Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 94:373 (Jan 1937)
Article: History Vindicates
Author: Charles Hoffmeister, Jr.

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BSac 94:373 (Jan 37) p. 95

History Vindicates

Charles Hoffmeister, Jr.

At the very beginning of this discussion it will be found helpful to define our terms so that there will be no misunderstanding. It may not seem necessary to define the term history, yet it may prove helpful so let us take the definition given in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary that history is “the branch of knowledge that records and explains past events.” The two words in this definition that are most important for us are “past” and “events.” History, then according to our definition, is concerned with events and not theories, with things that have actually happened and not with what might have happened. The other term which we must define in order that we will not be misunderstood in this article is “prophecy.” From the same dictionary we get this definition-“a declaration of something to come; prediction.” Again this has nothing to do with theories but with actualities. Also note carefully that it has to do with things yet future at the time of writing. This must be insisted upon because there is a correct interpretation of the word other than this, but such a meaning is not given to the word in this article.

Now that we have cleared the way for our discussion, let us first survey the field and then briefly outline the material we expect to cover. The purpose of this paper is to prove the trustworthiness of the Bible from the definite fulfillment of prophecy. “No one but God can know the future. ‘Who knoweth what a day may bring forth?’ If, therefore, predictions have been literally fulfilled, God only

BSac 94:373 (Jan 37) p. 96

could have inspired them. Then the only question is, Have any of the prophecies-or a sufficient number of them to establish a fact-been fulfilled?”1 To answer the question concerning the number of fulfilled prophecies we can only briefly state in a general way the nature and scope of them. Should the question arise concerning whether or not they were real fulfillments, we will answer it by three or four specific cases that cannot be denied. There may also be some reader who would be willing to grant that God, who alone could know the future, has spoken in the prophecies of the Bible and yet would not be convinced that the Bible was the only revelation of God, thinking that other religious books or writings contained predictions that have been fulfilled. Should there be someone laboring under this delusion let me say that “not one of them contains any predictions concerning the future. If the authors of these writings had attempted to foretell the future, they would have thereby furnished the strongest evidence of their deceptions. The Bible is the only book in the world which contain...

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