God affirms about Himself that He does not change (Malachi 3:6). He further states that it is impossible for Him to lie (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2). If God said something was going to happen and it did not, then one could say He is not God. God used holy men to write down in the prophecies, things concerning His Son, Jesus the Christ (II Peter 1:20,21). If the prophet speaking for God said something was going to happen and it did not, then how could one trust such a God? If He does not change, which He does not, hen He cannot lie. When God said something was going to happen, it did because He is God.
Let us look to the example of Jeremiah and Hananiah. Both men claimed that God was speaking through them. Hananiah said that within two years the captives in Babylon, the vessels taken there and king Jehoiachin would all return to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 28:3). Jeremiah said they would be in Babylon for seventy years and that Hananiah would die that year (verse 16). In October of that year, Hananiah died. Who then spoke for God? The death of Hananiah and seventy years in Babylon proved that Jeremiah spoke for God.
God gave the warning to Israel if a man said something was going to happen and it did not happen, then that man was not speaking for God (Deuteronomy 18:22). The context was the coming of the Prophet who would be like Moses to whom all men should respond (verse 15). If God spoke through a man, one would expect what was said to be true because God cannot lie. This raises the case of Balaam and his efforts to curse Israel. Balaam was not a good man and he did not write scripture. Scripture was written by holy men of God. Yet, in the book of Numbers God used Balaam to utter truth. Balaam kept saying to Balak, that he could only say what God told him to say (Numbers 22:18;38). What Balaam did in blessing Israel with his words were words which came from God.
Here in part was what Balaam said about God. If God says it, will He not do it? If God has spoken will He not do what He says (Numbers 23:19). Do we not see that if I come across something in prophecy which has a bearing on fulfillment, the integrity of God is at stake. This is why there can be no private interpretation of Scripture. Men do not have the authority to tamper with or in any way alter what God has said (Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18,19). Using this truth we now turn to the prophet Daniel. Whatever Daniel wrote as being from God had to be from God. If it is from God it is trustworthy because God does not lie.
Daniel interprets the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2. He said there would be four world powers. At this time Assyria and Egypt are no longer world powers. Daniel said that Nebuchadnezzar was the first kingdom, the head of gold. His kingdom would be followed by three others. In the days of the fourth world power, God would establish His kingdom (Daniel 2:44). Did God do what He said He would do? If one counts from Babylon, there is the Medio/Persian empire, followed by Greece. After Greece the fourth world power was Rome. What did Daniel say would happened in the days of the fourth world power? God would set up a kingdom.
God used Balaam to affirm that if God says it, He will do it. Jesus was delivered to be crucified by the Romans under the influence of the Jews. It was by the determinate council and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23). Those who are using prophecy today speak about Christ coming to establish His kingdom in our life time. How does that fit with what Daniel said was going to happen? When the wise men came to Herod they were trying to find out where the king of the Jews was in order to worship him. All the city of Jerusalem became disturbed by this because Herod was disturbed. He called for the religious leaders of the day to tell him where the Christ was to be born.
He did not ask “when” but rather “where” (Matthew 2:4). The answer from prophecy was Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). When the Messiah came, He according to Daniel 2:44 was to set up a kingdom. Jesus affirmed to Pilate that was the cause for which He came into the world (John 18:37). He started His public preaching by telling His audiences that the kingdom was at hand (Matthew 4:17). Why then is the kingdom not here now? God cannot lie. What He says He will do, He does. If you are looking for signs, you will not find the answers. The answers lie in what God has said in prophecy.