which clearly were the fulfilment of it was 350 years. At this point I feel compelled to remind all who read this that God, who authored The Scriptures, is not held to our timeline regarding the doing of that which He decrees. He is sovereign. We are not. God has absolutely no reason to make haste nor tarry as we might often have Him do. Keep this in mind as we continue. We have looked at prophecies which relate to particular Jewish individuals, and some might tend to discount these for that reason alone if for no other cause. However, The Scriptures do not limit the scope of prophecy to any singular ethnic group. Let us now turn our attention to the words of that great Prophet Isaiah who spoke of a Persian king yet to come and actions he would take when he arrived upon the stage of human history. It is written.
“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
[2] I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
[3] And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
[4] For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
[5] I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
[6] That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else”
(Isaiah44:28 – 45 6)
There are several important things to note here. Isaiah speaks of the rebuilding of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. At the time this was spoken both were still standing in a time if rest for the land without any need for such action. At the time this was spoken there was no king of the Persians known by the name Cyrus. In the context of this pronouncement God speaks clearly of His involvement in bringing this” King Cyrus” to power over other nations and states explicitly that He would cause the two leaved gates to be opened and prevent them from being closed before him. What do these things mean and did they actually happen? Let us once again turn to the record of history for answers to these questions.
In the year 539 B.C. the great kingdom and city of Babylon was overthrown by the armies of the Medo Persian Empire which was led by the Persian King Cyrus the Great. Historical accounts which include the writings of Herodotus, The Cyrus Cylinder, which was recovered by Archeologist studying the ancients, The Babylonian Chronicles themselves, and by The Scriptures as well, all agree upon this date. The manner in which this great Citadelle was overthrown was as follows. Within the inner city of Ancient Babylon King Belshazzar was hosting a drunken orgy, while outside the outer perimeter walls the besieging armies of the Medo Persian Empire were camped. The reason for the impudent, overconfidence of Belshazzar was the construction of the city itself, and the constant flow of water available to it which was brought into Babylon through a brick paved canal that captured the waters of the Euphrates River as it flowed through the heart of the city. Such a readily available supply of water prevented any army from successfully laying siege to Babylon.
To protect against attack through the watercourse which was thus flowing under the city huge, hinged, gates made of brass were placed at the entrance and the exit of the watercourse so that the pressure of the Euphrates passing just beneath them would keep them tightly shut. Upon these gates were carved vines of leaves and flowers for adornment. The outer walls of the city were far too thick to be undone with the typical battering implements of the day used in siege warfare. So, it came to be that the Babylonian King Belshazzar felt quite secure in his revery, due to his trust in these things. God, however had other plans for this drunken party. On that night, October 13, 539 B.C. the waters of the great Euphrates ceased their flow beneath Babylon because The Medo Persian Army had successfully altered the course of the river upstream which left the brick paved canal empty and the gates of brass without pressure to resist the invading armies of the Meades and The Persians. Without opposition the Medo Persian Armies took Babylon in a single night.
The taking of the empire of Babylon placed Cyrus the Great in power over the fate of the Jewish People who had been in captivity since the days of Nebuchadnezzar. It was this same Cyrus who issued the royal proclamation known in history as the edict of Cyrus in the year of 536 B.C. The Scriptures record this event in several places as follows.
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
[23] Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up”.
(II Chronicles 36:22-23)
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah”
(Ezra 1:1-2)
Take note that in the course of fulfilling the prophecy given by Isaiah, there is mention made also of the fulfilling of prophetic pronouncement from Jeremiah the prophet. The connection between these two is that Isaiah spoke directly of Cyrus. Jeremiah spoke of the length of years to be spent in captivity before being allowed to return to the land from whence they had been removed by force.
Lest it be thought that only persons are the subject of such pronouncements, I invite you to continue this introduction by clicking the link below!
Prophecies concerning individual cities
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