The proof of prophecy

“Who then is like Me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before Me what has happened since I established My ancient people, and what is yet to come – yes, let him foretell what will come.” Isaiah 44:7
Several times in the Scriptures, God affirms who He is by stating that no-one can foretell the future except Him. Many try to, and many seek fortune-tellers, reading horoscopes, researching the writings of Nostradamus and so forth. But have you ever noticed how vague those so-called ‘prophecies’ are, compared with how specific God’s prophecies are? Of course it’s easy to think that your future has been foretold, when the message was, ‘You will meet someone today who will annoy you, and you will meet someone today who will make you smile.’ Unless you lock yourself in a closet all day, that kind of ‘prophecy’ will always be true.
In contrast, consider how specific God is about prophecy. Samuel prophesied to Saul of three very specific things that would happen, to affirm his selection as king (1 Sam. 10:2-6), even down to how many loaves of bread and goats the people he would meet would be carrying. Through Isaiah, God called Cyrus by name hundreds of years before he was born, and said that he would release the Israelites from their captivity in Babylon. Through Daniel, we have the prophecy of the 69 weeks of years, which was fulfilled to the very day. And there are many more examples.
In many cases, even the prophet did not know what it was referring to (see Dan. 8:27, 12:8). So next time you come across one of these super-specific prophecies in the Bible, don’t take it for granted. It’s easy to read it and say, ‘Of course, this was referring to such-and-such an event.’ Bible prophecy is proof that God is God.