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[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Prophecy You Can Trust

As we experience global pandemic, economic collapse, and increasing international conflict, many sense that we are living in the “time of the end” prophesied in your Bible. Yes, our world has had extreme natural disasters, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, worldwide pandemics, and even world wars.

But did you know that your Bible predicts a new world coming? Yes, a new world government we call “tomorrow’s world.” That world-ruling government will NOT be led by human presidents, dictators, kings, or prime ministers. The new, one-world government will be ruled by a great Spirit being, who even came to earth as the Savior of the world. Yes, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth will return as King of kings and Lord of lords. How do we know this for sure? We know for sure because you can prove Bible prophecy is powerful and accurate.

According to the Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, your Bible contains 1,817 predictions about the future. [p. 675] . We know the power and accuracy of those prophecies from the hundreds that have already been fulfilled. In this program we’ll explore amazing prophecies in your Bible that have come to pass in exact detail as prophesied. You can prove the power of prophecy from your own Bible. Stay tuned!

Reliable Predictions of the Coming Messiah

Warm greetings to all our friends around the world.

What an amazing time we are living as we near the end of this troubled age! The world experienced what many called the year to forget, the year 2020! Will there be more forgettable years in 2021, or 2022 and beyond? We’ve experienced a worldwide pandemic, global economic crises, fires, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes that devastated cities and killed hundreds of thousands of people. Not to mention riots, murders, wars, and terrorism around the globe. Nations and corporations are greedily gaining property and power. Cyber terrorism steals valuable technology and industrial secrets.

Where will it all end? Bible prophecy outlines the future of nations. The current chaos will ultimately climax in World War III. The good news is that this will be followed by a new world government called the Kingdom of God. In your Bible, it’s also called “the world to come” (Hebrews 2:5). How can we be so sure? We know the future by the powerful revelation of this book.

One of the most amazing examples of fulfilled prophecy is of the prophesied Messiah. The Old Testament contains more than three hundred references to His coming. Peter Stoner in his book, Science Speaks, examined the probability of one person fulfilling just 48 of those prophecies. For that to happen by chance would be one in ten followed by 157 zeros. As someone calculated, that would be like trying to find one specific electron out of all the electrons in all of the known universe on the first attempt.

And that considers only 48 of the hundreds of Messianic prophecies that were fulfilled. In other words, the prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming could never have been fulfilled by chance. They were powerfully predicted and fulfilled in hundreds of exacting details. Yes, you can trust Bible prophecy! In fact, your life depends on it!

Halley’s Bible Handbook lists several of the Messianic prophecies and their fulfillment in the New Testament. Here are a few.

• “That He would be born of a Virgin (Matthew 1:15; Isaiah 7:14).
• That He would be born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6; John 7:42; Micah 5:2).
• That He would sojourn in Egypt (Matthew 2:15; Hosea 11:1).
• That He would live in Galilee (Matthew 4:15; Isaiah 9:1, 2).
  • At Nazareth (Matthew 2:23; Isaiah 11:1).
• His Coming would be Announced by an Elijah-like Herald (Matthew 3:3; 11:10-14; Mark 1:2-3; Luke 3:4-6; 7:27; John 1:23; Isaiah 40:3-5; Malachi 3:1; 4:5).
• That His Ministry would be one of Healing (Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:4).
• Betrayed by a Friend for 30 Pieces of Silver (Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27; Zechariah 9:9; Psalm 118:26).
• [And] His Side would be Pierced (John 19:37; Zechariah 12:10; Psalm 22:16).”

(pp. 421-422).

These are just a few of more than 300 prophecies regarding the Messiah that were fulfilled.

Some of you may be familiar with the prophet Daniel’s 70-week prophecy. The Jews of the first-century and the times leading up to the first-century were aware of Daniel’s prophecy. Turn in your Bible to Daniel 9. Here is described the famous prophecy referring to the Messiah’s prophesied appearance. DANIEL 9:24, “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy” or as other translations such as the NIV and the ESV have it, “the Most Holy place.”

Notice that the Messiah was to make reconciliation for iniquity! Many scriptures show that the Messiah would die for the sins of the world, so we might be forgiven and reconciled to God. John the Baptist testified, referring to Jesus, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). It tells us in Ephesians 1:7, “In Him [the Messiah, Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

Yes, Daniel’s prophecy revealed that one of the major purposes of the Messiah, was to make reconciliation for iniquity. My friends, you can be forgiven for all your sins through the blood of Christ. But there are requirements as Jesus Himself made clear. He said, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” That’s in Mark 1:15. Then the Apostle Peter told the masses of people on the Day of Pentecost, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

My friends, some of you may have come to the point in your life where you are repentant, you want to be forgiven of your past sins and change your life. We have ministers in many parts of the world who will answer your questions and even give counsel concerning baptism. Just call the number on the screen or contact us at TomorrowsWorld.org.

Prophetic Timing of Jesus’ Life and Ministry

In the first part of our program, we saw marvelous fulfilled prophecies of the Messiah, the first coming of Jesus Christ to this earth. But WHEN was the Messiah predicted to begin His ministry? Daniel’s 70-weeks prophecy reveals the answer. A day in prophecy is equal to a year in fulfillment. Since there are 69 weeks from Daniel’s prophecy leading up to the Messiah, there are 69 weeks times 7 days per week or 483 prophetic years. But when did the prophecy begin? Many scholars refer to the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7:11-28, which was given historically in 457 BC. Moving forward 483 years from BC to AD, we subtract 457 from 483 and come to what appears to be 26 AD. However, since there is no year zero, going from BC to AD mathematically requires adding one year. Thus, the Messiah was to begin His ministry in 27 AD.

How old was Jesus when He began His ministry? Just after John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, the gospel writer Luke writes in chapter three, verse 23, that “Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age.” So, when was Jesus born? If we subtract 30 years of age from 27 AD, we come to 4 BC, since there is no year zero.

Yes, Christ fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy, to the exact year, to make reconciliation for iniquity! As we’ve seen, the Messiah fulfilled major aspects of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy. But there remain other aspects for Him to complete. For example, Daniel 9:24 predicts three more missions yet future. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, when He returns, will continue fulfilling the following prophecies: “To bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy” or as some translations have it, the Most Holy Place, referring to the Millennial Temple in Jerusalem described in Ezekiel chapters forty through forty-three. The late evangelist, Dr. Roderick Meredith describes the Millennial mission of Christ in his inspiring booklet that we are offering today, Prophecy Fulfilled: God’s Hand in World Affairs. Be sure to order your free copy.

Now, let’s consider another of God’s great interventions and the fulfillment of major biblical prophecy. Almighty God declares through the prophet Isaiah, “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9-10).

That’s why we can have confidence in the ultimate future, the future we call tomorrow’s world. That’s the time when Christ will rule all nations and bring worldwide peace and prosperity. Great empires rise and fall. Did God predict the fall of Babylon the Great? The greatest empire of its time was Babylon. Yet, Bible prophecy foretold that this great power would punish other nations as a judgment from God. And then Babylon itself would be judged for its sinfulness.

More than 100 years before the overthrow of the great Babylonian empire, the prophet Isaiah named the very man who would be responsible for Babylon’s fall. Let’s read it here in ISAIAH 44:28. God “says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” and to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”’” Cyrus was king over the Persians from about 558 BC to 529 BC. So, Isaiah is prophesying in the eighth century BC about a king who wasn’t even born until the sixth century BC!

But not only did Isaiah foretell Cyrus by name; he also foretold just HOW Cyrus would enter Babylon to conquer it. This is an amazing story. Turn to ISAIAH 45:1. Cyrus was instrumental in allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Here, God proclaims that He will use Cyrus in a special way. ISAIAH 45:1, “Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, [Listen to this!] to open before him the double doors [or two leaved gates—KJV], so that the gates will not be shut: ‘I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you BY YOUR NAME, am the God of Israel.’”

The reference to the “double doors” shows how God opened the way for Cyrus’s army to capture the city. The city of Babylon seemed impregnable with massive walls and defenses. And the city had supplies that could out-last a 20-year siege. So the Babylonians just laughed at Cyrus’s army when they came to attack the city.

The river Euphrates passed through the middle of Babylon under the massive gates in its wall. Cyrus used an ingenious method to circumvent this obstacle. Some of his men dug channels upstream to divert the flow of the river.

Prophecy and the Historical Record

The secular Greek historian Herodotus also wrote of the event. Cyrus and his non-combatant troops “so greatly reduced the depth of water in the actual bed of the river that it became fordable, and the Persian army, which had been left at Babylon for the purpose, entered the river, now only deep enough to reach about the middle of a man’s thigh, and, making their way along it, got into the town.… The Babylonians themselves say that owing to the great size of the city the outskirts were captured without the people in the centre knowing anything about it; there was a festival going on, and they continued to dance and enjoy themselves, UNTIL they learned the news the hard way. That, then, is the story of the first capture of Babylon” (Herodotus, Histories, Book One, sections 191-192).

Yes, the secular historian Herodotus confirms, as do other sources such as Xenophon’s Cyropaedia—Bible prophecy was dramatically and accurately fulfilled!

The prophet Daniel was in the city of Babylon the night the Persian army of Cyrus conquered the city. And, through the prophet Daniel, God also let King Belshazzar know what would happen to him and the empire. That’s the famous story of the “handwriting on the wall.” You can read about it in the book of DANIEL, chapter FIVE. King Belshazzar prepared a feast, a great party, for thousands of his nobles. They drank wine out of the plundered golden vessels from the Temple in Jerusalem. DANIEL 5:5, “In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.”

The prophet Daniel was called upon to interpret this inscription in Babylon. A mysterious hand had written a message on the wall. DANIEL 5:25, “And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.” Daniel then told King Belshazzar, verse 26, “This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Then verse 30, “That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.” Yes, the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians replaced the kingdom of Babylon, just as God predicted.

Dr. Roderick Meredith summarizes this amazing fulfillment of prophecy in the free resource we’re offering today: “Look at what historians know about the events that took place around 539 BC, when Cyrus conquered Babylon, an ‘impregnable’ city-fortress renowned throughout the earth for its power. Unable to surmount the massive fortified walls around Babylon, which had repelled so many other invaders, Cyrus’ men diverted the Euphrates River, which normally flowed under the heavy city water gates as it passed through the city. By lowering the river level and by having a spy unlock the inner gates along the river, Cyrus’ army invaded the city in a totally unexpected manner and took the Babylonians by complete surprise. Was God surprised? No. He had described nearly 200 years earlier how a leader specifically named ‘Cyrus’ would conquer great kings by going through ‘the double doors’! Soon after this, Cyrus issued the order to allow the Jews to voluntarily return to their homeland and Jerusalem, and—in another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy—instructed them to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:2–4; 6:2–5).” (Prophecy Fulfilled: God’s Hand in World Affairs, p. 20).

Even now, God is intervening to guide nations and peoples. Dr. Meredith describes how God saved English naval forces by using the power of weather: “In 1586–87, Catholic domination of the English throne was made impossible by the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. The following year, Spain’s King Philip II unleashed his ‘invincible’ 124-ship Armada against England in an effort to reassert Catholic control. Though the English naval forces tenaciously fought, eventually they exhausted their gunpowder! At that critical point, an unprecedented gale-force wind arose and drove many of the heavily armed, lumbering Spanish galleons to their doom. The weather-beaten ships that limped home to Spain were so damaged that many could never again be used” (ibid., p. 16).

Yes, God intervenes in weather to fulfill His plans: “He uses this power on occasion to intervene in human affairs: ‘As when You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind’ (Psalm 48:7)…. Queen Elizabeth, commemorating the Spanish defeat, issued a silver medal, bearing the inscription: ‘God blew and they were scattered.’ She knew who took charge of those winds at that critical hour in the history of her people!” (ibid.).

A Prophetic Kingdom Sure to Come

More than 300 prophecies detailed the future birth, life, and ministry of Jesus Christ. And God has revealed through His prophecies the Good News of His coming Kingdom. In one of the most familiar prophecies of the Messiah, the prophet Isaiah describes both the first coming of Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom at His Second Coming. Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

Yes, of the “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.” My friends, the time is growing short! We are in the prophetic time of the end, waiting for Jesus Christ to return soon and establish His everlasting government. He will save our world from total extinction and cosmocide. He will bring lasting peace to the earth and all nations. My friends, you need to prepare for His coming Kingdom. You need to follow His instructions in Matthew 6:10 and pray, “Your kingdom come.” You can also prepare by studying our free prophecy resource: Prophecy Fulfilled: God’s Hand in world Affairs. Just ask for the booklet on PROPHECY FULFILLED.

May God bless you as you apply the greatest goal in life given by our Savior to all mankind in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

We invite you to join us every week on Tomorrow’s World. In this world of growing chaos and confusion, you need the solid guidance that comes from your Bible. Gerald Weston, Wallace Smith, Rod McNair, and I will keep sharing with you the truth of your Bible, the good news of the coming Kingdom of God, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the exciting end-time prophecies and their meaning.

Thank you for watching! Remember to subscribe so you don’t miss another Tomorrow’s World video, and if you would like a copy of our booklet Prophecy Fulfilled: God’s Hand in world Affairs for free, click the link in the description. See you next time.