Science
· For century’s man believed the earth was flat, but now we know the earth is a globe. The prophet Isaiah, writing 750 years before the birth of Christ, revealed, "God sitteth upon the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). The word translated here as "circle" was more commonly translated "sphere." In other words, Isaiah explained that the earth was a globe centuries before science discovered it.
· The ancients believed the earth was held up by Atlas, or resting on pillars, or even seated on the backs of elephants. But today we know the earth is suspended in space, a fact the Word of God records in Job 26:7: "He . . . hangeth the earth upon nothing." God revealed the facts of cosmology long before man had any idea of the truth.
· Every now and then science may disagree with the Bible, but usually science just needs time to catch up. For example, in 1861 a French scientific academy printed a brochure offering 51 incontrovertible facts that proved the Bible in error. Today there is not a single reputable scientist who would support those supposed "facts," because modern science has disproved them all!
· God of salvation and the God of creation are the same. Science doesn't take God by surprise. A close look at Scripture reveals that it is scientifically accurate.
· When Ptolemy charted the heavens, he counted 1026 stars in the sky. But with the invention of the telescope man discovered millions and millions of stars, something that Jeremiah 33:22 revealed nearly three thousand years ago: "The host of heaven cannot be numbered." How did these men of God know the truth of science long before the rest of the world discovered it? They were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the truth. God's Word is not filled with errors. It is filled with facts, even scientific facts.
· When the black plague was killing one quarter of Europe's population in the fourteenth century, it was the church, not science that helped overcome the dread disease. The leaders in the church noticed the instructions given by the Lord to Moses in Leviticus 13:46: "All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be." These early believers did not know microbiology or understand what germs were, but they could understand a clear teaching to quarantine someone who was sick. So they followed the Biblical dictum, quarantined those sick with the plague, and stopped it from spreading. The Bible had its science correct even before man discovered the truth!
· The first five books written by Moses reveal advanced sanitation instructions and medical knowledge that was not known at the time. Where did the knowledge come from? Research has proven that it did not come from the Egyptians, the most advanced people of the time and the only people the Jewish people lived with.
· Amos 5:8 speaks about the seven stars of Pleiades. Early translators were puzzled by this verse because the constellation Pleiades only had six stars. Only after modern telescopes were developed could the seventh star be seen.
Historical
· The Bible is not primarily a history book, but it records history, and all the things we believe as Christians are historical fact. Historians have criticized the Bible as being filled with errors, but in our lifetime we have seen the history of the Scriptures proven right time after time. For example, linguists rejected the fact that Moses authored the Pentateuch, claiming that people didn't know how to write during the day of Moses. But then the Tel Elarmona tablets were discovered in northern Egypt, containing business transactions of people in Palestine centuries before Moses was born. It turns out the Bible was correct--the people of Moses' day did have a written language.
· For years historians claimed Daniel's story of King Belshazzar was a fake, that there was no record of that Babylonian king. They claimed the last Babylonian king was named Nabinitus, and that Belshazzar never existed. Then one day an archeologist uncovered a clay tablet describing the rule of Belshazzar, who was co-regent with his father, King Nabinitus. The Bible had been right all along.
Unity
· Another reason to trust the Scripture as the Word of God is that it offers a unique unity. Here is one unified book, yet it is really 66 books put together. Those books were written by at least forty different authors over a period of sixteen hundred years. People of all different backgrounds wrote them in thirteen countries, on three continents. Some were shepherds, others were kings; some were soldiers, others were scholars; some were learned historians, others were unschooled fishermen. They wrote on different subjects, at different times, in at least three different languages. Yet on all subjects they came together to create one unified book that reveals the story of God and His people
Prophecies
· Another reason we can believe the Bible is because of the fulfilled prophecies contained in it. It is the only book of its kind with so many accurate prophecies. For example, there are over 300 Old Testament prophecies dealing with Jesus Christ that are fulfilled in the New Testament. Statisticians tell us that to suggest they are merely fulfilled by chance is impossibility. A skeptic might say that Jesus, as a student of the Old Testament, simply arranged to fulfill these prophecies. But how could He arrange to be born in Bethlehem, fulfilling the prophecy of Micah? How could He arrange for the prophet Isaiah to write all kinds of intricate details of the Lord centuries before He was born? And could He have arranged for the psalmist to describe His death by crucifixion long before that style of punishment was first used? Could He have arranged for the Roman government to crucify Him upon a cross, or for Judas to betray Him for exactly thirty pieces of silver, as the Old Testament prophesied? Finally, could He have arranged His own resurrection from the dead three days after His burial? There is no way to explain fulfilled prophecy apart from divine inspiration.
Sacrifice
· And so convinced were those who saw Jesus, that they were willing to lay down their lives for the truth. No one lays down their life for a lie. The early Christians knew that Jesus was who He claimed to be.
· Although the early Christians were subject to the most horrifying tortures and martyrdom, not one of them declared that the gospels account of Jesus Christ was in error. Rome would have widely published such a denial but despite a large number of Roman official writings, as well as, Christian writings that have survived till today, not one eye witness to the Gospel events or resurrection ever denied their truthfulness.
· Jesus did not just reveal himself to a handful of people upon his resurrection as many would believe but Paul states that Jesus was revealed to Cephas, then the Apostles and then to more than 500 at one time. Corinthians 1
Writings
· It is acknowledged by even liberal scholars that the New Testament and the Epistles were written and distributed within forty and fifty years of the events they describe.
· Thousands of people who witnessed the events surrounding the life of Jesus Christ were still alive when the disciples distributed the gospels and Paul composed the epistles. Millions of Jewish and Gentile Christians read them weakly. If there had been factual errors in the writings, miracles questioned, or teachings, there would have been massive splits in the early churches.
· Modern scholars now have more than five thousand manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament in the Greek language. There are another fifteen thousand copies in other languages from the first few centuries of this era. No other important text, religious or historical, has more than a few dozen copies that survived until this generation. Differences are trivial and none affect doctrine or important fact.
· Christian enthusiasm and dedication to scripture in the first centuries following Christ motivated them to produce numerous manuscripts that were widely copied, distributed, and translated. The New Testament is the most widely quoted book in history from the moment of its writing by the apostles to today.
· Historians have recovered over one hundred thousand manuscripts and letters from the first few centuries of this era composed by Christians. These contain an enormous amount of quotations from the New Testament. Over 98 percent of the NT could be written from these letters. Further proof that the NT was not changed or corrupted.
· Numerous ancient manuscripts of the New Testament have survived in different languages. These reveal no differences in text regarding doctrine or factual matters.
· Widespread copying and translation of scripture made it impossible to add or corrupt the New Testament. Once the original Greek manuscript of the New Testament was translated into Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Coptic, and Latin between 60 and 70 AD, a counterfeit would have been impossible to introduce because it would be compared to the many original Greek manuscripts. Keep in mind that the early Christians had an overwhelming love of scripture and quoted from these texts. A corrupted version would have been noticed.
Outside Confirmation
· Thallus was a pagan historian who lived in AD 52. He recorded that there was a “miraculous darkness covering the face of the earth at the Passover in AD 32”
· Flavius Josephus called Jesus a “wise man if it be lawful to call him a man” “doer of wonderful works”
· Cornelius Tacitus, Governor of Asia and Roman Historian wrote in AD 112 regarding the persecutions of the Christians, he wrote of the death of Christus, Christ, at the hands of Pilate, and also wrote about how the teaching then spread throughout Judea and Rome. This careful historian who had access to official Roman documents confirmed many details in Acts, the Gospels, and Romans found in the Bible.
· Another reason we can trust the Bible is that it is always alive. No book has endured as much opposition. Men have laughed at it, scorned it, burned it, and made laws against it. At times it has been illegal to even own a Bible. Men have preached its funeral. But the corpse has outlived its pallbearers. The Bible has survived. Despite all the attempts to bury the Bible, it has continued to endure. No other book can make that claim. The ancient religious manuscripts of the pagans have disappeared, but the Bible continues. The wisdom of great men is often forgotten by succeeding generations, but the wisdom of God remains intact and available. The Word of the Lord endureth forever.
What It Does
· The Bible is not like any other book. It is alive and powerful. It describes itself as a sword and as dynamite. It has power to change lives and power to save sinners. No other book, no other power can take men's guilt away except the Bible. It sanctifies those who believe. It brings truth and maturity to the saints. You will never grow spiritually strong until you begin to feed on the milk of the Word. It offers sufficiency to the sufferer. Many times I have seen people hurting or in torment, and they have found comfort in the Bible which they could find nowhere else. It brings satisfaction to the scholar. You can study it for a lifetime and still not fathom its depths. It is a book so deep you can swim forever and never touch bottom, yet so peaceful that even a child can take a drink without fear of drowning. You can never move on in your faith until you come to see the Bible for what it is: God's precious gift to us, given so that we may know Him and find eternal life in Him. You can be certain that the Bible is the Word of God.
As the Bible is read and studied, and as you ask and believe God for understanding, the words come alive, eyes are opened, and an insight to the plan of God becomes apparent. God does love us, so much so he sent his only son to take our sins and enable us to live a victorious life with him now and enjoy everlasting life with him later. To know that Jesus lives in us is a great joy that also empowers the believer because, “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1John But he will not live in you if he is not asked. Challenge: Begin to read the Bible, Start with the Gospel of John. Tell God that you do not know if what you are reading is true but you will rely on him to show you the truth. As you read, trust that what you are reading is the word of God. Look at the words as you read and understand their meaning. At the end of John, you may just want to read more.
