Prophecies given and later fulfilled, sometimes within a short period and others hundreds or even thousands of years later, remain one of the very most compelling and convincing reasons for seeing Scripture for what it claims to be…the very word of the living God. Men have sought in vain for other explanations to account for the amazing detailed accuracy which accompanied a multitude of prophecies, and, believe me, they have tried. The prophecies of Ezekiel that have already been fulfilled are the strongest rationale for believing those not yet fulfilled will be. But we are focusing only on those already fulfilled.
The ancient city of Tyre, in Ezekiel 26, had dramatic prophecies regarding its future destruction, never to be rebuilt. A sister city of Tyre is the ancient seacoast town of Sidon, located just twenty-four miles north of Tyre and was also a prominent Phoenician stronghold. In Ezekiel 28, the prophecy is made that cast a gloom over Sidon, as it would have Tyre. But there were obvious and important differences between their future fates. Tyre was said of Ezekiel to never be rebuilt. It wasn’t. But Sidon is predicted to be rebuilt but not without great bloodshed. Listen to Ezekiel’s prophecy in 26, verses 22 and 23, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am against you, O Sidon, and I shall be glorified in your midst; then they will know that I am the Lord, when I execute judgment in her, and I shall manifest my holiness in her, for I shall send pestilence to her, and blood to her streets; and the wounded will fall in her midst by the sword upon her on every side; then they will know that I am the Lord.'”
Unlike Ezekiel’s prophecy against Tyre in chapter 26, which predicted the utter destruction of the city, here Ezekiel says nothing about Sidon being destroyed but much blood will flow in her streets, shed by swords on every side. What had happened? In BC 350, Sidon rebelled against the Persians to whom they had been paying tribute. The Persian army descended on the walled city and decimated its forty thousand inhabitants, with their blood flowing freely in the city streets. During the Crusades, Sidon was captured three different times by the Crusaders, three different times by Muslims. Each time, the blood flowed in the streets. Even in relatively modern times of the 1840’s, Sidon was bombarded by the naval fleets of England, France, and Turkey. More blood in the streets. A thinking person needn’t even have a fully open mind but merely one that is slightly ajar to see that something of obvious, supernatural significance must be behind all this. Something, Someone, is.
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