Andrew Fountain - Stories of Fulfilled Prophecies

0. Intro: Why tell stories?

• Today I am going to tell three stories of how ancient prophecies have been fulfilled
  
  • For one of the stories we are going to see some video
  • First I want to look at the reason for telling these stories
  • Let’s look at 2 Peter 3:1-14
• The reasoning here is pretty straightforward:
  
  • Jesus promised that he would come again (and judge the world)
  • It is not going to be as soon as people are expecting
  • In the meantime, people are going to mock God, saying in effect
    
    • There is not a God who supernaturally intervenes in Creation
    • Things have always been like this and always will be
  • The answer is that God has kept his promises in the past
    
    • so he will keep them in the future
• So I am going to tell three stories of God keeping his promises

1. Tyre

• The first story is about the city of Tyre
  
  • Location: at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea
  • It is in the country of Lebanon, not a major city
• Long ago it was one of the great cities of the world
  
  • Established more than 2½ thousand years before Christ
  • The the people wore beautiful embroidered clothes
  • The Bible tells us of their wealth and luxury
  • But more than anything else, they had ships
    
    • They were the trading gateway between the East and the West
  • Some of their wealth and pride is described in Ezekiel 28 v2,4,5
  • But they had become extremely proud, and their trade practices had become corrupt
    
    • So God says he is going to have to bring punishment on them Ezekiel 28 v6-10
• God prophesies that he will destroy this city Ezekiel 26 v3-14
  
  • Notice the details:
    
    • A king called Nebuchadnezzar
    • come from Babylon
    • bring siege engines
    • break walls
    • destroy city
    • smash towers
    • throw the rubble into the sea!
    • even the dirt scraped off to leave bare rock
    • a place for the spreading of fishermen’s nets
    • the surrounding cities would be terrified
    • it would never be rebuilt
• Seventeen years after this prophecy was given...
  
  • The great King Nebuchadnezzar came and conquered Jerusalem
  • and then laid siege on Tyre
  • He wanted Tyre so badly because of his greed for the great treasure there
  • He did exactly what the prophecy said—he used massive force and battering rams
  • Eventually he smashed the walls down
  • But when he finally broke in, he found the place empty
    
    • He had forgotten that these people were experts in ships
  • There were a couple of islands just off the coast and the inhabitants had escaped and taken all their treasure
  • He and his army were furious and they took out their anger on the stones of the city
    
    • They smashed down everything they could and killed any stragglers they could find
  • Nebuchadnezzar when home without the treasures
    
    • and the new city prospered
• But that about the rest of the prophecy?
  
  • Rubble in the sea? Even the dirt scraped off?
    
    • Who was likely to do a clean-up operation on this ruined city and throw all the rubble and dirt into the sea?
    • It doesn’t make sense!
  • A place for fishermen to spread nets?
    
    • Not possible—not even flat—heaps of ruins
  • Surrounding nations terrified?
    
    • Didn’t happen. The opposite!
  • Never be rebuilt?
    
    • although it hadn’t yet, it was still a prime location
  • For generations God’s promise remained unkept
• 240 years later...
  
  • Alexander the Great and his mighty army were sweeping across the world
  • Nation after nation was falling before him
  • The Island City (which they called Tyre after the old city) laughed at him from their island fortress
  • But Alexander the Great was so determined that he decided to build a causeway 200ft wide from the mainland out to the island
    
    • Just under a km long
  • Guess where he got the material from to build the causeway?
    
    • He scraped the rock clean, even the dirt was used
  • He wiped out the new city and took the treasures
  • The surrounding cities were so shocked by his determination they all surrendered
  • Now it is a place to spread nets!
  • The causeway is still there!
    
    • Today: Here is a map
  • The small town on what once was an island has taken the name of Sur
    
    • But the original city has never been rebuilt, and is no longer in a good location
• Isn’t God amazing!
  
  • Why do you think he did it in two stages?

2. Nineveh

• Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire
  
  • In modern-day Iraq
  • It was vast in size
    
    • 7½ miles of wall which was 100ft high and up to $150ft thick
    • Six chariots could race side by side along the top of the walls
    • Incredibly secure—no battering ram could ever break it, no army could climb it
• But it was a very cruel city.
  
  • An earlier generation had repented after the preaching of Jonah, but they had returned again to violence
    
    • Nahum 3:1 says:
      
      • Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed!
        She is full of lies;
        she is filled with plunder;
  • Prophecies against Nineveh in the book of Nahum
  • Themes of
    
    • a flood
    • drunkenness
    • fire
    • the river overflowing
    • the walls being opened up to the enemy
• Nothing happened for 100 years
  
  • Then the Medes and Babylonians came to besiege the city
  • But it was no use
  • The city was so big they had cattle and fields inside the walls
    
    • enough food and water to survive indefinitely
  • But God would keep his promise!
  • Right at that very time, as the armies were ready, the river Tigris flooded like it had never done before
    
    • It ran alongside the wall and whole sections of wall subsided
    • The giant gates were open and the city defenceless
  • At that time the king was having a drunken feast in his palace
    
    • They realized what was happening
    • Rather than allow themselves to be captured, they heaped up a great funeral fire in the palace
    • and all died in the blaze
  • The city was never rebuilt and it was not until 1845 that archaeologists even discovered where it was!
  • Show pictures

3. Babylon

• Babylon was even stronger than Nineveh
  
  • In modern-day Iraq
  • One of the greatest cities of all time
  • One of the great wonders of the world
    
    • The temple of Belus was 600ft high
  • Walls up to 300ft high and 80 ft thick
  • Hanging gardens—build by one of the Emperors for a wife homesick for the hills
  • Isaiah called it “the Golden City”
• Video: VTS_02_1.VOB (Moody—the Professor and the Prophets)
  
  • 6:20 - Petra
  • 10:53 - Babylon
  • 14:02 - Tyre
  • 18:15 end

4. The end of the World

• 2 Peter 3:1-14
  
  • Peter says—God has kept his promises in the past, he will in the future
  • In several of the cases I have just described it looked like God would never complete his word
• Three responses
  
  1. If you are not a Christian, you need to very concerned about God’s return
     
     • Only his people will go to heaven
  2. If you are a believer, are you ready? Will you be embarrassed
  3. Do you ever say “where is God?” “Why does he not answer my prayers?”
     
     • This is a great encouragement to us
     • God is real, his time-spans are not ours
     • be comforted
  • We will pray for you—
    
    • If you feel you need to know God’s reality in your circumstances now
    • If you are concerned to be ready when Jesus comes again to judge the world

Updated on 2009-11-01 (r.92) by Andrew Fountain