"All scripture is given by inspiration of God" 2 Timothy 3:16
There is something about the Bible that separates it from all other forms of human expression. Something that demonstrates that it is declaring God to us. We are dealing with the evidences that show beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Bible is a supernatural Book, authored by God, and therefore perfect, infallible, and trustworthy. See for yourself. The following make up a list of the larger issues surrounding the Bible's production. See if you can find another book that matches these qualifications!
Claims of the Bible Itself
Over 3,800 times, the writers of the Bible claim that God spoke what they wrote (i.e., "thus saith the Lord..."). Either these prophets were liars, or, what we can hold in our hands is the very words of God (2 Timothy 3:15,16; 1 Thessalonians 2:13)!
Unity
Over 40 authors wrote the 66 books of the Bible in different lands, and at different times, covering a period of over 1800 years (from 1700 B.C. to 95 A.D.), and yet never contradicting each other! Try to duplicate that!!! No matter what you have been told, none of the writings were "sanctioned" by some church council, or commanded to be written by some church leader. They were all written by the direct inspirational hand of God, and preserved from any human error, in spite of the fact that myriads of religious efforts were made to destroy both the prophets and their message! Also, concerning Apocryphal books. These were later added by the "church councils," and only show their desire to make the Bible into a complex, and contradicting book, instead of the perfect, and supernatural one that it always has been! Jesus Christ never used, or even alluded to anything ever written in any of the Apocryphal books. This goes in the face of the fact that Christ and His apostles quote from every other Old Testament Book! Doesn't that strike you as very interesting?
Its Influence on the World
No other Book has so influenced the course of human events like the Bible - the Bible has never been imposed upon a people. Think about it! No matter what culture a person lives in, one thing has always been true - Religion has always been forced upon people on a collective basis, while Biblical Christianity has always been chosen on an individual basis. This one piece of "literature" has brought about the greatest nations, and greatest freedoms that no sword or any other means could! See for example the effect the word of God had upon the people of first century A.D. (Acts 17:6), the people of the Reformation, the Renaissance, and compare those people's lives with the effects Dark Ages (the Bible banned from being read or believed), and the effects of Humanism (the Bible mocked at), Stalinism (the Bible banned), Marxism (the Bible banned), and all other forms of tyrannical dictatorship! Because the Bible's revelation is individual in nature, no dictator, pope or prince can allow it to turn their subjects away from complete devotion to THEM, so they ban it! Don't let someone take away your access to that Book!
Supernatural Preservation
As it has already been said, whole kingdoms and religions have sought in vain to destroy the influence of the Scriptures, and yet it still reigns victorious, and indestructible (Matt 24:35). It has, and always will out-last all religions and kingdoms of this world!
Fulfilled Prophecy
One of the most important areas of proof that God wrote the Bible involves the fact that almost 3,300 verses of prophecy have been fulfilled to the letter. These prophecies were predictions made hundreds and even thousands of years before their fulfilment (i.e., the prediction in Micah 5:2 of the birthplace of Jesus was made 750 years before the event). Not one detail has failed, and there are some 3,000 more verses yet to be fulfilled!!! See Deuteronomy 18:20-22, where God promises that everything that His prophets speak will be fulfilled, and if not, then the prophets were false prophets, and should die!!! No human authored book would dare to make that many predictions, so far in advance, and therefore subject its authenticity to such chance - yet God did!
Christianity is based on the certainty of God's Word, the
Bible. It is the only religion in which prophecy plays such an important
role. If God's prophets were not 100% true, then the Bible itself is not true.
The attacks on the Bible over the past hundred years have all side-stepped the
issue of prophecy. The fact stands, that God has built into the Bible a
sure way of knowing whether it is true or not - which simply is its ability
without fail to tell us the future.
A general definition of
prophecy is, "A message from God, supernaturally delivered by a person, that
reveals a future event, and is 100% always accurate." Many people make
prophecies - politicians, religious leaders, astrologers, etc - but none are
100% accurate. Only God has that ability, and He has limited it to only
the words and warnings of the Bible.
If we neglect the Bible,
then we are opening ourselves up to one of the most powerful deceptions of all
time that is currently at work - the deception that Jesus never came to begin
with, and that the world's "true saviour" will soon arise bringing world peace
and justice through something called "a new world order."
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." (Matthew
24:5,6,11)
The First Coming of Jesus
One of the most
important proofs that God wrote the Bible is the fact that almost 1,000 of
its prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter. These prophecies
were predictions made hundreds and even thousands of years before their
fulfilment. There were 33 specific prophecies describing just how, when, and
where Jesus would die. The odds of someone predicting just those 33 exactly as
the Bible did are astronomical! Only God could have done such a thing.
Some of the prophecies
relating to Jesus' first coming 2,000 years ago include:
§
The birthplace of Jesus being revealed 750
years before the event in the Book of Micah chapter 5 verse 2, "But
thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, … out of thee shall he come forth unto me that
is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from
everlasting."
§
Jesus would be born of a virgin, "Behold,
a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel"
(750 years BC - Isaiah 7:14).
§
Jesus would be rejected by His own people, "He
is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him"
(750 BC - Isaiah 53:3).
§
Jesus would heal people, "The
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped…
The lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing"
(Isaiah 35:5,6).
§
Jesus would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver
"Give me my price; and
if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver"
(500 BC - Zechariah 11:12,13).
§
Jesus would be whipped and spit upon, "I
gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting."
(750 BC - Isaiah 50:6).
§
His hands and His feet would be pierced by
nails, "They pierced
my hands and my feet." (Psalm 22:16), "and
they shall look upon me whom they have pierced"
(500 BC - Zechariah 12:10). Normally criminals were stoned.
§
Jesus would be in the grave for 3 days and 3
nights, "For as Jonas
was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
(Matthew 12:40). The Book of Jonah was written 850 years before Christ.
§
Jesus would rise from the grave, "But
God will redeem
(resurrect) my soul from the power of the grave"
(written 1000 years BC - Psalm 49:15)
Not one detail failed! In Deuteronomy 18, God promises that everything
His prophets speak will be fulfilled, and if not, then the prophets were
false prophets, and should die! No human-authored book would dare to make so
many predictions, so far in advance, and therefore subject its authenticity to
such chance - yet God did to prove He wrote it and the we need to heed it!
The Second Coming
Just as people were
prompted to expect and look forward to Christ's first coming as Saviour, the
whole world should know that he is most assuredly coming again! Only this time,
He comes as KING! Everything that is happening in world events is a constant,
and planned build-up towards this arrival!
Behold, he cometh
with clouds; and every eye shall see him … And I saw heaven opened, and
behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful
and True, ... And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name
written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
(Revelation 1:7 & 19:11,16)
Five Current Events
If we briefly look at
the following five current world events, we quickly see God has His hand in this
world's affairs, and is calling on mankind to look to His Son Jesus Christ for
the answers we are so desperately needing today, and to see that we are living
in the last days! Pay close attention to each Scripture.
Israel
- Israel is back in its land. After almost 2,000 years of dispersal, its people
have re-gathered, and formed a nation that was supposed to have died long ago!
The prophet Ezekiel said, "Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the
heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring
them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land"
(Ezekiel 37:21,22). It came true on May 14, 1948! Since that time all eyes have
been on this little nation of the Middle East, because the Bible is true!
Technology
- The world hasn't always been the way it is today, with its unbelievable
increase in knowledge and travel, and yet God predicted it would be this way
over 2,500 years ago! The prophet Daniel said,
"[In] the time of the end, many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased"
(Daniel 12:4). It is all leading to an economic system requiring everyone to
wear the Mark of the Beast to allow them to buy or sell anything. Never
before has there been such a push as in our modern economies to enable people to
buy and sell via computers, and micro-chips. God says it is leading to His Son's
soon return!
Immorality
- In this "new age," with its "new world order," people are getting more and
more into so many religions, yoga classes, and crystal consciousness seminars,
demonstrating that with all the technological improvements, our hearts are still
afraid. The Apostle Paul declared, "This
know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall
be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, … lovers
of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying
the power thereof: from such turn away" (2Timothy
3:1-5). We are away from God.
Environment
- This world is falling apart, and things are not going to get any better! We
are destroying our planet day by day, and disease and pestilence is catching up
with us all. H.I.V. is affecting almost 40 million people world-wide, and
super-bugs are developing at a pace that is over-taxing our health systems.
Wars continue at an alarming rate to crop up in areas of the globe thought to be
at peace. Jesus said, "Nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great
earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be
from heaven." (Luke 21:10,11) Are we aware?
Global Unification
- At the end time, all of the world is being gathered into a sort of "global
community" to be ruled by one man known in the Bible as the anti-christ, the
"beast," and the "man of sin." He will be a most attractive person since
he will be a man of peace, and unity. But he is coming to direct
the world's worship towards himself and his god! The Apostle John said, "And
all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the
dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying,
Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?"
(Revelation 13:3,4).
As we look at the
evening news, and all these things occurring, we must ask, "Is God trying to
get our attention?" The answer surely is YES!
Scientific Accuracy
The Bible describes the earth as a round ball (Isaiah 40:22), suspended in space (Job 26:7). And it did this without the aid of an orbiting satellite. And it expressed this As FACT and not conjecture over 2200 years before Columbus found out it was right! It was the Church that suppressed the readings of the Bible, and instead fed the lie that the earth was flat! Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that Jesus believed in a flat-earth science, when the issue is that He was ahead of the game from the beginning! The Bible also explains the division of the languages (Genesis 11:1-9) at the Tower of Babel. It reveals that there are "paths," or currents in the seas (Psalm 8:8). Again, Columbus "discovered" that this was true when he sailed to the New World on one current, and then back to Spain on another. The Scriptures in Psalm 102:25-27, and Hebrews 1:10-12 declares the Second Law of Thermodynamics (which states that everything wears out)! It also reveals the process by which all of life occurred on this planet (Genesis 1 and 2), and much, much more! You can't beat that Bible, no matter how much education you obtain - its always at least 500 years ahead of science!
Historical Accuracy
Noah's flood (Genesis 6-9) is attested to by Babylonian tablets written in 650 B.C., as well as in almost all ancient histories. Most of the places named in the Bible have been identified through archaeology, thus validating the historical accuracy of the Bible again and again! The same cannot be said however about other religious books.
The facts surrounding the Bible point to an Author who is not limited to human understanding, and frailties, but to one who knows the end from the beginning, and has revealed it all in one place, so that anyone could get a hold of it, and examine it, and test it, and come to trust its message that Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God who died for our sins (John 20:31)!
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