The Lord prophesied in Ezekiel 28:22-23, “Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.”
Sidon was surrounded by the Persian army in 35 B.C., and forty thousand inhabitants chose to die rather than to surrender. They burned their own houses and died in the fire. Hundreds of years later, Sidon was caught in the middle of a struggle between the Crusaders and the Muslims. She was also the battleground in the conflicts between the Druses and the Turks and between Turkey and France. In 1840, she was bombarded by the armies of England, France, and Turkey. Sidon has historically been a war-torn city; thus, the prophecy in Ezekiel was fulfilled.
Although Sidon was only fifty miles from Tyre, its treatment was different. Tyre was completely eliminated from the face of the earth; yet, after passing through much affliction, as prophesied, Sidon still exists. Only God could have predicted that two such similar cities would have such dissimilar fates. This, again, is strong proof that the Bible is divinely inspired.
The Lord prophesied in Isaiah 13:19-22, “And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ majesty, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: it will no more be inhabited forever; it will not be dwelt in from generation to generation. And the Arab will not set up his tent there, nor will the shepherd make his flocks lie down there. But desert animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of wild dogs; there ostriches will dwell, and wild goats will prance there; hyenas will respond in their citadels, and jackals in their exquisite palaces. Her time is about to come, and her days will not be prolonged.” This prophecy was fulfilled soon after it was spoken.
The limited space of this lesson does not allow us to enumerate the many biblical prophecies which have been fulfilled. There are also many unfulfilled prophecies that remain to be fulfilled one by one. God’s word will not pass away until every one is fulfilled.
There is no other book on earth that can positively change people as dramatically as the Bible can. Scientific books cannot improve a person’s disposition; on the contrary, some scientific advancements, such as the manufacture of modern weaponry, make it easier to destroy rather than improve humanity. Language books, instead of uplifting the readers’ character, may just make them proud. Only the Bible dispositionally changes people in a positive way.
The Bible exhorts Christians to disciple all nations. The gospel needs to be preached to the uttermost parts of the earth. Many Christians defy all odds to fulfill this commission. Christians have brought the gospel from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to Asia Minor, to Europe, to Africa, to America, to Asia, and to remote islands. Wherever the gospel went, the broken-hearted were healed, drunkards became sober, prodigal sons and daughters returned home, and evil people turned to God. Some did not regard their lives and were martyred for the Lord. What other book has such power to affect the lives of men?
One time, an American merchant in Africa saw a native reading a Bible under a tree. He said to the native, “This book is not popular in America. It is not worth anything.” The native pointed to his stomach and said, “If it were not because of this book, you would be in here by now.” The native had been a cannibal.
Another time, a person believed in the Lord after hearing the gospel. Later in the day, he stole a bun and ate it. That night, he felt so bad that he could not sleep. The next day, he came back to the brother who had preached to him and said, “I did not get saved yesterday, because I stole something.” The brother said, “Before you received the Lord, did you feel bad when you stole?” The new believer said, “Before I received the Lord, the more I stole, the better I could sleep.” Then the brother said, “You are really saved, because the Lord in you bothered you when you stole. You need to repent to the Lord and to the store owner.”
These are only a few of the millions of stories of people who have been changed by the gospel in the Bible. The Bible has the power to change people’s lives.