All of us would call Sam’s prediction a fluke, but how many times would Sam need to be right before you’d start to take him seriously. After two or three consecutive successes, his friends would be taking him to the local betting agency. In reality, the odds of guessing an AFL game score perfectly just once is rare. Doing it five times straight is so ridiculously unlikely, I can’t imagine that has ever happened. If someone had actually pulled it off, you’d probably conclude it was a brilliant trick rather than plain dumb luck.

Given the constant deception levelled at us by politicians, media outlets, and the internet, it's only natural that we have become guarded about what we believe. In fact, this healthy scepticism is a survival mechanism required for modern life. To truly believe in a modern day prophet, we would need firsthand exposure; a “Sam” in our lives, who can successfully predict week after week. Even then, sceptics would be looking for deception, and with one incorrect prediction Sam would become a complete fraud.

According to the landmark study, The Encyclopaedia of Biblical Prophecy by theologian J. Barton Payne, there are 8,352 verses in the Bible that contain predictive material, which accounts for roughly 27% of the entire Bible. That is an incredible amount of scripture dedicated to the future, suggesting it’s something we should take more seriously. While there is a lot of prophecy yet to unfold, much of Bible prophecy has already taken place in our history, giving us the opportunity to check that facts for ourselves, and it suggests our friend Sam has a long way to go yet.

Rather than regurgitate numbers and probabilities beyond comprehension, let’s deep dive into a specific prophecy that has been verified by historians and scholars, allowing you to weigh the evidence and make up your own mind. Ezekiel 26:1-14, is a famous prophecy predicting a staged demise of ancient Tyre, but before we do let's understand who they actaully were.

By 586BC, Ezekiel had been in Babylon captivity for eleven years. After failing to make the Israelite people a subservient colony, King Nebuchadnezzar decided to return to Jerusalem a third and final time to completely destroy it, by flattening its walls and burning the Temple to the ground. When Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC, Tyre openly celebrated as this gave them a monopoly on all lucrative regional trade routes.

Tyre was and ancient superpower at the time, very wealthy and the undisputed merchant trading capital of the Mediterranean. Ancient Phoenicia was made up of independent city-states, and Tyre was its powerhouse. The people were a civilisation of master mariners and traders controlling global trade routes and had established wide spread colonies, including the famous Carthage. Tyre was more than just a coastal city; it was its own completely sovereign, wealthy nation.

They held a strict monopoly on the highly coveted purple dye harvested from the local Murex sea snail. This vibrant dye was so incredibly expensive, only royalty could afford it. They traded in British tin, Spanish silver, Egyptian linen and Arabian spices. If any nation wanted to buy luxury goods, they had to go through Tyre.

The city itself was split into two distinct sections. On the mainland there was vibrant bustling suburb, while the main city was located on an island about half a mile off the coast. The island was a fortress surrounded by massive 150-foot-high walls that dropped vertically into the sea. Tyre had a strong naval presence, and it was virtually impossible for land based superpowers like Babylon, Assyria or Egypt to conquer the island from the coast.

Initially Israel and Tyre were close trading partners; Tyre even provided the famous cedar wood and master builders for Solomon’s Temple. However, as Israel weakened Tyre saw them as opportunity for profit. They would exploit the smaller neighbouring nations, including selling captured Israelites into slavery. They had previously survived invading nations by paying them protection.

Culturally, Tyre was the centre of Baal and Ashtoreth worship. This was a deeply materialistic and idolatrous culture that heavily influenced and corrupted Israel. Because of this, the Bible prophets viewed Tyre as the ultimate symbol of secular pride and human arrogance.

This is the environment under which Ezekiel’s prophecy was delivered.

After Nebuchadnezzar had razed Jerusalem he marched his forces up the coast towards Tyre. He travelled with a massive, traditional land army consisting of heavy cavalry, siege engines, and infantry. Tyre was aware Babylon would be arriving soon and were able to move valuables from the mainland to the island stronghold.

Babylon quickly destroyed the mainland settlement and dug in for a gruelling, thirteen-year-long siege against the island fortress. Nebuchadnezzar built massive siege walls along the coast, blocking off the Island's landward side, and bombarded whatever fortifications he could reach, but was never able to breach the city. Eventually, the King of Tyre signed a treaty, paid a large amount in taxes and accepted Babylonian authority. Nebuchadnezzar left without what we would consider “plunder”. The island city was left standing, untouched, proud, and pretty much exactly as it had been.

Ezekiel’s prophecy in verses 7-11, the Nebuchadnezzar narrative; accurately matches what actually happened with specific mention of the mainland suburb. However, at this point the vast majority of the prophecy remains unfulfilled. So far, we have only seen one nation attack, there has been no throwing of stones and timber into the sea, no scraping to bare rock, no drying of fishing nets, and no plundering.

Let’s jump forward nearly 250 years to 332BC. Here, we find the Greek’s conquering the known world under the brilliant leadership of Alexander the Great.

On his way down to Egypt, every Phoenician city surrendered except Tyre. Confident that no land-bound military army could touch them they mocked him. Like Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander's' army was strong in infantry and siege weapons, but lacked a navy. Despite this disadvantage he was not deterred, instead, he ordered his engineers to build a massive 60 metres wide causeway, stretching all the way from the mainland through the ocean to the island fortress.

To build this colossal bridge, the Greek army used the mountains of rubble left behind from Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction 250 years earlier. They threw the old stones and timber into the ocean and scraped the mainland bare of soil and dust, to pack between the boulders. Using a makeshift fleet gathered from conquered cities, Alexander blockaded Tyre’s harbours, and broke through the walls after a seven-month siege. The “untouchable” city finally fell, and its plunder went to the Greeks.

What Alexander achieved was certainly miraculous. Apart from the battle itself, the entire coastline was changed forever, with the Island becoming permanently attached to the mainland as a peninsular. As for Ezekiel’s prophecy, almost every element has been fulfilled: the waves of invading nations, the looting and sacking of the city, scraping down to bare rock, and the remarkably specific detail of timber and boulders being thrown into the sea.

After Alexanders victory the region was transformed with Greek architecture and the survivors into a Greek colony. After the Greeks there were various inhabitants, who built architecture befitting their own culture. The Romans came, conquered and built a hippodrome, the Crusaders followed and built a medieval castle. The Mamluks totally levelled the region; they wanted to leave absolutely no incentive for anyone to ever return. None of these nations ever rebuilt the Phoenician superpower of Tyre.

However, over time, a tiny population did eventually return, the area become a home to a small, quiet coastal fishing village. For generations, local fishermen utilized the flat, exposed rocks of the island and ruins of the ancient harbours to lay out their nets to dry in the sun. Travelers and archaeologists throughout the 19th and 20th centuries published photographs of fishermen doing this; exactly as Ezekiel prophesised.

Since the 18th century the city has started to rebuild again into what we see today. However, the city is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Large areas of the region are portioned of as archaeological sites, never to be built on, including a massive prime section of the original island stronghold.

Finally, returning to Sam, if he predicts just one game, it’s a fluke; we may pay attention if he manages to pick a few more. If he makes a multi-layered prediction detailing a sequence of events across decades, we would call it a miracle.

Ezekiel just didn’t pick a game or two; he mapped out a multi-century historical event. He made remarkably specific calls on Nebuchadnezzar, the bizarre construction of a land bridge, the scraping to bare rock, and the drying of fishing nets. Statistically, matching this level of precision across many centuries is impossible, suggesting it was more than plain dumb luck.

True objectivity is incredibly difficult to achieve when approaching topics such as this as both sides tend to bring a deep-seated bias to the table. If we read the text determined to find flaw, our minds fixate on meaningless details or try to introduce ambiguity to protect our existing position. We look to discredit what challenges us or makes us feel awkward. Our intellectual self-defence kicks in, and rationalises the current ordered equilibrium we want to believe.

However, I believe, there is a much deeper human struggle taking place. For most people, the biggest hurdle is the uncomfortable weight of what it means if they choose to believe.

Believing Sam’s footy tipping prowess has absolutely no impact on our lives, but believing the truths of the Bible forces an immediate, significant spiritual shift. If Bible prophecy is true, then it’s no longer just a collection of ancient stories, poetry and moral advice. Instead, it becomes an authoritative message, suggesting there is a designer, that our lives are not a meaningless grind and ultimately we are accountable to someone other than ourselves.

Is Bible prophecy accurate? For me, the archaeological evidence is staring right at us: the stones of Tyre are still resting in the Mediterranean, and the land scraped to bare rock, waiting patiently to dry fishing nets. The final choice comes down to whether people are willing to soften their hearts and entertain a challenging reality.

Jesus said in John 14:29: "I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe."

Prophecy Checklist

✓Bring many nations against Tyre in waves.
✓Mainland completely levelled by Nebuchadnezzar.
✓Island Stronghold levelled by future nations.
✓Nations will plunder and loot
✓Nations will scape mainland to bare rock
✓Nations throw timber and boulders into the sea
✓Bare rocks used to dry fishing nets
✓Tyre never to be rebuilt