NONE SHALL FAIL

Jon Macon

 Isaiah 34:16 says, “Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it has commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.”  Only God has the power to declare what will happen in the future and then make it happen.  Isaiah 46:9-10 says, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”  Nothing that God has spoken has ever failed, nor will it ever fail.  Thus, fulfilled prophecy is one of the major tests by which we can distinguish between the word of God and the word of man.

An Old Testament test

Deuteronomy 18:21‑22 says, “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?  When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”  If a man’s foretelling of the future fails even one time, then he is revealed as a false prophet.  Being 99% accurate with prophecies is not sufficient.  For example, in the days of Jeremiah the prophet, a false prophet named Hananiah stood at the temple in Jerusalem and foretold that within two years, Israel would be free of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, the vessels of the temple would be returned, and King Jehoiakim and the other captives would also be returned from Babylon (Jer. 28:1-4).  Jeremiah replied to him, “The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him” (Jer. 28:8-9).  Of course, Hananiah’s prophecy failed, and he was exposed as a false prophet.  At the same time, Jeremiah was again proven to be a true prophet of God as he foretold that Hananiah would die during that year, and it came to pass as he said (Jer. 28:15-17).  By comparing whose prophecies have been fulfilled 100% of the time with not even one single failure, we know whose words will stand (Jer. 44:29).  God said that when His prophecies are fulfilled, “Ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it” (Ezek. 17:21).  “And when this comes, ye shall know that I am the Lord God” (Ezek. 24:24; see also Isa 46:9-11; 34:16; 41:21-29; Jer. 28:9; Ezek. 6:13-14; 30:8; 32:15; 35:15).

 Also a New Testament test

Fulfilled prophecy serving as proof of Divine inspiration was not limited to the Old Testament.  As fulfilled prophecies by Moses about Christ served to build faith (John 5:46-47), so also fulfilled prophecies by John the Baptist about Christ were designed to build faith (John 10:41-42).  And Christ himself foretold the future so that the fulfillment of his words would prove who he was.  In John 13:18-19, as the Lord foretold who would betray him, he said, “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.”  Fulfilled prophecy about the resurrection caused the disciples to believe (John 2:18-22).  Christ said to his disciples, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe” (John 14:29).  Only 100% accuracy in foretelling the future is a “passing grade” for a prophet.  God and the Bible pass 100%, but no other beliefs or writings do.  Only the 66 books of the Bible are the inspired word of God.  Everything else is the word of man, no matter what any man claims.  Because only God’s word never fails.