(Guidelines) Fulfilled Prophecy — J. Vernon McGee

Fulfilled Prophecy as Proof of the Bible's Divine Origin

Now, I want to give a reason. If I were asked, what do you have as a conclusive proof? You just had one thing to suggest. What would you suggest as be a conclusive proof that this is the Word of God? And you know what I would suggest?

The Scope of Prophecy in Scripture

I would suggest fulfill prophecy. Fulfill prophecy. I believe that that is the one proof that you can't escape, you can't get around. And the Bible is filled with fulfilled prophecy. One-fourth of the scripture, when it was written, was prophetic, was prophecy.

That is, it denounced things that were to take place in the future. Well, a great deal of that, in fact, a great deal more than people imagine, has already been fulfilled. Again, we could turn to many places where this has been fulfilled exactly.

Micaiah's Prophecy of Ahab's Defeat

You'll find that there were many local situations that were fulfilled even in the day of the prophet. Micaiah was a prophet who told old Ahab that when he went out to battle, he'd lose the battle and he'd be killed.

And old Ahab didn't like it because his false prophets had told him he'd have a victory and he'd return as a victorious king. But he didn't like what Micaiah said, and he said, lock him up. Feed him water and bread.

That's all you give him. And I'll take care of him when I get back. And Micaiah shot back the last word. He said, if you come back, the Lord hasn't spoken but me. Well, evidently, the Lord spoke by him because Ahab didn't come back.

He was killed in the battle. He was defeated. And he attempted to camouflage himself. But you see, a soldier, one of the enemy, the scripture says he pulled a bow at a venture. That is, when the battle was about over, why, he just had one arrow left in his quiver, and he just put it in there and he just shot him out in space.

But you know, that arrow had old Ahab's name on it, and that arrow wandered around, went around trees, around rocks, and down this road and up this path, and finally it found old Ahab. The only thing is, it didn't do it quite that way.

It just went right to its mark like an arrow. Why? Because Micaiah had made an accurate prophecy. And Isaiah, in the same connection, said the Assyrian wouldn't shoot an arrow into the city of Jerusalem.

Isaiah's Local and Messianic Prophecies

Well, now, that's interesting. A soldier shot an arrow by chance, a bow at a venture. And wouldn't you think that among 300 ,000 soldiers that one might be trigger-happy and pull a bow back, and that would be the bow at a venture, and he'd let an arrow fly over the wall of Jerusalem?

Well, he didn't. Isaiah said that if the enemy shoots an arrow inside this city, you can be sure that I am not God's prophet. May I say to you, those were local fulfillments of prophecy. But Isaiah also said a virgin would bring forth a child.

And that was 700 years away before it was literally fulfilled. And then, if you want a final proof, there were over 300 prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ. They were all literally fulfilled.

Christ's Passion and the Fulfillment of Prophecy

He was hanging there on the cross and dying. And there was one prophecy that had not been fulfilled. And that was, they gave me vinegar to drink. And he cried out, I thirst. And the enemy himself went and fulfilled prophecy.

The Limits of Human Prediction

May I say to you, it's the most amazing thing. But man can't guess like that. It's been rather amusing to watch the weatherman during the summer season in Southern California. He does fine. But when we get to the change of seasons, well, your guess is as good as his.

He doesn't always hit it. Now, in the nation Israel, a prophet had to be accurate. And if he wasn't accurate, why, he would be put to death. God said that you always know that a thing has to come to pass, that he says.

He asked, first of all, to speak in the local situation, which Isaiah did. And then he can speak out, yonder to the future, as Isaiah did. We can look back and know that it was fulfilled. But there are so many other prophecies.

Fulfilled Prophecies Concerning Nations

Tyre and Sidon are over there today exactly. As God's Word said 2 ,500 years ago, they'd be. And there they are. May I say to you that Egypt today is in exactly the position God said it would be in. All of these are amazing, friends.

And that's one of the greatest proofs. You see, man just can't be that accurate. Man can't guess like that. As we said, the weatherman misses it. Let me show you that actually, according to mathematical law, mathematical law of problematical conjecture, why man could never, never prophesy.

The Mathematical Impossibility of Multiple Predictions

Now, let me give you just a very simple illustration of this. Suppose that I right now would make a prophecy. I don't know where you are, and I don't know what the weather is. But suppose I'd say to you right now, wherever you are, that it's going to rain tomorrow.

Well, may I say to you, I'd be 50, 50 percent chance of being right. Because it's either going to rain or it's not going to rain. It'll do one of the two. Now, for some of you, it probably would be accurate.

Others, it wouldn't be accurate. But I'd make the statement. Now, suppose, though, I'd add to that, and I would say it'll start raining tomorrow morning at 9 o 'clock, and that will be another uncertain element.

Now, I had a 50, 50 chance of being right at first. Now, I have a 25 chance. Every uncertain element that is added here reduces the chance of being right 50%, you see, the law of problematical conjecture.

Now, suppose that I not only say it's going to start raining at 9 o 'clock, I say it'll stop raining at 2 o 'clock. Well, believe me, friends, that's reduced our chances now another 50%, which brings it down to 12 .5%.

Can you imagine my chance of being right now? It'd be just 12 .5%. But suppose you add 300 uncertain elements. And may I say that there's not a ghost of a chance of being accurate, of being right. You just couldn't hit it.

It'd be impossible. And yet, the word of God hit it, my friend. It was quite accurate. And if I even would dare to come along and having given these three uncertain elements, and then I would add another one, I'd say then at 2 o 'clock, it's going to begin to snow.

Well, I want to tell you by then, friends, there would be somebody come forward and lead me away, probably the man with the little white coat. And he'd say, my, you need to be put away, boy, because of the fact that you are doing something that is absolutely ridiculous and something that could never come to pass.

Fulfilled Prophecy as Evidence for Future Hope

Now, the word of God has moved into that area. That to me is absolute proof that this is the word of God. There is nothing to compare to this at all. Now, I have only given very little of fulfilled prophecy.

May I say to you that in the word of God, there's prophecy after prophecy. And they have been fulfilled, and not only fulfilled, but fulfilled literally. And by the way, that gives, I would think, the method in which prophecy for the future is yet to be fulfilled.