Hi
@Blaise N
Look, God has proven Himself. I don't think, for one who seriously studies the Scriptures, that there can really be any doubt that God does exist; that the Scriptures are His written revelation of Himself.
For me, prophecy is 'how' God has proven Himself. The strongest prophecy that I've found in the Scriptures that assures me that God is, is the prophecy found in Daniel chapter 9. There are a number of prophecies found throughout the Scriptures that give us assurance that there is a God who does know the end from the beginning, which, in fact, was how God has told us that we can know that He is the one true and living God.
So, when you hear the atheists knocking this idea of a God, you should be assured that they just haven't really studied the Scriptures and are likely just following and repeating arguments that they've heard in order to deny God. But rest assured, because of the many, many prophecies that have come to pass just as we are told in the Scriptures, that they just don't know.
Now, you may ask why I find Daniel's prophecy to be one of the strongest 'proofs' that there is a God and that He does know the end from the beginning. Let me explain quickly.
Daniel lived in the early 500's BC. Most historians place the timeframe of his life somewhere around 620-538 BC. He lived in the days of a great king over Babylon named Nebuchadnezzar and we have quite a lot of artifact knowledge to pin down when that king lived. During that time, he was given a prophecy regarding the coming of the Messiah. The prophecy had a sign that would be the start of the time period mentioned in the prophecy. But here's just one of the amazing things about that. The sign for the clock to start ticking didn't come about until the mid 400's BC. Daniel wasn't even alive and would have had no way of knowing what date the event that started that ticking clock could have been in the future. Only God would have been able to tell Daniel that there was going to be an event to come, about 100 years after Daniel's death, that would begin the countdown of the prophetic clock leading up to the arrival of the Messiah in Israel.
Secondly, only God could have known that from that event 100 years after Daniel's death, that at the appointed time mentioned in the prophecy to Daniel, Messiah would be here. Messiah didn't come for some 500 years after Daniel's life, yet the prophecy, from the beginning of the ticking clock, ends at exactly the time that Jesus, the Messiah, was here with us. Only God could have known that, and prepared a prophecy to be written some 500 years earlier that could possibly be that precise. I mean, seriously consider, that would be like William Shakespeare or Leonardo Da Vinci writing some prose that would foretell exactly when the Vietnam war would be engaged.
So, be assured that God exists. He does love us and He has revealed Himself to us and He has prepared the plan of our salvation through His Son. The atheists are wrong, and there will come a time when they will know that they are wrong. For those self same Scriptures that precisely tell us things of the future that are to come also tell us that a day will come when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Be assured that your atheist acquaintances will be there on that day.
As I said, there are many, many other prophecies sprinkled throughout the Scriptures that should assure any thinking man that there is certainly someone who exists that knows the future and how this life is going to play out. It's great to read of the law and how God carried Israel on wings like eagles. It's great to read all the wonderful accounts found in the new covenant of Jesus' life and the lives of the first apostles. But don't easily discount that all those prophecies are there for an even more important reason. It is through them that God proves Himself to anyone willing to search them out.
Some prophecies to check out if you really want to know that you know:
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah foretold the destruction of Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 25:2, 9–11). History records that the Babylonians did indeed demolish Jerusalem in 587 BC.
That Abraham would have a son. In his latter years. In fact, Abraham did have a son by the slave woman, but God told him that within one year he would have the son that God had promised him through his wife Sarai. That's one year, so Sarai hadn't even conceived yet and as she herself declares, she was past childbearing age. Yet God's prophecy came to pass exactly as God had told Abraham one year earlier.
That Persia would be ruled by a king named Cyrus. His name is recorded in Isaiah 100 years before Cyrus assumed the throne. But the really amazing part of this prophecy is that Cyrus hadn't even been born yet. No one knew that there even would be some baby named Cyrus when Isaiah wrote about him.
And there are literally dozens of prophecies written to confirm that God knew all about Jesus' coming hundreds of years before Mary and Joseph even lived!
Please, don't let a weak faith destroy your faith. Be assured that there is a God and He has a Son and his name is Jesus.
This following passage of proverbs was written sometime in the 700's to 600's BC. Long before any human ever set eyes on God's Son.
Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down? Who holds the wind in his fists? Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak? Who has created the whole wide world? What is his name—and his son’s name? Tell me if you know!
God bless,
Ted
