Prophetic Truth
Isaiah 48:1–6
The former things I declared of old. Isaiah 48:3
The Old Testament records numerous prophecies that were shown to be fulfilled in later history, including those about the coming of the Messiah. In considering future prophecies, we need to take notice of three conclusions. First, if such prophecies have been fulfilled as the Bible and history reveal them to have been fulfilled, then the God of the Bible is the true God and we should worship him. This is the conclusion that must be reached if we take God’s own challenge through the prophet Isaiah seriously: “Set forth your case, says the Lord; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods” (Isa. 41:21–23).
Second, if these prophecies have been fulfilled, as we know them to have been fulfilled, then the Bible is a supernaturally trustworthy and totally authoritative book. God himself stands behind this book. It follows that we can trust the Bible for what it has to say about our condition and about God’s plan of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Finally, if the biblical prophecies about past events have come true and if we may, therefore, expect the biblical prophecies about future events to come true, then the future is bright for those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and are his followers. One day the rays of the sun will rise on that last and future world that has been spoken of so much by our contemporaries. But it will not be a world devastated by an atomic holocaust, as some are predicting. It will not be a world decimated by the inevitable encroachment of worldwide famine about which others are warning. It will not be a dehumanized world composed of machines and the men who serve them. These things may come. The Bible even predicts that some of them will come. But this will not be the end. The Bible teaches that there is a future beyond them when the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah who came once to suffer and who will return again, will reign in righteousness and will establish a social order in which love and justice prevail.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.