Trustworthy Prophecy

 How would you respond if someone told you that a major capital city-such as Beijing, Moscow, or Washington D.C.-would become an uninhabited ruin? You would rightly be skeptical.  Yet, that is what happened with ancient Babylon. Some 200 years in advance, about the year 732 B.C.E., Jehovah God inspired the Hebrew prophet Isaiah to put in writing a prophecy about the demise of Babylon.  He wrote: "Babylon, the decoration of kingdoms . . . must become as whe God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited, nor will she reside for generation after generation.." - ISAIAH 13:19, 20.

But why would God foretell Babylon's destruction?  In 607 B.C.E., Babylonian armies destroyed Jerusalem and took the survivors off to Babylon, where they were treated cruelly. (Psalm 137:8, 9) God foretold that his people would have to endure this bitter treatment for 

70 years because of their own wicked deeds. Then God would deliver them and let them return to their homeland. - JEREMIAH 25:11; 29:10. 

True to God's prophetic Word, in 539 B.C.E.-just as Judah's 79-year exile was about to end-the seemingly invincible city of Babylon was overthrown by Medo-Persian armies. In time, the city became a heap of ruins-just as predicted. No human could foretell such a striking achievement.  Without a doubt, the act of prophesying, or foretelling events in advance. sets the Author of the Bible-the true God, Jehovah - apart from any other god. - ISAIAH 46:9, 10. 

Next time: FORETOLD BY NAME

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