Bible Prophecy: Is It Really Vague?

With thousands of religions and hundreds of so-called gods, how can we possibly be expected to know which one is true? I have already explained in the last study that God must have power over life and death. I explained how we can know Jesus was raised from the dead. But there is one more thing that God has done. Bible prophecy is one of the greatest evidences that the God of the Bible alone is truly God.

If God is the causeless cause, then He must be eternal. If He is eternal, then time does not limit Him. He is at the beginning and the end all at once. In fact, the Bible calls Him the Beginning and the End Himself (Revelation 22:13). So He can tell us what will come in the future with one hundred percent accuracy.

Not only must the true God know the future, He must also be able to make it happen no matter how impossible it may seem. The God who can do that must be the true God, because no one but He who is eternal can know the future perfectly and give us prophecy that does not fail.

Prophecy In The Bible

The God of the Bible declares that He alone is God. But He does not merely assert that. He tells us how we can know that He is God. He stakes His entire reputation on Bible prophecy being correct.

He does not simply thunder His voice from heaven. He does not say He will prove Himself by doing whatever we ask. He does not force us to believe Him. He simply tells us that He is the eternal Creator and that He knows the future.

He does not predict it. He knows it. He does not watch it happen. He makes it happen. And there is no other god that has ever done this without fail.

There may be people who have predicted the future, but often they speak “prophecy” in such vague terms that it can be considered fulfilled by almost anything. And they are never always correct. But the God of the Bible is not vague, and He is never wrong.

Testing Prophecy

When you mention Bible prophecy being fulfilled as it was written, you often hear people claim that those prophecies are vague. But that accusation is far from true.

A vague prophecy is something like saying, “One day a great leader will arise.” It only tells you what is going to happen. It does not provide any details like when or how. That is what makes a prophecy vague.

But the prophecies in the Bible are not vague. They often answer all of the following questions:

• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• Why
• How

If something is supposed to happen at a certain time, in a certain place, to a certain person, in a certain way, you can no longer call it a vague prophecy. You cannot force something to fit as the fulfillment of one prophecy without it violating another. You cannot simply apply the prophecies retroactively to events.

Understanding Bible Prophecy

It is important that we understand how to read prophecy. The Bible is sixty-six books written over centuries. Yet the prophecies contained within it are not isolated. A single verse may tell us where, but not tell us when. Another verse may tell us when, but not where. You cannot take one verse of prophecy without considering the rest of the prophecies on the subject as well.

They build upon one another, slowly telling us the story and building the complete picture long before it happens. One book may tell us there is a Messiah coming, while another tells us when.

If you try to read them in isolation, then you do not have a vague prophecy in front of you. You have incomplete knowledge of the prophecy.

Jesus In Prophecy

For example, the prophecies in the Bible about Jesus are incredibly detailed. But all of the information about Him is not given in one passage. It is spread throughout the entire Old Testament.

Let me show you how this works.

The Messiah’s Identity — WHO

This is one of the first clear prophecies that tells us someone special is coming. We see that He will be like Moses, who was both a prophet and a leader of the people. He would speak whatever God commanded, faithfully and completely. And anyone who does not listen to Him will be held accountable.

From that day forward, the people of Israel looked for a coming King who would also be a Prophet. But not just any prophet. He would have the authority of God Himself, to the point that those who disobey Him would be judged.

This could not be an ordinary man. The authority described here goes beyond that of an ordinary prophet or king. God says He Himself will require obedience to this coming ruler. This is something He never said of any king in the history of Israel. None except Jesus.

Through this one passage we can know several very specific things:

Who – A coming prophet-king from the people of Israel

What – He will rule with ultimate authority

Moses gives us one of the first parts of a much larger prophecy. But he does not yet tell us when, where, why, or how. We have some information about who He will be and what He will do, but not a complete picture. So, taken by itself, this prophecy is still incomplete. But it is not by itself.

The prophet Nathan adds to the prophecy of the coming King. This prophecy begins with David and tells him that his son Solomon will inherit the throne. But it does not end with Solomon. This throne would be established forever, long after Solomon was gone. So the coming prophet-king must come specifically from the family line of David.

This adds a new layer to the overall prophecy. We now narrow it down to the exact family line of the future king.

Who — A coming prophet-king from the people of Israel. Specifically from the family line of David.

The Messiah’s Arrival and Mission — WHAT and WHEN

Daniel adds another important layer to the overall prophecy.

This passage gives us significantly more information. I will not go into detail about how the term “week” refers to a period of seven years, as that is a topic for another time. But what I want you to notice is that we are now told when this Messiah, the coming prophet-king, would come and be “cut off.”

There were four decrees that went out to rebuild and restore Jerusalem. So some people may debate which one begins the countdown. But either way, it leaves only a few possible specific years in which the Messiah could fulfill this prophecy.

The four decrees that could have marked the beginning of the countdown are from:

Cyrus the Great — about 538/537 BC

Darius I — about 520/519 BC

Artaxerxes I to Ezra — about 458/457 BC

Artaxerxes I to Nehemiah — about 445/444 BC

A prophetic calendar year is 360 days long, so we need to do some math:

483 × 360 = 173,880

Now convert to solar years:

173,880 ÷ 365.2425 ≈ 476.07

So we are counting down approximately 476 solar years after conversion.

This means He must come at approximately one of the following times, depending on the starting point used:

• ~61 BC
• ~43 BC
• ~AD 19
• ~AD 32

That narrows the timing of this prophecy significantly. And the most commonly agreed time for the crucifixion of Jesus among biblical scholars is around AD 30–AD 33, even without using this prophecy as a guide.

Let’s summarize it:

Who – A coming prophet-king from the people of Israel, specifically from the family line of David

What – He will rule with ultimate authority

When – He will come and be “cut off,” meaning killed (Isaiah 53:8), in either ~61 BC, ~43 BC, ~AD 19, or ~AD 32

How – He will accomplish His mission through death

The Messiah’s Birthplace — WHERE

This passage tells us He will come specifically from the city of Bethlehem. It also reveals something greater: it describes the one coming as eternal—“from everlasting.”

Who – A coming prophet-king from the people of Israel, specifically from the family line of David, who is also the eternal God

What – He will rule with ultimate authority

Where – He will come out of Bethlehem

When – He will come and be “cut off” (killed) in either ~61 BC, ~43 BC, ~AD 19, or ~AD 32

How – He will accomplish His mission through death

The Messiah’s Death and Resurrection — HOW

Here we see another important part of the overall prophecy: He will die as a sacrifice for sin, yet He will still reign forever. This implies that He must also live again forever.

So let’s put it all together:

Who – A coming prophet-king from the people of Israel, specifically from the family line of David, who is also the eternal God

What – He will rule with ultimate authority

Where – He will come out of Bethlehem

When – He will come and be “cut off” (killed) in either ~61 BC, ~43 BC, ~AD 19, or ~AD 32

Why – To be a sacrifice for the sins of people

How – He will accomplish His mission through death, yet He will rule forever, indicating a resurrection

How can anyone say the prophecy of the coming Messiah is vague? These are only a few of the many details that prophecy gives us about Jesus. There are far more details in Scripture as well.

Historically Verified Bible Prophecy

The Bible does not only give us detailed prophecy about Jesus. It gives the same kind of clarity with the progression of world empires. In fact, Daniel gives us a step-by-step account of world empires, answering the same kinds of questions throughout the entire sequence.

He tells us Babylon is the first world empire, and that the next one would be Medo-Persia, answering the question of who would come next and when they would arise. Then comes Greece, which once again answers the questions of who and when. Finally, he tells us about a fourth empire that would be different and would consume the world. He explains that it would immediately follow Greece.

That is four world empires for which he gives both the “who” and the “when.” He also goes on to describe what they would be like, how they would come, and where they would exercise authority—all while he is living during the time of the king of Babylon, the very first empire.

If you want to know more details about his prophecies, feel free to view these pages in the course ahead of time:

Date of Writing of the Book of Daniel

The Prophecies of Daniel: A Timeline of World Empires (Part 1)

The Prophecies of Daniel: A Timeline of World Empires (Part 2)

The Prophecies of Daniel: A Timeline of World Empires (Part 3)

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks: Where the Timeline Paused

Daniel 11: The Kings of the North and South (Part 1: Fulfilled Prophecy)

The information in these links will explain why the common skeptical accusation that Daniel was written after the fact is false. It also highlights details in Daniel that are too precise for man to predict, along with the historical record that confirms their fulfillment.

There are many more prophecies that I have not even addressed here. But the fact remains that the prophecies in the Bible are anything but vague. Though there are debates, no prophecy examined in its proper context has actually been shown to be false or to have failed. And the ones that have not yet happened still have their appointed time.

Prophecy Fulfilled and Unfulfilled

To this day there are many prophecies that are fulfilled down to the specific details the Bible gives about them. But there are also some prophecies not yet fulfilled. The question is whether that means they failed, or whether it means they will be fulfilled later.

This is where the skeptic and the believer part ways on the subject. The skeptic withholds judgment until every last prophecy is fulfilled. The believer, however, is able to see the consistency and therefore has faith that the rest will be fulfilled in their time as well.

The religion of Judaism rejects Jesus for this very reason. They see the prophecies and notice that while Jesus fulfilled many of them, He did not fulfill them all—yet. But they do not always account for several details in those prophecies that indicate when they are supposed to happen.

The Scriptures do not tell us that everything must happen at one time. They give details indicating when some things will happen, and not all of what the Messiah was going to do was intended to occur in an unbroken sequence. Some passages specifically indicate that parts are intended for the future.

But when one of the prophesied future events is judgment on those who do not believe, it makes little sense to withhold belief until that judgment arrives.

So I encourage you to do your own research. Now that you know prophecy is not vague, you may want to take the time to read it yourself. I have given you the information and the tools you need to understand how it all fits together. So see for yourself if the God of the Bible truly has told us the end from the beginning.

When you see a verse that seems vague, ask yourself if there are other verses that complete the prophecy. Look into world history to see how it was fulfilled. And when you see a prophecy not yet fulfilled, ask yourself if there is reason to believe it is for the future, or if it actually gave a specific time that has already passed.

The God of the Bible has demonstrated His power over life and death. He has also told us the end from the beginning. And none of His words have failed when examined thoroughly. Truly, He is God alone.

But it’s time to move on from proving God to look at the Bible itself. Is it what it says it is? Is it really the word of God? Where did it come from? Lets find out!

Unit 1:9 – Does the Bible Claim to Be the Word of God? OR

Return To Christianity 101 Unit 1 – The Bible and Faith in God