by Kenny Chumbley<\/p>\n
“(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were<\/em>” (Romans 4:17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
According to Paul, prophecy-the ability to call things which are not, as though they were-is one of the chief evidences of deity. True prophecy is neither educated guessing nor weather forecasting, in which predictions are made based on past trends or empirical data. True prophecy is the ability to accurately foretell that which is beyond the scope of human knowledge. Consider this analysis of genuine prophecy from Paley’s Evidences of Christianity<\/em>, by William Paley, edited by Richard Whately:<\/p>\n
“It is important to keep in mind that there are four <\/b>points requisite to establish the claim of any alleged Prophecy to proceed from a divine revelation:<\/p>\n
\n
- It must have been prior<\/em> to the event.<\/li>\n
- It must correspond precisely<\/em> with the event, and must not be in such vague and general language as the predictions in vulgar Almanacs; that ‘a certain great personage is likely to have cause for uneasiness,’ etc.<\/li>\n
- It must be something beyond mere human sagacity<\/em>. This rule precludes the predictions of eclipses, etc.<\/li>\n
- It must be a prediction that could not have caused its own fulfillment<\/em>, by suggesting to someone who knew of it, a corresponding procedure” (217).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n
So powerful is the force of prophecy as an argument for the existence of deity that God Himself cites it in throwing down the gauntlet to idolaters. “Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them; or declare us things to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together<\/em>” (Isaiah 41:21-23).<\/p>\n
Prophecy is indeed an undeniable sign of deity. And it’s for this reason that skeptics have savaged prophetic sections of the Old Testament. For instance, liberal critics frequently talk about “DeuteroIsaiah,\u05f4 i.e, someone other than Isaiah who wrote certain sections of the book. The simple reason for the critics’ creation of a second author is prophecy.<\/p>\n
To illustrate: in the eighth century BC, Isaiah predicted that the Medes would destroy Babylon (Isaiah 13:17ff). At the time Isaiah wrote this, Assyria was the dominant power; Babylon had the national status of a third-world country, and Media was barely a blip on the political radar screen. But some three hundred years after Isaiah’s prediction, a Medo-Persian named Cyrus (see Isaiah 44:28; 45:1) divided his army into three groups. One was stationed on the north side of Babylon, where the Euphrates River entered the city. A second group was posted on the south side where the river exited the city. And the third group marched upstream, where it diverted the river into an adjoining swamp. When the level of the river fell, Cyrus’ army waded into the Chaldean capital.<\/p>\n
Skeptics can’t handle the implications of Isaiah’s prophecy; it is just too good. Therefore, they argue the prophetic sections must have been written after the fact by someone using Isaiah’s name. Let it be noted that they have no historical evidence to back their assertion. But they nevertheless assert it, based on nothing except their a priori presuppositions against God.<\/p>\n
Don’t overlook the apologetic value of the prophetical sections of Scripture. For they are powerful arguments for the existence of God.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Kenny Chumbley “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). According to Paul, prophecy-the ability to call things which are not, as though they were-is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[37,169],"class_list":["post-96194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apologetics","tag-prophecy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4678,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-your-proof-that-prophecy-has-ended\/","url_meta":{"origin":96194,"position":0},"title":"What is your proof that prophecy has ended?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to know who told you that prophecy has ended.\u00a0\u00a0 Have you read the book of Daniel and Revelation?\u00a0 Where did this doctrine of devils come from? I hold an earned Ph.D. in Comparative Religion and Education and would love to hear your stance on this issue,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17036,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-prophecy-require-an-interpreter\/","url_meta":{"origin":96194,"position":1},"title":"Doesn’t prophecy require an interpreter?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could you also tell me how there can be an interpretation of prophecy without prophets? \"No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation\" (II Peter 1:20). Answer: \"And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2214,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-prophecy-have-an-immediate-application-or-only-a-future-fulfillment\/","url_meta":{"origin":96194,"position":2},"title":"Did prophecy have an immediate application or only a future fulfillment?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, When a prophet was making a prophecy (e.g.\u00a0Isaiah 55:1, the invitation) did it have a solution or an answer for the listeners (Israel) at that time, or did they have to look at it only as something in the future? Answer: That would depend on what the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42943,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-assure-my-girlfriend-that-im-the-right-man-for-her-despite-what-her-prophet-said\/","url_meta":{"origin":96194,"position":3},"title":"How do I assure my girlfriend that I’m the right man for her, despite what her prophet said?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a 28 years old guy who is dating a 22 years old girl, who just graduated with her bachelor's degree. We have been dating for nine months. I'm a Christian. We don't attend the same church. At the moment she is not getting along with me and she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33192,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-give-me-a-personal-prophecy\/","url_meta":{"origin":96194,"position":4},"title":"Can you give me a personal prophecy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day I would like to know if you can give me a personal prophecy as I feel so lost the past year and don't know my purpose in life anymore. I am the breadwinner in my family and none of my business deals are going through. Please advise.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-it-always-brought-up-that-prophecy-will-cease\/","url_meta":{"origin":96194,"position":5},"title":"Why is it always brought up that prophecy will cease?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is regarding prophecy.\u00a0 It seems I always get the same answer regarding this question (I Corinthians 13:8), \"Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies they will fail, tongues will cease, knowledge will vanish,\" (not an exact\u00a0quote). But if you take this one verse literally, if prophecies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}