Friday, December 7, 2012

Does Bible Prophecy Prove God’s Existence?

Hi everyone,

I am in the afterglow of a wonderful funeral service of my close childhood friend's father earlier this afternoon. A "wonderful" funeral? Yes, the service did a good job of reviewing a remarkable man's life, who did everything really well which he set his mind to. He was a baseball player who was good enough to play for the White Sox. But the Korean War interfered with that. He then set his mind on work, and became Senior Vice President of Finance for Control Data. After he retired, he took up golf and became the Edina Country Club Champion. He raised great family of five kids who are all kind adults, close to each other, and cared for him in the struggles of his last few years. I wish I knew him better, he was a truly remarkable man. It was also wonderful in being able to see old friends and to have the warmth of fellowship together.

Yet he passed away, as we all will do some day. Being a great athlete, smart at work, and a good family man does nothing to stop the inevitable. And so, this event has caused my thoughts to turn toward our Creator. So I try and understand the question of why don't more people accept God's presence, and His love for us as shown by the baby Jesus being born in a manger. The Christ child was sent to take away the world's sins, and to restore our relationship with God. A new relationship of a loving Father and a devoted child, instead, of a harsh taskmaster and an angry, unappreciative worker.

So my thoughts have turned to the Bible, God's Word to us, and its power and truth. The Bible, and through studying the Bible turned me from a pagan to a believer. I know of its power, and the power of the Holy Spirit to change us as we open up ourselves to seeing the truth of our lives. The truth is we are not good people deserving a heavenly reward from God. Instead, we are horrible, wretched, selfish and self-centered sinners who hurt countless others in our lives by our actions and inactions. But God in His love sent us a Savior to take away our sins, and to allow us to start building a relationship with this loving Creator of the Universe. It is an amazing story.

Yet many do not believe that God created the Universe, or that He does anything of value in today's world. This is the attitude I want to combat, and I know that I can tell others until I am blue in the face that God is here, and that He has helped me and changed my life. And He saved me from the shame and guilt of my many sins through Jesus' death on the Cross. But is there something a little more concrete for those who have honest questions of God's existence? I believe there is, and something as simple as the power of the Bible and prophecies made by the Prophets that are written down for us, and actually fulfilled, is what I want to post about this day. Do the Prophecies of the Bible show the Truth of the Bible, as well as God's existence? That is the question I want to address in today's post.

Let's take one of the prophecies made by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21). In this prophecy the Disciples mentioned the beauty of the massive Jerusalem Temple built by Herod. Jesus' comment was that within forty years (i.e., one generation) that the Temple would be utterly destroyed, to the point of one stone not being left on another. This Prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD when the Roman army led by Titus utterly leveled Jerusalem, including its beautifully adorned Temple.

So the Prophecy of the Temple's destruction was made let's say 33 A.D. during the last part of Jesus' life. But was the Prophecy written down before the Temple's destruction in 70 A.D., or was this just added after the fact? The evidence strongly points to the fact that the Gospel of Mark was written before 68 A.D., and so this is a powerful example of a completed Prophecy which was written before the event actually took place.

There is ample proof that the Apostle Mark died in 68 A.D., which means his Gospel, of course, was written before this time. Church historian Eusebius wrote in detail the account of Mark's death. He was evangelizing in Alexandria and was celebrating the feast of the Resurrection in the year 68 A.D. and that same day coincided with the great pagan celebration for the feast of the god Syrabis. Thus a multitude of pagans assembled, attacked the church at Bokalia, and forced their way in. They seized St. Mark, bound him with a thick rope, and dragged him through the streets crying, "Drag the dragon to the place of cows." They continued dragging him with severe cruelty. His flesh was torn and scattered everywhere, and the ground of the city was covered with his blood. They cast him that night into a dark prison.

The next morning, the pagans took St. Mark from the prison. They tied his neck with a thick rope and did the same as the day before, dragging him over the rocks and stones. Finally, St. Mark delivered up his pure soul into the hands of God. This event is provided to us here. But the point here is that all of this took place in 68 A.D.

Would you like another reason that we can safely conclude that the Gospel of Mark, including Jesus' Prophecy of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple within 40 year's time, was written before 68 A.D., taking place before the Temple's destruction? For this evidence we turn our eyes to the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the 900 scrolls found in the Qumran cave is a portion of the Gospel of Mark. The cave was sealed in 68 A.D., before the Roman army escalation, which again shows that the Gospel of Mark was written before 68 A.D., well before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple actually took place. If you would like more information on the Qumran cave, a Wikipedia article is here.

So what does all of this mean? Jesus made a Prophecy in 33 A.D. that within 40 years (or 73 A.D.) the Jerusalem Temple would be destroyed. The Gospel of Mark was written before the destruction took place, at the latest possible date being 68 A.D., based upon Eusebius' history and the sealing of the Qumran cave which housed a portion of Mark's Gospel. So we have a Prophecy made, written down, and copied to the world (as shown by it being part of Dead Sea Scrolls), and the event actually took place years later. The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Roman army in July, 70 A.D. Therefore, we have a clear example of God's foreknowledge of a future event, which was confirmed by historical events. God's Word is powerful, prophetic and True.

Perhaps Bible prophecies do not prove God's existence. The Jerusalem Temple prophecy took place 2,000 years ago, and it is difficult to rest your life on something that happened so long ago. But I am presenting evidence to you, in hopes of a response. So what is your response to this? God provided a Prophecy of a future event and provided this Prophecy for the world to see. I hope that you will be more willing to read God's Word, to pray, and to seek out Christians to talk to, and to discuss any questions that you have. God bless you this Christmas season.