Can You Trust The Bible?
Years ago, if you looked at any Bible, it had Holy Bible printed on the cover. I was a young Christian and I found out that Bible simply means book. But, when you put Holy on the cover, it changes and becomes something very special. Why? Because holy means to separate. The Bible talks about Christians as God’s holy people. What this means is we have been separated from the world because of our faith in Christ. Now apply this to the book, the Holy Bible means a separate book. A book that is separated from every other piece of literature in the entire world.
Our Bible is the only source of divine truth as Jesus is our only Savior. The Bible is our bedrock of truth and our ultimate authority.
You can divide this world into two major categories, the difference being the disagreement of authority. One group believes in the ultimate authority of Scripture. That is what Christians believe. The other group does not view the Bible as authoritative. This is not semantics, this is not something simple, the chasm here between these two groups is as deep as space. Someone who believes that scientific or academic intelligence has greater authority than the Bible is in the second category. In this second category, some people believe that killing a baby seal is on the same level as murdering a human being.
Who is right?
Before I go on, I need to distinguish between what theologians call General Revelation and Special Revelation.
General Revelation is found in the Old Testament in Psalm 19:1 – 2. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. The apostle Paul explains it even further in the New Testament in Romans 1:18 – 23. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that are made. So, they are without excuse.
Everyone, according to the Apostle Paul, is held accountable by general revelation, meaning that which is seen demonstrates His power as eternal divinity. Why don’t people believe that God created all? Paul said they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Being an atheist is not an intellectual problem, it’s a moral problem. Atheism and atheists know the truth but suppress it.
Special Revelation: Because general revelation is not enough to save you, God gave us special revelation. Hebrews 1:1–4 – Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of this power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs. A lot here, but it’s saying that God spoke to us in the Old Testament through prophets and kings who wrote the Scriptures, but now speaks to us in the New Testament through the Lord Himself and his emissaries, the apostles and prophets.
First Aspect: The Bible is Divine, it is God-Breathed!
That is why we can say with full assurance our authority is God and He has spoken in the Bible. One book, one faith, and one Lord.
We believe in the Holy Spirit who inspired the writers of the Bible.
The Bible is written in three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The Bible was produced over a period of 1500 years, written by forty different authors, on three different continents. Yet, it has the same thread running through the entire book and that thread is this: What must a person do to be saved from his sins?
We believe in the authoritative, inerrant, infallible scriptures written in the original languages. That’s why having a good translation is so important. Many Bibles today can be divided into three categories:
- Paraphrased. A section of scripture is taken and the translators interpret that section and make their translation. The older Living Bible falls into this category.
- Translation phrase for phrase, as accurately as possible. The New International Version falls into that category.
- Translation word for word into modern English without changing the original meaning. Many church historians, theologians, and good pastors agree that this is the best translation. No easy task. The greatest word-for-word translation today, in my opinion, is the English Standard Version.
The Bible is simple, meaning a tender-aged child could read it and come to faith in Christ, yet it is so deep that no theologian has ever exhausted its depth.
The Bible is sufficient, meaning The Bible contains all we need for faith and living. Jesus said, “man shall not live by bread alone, but every work that comes from God.” Matthew 4:4 NIV.
The Bible is closed, meaning we are told not to add to it or take away from it, and there are warnings in Deuteronomy and the Book of Revelation to anyone who adds to the book or takes away from it.
The Bible is living, meaning it will accomplish everything that God intends it because the Word never returns to Him void.
We believe that this holy book is the revelation of God and absolute authority, containing truth in every detail.
Three times God says He cannot lie; in Numbers, in Titus, and in Hebrews. There are two thousand times that start with this ‘Thus, saith the Lord.’ And when God speaks, we must listen. Hebrews 12: 25 says, “See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. At that time his voice shook the earth, yet once more I will shake not only the earth but the heavens.” Jesus told us that the law, which is the whole of the scriptures, will not disappear until it’s all accomplished.
The writers of the Old Testament referred to the writings of God over 3800 times. New Testament writers quote the Old Testament 320 times. In the New Testament, there are 1,000 references to the Old Testament. The New Testament writers affirm the authority of the Old Testament as inspired by God.
In the New Testament, Galatians 1:11, Paul says he received the gospel he preached by revelation from Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:15 – 16, Peter calls Paul’s writing Scripture.
Jude 17– 18, Jude refers to Scripture and then quotes the apostle Peter.
John writes the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3 stating what the Spirit has said to the church.
What does all this mean? It means that the Bible writers knew they were writing the very words of God. This is strong internal evidence.
Second Aspect: Confirming the Bible as Authority is Jesus.
What did Jesus think of the scriptures? From John 10:35, Christ stating scripture cannot be broken to His crying out Psalm 22 on the cross, His very life was the definition of living scripture. In fact, He is called the Word. (John 1:1)
To sum it up, Jesus says in John 10:35, “The Scriptures cannot be broken.” Jesus looked as we should look at the Scriptures as a whole, complete.
Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Jesus told the Pharisees “You searched the Scriptures, and they point to Me, but you’re unwilling to come to Me.” Jesus would often say, “Have you not read…?“ He believed in the historical, literal, and factual aspects of Genesis. He referred to Adam and Eve when talking about marriage.
Third Aspect: The External Proofs that the Bible is Divinely Inspired
Experience:
The Bible gives you the experience it says it will. If you confess your sins, you will find freedom from guilt.
Archaeology:
Archaeology confirms the validity of the scriptures. Archaeologists have said time and time again that they use the Bible as a roadmap to find lost cities and places.
Science:
The Bible is not like the Hindu book which states that the world is on the back of an elephant and when it shakes that causes earthquakes. The Bible talks about the hydrological cycle. What is that? It is the knowledge that it rains, the water on the ground is evaporated and absorbed into the clouds, and then it rains again.
The Bible talks about the perfect balance of the earth. Which is the weight of the world perfectly balanced. Scientists say if the axis of the earth changes 3° we would alternately freeze or be scorched to death. During the start of the 17th century, the common thinking was there were approximately one thousand stars in the sky. Did they read the Bible where it says that there are as many stars as the sand on the seashore?
Herbert Spencer was a scientist at the turn of the 20th century who was recognized and rewarded for his work in naming five major categories of the earth:Time, Force, Action, Space, and Matter. Way to go Herbert! But, if you just turned to Genesis Chapter 1, you would’ve seen all these categories. In the beginning: Time, God: Force, Created: Action, The Heavens: Space, The Earth: Matter.
And that was written over 3,500 years ago, Mr. Spencer.
Miracles:
Miracles are one way that confirms the Bible is the Word of God. The greatest miracle of all is Jesus, after dying for our sins and being buried in a grave, he rose again on the third day.
Prophecy:
Prophecy is one of the strongest proofs that the Bible is inspired by God. The Bible predicts the things that are going to happen and then they record them happening. Only God writes the future!
God demonstrates His divine authorship by stating what will happen, and then it happens exactly that way.
Isaiah 53, which we talked about before is one of the most amazing prophetic chapters in the entire Bible. Seven hundred years before Christ, Isaiah wrote about Christ:
Isaiah 53:3, He was despised and rejected by man
Isaiah 53:4, He bore our griefs and sorrows
Isaiah 53:5- 6, He was wounded for our transgressions and iniquities
Isaiah 53:6, The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all (imputed our sins on Christ)
Isaiah 53:8, He was cut off from the living
Isaiah 53:9, His grave was with the rich
Isaiah 53:11, He made many accounted to be as righteous (imputed righteousness to us by faith)
Isaiah 53:12, He prays for us
This is so accurate that cynical interpreters of the scripture say this was written at the time of Christ. Yet, we have undisputed evidence that it was written seven hundred years before Christ.
I’ve given you several reasons to trust your Bible, now I have a question for you. Think back on this last week, how many days went by before you picked up your Bible? If this is God’s very word to us, which I’ve just demonstrated it is, then it behooves us to not just have a devotional time we read a devotion and check it off for our daily list, but we need to read often. We need to compare passages together and we need to study the theology within them. It’s not enough to come on Sunday. We need daily and mid-week studies to build our faith. We must be disciples of Christ and He said, “If you continue in my word you prove to be my disciple.”
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