God Speaks Part I
September 6th, 2008By: Jerry Richard Boone
What more can be said? Quite a bit, say the ancient Hebrews. According to them, we have barely begun to scratch the surface. They tell us that their race has been favored with a number of special revelations. Those special revelations, they claim, bring a unique Jewish insight into the relationship between God and man.
What have we got here? Old wives’ tales? Myths? Legends? Jewish superstitions? Or could it be, there’s more to it than that?
Down through the centuries, many people, both gentiles and Jews alike, have agreed with the ancient Hebrews. They believed God has, for one reason or another, given the Jews certain “inside information.” Educated as well as uneducated people, intelligent as well as unintelligent people, and rational as well as irrational people have held this view.
Quite a few suffered and died for these beliefs. No one is willing to suffer and die for views they hold lightly. Since we know that to be the case, let’s take a closer look at what these ancient Hebrews have to say.
Fall of Man
One of the earliest stories tells about the fall of man. Here is the story: Disposable humans were not a part of God’s plan. The first people were designed as immortals. God granted them supreme authority on earth. They ruled over animals, plants, and everything else they found in their domain. God provided them with an ideal environment and satisfied all their needs. God, man, and nature lived in harmony. But it was not to last.
God didn’t want automatons. What would be the point? He wanted living, breathing, thinking beings who would obey him of their own free will. Of course, he knew he was taking a chance. Allowing them independent minds, they might rebel against him. And rebel they did.
A single act of defiance threw everything out of kilter. The close relationship between God and man broke down. Immortality was lost; everyone lived under a sentence of death. Nature turned against man producing thorns, thistles, and poison ivy. Animals turned to preying upon each other and upon man too when given a chance. Man was reduced to hard labor for his food. Woman suffered birth pains. Envy, jealousy, hate, murder, and a host of other problems soon beset mankind.
God’s Plan of Redemption
Those independent thinking humans quickly proved to be disloyal, ungrateful, and hardheaded. In site of that, God didn’t give up on them. He went to work steering, or attempting to steer humanity back on the right course. What did God do?
“He selected one particular people and spent centuries hammering into their heads the sort of God He was – that there was only one of Him and that He cared about right conduct. Those people were the Jews, and the Old Testament gives an account of the hammering process.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Hebrew Prophets
Over the centuries a number of Hebrew prophets arose claiming they were inspired by God. Were they just a bunch of religious fanatics with vivid imaginations and a taste for the limelight? When you read their stories, that is not the impression you come away with. In fact, you get the idea that running around telling people they are wrong and God is “going to get them” was not considered a plum job.
Moses wanted no part of it. He begged God to choose someone else. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, was timid by nature. He didn’t want the job. Jonah ran away and hid, trying to avoid making his prophecy. Elijah not only ran, he even asked God to kill him so he wouldn’t have to continue his prophesying. These men weren’t looking for fame and fortune. They would have much rather that God just leave them alone.
Perhaps you are wondering, just how good were these sometime reluctant prophets at predicting the future. You may be surprised. They were pretty good at it.
Franklin Analogy
Suppose, just suppose for a moment, that around the middle of the eighteenth century, Benjamin Franklin wrote in his Poor Richards’ Almanac: “Eisenhower will liberate Europe.” What would Franklin’s readers think of that? Certainly, they would find it curious. “Who’s this Eisenhower?” they would ask.
Good question too. The man would not be born for another hundred years. Then he wouldn’t come to the public’s attention for another fifty years or so. And, why would Europe need liberating anyway? Europe during Franklin’s day was as free, probably more free, than any other place in the civilized world. That being the case, Franklin’s hypothetical prediction would stand out as a double oddity for well over a century and a half.
Then dramatic events begin to unravel. In the 1930’s and 40’s, Hitler’s military juggernaut rolls over Europe conquering the continent. Britain barely manages to hold on. Then it happens. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, leads the multi-national 1944 invasion liberating Europe form the Nazis.
What had been a long standing curiosity, suddenly becomes an amazingly accurate prophecy. How could Benjamin Franklin have known what would happen some two hundred years later? A lucky guess? No, it’s too detailed to have been a guess.
Had Benjamin Franklin actually made that prediction in 1750, we would still be talking about it today. A prophecy that exact and that correct would be remembered for centuries to come. However, if we go back to 700 B.C., we discover a prediction ever bit as curious as the one I devised for Franklin.
Isaiah’s Prophecy
The prophet’s name is Isaiah and his prophecy was: “Cyrus will permit Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and the temple foundation laid.” As you can well imagine, the people of Isaiah’s day found the prediction a bit odd.
“Who’s this Cyrus” they asked. Good question too. The man would not be born for another hundred years. Then he wouldn’t come to the Jewish public attention for another fifty years or so. And, why does Jerusalem need to be rebuilt and the temple foundations laid?
Jerusalem, during Isaiah’s lifetime, was already there. And the temple, built by Solomon, was still standing. Both Jerusalem and the temple would remain intact for over one hundred years after Isaiah uttered his prediction. That being the case, Isaiah’s prophecy stood as a double oddity for well over a century. Then events begin to take place.
Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. He carried off Judah’s King Jehoiachin and a number of the city’s leading citizen’s into exile. In 586 B.C., the Babylonian king returned and destroyed both Jerusalem and the temple.
Cyrus II came to the Persian throne in 558 B.C. Nineteen years later, he took Babylon on October 13, 539 B.C. In his first year, 538 B.C., Cyrus issued a decree permitting the Jews to return from exile and reconstruct the Jerusalem temple.
What had been a long standing curiosity, became an amazingly accurate prophecy. How could Isaiah have known what would happen some 160 years later? A lucky guess? No, it’s too detailed to have been a guess. Isaiah must have been privy to certain “inside information.” Something or someone gave him the message: “Cyrus would order Jerusalem to be rebuilt and the temple foundation laid.” The prophet isn’t secretive about his source. He informs us: “This is what the Lord says.”
A written prophecy that becomes history 160 years later should make us sit up and take notice. That is something out of the ordinary. But is this an isolated case? No. A number of Hebrew prophets demonstrated the same uncanny ability to look into the future and predict what will happen. Some of the most profound prophecies were long range predictions for nations and their people.