IMPORTANT BIBLE TOPICS

Photograph from Light Magazine on Prophecy cover. A great king of ancient Babylon saw in a dream a huge statue made of different metals with a head of gold. The dream was interpreted for him by the young Jewish prophet Daniel. In the background: A replica of Babylon's famous Ishtar Gate. Image from Felix Friebe/ istock Bible Prophecy - Introduction Based on the "Light on Bible Prophecy" special issue. This is part 1 covering chapters 1 and 2 Part 2 = IRAN (Persia), part 3 = GREECE, part 4 = ROME, part 4 = Israel, part 5 = The coming world conflict and you. What is prophecy? Peering into the future is not something we are very good at. The ancient Greeks would kill a sheep, dismember it and carefully examine its liver for clues to the future, a practice widespread in the ancient world. Many have been convinced the answer lies in the stars, or that the alignment of the planets holds the key to human destiny. The words of professional prophets and 'oracles' down the ages have usually been obscure and unintelligible. Crystal balls, and even tea leaves, have been pressed into service – all witness to our unceasing curiosity about the future, and our willingness to accept the most extraordinary sources of supposed knowledge. In a world that claims to be founded on science and rationality, most of this will be dismissed as the result of ignorance and superstition. The future is unknowable – or is it? Bible prophecy is different Prophecy in the Bible is based on one very simple premise: human existence is not an accident. We are here for a purpose. The supreme Creator who made us has an overall plan that is working out in human history. At various stages He has explained that plan to men and women He has chosen: "For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets" Wrote the prophet in Amos 3:7 (English Standard Edition). More than that, God invites those who trust Him to take an active role in the plan as it unfolds and moves towards its conclusion. This is certainly extraordinary, but it is not ignorant or superstitious. It promises a genuine, positive hope for the future, based on accurate knowledge of the past. That hope, that plan, is what this booklet is about. We ask you to carefully consider the examples of Bible prophecy in the following pages that spotlight important events in God's plan. By doing so, we hope that you will be convinced that, despite appearances, God is in control and will, at the appointed time, bring about the great changes foretold by the prophets of Israel. "Ask me of things to come ... " God says by the prophet Isaiah 45:11 Let us take up the challenge! The Prophets of the Old Testament in their historical setting:

God’s plan in prophecy

The Bible is so far removed from most people's lives these days, that few have any idea how much prophecy it contains. The chart opposite shows the names of the Old Testament (OT) prophets alongside the kings and leaders of Judah and Israel and the great empires that dominated the ancient world.

The great scientist Isaac Newton was a keen student of Bible prophecy – in fact he wrote more about the Bible than he did about science. He studied individual prophecies but, more than that, he looked forward to the fulfilment of the Bible's great vision for the future that was still unrealised. He knew that all Bible prophecy is connected, because every prophecy that has been fulfilled is the guarantee of the final objective that is still in the future.

We live in a world devastated by coronavirus and torn apart by political and social divisions and racial hatred. Is there any sign that human institutions can deal with all these urgent problems? Where can we turn for solutions, for a message that comes with authority and with a proven track record?

We need to reconnect with the Bible, with its astonishing prophecies about the course of human history, foretelling events with unerring accuracy. These are the evidence that the Bible is not just another old book but is unique; an authoritative message from God our Creator. It contains its own evidence for its authenticity. It assures us that the human story is not out of control but moving towards the glorious conclusion that God had in mind from the beginning.

Fulfilled prophecy

In this special issue of "Light magazine" you will find examples of fulfilled prophecy including the overthrow of Babylon, the destruction of Jerusalem and the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland, among many others. This evidence confirms the authority of the Bible – because of this we can rely on what it has foretold about the return of Jesus and the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.

The Bible contains the most confident assertions about the future; not just one but many. There are some concerning individuals, others about powerful and weak nations and empires, some of which did not even exist at the time of the prophecy. There are both long-term and short-term prophecies; prophecies of things to come, the like of which had never happened before; of extraordinary events which would happen to nations – events without parallel and contrary to expectation.

God is in control

All this is found in the Bible. We discover that without exception all the prophecies of the past have proved to be true. What are we to make of this? Could men predict the future in this way? Of course not. There can only be one conclusion – the men who wrote the Bible received direction from God Himself, as one of the prophets recorded:

''"Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; 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, and I will do all My pleasure."

• Isaiah 46:9-10

Do not underestimate the force of Bible prophecy. The Apostle Peter described it as the "more sure word of prophecy" in 2 Peter 1:19 (King James Version) and compared it to a light shining in a dark place. This is a very apt comparison. We look around the world and see confusion, with no apparent meaning or purpose to life. History seems just a haphazard sequence of events with no obvious aim, apart from the fleeting ambitions of those who pass across the world's stage. However, a study of the Bible demonstrates beyond all doubt that human affairs are under divine control and are moving forward to a totally unexpected climax. The outcome will be a complete surprise to all but a few who understand what the prophet Daniel meant when he wrote:

"the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses."

• Daniel 4:32

These words were addressed to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He was no fairy-tale figure, but a powerful monarch in the ancient world. In recent times his capital city Babylon has been excavated and proved to have been the immense city of which the Bible speaks.

• Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate from ancient Babylon in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.
• Photograph from Rictor Norton CC BY 2.0

• A brick from Babylon impressed with Nebuchadnezzar's name (in the British Museum)

Thousands of bricks have been examined that bear the name of the proud monarch who ruled the world of his day. The extent of the Babylonian Empire is shown on the map.

• Babylon Empire map from Mark Barry

An amazing dream

One night, as Nebuchadnezzar lay on his couch, the king wondered what would be the fate of his vast empire after he had passed from the scene. Such thoughts have probably occurred to all men in positions of great authority. They normally go unanswered, for no-one can tell what the future holds. However, Nebuchadnezzar was given the answer by God as described in Daniel chapter two.

Please read it through – it is one of the most remarkable chapters in the Bible.

It tells us about a dream in which the answer that Nebuchadnezzar sought was given to him in symbolic form. Why did Almighty God trouble to respond to the questioning of a pagan king? Why did He choose to do so by way of a dream and in a form which the king could not understand, nor even remember on waking? The answers to these questions will serve to introduce the details of the prophecy and its fulfilment.

The importance of Nebuchadnezzar in the purpose of God lay not so much in the greatness of his empire, as in the fact that it included the land of Israel whose people, the Jews, were taken as captives to Babylon for 70 years. God's land and God's people became subject to Nebuchadnezzar's rule.

The method used to interpret the dream also brought Daniel, a Jewish captive, to the forefront – the only man who could explain the dream. This underlined the fact that the God "who reveals secrets" (Daniel 2:29) is the God especially of Israel – revealing a vital aspect of His plan for the world.

The symbolic style adopted in the dream is a most effective way of conveying a lot of information in a very compressed form. The modern political cartoon is an example of the same idea. However, the cartoon only illuminates events of the past and present, whereas Nebuchadnezzar's vision shone a great beam of light into the future.

What did it mean?

In his dream the king saw what he himself would probably have described as a 'god'. It was the image of a man composed of various metals – gold head, silver chest and arms, bronze belly and thighs, iron legs, feet and toes part iron and part clay (see picture below of the image in the dream).

This metallic statue stood erect until some unseen power directed a stone at its feet. The image crashed to the earth, was ground to powder and blown away and the stone that had inflicted the damage

'""became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."''

• Daniel 2:35

The clear words of the prophet (Daniel 2:38) placed the meaning beyond doubt. The image stood for the kingdoms of men in the ages that were to follow. The nations were at the time subject to the king of Babylon, who was represented by the golden head:

"You are this head of gold."

After this there was to follow a second "silver" empire, then a third of bronze and a fourth. The fourth empire was to be "strong as iron" recorded in Daniel 2:39-40. However, after the strength was to come weakness:

"Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided… as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile ... they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay."

• Daniel 2:41-43

How do the facts of history compare with this prophecy? The correspondence is perfect, so much so that some have suggested that the second chapter of Daniel was written after the events that it describes! This is sufficient testimony to the accuracy of the prophecy but is plainly false, because the prophecy is still being fulfilled.

We can summarise the meaning of the dream interpreted by Daniel 2:36 - 45 as follows:

"You, O king, are a king of kings…you are this head of gold."

• Head of fine gold
• NEBUCHADNEZZAR/BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

"But after you shall arise another kingdom ..."

• Chest and arms of silver
• MEDO-PERSIAN EMPIRE

"... then another, a third kingdom of bronze..."

• Belly and thighs of bronze
• GREEK EMPIRE

"And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron ..."

• Legs of iron
• ROMAN EMPIRE

"... the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay…they will not adhere to one another ..."

• Feet of iron and clay
• DIVIDED NATIONS

"... And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed ... it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands… the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this."

• The stone is JESUS CHRIST
• The king over the worldwide KINGDOM OF GOD

An outline of world history

Four great empires followed each other. Consult any history book covering the period and you will discover how Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, an empire in which first the Medes and then the Persians were predominant. Their supremacy was ended by Alexander the Great who founded the Greek Empire. This in turn yielded to Rome which was unquestionably the strongest and most durable of the four world empires.

The world had never known anything to compare with the "strong as iron" Roman Empire. What power on earth could ever break it or conquer it? No single power, for as Daniel foretold, Rome was not going to be superseded by another great empire. The strongest empire was destined to decay and disintegrate; a long drawn out process which has been traced in detail in Gibbon's monumental work entitled "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Gibbon described the Roman Empire at its height in these words reminiscent of Daniel's prophecy:

"The arms of the republic ... advanced with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the Ocean; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome."

• Edward Gibbon, "The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire", Chandos Classics edition Volume 2 ch.38, page 576).

The decline of this great empire came about as decreed by Daniel's prophecy. Firstly the empire was split into two parts denoted by the two iron legs. The Eastern part was ruled from Constantinople (now Istanbul) and the Western part from Rome. Later, both parts gave way to hostile forces from without and decaying processes within. Over the vast area once ruled by Rome a number of independent kingdoms emerged, some strong and some weak. This divided state of the nations has continued since that time.

There has been no fifth undisputed world empire in succession to the four represented by the image! Many attempts have been made to unite the nations of Europe by conquest but all have failed. Charlemagne, followed by Philip II of Spain, Napoleon I of France, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Hitler in Germany, and others have tried but failed. Today we see the countries of the old Roman Empire in Europe trying to weld themselves together into a united whole under the banner of the European Union. What a task it is proving! The prophet Daniel's words were true:

"They will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay."

• Daniel 2:43

Who could have foreseen all this more than 2,600 years ago? Who could have asserted so confidently that there would be four empires, not three, or five, or six? Who, in a few bold strokes, could have delineated the outstanding features of their history and its sequel with uncanny accuracy? Could any man? From all that we know of human predictions, the answer is NO!

We note that Daniel disclaimed all credit for his message:

"... the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

• Daniel 2:45

Men and women who have since studied this prophecy have found here solid grounds for confidence in God and His Word. It is a confidence that you can share.

Part of the prophecy is still in the future

The accurate fulfilment of Daniel's words leads us to look with renewed interest at the last stage of the prophecy. What should we make of that stone which fell with shattering effect on the feet of the image, grinding it to powder, and then becoming a great mountain to fill the world? If the image represented the kingdom of men, the stone must stand for a power external to human rule, which is to establish itself as a world power on the ruins of human governments. These it will "break in pieces and consume", as explained by Daniel:

"And in the days of these kings (i.e. the divided state of the nations) 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 for ever."

• Daniel 2:44

The stone

This is one of many promises in the Bible assuring us that God has not forsaken the earth. He has devised a plan – the Master Plan for the salvation of the human race – and the Lord Jesus Christ is the focal point of that plan. Readers should be able to identify the stone "cut out of the mountain without hands" with the one who was born the saviour of mankind. He was "cut out" of the mountain of humanity, not by human hands, but by the power of God through the miracle of his birth.

Jesus himself spoke of his future role as the stone:

"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD'S doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes… And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whoever it falls, it will grind him to powder"

• Matthew 21:42-44

• Jesus is described as both the cornerstone and the foundation stone of God's plan for the world.
• Picture by Stulloyd 100

All the signs indicate that soon the stone will fall with devastating effect on an unsuspecting world. Will you be among those who will escape the coming destruction? Will you share in the blessings of the age to come when the Kingdom of God is set up on earth? Jesus alone has the power to save.

We will now look at the history of the empires that followed the Babylonian head of gold. The next article focuses on Iran, previously known as Persia, which defeated Babylon. It was the second of those four great empires and was represented by the chest and arms of silver.

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