The Course Thus Taken in Scripture is a Bold One

The course thus taken in Scripture is a bold one. In assuming the possession of knowledge so entirely superhuman, the Bible necessarily exposes itself to the perpetual danger of being demonstrated to be erroneous in its predictions, and consequently false in its pretensions. A definite program published at the beginning of any series of events, and professing to give their nature and order, must inevitably be either verified or falsified by the result. The things predicted either come to pass or fail to do so, and experience decides the worth of the program. Would any spurious or pretended Divine revelation dare to risk its own future rejection by exposing itself to such a test as this? The Bible alone does so, and this fact is a strong priori proof of its Divine origin. It is a book which presents itself to mankind saying: "I am from God, and in order that you may see that I am so, I tell you beforehand things that are to happen on the earth; I sketch out to you the whole course of future events, together with their order and their times. I reveal the end from the beginning. Prove me herewith! Let every age as it rolls past bear its witness to my truth or to my falsehood. I am content to stand or fall by this test."

Christ Himself submitted His claims to this test among others. "Now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe" (John:14:29And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
See All...). And Jehovah in the Old Testament challenges idolaters to demonstrate the worth of their idols in the same way. "Let them ... show us what shall happen; ... or declare us things for to come"; and again, "Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods" (Isaiah:41:22Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
See All..., 23). A test thus recognized and applied by God Himself must needs be a good and sufficient one. If we can prove that the Bible stands this test, we demonstrate its Divine origin, perhaps more clearly than in any other way.

— Henry Grattan Guinness (11 August 1835 – 21 June 1910, Irish Protestant Christian preacher, evangelist and author).