There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known what shall be in the latter days" (Daniel 2:28).

The Bible: A Reliable Witness

Our objective in this article is a three-fold one. It is to show:

1. That God guides the destiny of nations;
2. That He has a purpose with the earth that is rapidly coming fruition;
3. That the Bible is what it claims to be: the Inspired Word of God.

The closer we look at anything that man has created the greater the number of flaws there are revealed. Submit a polished piece of steel to inspection under a microscope, and it appears pitted and rough; stand too close to an oil painting and it looks ugly and distorted.

That is not so with God's creation however. Examine as closely as you will the petal of a rose, and its soft beauty will be more wonderfully revealed. Submit the wing of a butterfly, or the wonderful mechanism of the eye, to scrutiny under the microscope, and hidden and complex marvels will be instantly seen.

The same is true of the Bible. The more minutely its pages are studied, the greater beauty and significance there is revealed. It is transforming in its effect. It provides a basis for happier living now, whilst revealing the way to life eternal in the future. As Paul wrote: "It has promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come" (I Timothy 4:8). And, like the diverse forms of creation about us, the more it is studied, the greater will its wonder be revealed, testifying that the Hand that made it is divine.

The amazing fulfillment of Bible prophecy demonstrates this beyond all doubt. Man cannot predict the future with any certainty whatever, but the Bible reveals the end from the beginning. God has declared:

"I am God, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10).

This is no false claim. The fulfillment of Bible prophecy down the ages is a guarantee not only that God can do what He wills, but that He will do what He proclaims. It is an assurance that complete reliance can be placed upon the Bible, and that God will make good His promise to:

• Send Jesus Christ to reign on earth (Acts 1:1 1; Acts 3:20-21; Luke 1:32-33).
• Raise from the dead those responsible to judgment (Psa. 49:15-20; 2 Tim. 4:1-7; 1 Cor. 15).
• Reward with eternal life those found worthy (Matthew 19:29; Romans 2:7).
• Grant them authority with Christ in His Kingdom on earth (Revelation 5:9-10; 2:26; Daniel 7:27).
• Establish universal peace and goodwill on earth (Psalm 72; Isaiah 2:24).

Our object is to present some of the wonders of prophecy that the reader may accept with assurance the teaching of the Bible. This is shown by the rise and fall of nations considered in the light of Bible prophecy. The Bible predicted that certain nations would totally disappear, whilst others would remain until the setting up of the Kingdom of God on earth. Among the former were Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Philistia, etc.; among the latter were Arabia, Persia, Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt and Israel.

The former nations have entirely disappeared as predicted; the latter still remain, and in the very condition that the prophets declared they would be found.

What other book describes with such certainty events to come?

We propose to briefly consider some of these predictions that the wonder of their fulfillment might be better appreciated.

Tyre: A Place For Fishing Nets

The 26th chapter of Ezekiel records a remarkable prophecy against Tyre. This ancient power had opposed God's people of Israel, and against it the prophet, in the name of God, had thundered Divine judgment. The Tyrians were told:

1. That Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, would conquer Tyre (vv. 7-1 1 ).
2. That the city would be made desolate (v. 2).
3. That it would be thrown into the sea (v. 12).
4. That it would become a place to spread nets upon (v. 14).
5. That its maritime supremacy would cease forever (v. 17).

Every detail of this prophecy had complete and wonderful fulfillment.

Few people today know anything about Tyre, so completely was the prophecy fulfilled. But in B.C. 596 when it was uttered, Tyre was the foremost sea power of the ancient world. Strategically situated on the coast of the Mediterranean, in what is now known as Lebanon, Tyrian ships dominated the seas for centuries.

Early in the sixth century B.C., however, Tyre incurred the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar and the rising power of Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar determined that he would destroy the power of Tyre, and accordingly he marched against the city and besieged it. After a protracted siege that continued for some years, he breached the walls, and the city fell. When the Tyrians saw that resistance was futile, they transferred the bulk of their treasure to an island in their possession, half a mile from the shore. The old city was deserted and from her new water-enclosed fortress Tyre continued to defy her enemies.

Though the original city had been "made desolate" by Nebuchadnezzar as predicted by Ezekiel, the balance of the prophecy had not been fulfilled. Ezekiel (Ch. 26) had declared:

"They shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise; and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses; and they shall lay thy stones, thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the water ... I (God) will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more ... I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee" (vv. 12, 14,19).

A common scene on the coast line at Tyre - a fisherman spreads his nets in the rock-strewn waters of the Mediterranean. The Tyrians were one of the world's great maritime peoples - but today not even a habour remains. Bible prophecy declared 250 years before the destruction of mighty Tyre, and proved true notwithstanding the seeming impossibility of its declarations.

None of this was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar, though he destroyed the original city. The prophecy spoke of an unnamed power as "they shall do it." History reveals that this was Alexander the Great and his Grecian warriors.

Meanwhile, for almost 250 years, the partly-ruined city of ancient Tyre remained on the mainland, whilst from the island fortress Tyrian power rose once more. Contrary to the requirements of the prophecy the stones, timber and dust of the ancient city had not been "thrown into the sea" as predicted, its site had not been made "bare like the top of a rock", nor had Tyrian power been irreparably broken. On the contrary, the riches of the world flowed through its gates to the east, and Tyrian influence rose once again to its previous eminence.

It must have seemed as though Ezekiel's prophecy had failed. But God is never in a hurry, and delay is but a challenge to faith. At last, Tyre made a fatal mistake. It opposed Alexander of Greece. In their island fortress, protected by their powerful navy, and surrounded by the blue waters of the Mediterranean, the Tyrians could afford to defy his land forces. But Alexander was determined that he would bring Tyre under his control. To do so he had to get at the island fortress, and that meant that he had to build a ramp connecting the mainland with the island across which his soldiers could march.

The stones, the walls, the pleasant houses of the ruins of the mainland city (the one Ezekiel said would be utterly destroyed and never rebuilt) provided him with a means to do this. He ordered that they be thrown "into the sea" (as Ezekiel had predicted) for this purpose. A clean sweep was made of the site, and not a remnant of the city remained. Nor was it ever rebuilt. God had decreed that this would be its fate, and His words were fulfilled to the very letter, though for 250 years every indication seemed to point to the contrary.

Today, the blue waters of the Mediterranean wash over the ruins of Tyre, which has literally become "a place to spread nets upon." Go to the site of ancient Tyre today, and it is possible to see Arab fishermen doing that which Ezekiel predicted they would do 2,500 years ago. Thomson, in his "Land and the Book", writes:

"The number of granite columns that lie in the sea is surprising. The eastern wall of the inner harbor is entirely founded upon them, and they are thickly spread over the bottom of the sea on every side. Tyre must have been a city of columns and temples par excellence . . . Should anyone ask incredulously, 'Where are the stones of ancient Tyre?' . . . they are found spread over the causeway of Alexander, in her choked up harbor, and at the bottom of the sea."

Alexander's attack was successful, and Tyrian sea power was destroyed. No longer did her fleets dominate the seas, no longer were her praises sung in the marts of the ancient world. As a nation she disappeared, never to rise again.

The causeway built by Alexander still connects Tyre's one-time island-fortress with the mainland, but so completely has every vestige of the original city disappeared, that its' position can only be ascertained by the distance measured from the ruins of the fortress. The mighty city of ancient Tyre was completely erased.

But the amazing thing is the detail in which the Bible predicted all this, and the wonderful way in which each point was finally fulfilled. Fallible man cannot predict the future with such certainty and detail, but the Bible does. It shows that this wonderful book can be thoroughly relied upon, and confirms that those prophecies which speak of the second advent of Christ, and the setting up of the Kingdom of God on earth will come to pass, even though the fulfillment might appear improbable to mortal man.