SITE MAP      Back to G/S/R

Genesis 15:18 God promised Abram (Abraham) that his descendants, the Jews, would receive all the land from the River of Egypt (the Nile) to the river Euphrates.

Joshua 1:3-4 Israelite territory will extend as far as the Euphrates.

But Israelite territory has never extended to the Euphrates, and it is very doubtful that it ever even extended to the Nile.

Genesis 17:3-8 God gave the whole land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants, to inhabit forever. (See also: Gen 13:15, Ex 32:13.)

Canaan was the land west of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, between those waters and the Mediterranean in the general region later called Palestine. As a matter of history, the Jews did not receive all of Canaan for an everlasting possession. Revolts of the Jews against Rome in 132-135 AD led to their dispersal throughout the world. For eighteen centuries, Turkish, Persian and Arabic peoples occupied Palestine. The Jews began to return in significant numbers only in 1921, shortly before the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

See Acts 7:5 and Hebrews 11:13, which candidly admit that God's promise or prophecy in this case failed.

Psalms 89:3-4 God promised David this his royal line and throne would last through "all generations".

Psalms 89:35-37 Again, God promised that David's royal throne will last as long as the sun and the moon.

Yet, after Zedekiah, there was no Davidic king for 450 years. The royal line was finally restored with Aristobulus, of the Hasmonean dynasty, but eventually that ended also. According to New Testament prophecy, Jesus will receive the throne of David and reign forever (Luke 1:32-33), but even so, the royal line has a very evident break and the prophecy has failed.

Isaiah 17:1 A prophecy of the city of Damascus -- it will become "a heap of ruins."

But Damascus, the capital of Syria, thrives today. It's one of the oldest cities in the world, and has been continuously inhabited since its founding. It has never been a heap of ruins.

Isaiah 34:8-10 A prophecy that the land of Edom (which borders the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba) will become "burning pitch". The streams will become pitch. the soil will become brimstone, it will lay waste for generations. None will pass through it forever, and the smoke from the burning will go up forever.

But this has never happened, and people continue to pass through Edom to this day.

Jeremiah 9:11 A prophecy that Jerusalem and the cities of Judah will become heaps of ruins, desolate, without inhabitants.

Neither Jerusalem nor Judah have ever been desolate and uninhabited for any period. (The New Testament predits that Jerusalem will be an eternal city.)

Jeremiah 42:17 The Jews who returned to live in Egypt will all die by the sword, by famine or by pestilence. None will survive.

But many Jews have lived in Egypt and died peaceful deaths. Many live there today. In fact, in Alexandria the Jews established a great cultural center in the first century A.D.

Jeremiah 49:33 Hazor, an ancient city of Israel, will become a dwelling place for jackals (or dragons, KJ version) and no one will live there, forever.

But people have never stopped living in the city of Hazor, and continue to do so today.

Jeremiah 51:24-26, 28-31, 40, 53-55, 58 Highlights from a long prophecy of the violent demise of Babylon and of all inhabitants of Babylonia or Chaldea. Many enemies will attack them, the walls of Babylon will be leveled, the gates set on fire. It will be as a burned-out mountain, a heap of ruins, a desolation forever.

Isaiah 14:23 Another prophecy of Babylon's destruction. It will become swampland, a haunt for owls. Apologists have claimed that the fulfillment of these prophecies proves the literal veracity of the Bible.

Yet history shows that the violent permanent destruction of Babylon never happened. The context of the prophesied destruction indicates that it was to be a punishment for Babylon's domination of the Israelites from 586 to 538 B.C. But when Babylon finally died, it was with a whimper, not a bang, in the second century A.D., when its last inhabitants abandoned it--long, long after the citizens could still be considered responsible for ancient Babylon's treatment of Israel.

Many enemies marched against Babylon throughout its history, and from time to time an enemy would capture or occupy it or cause some damage, as occured to most other great cities, but there was never a holocaust with permanent effects.

In 538 BC, for example, the Persians conquored Babylon. The city later revolted, then the Persians captured it again. destroying the city walls in the process. But the walls were rebuilt and the city suffered little damage.

In 330 B.C. Alexander the Great captured Babylon. Most of the inhabitants move to the new city of Selucia. Henceforth, Jews inhabited the city until the second century AD, when it was peacefully abandoned. Babylon is even mentioned in the New Testament (I Peter 1:1, 5:13).

Ezekiel 26:3-4, 7-12, 27:32, 36, 28:19 A prophecy of the downfall of Tyre (Tyrus). King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon will come with an army, batter down the walls and towers, trample the streets, kill all the people, and toss the rubble into the sea. Tyre will come to a terrible end and "never shalt be any more" (KJ version).

Despite the prophecy, and in spite of much effort Babylon failed to capture or destroy Tyre. (The Bible admits, in fact, that the effort failed -- so God gave Egypt to Nebuchadnezzer as compensation! See Ezekiel 29:18-19.)

The eventual conquest of Tyre was a feat reserved for Alexander the Great, 240 years later. Again, in spite of all prophecy, Tyre was rebuilt, and the New Testament even mentions it (Acts 7:20; Luke 10:13; Mark 7:24-31). Today, Tyre (Sur) has over 10.000 inhabitants.

Ezekiel 29:9-12 Egypt will become "utterly waste and desolate", and no man or animal will pass through it, and no one will inhabit it for forty years. The Egyptians will be scattered through other nations. There will be no more Egyptian prince.

Historically, this never occured. Egyptians still live in Egypt (the United Arab Republic); they were never scattered or dispersed. Nebuchadnezzer never destroyed Egypt, nor conquored Ethopia, Libya or Lydia. Princes continued to rule in Egypt long after Nebuchadnezzar's death. The rivers of Egypt have not run dry.

Daniel 9:26 Jerusalem will be destroyed by a flood.

No flood has ever destroyed Jerusalem, nor caused permanent damage.

Micah 7:13, Zephaniah 1:2-3, 18 God will destroy everything on earth, including man and beast, fish and fowl. The whole world will be consumed and become desolate, because of the wicked deeds of its inhabitants.

Of course this has never occured. And in the light of New Testament prophecy, it never will occur!

Matthew 16:27-28 Jesus predicted his return within the lifetime of some of his listeners. He will be accompanied by his angels, he said, and will "reward each man according to his works" (KJ version).

Matthew 24:3-35; Mark 13:24-30; Luke 21:27-32 Jesus' extensive and detailed description of the end of the world, and of his second coming. All will occur before the present generation passed away. (Some apologists have defended these passages with the observation that the word "generation" may also be translated as "race". But God had promised Abraham that the Jewish race would possess Palestine forever, so such an interpretation would simply render the passages meaningless.)

John 5:25 Very specific statement by Jesus that the "hour has now come" when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God" and "those who hear will live."

John 21:20-23 A suggestion by Jesus. after the Resurrection, that he would "return" during the lifetime of at least one of his disciples. (Note that the anonymous author or scribe of the Book of John recognized the ostensible failure of this prophecy, and attempted to explain it in the subsequent verses.)

I Thessalonians 4:15-17 Another statement, by Paul, that Jesus's return would occur within the lifetime of some of his contemporaries.

I Peter 4:7, I Corinthians 7:29-31, Hebrews 10:37 Further statements that Jesus's second coming was imminent. Paul even advised people not to make plans for the future.

I John 2:18 John was even more specific than Paul. The final hour was at hand, and various Antichrists had already appeared on the earth. See also: Matthew 23:25: Hebrews 1:2. 9:26: I Timothy 6:13-14: I Peter 1:20: Revelations 22:20. All these passages imply that the apocalypse was very close, not in some mystical sense, but in human terms.

Acts 18:9-10 In a vision, Jesus guaranteed Paul that he would not be harmed or attacked so long as Paul continued preaching.

Acts 21:20 A crowd attacked Paul.
23:2 the priests's attendant struck Paul.
24:27 Paul was imprisoned.
27:41-43 shipwrecked.

Isaiah 52:1 A prophecy that the "uncircumcised and unclean" shall no longer enter the city of Jerusalem.

In spite of the prophecy. the uncircumcised and the unclean travel in Jerusalem to this day.