The Prophetic Power of God God s miraculous power has been demonstrated by His perfect knowledge of future events The prophecies God made through out the Bible were miraculous events. I believe the main reason these prophecies (miracles) are recorded for us in the scriptures is to produce faith in us. Joh 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 1
31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. Just like the miracles Jesus performed proved He was who He claimed to be, the miracles performed by God in the Old Testament proved He was who He claimed to be. The one true God. The all powerful creator of the universe! The Old Testament is literally filled with prophecies. God s power and knowledge is demonstrated by the fact that not a single prophecy He made has failed to come to pass. That is a 100% accuracy rate. We might compare this to the accuracy rate of so called prophets today whose prophecies fail time after time. 2
God says if their prophecy fails to come true, then they are a false prophet. De 18:20 'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 21 "And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken? 22 "when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. 3
That s the difference between God s prophecies and man s. God s always come to pass. Some of God s prophecies were contingent on man s actions. If man did right he would be rewarded If man did wrong he would be punished Whichever path man chose God fulfilled his prophecy in that manner. In order to help bolster our faith, I want us to look at a few of the amazing prophecies that were made and then fulfilled by our creator. God prophesied about the world wide flood during the days of Noah. This was an event completely outside of the natural course of nature. 4
Nothing like the Flood has ever happened before or since. This may have been the first time it ever rained. God prophesied about the flood 120 years before it took place. Ge 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. God declared this prophecy to Noah in Genesis 6 Ge 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Ge 6:17 "And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 5
Then God fulfilled it in Gen 7 Ge 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. God promised to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven before Abraham had any children. Ge 15:2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 6
4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. Abraham s descendants included the Children of Israel and many others. God also prophesied the enslavement of Israel and its deliverance from Egyptian bondage over 400 years before it happened. Ge 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 7
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. This prophecy was fulfilled in the days of Moses. Ex 12:35 Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36 And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. Ex 12:40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years-on that very same day-it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. 8
God in His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge told Abraham before he had any children: His descendants would be a as numerous as the stars if Heaven Some of his descendants would be enslaved. Over 400 years after the prophecy they would be delivered from their slavery with great wealth That is the power of our God! There are other prophecies. God prophesied that King Josiah would tear down the idolatrous altar Jeroboam had built and burn dead men's bones on it. This prophecy may not initially sound that impressive but God called Josiah by name about 340 years before he tore this altar down! 9
1Ki 13:2 Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.' We have the fulfillment of this prophecy recorded in 2 Kings chapter 23 2Ki 23:15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. 10
16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. This is not the only time God has called someone by name before they were even born. He did it with Cyrus. The nation of Judah was going to be carried away into Babylonian captivity as a punishment for their sins. Nebuchadnezzar the future king of Babylon was going to destroy Jerusalem along with Solomon s temple. God had prophesied thru Jeremiah that this captivity would last for 70 years and then the Jews would be released. 11
Isaiah prophesies over 150 years before they are released that Cyrus would be the king to release them and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Isa 44:26 Who confirms the word of His servant, And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited,' To the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built,' And I will raise up her waste places; 27 Who says to the deep, 'Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers'; 28 Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." Cyrus had not even been born but God still prophesied exactly what would take place and it did! 12
Ezr 1:1 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, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. God also prophesied of a completely unforeseeable event thru the prophet Elisha. The Syrian army had surrounded the city of Samaria. The situation inside the city became very desperate. 13
The people ran out of food and began to eat things out of desperation. Dove droppings Donkey s head Their children This seemed to everyone to be a hopeless situation. But, God thru the prophet Elisha prophesied the situation was going to turn around literally overnight! When one man doubted this prophecy, Elisha told him he would be able to see this deliverance but not be able to partake in it. 14
2Ki 7:1 Then Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: 'Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.'" 2 So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, "Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?" And he said, "In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it." That night God caused the Syrian army to hear noises that sounded like a great army coming after them and they fled leaving behind all of their provisions for the people in the besieged city of Samaria. 2Ki 7:16 Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. 15
17 Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, "Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria." 19 Then that officer had answered the man of God, and said, "Now look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?" And he had said, "In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it." 20 And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died. God prophesied this amazing deliverance and also the death of the one who doubted. 16
We could go on and on about prophecies made by God thru out the Old Testament. These are just some that stick out in my mind. You may have noticed we did not mention any today dealing with the coming of Jesus. I will save those for another lesson. The main point I want for us to take away from here today is that the prophecies of God come to pass. We have no reason to doubt any of His prophecies still yet to be fulfilled. So when we read verses like we find in Romans 2 Ro 2:6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds": 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness--indignation and wrath, 17
9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. We have no reason to doubt this is exactly what will happen. There is also no reason to doubt the fact we will all have to stand before God. Conclusion Ro 14:11 For it is written: "As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Since we know this is the case then what are we going to do about it? Are we going to continue down the path of death and destruction or will we obey God and save our souls? 18