Why do the critics of the Christian faith always concentrate their efforts on trying to destroy the credibility of the Bible, in particularly the credibility of the Bible’s prophetic texts? Is it not because prophecy attests to the Bible’s utter reliability and absolute truthfulness? Think about it; Christianity’s critics may attempt to explain away: (1) Israel’s miraculous crossing of the Red Sea as a mere wading through the shallow waters of the Reed Sea (2) The manna in the wilderness as a common sap that oozed from a desert plant (3) The fire that fell on Elijah’s Mount Carmel sacrifice as a chance bolt of lightening (4) The resurrection of our Lord as nothing more than the hallucinations of His disciples, and (5) The Apostle Paul’s miraculous conversion on Damascus Road as a sunstroke. Nevertheless, if the Bible predicts the future and its predictions come true, the critics of Christianity are silenced. They are left with nothing to say.
The Bible teaches us that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). The purpose of prophecy is to testify of Jesus so that men might believe in Him. When a couple of His disciples kept stumbling over their doubts on the Road to Emmaus, our Lord helped them to hop the hurdles of unbelief by explaining to them how He personally fulfilled what the prophets had predicted (Luke 24:25-27). A little later, in the same chapter, our Lord does the same thing for the rest of His disciples (Luke 24:44-46). He helps them to put their doubts to bed once and for all by showing them in the Scriptures how He personally fulfilled all that was “written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Him.”
Notice, it was prophecy that finally led Jesus’ disciples to a fixed and firm faith in Him. This explains Jesus’ words in John 14:29, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, you might believe.” Truly, the purpose of prophecy, especially fulfilled prophecy, is to produce faith in Christ.
The Apostle Peter says an extraordinary thing in 2 Peter 1:19. He claims that the testimony of eye-witnesses like himself is not the most persuasive evidence that the Christian has in presenting his case for Christ to a lost and dying world. Instead, Peter says that our best evidence and most persuasive argument is “the more sure word [testimony] of prophecy.” Nothing, according to Peter, is more powerful in persuading men to place their faith in Christ than prophecy. Truly, prophecy proves Jesus Christ to be the one and only Savior of the world; therefore, it is the most powerful weapon a Christian can wield in the battle for men’s souls.