Stones Crying Out: Fulfilling Bible Prophecy

INTRODUCTION

WHO OR WHAT CAN WE TRUST TODAY?

We are living in extremely turbulent times.  Nations are being subjugated through fear and manipulated by lies and ‘fake news’. Truth is relative. Confidence in our governments and  social structures has vanished. We are being controlled politically, morally, financially and spiritually. In 2020, 45,979 Americans committed suicide and there were an estimated 1.2M suicide attempts. A handful of oligarchs control social media activity and suppress  free-speech.  People and, in particular, the younger generation, have become demoralised and are desperate for something that will give them hope for the future and end this nightmare.

Is the solution contained in the Bible?  Is the Bible reliable?  What is its origin? The Bible is the world’s most scrutinized and best-selling book of all time.  20 million are sold in the US every year.  100,000,000 are printed annually.  The estimated number in print is six billion. The YouVersion Bible App is on 500 million devices worldwide.

Is there a God and if so, has he failed us?  Anne Graham-Lotz wrote:

For years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?

https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/2281-anne-graham-lotz

The Bible says,

The wicked freely strut about, when what is vile is honoured among men. Psalm 12:8

World affairs since the late 1940s are validating biblical prophecy and many scholars, scientists and statesmen now believe that we are fast-tracking towards the End Time Events, predicted by the Hebrew prophets and recorded in Matthew’s Gospel and in the book of Revelation.

Stones Crying Out, Fulfilling Bible Prophecy will look at the origin of the Bible. Through the lenses of history and archaeology, I investigate a number of the 2000 already fulfilled prophecies, concerning people, nations, the Jewish Messiah and some that relate to the future of our world.

CHAPTER 1 - THE ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE

The Bible is not one book but a collection of 66 books. The Roman Catholic Church includes the Apocrypha, ancient writings, thought to be of Greek origin written between 200 BC and 400 AD. These bring the total number of books to 73.

The Bible is divided into two sections.  The Old Testament was written between 1200 and 165 BC, and the New Testament written between 50 and 100 AD.

The Old Testament is largely a history of the Hebrew people and the relationship between them and their God. It gives an account of Creation, the Noahic Flood; Abraham’s calling by God to leave Ur of the Chaldeans to travel to a new land; his family becoming a tribe and then a nation who were enslaved in Egypt; it also contains the story of the Exodus and the Ten Commandments being given to Moses on Mount Sinai; Joshua’s leading of   the freed slaves into Canaan and his partitioning the land among the 12 Israelite tribes and the promise of a Messiah.

The Old Testament scriptures are based on the twenty-four books of the Hebrew TaNaKh.  These consist of the Torah, or the Mosaic Book of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.

The Israelites had priests, judges, kings and prophets. The role of the priests was to act as witnesses of the one true God. The judges were military leaders in times of crisis, the kings were seen as mediators of the covenant between God and His people and prophets spoke what they heard directly from God’s Holy Spirit.

God said, Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night so you may be careful to do everything written in it: for then you will make your way prosperous and have good success…

The Old Testament also contains descriptions of their religious practices, sacrifices, ceremonies, laws and customs.

To the Hebrew people, God had promised his protection and abundant blessings in return for their obedience to his laws. But their history tells of their persistent disobedience resulting in disaster, their repenting, and coming again into God’s blessing.

For many years the scriptures had been lost, but in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Josiah of Judah, (639–609 BC) the High Priest Hilkiah, during the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, found a scroll containing the Book of the Law. The king had it read to the people and they returned to obeying God’s laws. (2 Kings / 2 Chronicles)

In 538 BC the Jews were released from their 70 years of captivity in Babylon, the Book of the Law was read to the people by Ezra, the scribe.

Ezra read in a loud voice from the Book of the Law from early morning until noon. He was facing the open place that was in front of the Water Gate. He read to all the men and women, and to everyone old enough to listen and understand. All the people listened carefully and paid attention to the contents in the Book of the Law.

Nehemiah, the governor, and Esra the priest and scribe and the Levites said to the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God, do not mourn or weep, for all the people were weeping when they heard of the Word of the Law… and they celebrated the seven days and on the eighth day there was a festive assembly.

WHO WROTE THE BIBLE?

The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, by over 40 different authors, ranging from shepherd to king.

Moses was from Pharaoh’s court

Joshua was a general        

Samuel was a priest    

David was a shepherd and a king    

Solomon was a king

Esther was a queen

Amos was a herdsman

Ezra was a scribe

Nehemiah was a royal cupbearer

Isaiah was a prophet

Daniel was a politician

Matthew was a tax collector

Luke was a physician & historian

Paul was a rabbi and tentmaker  

Peter was a fisherman.

Few of the authors of the books of the Bible knew each other, but the uniformity in their writings has to be supernatural. The books that constitute the Bible were written on three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe and the topics include history, philosophy, the-ology, prophecy, romance, biography, poetry and trave l.

The Old Testament Contains 39 Books:

17 are historical.

5 poetic

17 prophetic.

The historical books tell of the founding and history of the Jewish Nation. The Pentateuch (the first five books) is often called the Five Books of Moses or the Book of the Law. These books are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Genesis tells the story of Creation and the beginning of life on earth. It also contains the accounts of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

Exodus gives an account of the escape of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and contains the Ten Commandments that were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai (1450-1410 BC).

I n the book of Leviticus, God establishes the moral laws that were to set Israel apart from other nations.

The book of Numbers gives a detailed account of the Israelites before their occupation of Canaan, the Promised Land. It describes their sufferings and their numerous complaints against God.

T he book of Deuteronomy focuses on the love relationship of the Lord to his Chosen People and that of the people to the Lord as their sovereign God. It is a call to total commitment to God in worship and obedience.

The historical books are:

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings 1,2, Chronicles 1,2, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

The poetic books are: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and The Song of Songs.

The 150 Psalms were written mainly by King David.  These are poems and songs of praise and thankfulness to God that contain themes about hope, sorrow, faith and trust in God.

King Solomon wrote the majority of the Proverbs, which were collected into a book centuries later by King Hezekiah.

The prophetic books warn the children of Israel to keep God’s laws or they would be punished. They also foretell the first coming of their Messiah who, as ‘the suffering servant’, would save the people from their sins and his second coming as ‘a glorious king’.

The major prophets were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The twelve ‘minor’ prophets were Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

THE NEW TESTAMENT

The New Testament was written by Jewish Christians.  It gives an account of Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension and the establishment of the early Christian church. The first four books of the New Testament are the four Gospels (gospel means good news), written by the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Matthew's Gospel was intended mainly for Jews, hence the constant references to Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Jesus. Its purpose was to prove to new converts that Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s son was indeed the promised Messiah, who was rejected by his own people.

Mark's Gospel was directed at Gentiles, mainly at the Romans. It portrays the deity and humanity of Jesus and focuses more on what Jesus did than what He said. It also highlights that Jesus was a 'Rabbi'. A rabbi is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism.

Luke's Gospel can be summed up in:

For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost." Luke 19:10

Here, Jesus is characterized as our Saviour and Luke covers every aspect of the Messianic Ministry from Jesus' birth to his resurrection and ascension.

John's Gospel emphasizes the deity of Jesus and dwells more on what Jesus said, rather than what He did. Its function is principally evangelistic.

The overall message of the Gospels is that Jesus is the divine Son of God, part of the blessed  Trinity who came to die in order to bring us salvation. The New Testament Covenant states that Jesus said:

... whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.  He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24

The Acts of the Apostles, ascribed to Luke, the historian, gives us an account of the acts of Peter and Paul.

Bible scholars suggest that this book would be more aptly named, 'The Acts of the Holy Spirit' as it catalogues the working of the Holy Spirit from his appearance at Pentecost, through to how He orchestrated the 'Spreading of the Good News'. It records the work of early missionaries and helps us understand the birth of the Christian church.

The 21 Epistles that make up about a third of the New Testament are a series of letters, thirteen of which were written by Paul.

Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians reaffirm to the Jewish and Gentile Christians that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and not by observing the Mosaic law.

Corinthians 1 was written to correct erroneous beliefs and Corinthian 2 to encourage the Corinthian church urging forgiveness and reconciliation.

Around AD 60-62, when Paul was in prison, he wrote his letters to the Ephesians, Philippians,   Colossians and Philemon.

In Ephesians, Paul wants them to understand better the dimensions of God’s eternal purpose and explains that

it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own  doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.   Ephesians 2:8-9 . 

In Colossians he refutes heresies and spiritual malpractice.

In Philippians, Paul encourages the people to stand firm and rejoice in spite of persecution.

The letter to Philemon talks about forgiveness and explains that, whether slave or free, we are all equal in God’s sight.

The letters to the Thessalonians 1 and 2 are concerned mainly with Christ's second coming.

And the letters to Timothy and Titus, give instructions on the organization of the Christian Church.

The writer to the Hebrews is unknown. The theme of this epistle is the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ as mediator between God and man.

The final letters are: one