I hate those game shows, whether they are surviving, running obstacle courses, or whatever they are doing, where they put people on the show and have them start making predictions about how they are the next great… whatever they say they are going to be. They all say it, and I’m sure they all believe it. And then all but one of them gets embarrassed because they have talked a big game but then there is little that stands behind what they have said.
I don’t know – is it a special kind of person who can stand in front of a camera, in front of a show that will be broadcast to millions of people, and declare that they will do it? I can’t even imagine being willing to allow those words to come out of my mouth. Maybe it is just that type of person that the producers of those shows look for when they are casting the shows. In any case, it is amazing to me.
The truth is that most of the time, when a person declares that they are going to do something, they are probably going to fail, or it will turn out quite differently than what they originally thought. We can describe a vision for what we would like to do, but we can rarely accomplish the vision in precisely the way that we imagine.
On the other hand, we also see these types of predictions throughout the Bible. When they come from God, they come true in precisely the way that he predicts. Here is an example from a time that God made a prediction to Joshua as they fought the people who were in the land of Canaan.
The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them, slain, over to Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.”
Joshua 11:6
God makes a prediction because he has full knowledge of the past, present, and the future. He has the ability to see all things in all time. And he is the only one who can. The predictions that God makes come true, even if the fulfillment is long in coming, God will bring it to a conclusion.
Another example? How about this one from Isaiah 43 that was even fulfilled within the last 80 years?
But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth —everyone who is called by my name,
Isaiah 43:1-7
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made. ”
Do you see it? Through Isaiah God is saying that his people, the Israelites, who were scattered throughout the earth as a judgment and punishment for their sin, will be gathered back together once again. That didn’t happen until Israel was brought together again as a nation in 1947.
Of course, I think that this prophecy speaks to more than just the nation of Israel. As the Lord says that he will gather his people from the north, south, east, and west, he is talking about the blessing of God, the new covenant, being available to all nations. Yet it does also speak to the fact that God’s chosen people will be gathered back together again. He will accomplish this. He will do it. And he has done it, even in our lifetime.
We need to know the one who will do these things. We need to know him who keeps his promises. Men will fail, but in God we will succeed if we follow him and do as he calls us to do because his plans will succeed as they always have.