THE TALES THAT DEAD MEN TELL

Some years ago a minister of the gospel went into an industrial center to give some Bible
lectures. He was there only a short time when he noticed an article in the local newspaper
ridiculing Christians for believing in the divinity of Christ. This minister believed firmly in
the divinity of Christ, and he also believed that the authenticity of the Bible could be
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proven by THE TALES THAT DEAD MEN TELL. So he wrote a letter to the newspaper
editor giving two or three reasons why he was certain that Jesus was the divine Son of God.

A group of men had formed a rationalist club. They would get together and laugh at Christians for
believing in the Bible. A number of letters had been submitted to the newspaper from time to time, so
it was not surprising that yet another letter appeared challenging the minister to debate the authenticity
of the Bible in its columns. The minister told them he would be delighted to accept their challenge, and
then counter-challenged them to accept God’s challenge made some 2700 years ago.

Being a bit curious the group writing against the Bible said, “All right, you give us the challenge and
let us think about it.” Now this is the challenge which is found in Isaiah 41:22-23 “... Declare us
things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods ...”
As far as has been ascertained, no atheist, infidel, scientist, philosopher, or unbeliever of any kind has
ever attempted to answer that challenge, for none can foretell the future.

One thing that human beings cannot do is foretell the future. If they could there would not be so much
money lost at the race tracks, however this Book guarantees it can tell the future. Approximately one-
third of the Bible is prophecy. There are over 1000 distinct prophecies, reaching not merely years and
centuries into the future, but thousands of years into the future. Just one failure in all of these
prophecies would prove that the Bible cannot tell the beginning from the end.

God said He would take heathen powers and prove His Word. Friends, that is just what He did. Let us
read Isaiah 13:19-20, “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. “IT SHALL NEVER BE INHABITED...”
People sometimes say that it all depends on the interpretation you give a text, but there is no
interpretation to be given to this text, for it is just a plain statement. God says He will take Babylon
and throw her down and she shall never be inhabited.

Isaiah 13:20 says, “...NEITHER SHALL IT BE DWELT IN FROM GENERATION TO

GENERATION...” In other words, Babylon will never again be rebuilt. It will be thrown down and
remain uninhabited. How did the prophet know that? By all intents and purposes Babylon should
have remained inhabited. Do you know why? It is because Babylon was built on a perfectly flat,
fertile, and well-watered plain. It was river silt, an ideal place for irrigation and yet, friends, it is today
as bare as this floor, as far as the eye can see. Why? BECAUSE GOD SAID IT WOULD BE.

This is the great plain of Shinar where the people refused to believe God and where the tower of Babel
was built. You remember how God confused their languages and ruined the tower so that they had to
discontinue the project. It was here that Nimrod built the City of Babylon and introduced sun worship,
Satan’s counterfeit system of worship. There is nothing left of that wonderful city of Babylon but

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ruins. Why was this city so completely destroyed, never to be rebuilt again? It is because they
introduced this abominable sun worship to the world.

The train coming up from the Persian Gulf to Baghdad used to stop at Babylon, but it does not stop
there any more. There's just a little siding with the name on a sign board, but there's not even anything
worth photographing. The only things left are a few excavations of the hanging gardens and the ruins
of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace with an occasional image. There are also Babylonian lions on some of the
ruins. You remember that Daniel, in a vision, saw a lion representing Babylon. As you wander about
you find thousands of bricks with the name Nebuchadnezzar on them.

There is still more to the prophecy. In Isaiah 13:20 we read, “... neither shall the Arabian pitch tent
there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there ...” The Arabs were a nomad people at the
height of Babylonian glories, and they still wander about with their camels just as they did then. The
Babylonians are gone; you will never meet one. How did God know that today there would not be a
Babylonian in existence, yet the Arabs would still be there?

Let's read more of the prophecy about Babylon in Isaiah 13:21. “But wild beasts of the desert shall lie
there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall
dance there”. You will find huge eagles, quite a number of jackals, foxes and bats inhabiting the once
heavily populated and beautiful city. Now I would like to ask you, has this prophecy concerning
Babylon been fulfilled? Surely dead men do tell tales! God is using these heathen witnesses to prove
the Bible is true.

In Jeremiah 51:58 we read, “Thus saith the Lord; the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly
broken...” For centuries after this prophecy was written, the walls of Babylon were among the seven
wonders of the world. They were built to stand forever. The architects really knew their business.
How could the prophet have known that those walls would be completely demolished? After all, the
Great Wall of China is still standing and it is much older. It was God who revealed this to his prophet.

Jeremiah 51:26 says, “... THOU SHALT BE DESOLATE FOREVER, SAITH THE LORD.” Four
hundred years after Christ, the historian, Orosius, wrote, “This very city, Babylon, which was the
greatest and first of all cities, is now the least and most desolate.” Some prophecies take thousands of
years for fulfillment, but this one was fulfilled in a matter of centuries. Babylon is gone and only
crumbling ruins remain. No one can possibly be induced to stay there for even one night. It is indeed
DESOLATE FOREVER.

We read further in Jeremiah 51:26 “...And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, not stone for
foundations ... saith the Lord.” Babylon was built of sun-dried bricks and it would have been very
simple to use these sturdy bricks to rebuild the city, but no one has done this. Other cities have been
destroyed and rebuilt time after time; but God said this city would never be rebuilt. How did Jeremiah
know that the Arabs would prefer to live in tents rather than make use of all that wonderful building
material?

God says in Jeremiah 50:10, 26, & 37, “And Chaldea shall be a spoil ... OPEN HER STOREHOUSES:
cast her up as heaps ... a sword is upon her treasures; and THEY SHALL BE ROBBED.” Other cities
were captured and looted but once, however this prophecy implies that Babylon would suffer from

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repeated vandalism. Nothing like this was ever said of Tyre or Nineveh. Cyrus took huge treasures
when he captured Babylon. Xerxes is said to have taken 150 million dollars in gold alone. Alexander
gave the equivalent of $50 to every one of his soldiers from the Babylonian ruins.

Jeremiah 51:37 says, “Arid Babylon shall become heaps...” Layard, pioneer excavator, found that in
1845 this condition existed, “Shapeless heaps of rubbish cover for many an acre the face of the land
...” Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, Chap. 21, p. 413. Rome, while never such a marvelous city, has
been in existence about 3,000 years. Through the centuries many robbers have dug in the ruins
searching for treasures, leaving today's Babylon nothing more than heaps of debris.

Picture Jerusalem stuck away up there on a rocky ridge. You would not give $5 for ten acres of such
land, and yet it has been overthrown and rebuilt over and over again. How does it happen that the city
of Babylon, which is located in a fertile plain, with an abundance of water, has never been rebuilt?
Why did the entire country surrounding the ruins of Babylon become a howling wilderness and remain
so through the ages? Only wild beasts inhabit her. Even the Arabs will not remain there when night
falls. There is absolutely no reason except that God said it would be this way.

Now, just a word about the Arabs. As you will remember, they are the descendants of Abraham's son
Ishmael. Abraham had to send Ishmael and his mother Hagar away after Isaac was born, but he prayed
that God would spare his life. In Genesis 16:11-12 God said to Abraham “... Thou shalt call his name
Ishmael. And he will be a wild man and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the
presence of all his brethren.” In Genesis 17:20 God promises, “... AND I WILL MAKE HIM A
GREAT NATION.”

Of the Arabs, Dr. Thomas Newton says, “The great empires around them have all in their turns fallen
to ruin, while they have continued the same from the beginning.” (Dissertations on the Prophecies, 2).
These Arabs wander over the ruins of Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre and Palyrma while not a single
inhabitant of those cities remains. At one time these Arabs, known as the Saracens, made rapid
conquests into the countries around them, and were indeed known as “A GREAT NATION.”

Not only Babylon but other Chaldean cities were to be in ruins. Not many years ago skeptics were
telling us that no such places as Ur of the Chaldees ever existed, that the story of Abraham and Terah
leaving the place was just folklore. THE DUST OF AGES IS A GOOD HISTORIAN, and now the
archaeologists have unearthed the ancient city of Ur. They have located the foundations of that mighty
city, and tell us that the homes were luxurious two-story buildings with 13 or 14 rooms. Ur was really
a very sophisticated city with education and great wealth.

The British Museum sent an expedition led by Dr. Wooly to excavate some of the many mounds
scattered across the plain. The excavators had no idea that this particular mound was Ur of the
Chaldees until they began to dig. The Bible says that they baked their bricks thoroughly and used
slime for mortar. The word translated slime really means bitumen and you will find the bitumen
between the bricks just as the Bible says. Now the whole country is just a barren wilderness, but when
Abraham was told to leave there it was a beautiful, fruitful plain. God wanted Abraham to leave Ur
because of the great wickedness in that city. Here sun worship had been introduced from Babylon and
it became the very center of that Satanic form of worship. You can still see the Ziggurat where human
sacrifices were offered to the moon goddess. They called her the Queen of Heaven and Abraham no

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doubt watched the priests climb those very steps day after day with their screaming victims. It was a
solid brick structure, but it has crumbled away so that not much remains today.

Do not be misled and think that all old cities are finally utterly destroyed, for this is certainly not true.
Let us take another look at Jerusalem. It is one of the oldest cities in the world. It has been sacked and
destroyed over and over again. The name Jerusalem means the CITY OF PEACE, but it has scarcely
ever known peace. Nebuchadnezzar captured the city of Jerusalem three times; Alexander took it in
B.C. 331; Antiochus Epiphanes captured the city, and then Pompey, Crassus and the Parthians.

Jerusalem was besieged for five months by Titus before it was overthrown. It went down in the
greatest deluge of blood and smoke the world has ever seen. It has been said that in the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus there were well over a million Jews that perished. Josephus says
that the blood was running ankle deep down the temple steps, and since the time of the Romans it has
been sacked many times. Twice its walls were overthrown and once its very foundation was torn up
and a plow was drawn right across it. But strange to say, it has ALWAYS been rebuilt.

Now, let us consider another city, the ancient metropolis of Nineveh. You all remember the story of
Jonah and how God sent him with a warning message to the exceedingly great city of Nineveh. It was
surrounded by walls one hundred feet high with 1,500 watch towers, making it utterly impregnable.
Nineveh, a thing of beauty, was also a center of crime and wickedness. The repentance shown at the
time of Jonah’s warning was very temporary and they soon returned to their fraud, obscenity, idolatry,
and iniquity of all kinds.

We will notice seven prophecies concerning this city. Nahum 1:10, “While they are drunken as
drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.” The heathen historian, Diodorus Siculus,
relates that the king was so elated with former victories that he abandoned himself to scandalous
inaction and appointed a time of festivity. The enemy, hearing of their negligence and drunkenness,
attacked the Assyrian army “WHILE THEY ARE DRUNKEN AS DRUNKARDS” and overcame
them. Thus Bible prophecy is again fulfilled in every detail.

The second prophecy to be considered is in Nahum 1:8, “But with an overrunning flood he will make
an utter end of the place thereof ...” Again in Nahum 2:6, “The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and
the palace shall be dissolved.” God says that he will destroy Nineveh with a flood. The Tigris River
dam had been built in such a way that it could be controlled with great gates. This dam had been in
use for 2,000 years. With the great wall about the city, Nineveh proudly defied the world. It was when
this invading army camped against the city that the Tigris flooded its banks for the first time in human
history. It broke through its gates and swept away a part of the walls. Just as the Bible says, it was
“overthrown by a flood.”

The third prophecy is found in Nahum, 1:15 “There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee
off ...” Fire and sword were the forces by which God had said He would destroy the city. According
to the historian, Diodorus, Siculus, the king of Nineveh, knew of the prophecy about the river. Giving
up in despair, he gathered all his wives and children into the palace and set fire to it, consuming the
city as well. God said it would be destroyed by fire and the prophecy was fulfilled.

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The fourth prophecy is in Nahum 1:14, “... I will make thy grave for thou art vile.” In Nahum 3:11, we
read “... THOU SHALT BE HID ...” Nineveh was to be buried. In the first century after Christ,
Lucian wrote, “There is no trace of her remaining now, would you be able to tell where she stood? ...”
Charon, par. 23. The silent years rolled by. The winds blew the dust over the remains of the once
magnificent city until it was so completely buried that even its existence was questioned.

The fifth prophecy of Nineveh found in Zephaniah 2:13 says, “And he will make Nineveh a
desolation, and dry like a wilderness.” Where the great Sennacherib had his beautiful ivory palace is
now only a mound of dirt. Not many years ago Albert Barnes, Presbyterian commentator, said that no
one on earth knew where Nineveh was located; but since then archaeologists have unearthed Nineveh.
When they first started excavating in that vicinity, every city that was discovered was declared to be
Nineveh; but with the deciphering of the Assyrian tablets, they found beyond question the exact
location of the city.

The sixth prophecy in Zephaniah 2:14 says, “And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her ...” Here is
a picture of a poor Arab with his goats and sheep grazing among the ruins of the great palace of
Sennacherib. It has become just as the Bible says, a place for the grazing of flocks. Isn't it strange? A
shepherd would not dare to take his flock into the Babylonian ruins, but are perfectly safe among the
ruins of Nineveh. The only reason that can be given for this is that the Bible says it would be this
way. Remarkable as these prophecies are, the Bible goes even further. One more prophecy, the
seventh that we shall consider, has been fulfilled. Nahum 3:6 says, “And I will cast abominable filth
upon thee, and make thee vile, and WILL SET THEE AS A GAZING STOCK.” God said that
Nineveh would be buried under all that dirt and filth and it was. It was buried so well that it was
centuries before it was even found. Now if you go to the Museum in London you will see people
gazing, gazing, gazing at what has been dug out of Nineveh. It has truly become a gazing stock. God
is using these heathen cities as witnesses to prove that the Bible is true.

That stone slab taken from the ruins of Nineveh is in the British Museum today. There you also have
the king of Nineveh. You will notice the captive king bowing at his feet and the name of that king
written in that strange uniform writing of the Assyrians, which archaeologists can read so plainly
today. The Bible is certain in a very uncertain world. It can give us joy and peace that we cannot get
from the world. The Bible is sure; its prophecies are certain. Anyone who does not believe the Bible
has not faced the abundance of evidence. No matter where we turn, it is the same story. The very
rocks cry out that the Bible is true.

Twenty-five thousand books of baked clay tablets, some with such fine writing that a magnifying glass
was needed to read them, were discovered in the library unearthed in Nineveh. They consisted of
dictionaries, poems, letters, medical prescriptions, and historical facts. Some of these tablets told of
certain kings of Israel and heathen kings mentioned in the Bible; while others confirmed the story of
creation and the flood. Comparing these with the Word of God, one is impressed by the singular
accuracy of the Scriptures. The Bible deals with facts and the ruins of the past confirm its authenticity.

Now, let us see what God says about the future of two great nations, the Edomites and the Israelites.
When the twins, Jacob and Esau, were born to Isaac, God told him that each would become a great
nation. So, side by side they grew to become powerful and many. Now, prophecy says that the land
would become desolate and that one of these nations, the descendants of Esau,the Edomites, would

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perish from the earth while the other, the Jews, the descendants of Jacob, would remain a distinct
living people scattered throughout the world.

Let us read these prophecies. Seven hundred years before Christ the Edomites were a great nation, but
in Obadiah 18 we are told, “ ... There shall not be ANY REMAINING of the house of Esau; for the
Lord hath spoken it.” De Hass says, “So far as is known, not an Edomite today is to be found in all the
world.” (Buried Cities Recovered.) Of the Israelite nation in Leviticus 26:33 we read, “And I will
SCATTER YOU AMONG THE HEATHEN, ...and your land shall be desolate, and your cities
waste.” How truly this has been fulfilled. There is no nation on earth today that doesn't have its
Jewish population.

In Jeremiah 46:27 God says of the Jews, “I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven
thee: but I will not make a full end of thee.” Those nations mentioned in the Bible as coexistent with
the Israelites at the time they entered Canaan are now extinct. At one time the critics of the Bible used
this fact to try to prove that the historical parts of the Bible were not inspired and that these nations
never existed. How about the Jews? Craetz, the Jewish historian, says, “Though scattered over the
face of the globe, we are still one people.” History of the Jews, Vol. V, p. 487. Just as God said it
would be, the Edomites are an unknown nation today and the Jews are everywhere.

Not so long ago skeptics ridiculed the story of the Edomites. They insisted that if there had been
Edomites at any time in this earth’s history you would surely find relics of them and their cities. No
Christian was able to answer them. They had to accept the Bible by faith. There was no evidence that
what the Bible said was true concerning the Edomites. Not even one city could be located, but today
we know that the Bible record is true, for at least 3,000 palaces, dwellings, and temples have been
unearthed.

Now, let me tell you how the Edomite ruins were discovered. While excavating Nineveh, one tablet
was found and on this the king of Nineveh boasted that he had captured a certain city of the Edomites.
So, in 1812 the British Archaeologist Society sent a Swiss explorer in to try to find the city. This
Swiss mountaineer befriended some Arabs and one of them told him that through that narrow crevice
in that mountain over there he would find some wonderful ruins. The Arab could not go because he
was terrified. However, the Swiss, disguised as an Arab riding his little donkey and leading a goat,
supposedly for an offering on Mount Hor, made his way through the narrow crevice in the mountain
wall.

Thus, the wonderful city of Petra was discovered, the stronghold of the Edomites, in the far distant
past. This is what it says in Obadiah 4, “... Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set
thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down...” Petra, natural fortress, was the only city that
Alexander the Great did not conquer. As you enter this enclosure, the first thing you see is the
beautiful temple carved out of the solid rock, which varies in color from rose to yellow to purple. All
around the enclosure are pillars left from that magnificent city, which was entirely carved out of the
solid mountainside. Those great edifices were surely built like eagle’s nests, as God said.

In Isaiah 34:5,10,13 we are told, “For my sword shall... come down upon IDUMEA (EDOM) ... from
generation to generation it SHALL LIE WASTE ... And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles
and brambles in her fortresses...” Lord Hamilton says of Petra, “Thistles, prickly plants, and nettles

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grow... There were nettles in the only palace that the once proud Petra remains erect.” The city that
once covered the valley floor has been worn away by time, but far up the sides of the encircling
mountains are left imperishable records of the truth of the Word of God. The proud city lies waste with
nettles and brambles in her palaces as was predicted.

In Isaiah 34:11 we read, “ ... he shall stretch out upon it... the stones of emptiness.” In Jeremiah 49:13
it says, “all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.” Some have been wondering how people could
live in such a wilderness. But remember, it was not a wilderness back in the days of the Edomites, for
there had to be about 600,000 people in that city at one time just to do the work that was required in
erecting such a city. God said that the place would come under a curse and become a desolation. It is
surely true. “Stones of emptiness” could not better describe these ruins.

In Obadiah 1,3, & 4 we read, “Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom ... thou that swellest in the
clefts of the rocks, whose habitation is on high; ... thence will I bring thee down...” Petra was their
most important city, known in the Bible as Selah, meaning rock. Petra is the Greek name for rock.
These great palaces were carved out of the solid rock all around the small valley. The only entrance to
the city was through the crack in the rocks, with great cliffs towering up anywhere from 200 to 1200
feet in height. If it was so well protected, why did the Edomites become extinct? The reason is they
were so wicked that God foretold this calamity would befall them.

Let us consider another great nation. The glories of the ancient kingdom of Egypt can best be
imagined by a look at the inestimable wealth in gold and jewels found in the tomb of King Tut just 700
miles up the Nile River. After viewing all of this glittering gold, one can realize what is meant by the
TREASURE OF EGYPT, that was voluntarily left by Moses when he led the Israelites out of
bondage. The four chariots from Tut’s tomb were completely covered with gold, and over the face of
the mummy was a mask of solid gold. All this was buried with just one king.

Years ago, skeptics, trying to discredit the Bible, claimed that the account of the building of the
sanctuary in the wilderness could not possibly be true. They said there was not enough gold in the
whole world as is said to have been put into the sanctuary at that time. They argued that there were no
gold mines in Egypt and gold was practically unknown at that time. However, just one tomb of an
Egyptian king contained enough gold to astonish the entire world. Think of the many Pharaohs whose
tombs have been robbed during the ages and you'll have some idea of the wealth and importance of the
Egyptian nation.

As you travel through Egypt today and look at the overwhelming grandeur of the departed glory that
was hers, these enormous relics of a dead past, although cold, massive and forbidding, tell a story.
Truth outlives empires and there is much buried evidence in Egypt that the Bible is true. Seventy
seven pyramids lift up their heads above the desert wastes. One of these required two and a half
million blocks of stone in its construction and one hundred thousand slaves working steadily for
twenty years to complete it. All tell of the might and grandeur of ancient Egypt, an amazing evidence
of the inspiration of the Bible.

In Ezekiel 29:15 God tells us, “And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt ... It shall be the BASEST
OF THE KINGDOMS: neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I WILL DIMINISH
THEM, that they shall no more rule over the nations.” Let us not forget that Ezekiel lived at a time

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when Egypt was a mighty power. She had a line of kings such as no other nation, and it seemed she
would last forever. In 600 B.C. when this prophecy was written Egypt was eminent in science, art,
luxury and magnificence. Her prosperity seemed unending.

Again, in Ezekiel 30:12-13, God says, “And I will ... sell the land into the hand of the wicked; and I
will make the land waste, and all that is therein, BY THE HAND OF STRANGERS... and there shall
be no more prince in the land of Egypt.” Six hundred years after these prophecies were uttered, Egypt
was still a very powerful nation, and for six hundred more years, Alexandria was the first city of the
world in rank of commerce and prosperity. When Rome was founded, Egypt was already 2,000 years
old. Finally, Rome was conquered by the barbarian hosts, but Egypt still continued as a great nation.

Egypt began her decline. Though gradual, it has been continuous. The historian Volney says,
“Deprived two thousand three hundred years ago of her natural proprietors, she has seen her fertile
fields successively a prey to the Persians, the Macedonians, the Romans, the Greeks, the Arabs, the
Georgians, and at length the race of Partars distinguished by the name of Ottoman Turks.” The
country has been condemned to perpetual servitude under the arbitrary dominion of strangers. During
these hundreds of years, Egypt has had no prince of her own. It has always been ruled by strangers.

Not only were prophecies given concerning this nation, but specific cities are mentioned. In Ezekiel
30:13 (ARV) we are told, “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: “I will destroy the idols and I will cause the
images to cease from Memphis.” Now, it is strange that Memphis, known as the great temple city of
Egypt, should cease to have images; especially since it never rains in that part of the country and all
things are so well preserved. The other cities have been dug up and have an abundance of images
which are in a state of good preservation.

Miss Amelia B. Edwards, Egyptologist, says, “And this is all that remains of Memphis, eldest of cities;
a few rubbish heaps, a dozen or so of broken statues, and a name!” A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, p.
97. Six hundred years after the prophecy concerning Memphis was uttered, the city still flourished.
Twelve hundred years after, it was the residence of the governor of Egypt, and eighteen hundred years
after, an Arabian traveler told of the wonders of that city. However, today it is just as God said it
would be. There are no images in those ancient ruins.

Once President McKinley declared, “History is the unrolled scroll of prophecy.” The ruins of other
ancient capitals also testify to the marvelous accuracy of the Scriptures. Tyre is an excellent example.
Tyre grew in importance for 2,000 years until she was mistress of the sea as was Babylon of the land.
She was the commercial center of the world. Carthage, the rival of Rome, was only a colony of Tyre.
Tyre, the beautiful, the rich, the learned, was the London of Assai at that time. Ships from all nations
anchored in her beautiful harbor and their passengers bartered in her streets.

In 590 B.C., while Tyre was at the height of her glory and power, and it seemed she would stand
forever, God sent a message of her downfall. In Ezekiel 26:3-4 we read, “Behold, I . . . will cause
many nations to come up against thee ... And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her
towers...” Immediately after this message of warning, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre and after thirteen
years of effort took the city, destroying it, and wrecking fearful vengeance on buildings and people.
Now some have argued that the prophecy was written after the city was besieged, but as you will see
there is more to the prophecy.

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 Let us read in Ezekiel 26:4-5, “I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a
rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea...” While the ruins of the old
city remained after Nebuchadnezzar had taken full vengeance, it seemed that the rest of the prophecy
would never be fulfilled. A new city of Tyre was built out on an island not far from shore. Two and a
half centuries passed and the prophecy had not yet been fulfilled. The ruins of old Tyre still remained.
It surely looked as if God had not accurately foretold the future in this case, as He claimed He could,
but in 332 B.C., Alexander the Great marched swiftly to attack the new Tyre. He was so angered
when he reached the shore and saw that the city was a half mile out in the Mediterranean that he
speedily formed and vigorously executed another plan of attack. He took the walls, towers, timbers,
ruined houses and palaces of ancient Tyre and with them built a solid causeway to the island city. So
great was the demand for material that the very dust was scraped from the site and laid in the sea.

Thus, the rest of the prophecy was fulfilled. Ezekiel 26:12, “...THEY SHALL LAY THY STONES,
AND THY TIMBER AND THY DUST in the midst of the water.” There is another phase of this
prophecy in Zechariah 9:4, “...she shall be devoured with fire.” The island city was ruthlessly reduced
to ashes by Alexander. Thus, by one military stroke, both prophecies were signally fulfilled as given
centuries before.

God further predicts in Ezekiel 26:14, “ ..THOU SHALT BUILD HER NO MORE, for I the Lord have
spoken it.” This is indeed a challenge. Twenty-four centuries have passed and the site of ancient Tyre
is still a barren rock. A few granite columns lying broken and strewn amid the rocks is the island city
of Tyre. Every day that Tyre remains in utter ruin and fishermen continue to dry nets there, the
statement of skeptics is disproved. Only Bible writers have been able to foretell with perfect accuracy
events 2,000 years in the future. With gallons of water from gushing springs and fertile fields
stretching to the mountains, why has this city not been rebuilt? Because the Lord said it would not be.

But what about her sister city Sidon? This city was declining in power for centuries while Tyre built
up in strength. In 351 B.C. Sidon was taken by Artaxerxes and destroyed. Nothing seemed more
obvious than utter oblivion, but Sidon still remains today with about 10,000 population. God says in
Ezekiel 28:22-23 (ARV), “...Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon... For I will send pestilence into her,
and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her with the sword upon her on
every side...” In spite of the fact that no city on earth, with possibly the exception of Jerusalem, has
had so much suffering and has been so often destroyed and rebuilt, Sidon has had an uninterrupted
existence down to the present.

While here on earth, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away.” There were no reporters to take down the words of Jesus nor daily papers to print His
sermons. God has preserved His Word through twenty centuries and it has not weakened nor lessened
in its power. Translated into over one thousand languages spoken by over 15 million men and women,
no other book has been so generally read, so greatly loved, so ardently propagated, so widely
distributed, so certain of its results, and so powerful in its influence.

If the Bible was a forgery or an imposition, could it accomplish what it does wherever it goes? A lying
forgery has no power to transform human lives into the likeness of the Divine. Lying, lustful,
murdering idolaters cannot be changed by the millions into honest, peaceable, virtuous men by telling
them a great lie. Among all races it exercises its astonishing power. In all languages it is glorified. It

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is taken to savage, cannibal islands and converts head hunters into civilized nations. It transforms
barbarians into peaceful, law-abiding citizens.

About 40 men, in different lands and languages, wrote 66 books over a period of 1500 years in order
to give us our Bibles. Collusion and conspiracy were impossible. One writer was a leader of Israel,
one an exile in Babylon, one a herdsman, one a cup bearer, one a shepherd boy who became a king;
some were rulers, others subjects, some rich, others poor, some educated, others untaught and still their
writings all agree in every particular. They wrote in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic on every
subject including history, biography, poetry, speeches, proverbs, predictions, parables, romances, and
tragedies. The Bible must be of superhuman origin to have been produced in this way.

The Bible is the only Book that has never been outdated or superseded. Some say that the Bible is an
old Book that is out of date, that it was only good for the Dark Ages; that there is some good history in
it but that it is not intended for the present time. You might as well say that the sun which has shone
for so long is now old and out of date or because we have electricity there is no need to put windows in
our houses. Those are rather silly ideas, but no more so than the idea that the Bible is outmoded.

There are a lot of things in the Bible that I do not understand, but I believe the Bible just the same. I
do not understand anything about logarithms but does that make them any less accurate? I cannot
possibly understand the light years they talk about in Astronomy but light still travels 186,000 miles
per second. Can you explain how the same kind of food turns into flesh, hair, feathers, hoofs or
fingernails according to who eats it?

One man insisted that he never believed anything that he could not see. How I would like to ask him,
“Have you seen your brain?”

R. A. Torrey says, “The Bible ... presents to us the most profound, the most coherent, the most
consistent, the most comprehensive, the most complete, the most perfectly balanced, the most certain,
the loftiest and the most enduring system of philosophy EVER DISCOVERED.” Discovered instead
of devised, for no human could devise philosophy that could withstand ridicule from would-be critics
and still stand unscathed during the storms of centuries. Philosophies, empires, schools of thought
have passed away but the Bible is still here.

This is part I of a 21-part Prophecy Lecture series.

If you wish to obtain a Free copy of the other 20 issues, call 701 780 2000 or write to: Dr. Noah N. Chelliah, Heart
Institute of North Dakota, Ltd. 1191 South Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58201. You may email me at
nchelliah@heartnd.net if you want me to email the articles to you.

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