Is the Bible really God’s word?

Many people question who the author of the Bible is and wonder if the Bible is really the Word of God

Intro

For a Christian to truly be a follower of Jesus Christ, it is imperative to believe the Bible is the inspired word of God,

but this does not mean we blindly believe it to be true

Christianity is not intended to check your brain at the door, but we are taught to live by the Spirit and not simply on our limited understanding of things .

this does not mean we are not meant to question Scripture.

for its often in our questioning that we find the deepest understanding

When we think about an omnipotent creator of all things, who exists outside of time and space

We should question If He chose to communicate with His creation

How would he go about doing it?

Yes he could send messengers & communicate the the Spirit, or He could even manifest himself to His creation in person

God has done all these things

but if we are looking for a message to transcend time How would he do that?

Sending a messenger or even showing Himself personally works the the eyes witness, but how long would that carry on?

How many generations?

A quotes by Robert Jordan

“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.”

He could speak through His Spirit to His creation, and I believe He still does today,

But How do you verify what one person hears compared to another.

What if one person says God said 1 thing, and another says God says something completely different.

How do you know which one is true?

You need a standard to verify the truth. It cannot be left up to man’s own devices.

perfect example is the current covid situation.

You have some people who claim to be Christians say this is punishment from God

You have other people claim this is from the devil.

Who is right if you don’t have a standard to judge them with?

We have many many to communicate today. email/chat/social media/ telephone/ video call etc.

but how many of these transcend time to ensure the message would be available for all mankind throughout time.

Samuel F. B. Morse sent the 1st telegraph in 1844

Alexander Graham Bell sent the first message over a phone line in 1876

Guglielmo Marconi's created Shortwave radio in the 1920

Ray Tomlinson sent the fist email in 1971

Neil Papworth sent the first text message in 1992

Prior to their creation they did not exist..........think about that!

And some forms of communication disappear.

When was the last time you used a shortwave radio or sent a telegram

the technology still exits but now too many people use it.

We may know the 1st message ever sent over a phone line

"Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you."

but does anyone know the second?

Although there are many ways to communicate today, there is really only 1 that transcends time and is verifiable

that is the Written Word

The Kish Tablet uses a Cuneiform an ancient writing system that was first used in around 3400 BC.

we still have it today! we may not understand it but we have it

The written word is verifiable and can remain unchanged indefinitely

That’s why God gave us His message in the way that He did.

So that it would transcend generations without being distorted.

more about that later...

Premise

Our belief is not just based on faith.

but this is not something we need to accept soley based on faith.

The Apostle Paul confirms this in his second letter to his student timothy

2 Timothy 1:12 NASB95

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

How Paul explains his personal faith

I know whom I have believed

1. this “I know” shows that faith is based on known facts

Know = truth things that are

You can believe a lie, but you can’t know a lie

2. Paul said “whom I have believed”

it doesn't matter how much or how strongly you believe something

but if this faith is founded on something real

Bury your head in the sand

Just because you bury your head in the sand doesn’t mean your problems go away

Just because you want something to be true doesn’t make it true

instead we are to discovery what is true and then believe that!

3. the Christian faith is not about an uncertain hope

but a firm and standing faith in things that have already been revealed

so in summary this means that the credibility of the Bible is based on facts which I can trust and which leads me into a living relationship with my Creator

body 1

If you got a text message from someone claiming to be your friend but from a number you did not recognize how would you verify it?

Well one way you could do this is by asking a question that only you and your friend would know the answer to?

If we use this strategy does the Bible contain things that only God would know?

Just taking a look at 6 attribute of God that we should find in the Bible

Science, History, Prophesy, Oneness, Holiness & Universal

these 6 attributes should be found in God's Word if He did indeed give it to us!

Science

It appropriate for us to ask ourselves

does the Bible say something about His creation that humans had no ability to know?

Since God is the creator it should fall in line with accurate and true Science

not that we should apply things that we not intended to be scientific

eg

Psalm 91:4 CSB

He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield.

Does God have wings and feather? No this is a poetic reference and we need to be careful to notice such things

The earth is suspended in Space

let's take two examples found in the bible

Job 26:7 NASB95

“He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing.

Job was written between the 7th and 4th centuries BC, with the 6th century BC most likely

Many scientist in the past believed many different things about How the earth was suspended

is wasn’t until the Babylonians around 1800 BC that thoughts of space even began to emerge.

yet 100’s of years prior It was recorded in what today we know as the Bible

The stars in the heavens

before the telescope was invented people believed that they could count the stars

Jeremiah 33:22 NASB95

‘As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’ ”

these are just a few phenomena which show us that the Holy Scriptures did not originate from the mainstream beliefs of its time but had a divine superhuman origin

so the Bible clearly contains scientific passages that are not fruit of human imagination

The Earth is a globe

Isaiah 40:22 NASB95

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

History

the Bible is affirmed through historical accuracy.

Do you remember the story about the handwriting on the wall that is found in the fifth chapter of Daniel?

Belshazzar hosted a feast with a thousand of his lords and ladies.

Suddenly, a gruesome hand appeared out of nowhere and began to write on a wall.

The king was disturbed and asked for someone to interpret the writing.

Daniel was found and gave the interpretation. After the interpretation,

Daniel 5:29 NASB95

Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.

Basing their opinion on Babylonian records, the historians claim this never happened.

According to the records, the last king of Babylon was not Belshazzar, but a man named Nabonidas.

And so, they said, the Bible is in error.

There wasn’t a record of a king named Belshazzar.

In 1853, an inscription was found on a cornerstone of a temple built by Nabonidas, to the god Ur, which read:

“May I, Nabonidas, king of Babylon, not sin against thee. And may reverence for thee dwell in the heart of Belshazzar, my first-born favorite son.”

From other inscriptions, it was learned that Belshazzar and Nabonidas were co-regents.

Nabonidas traveled while Belshazzar stayed home to run the kingdom.

Now that we know that Belshazzar and Nabonidas were co-regents,

it makes sense that Belshazzar would say that Daniel would be the third ruler.

Prophesy

God who is outside time and space speaks in the Bible He would have to say things

here and there which prove he knows the future

Deuteronomy 18:17–22 NASB95

“The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. ‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

in the Bible we find about 2500 concrete prophecies out of which 2,000 have already occurred exactly as pronounced

and the remaining prophecies were not false statements but are still future ones no other book in the world contains

so many future projections which could and can be directly verified

2 Peter 1:19–21 NASB95

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

God foreshadowed a banking system to Moses

banking system

Deuteronomy 15:6 NASB95

“For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

It may be common today but this was not a known practice at the time Moses wrote this!

There are over 300 precise prophecies that deal with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament.

https://jewsforjesus.org/answers/top-40-most-helpful-messianic-prophecies/

To say that these are fulfilled by chance is an astronomical impossibility.

Oneness

How the Bible Fits together?

from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reads as one book

Their a verification strategy called unintentional coincidences

the basic idea is that an author walks by and mentions a detail that happens to explain a question asked in another book

eg. Gospels

despite their apparent independence the fact fit together like puzzle pieces with two or three books

one would already have called it a wonder

The Bible is one book, and yet it is made up of 66 books,

was written by at least 40 different authors over a period of about 1600 years,

in 13 different countries

and on three different continents.

It was written in at least three different languages

by people in all professions.

The Bible forms one beautiful temple of truth that does not contradict itself theologically, morally, ethically, doctrinally, scientifically, historically, or in any other way.

It all fits together

God's holiness

holiness means that he is completely different

being separate or set apart

Sermon on the mount

Jesus Christ stated many things that we contrary to basic human understanding

Matthew 5:3–12 NASB95

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 20:26 NASB95

“It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

Matthew 16:25 NASB95

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 5:43–44 NASB95

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Matthew 19:21 NASB95

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

Luke 6:38 NASB95

“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

it would have been impossible for humans to intentionally write such a story in over 1500 years

but especially the content of this story differentiates itself from any religion religion

how we work our way up to God

the Bible shows how God came to us and through Jesus Christ and in Christ placed us in the position

of glorified children of God and this was not made up by any man

Universal

the Bible is not a book of the month, but the Book of the ages.

1 Peter 1:25 NASB95

But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.

Always the best selling book

The Bible is by far the worlds best-selling book of all time. No other book, fact or fiction, even comes close. Most estimates place the number of Bibles printed each year at over 100 million.

As of September 2020 the full Bible has been translated into 704 languages,

the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,551 languages

and Bible portions or stories into 1,160 other languages.

No book has ever had as much opposition as the Bible.

Men have laughed at it, scorned it, burned it, ridiculed it, and made laws against it.

But the Word of God has survived. And it is applicable today as much as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.

It’s so majestically deep that scholars could swim and never touch the bottom.

Yet so wonderfully shallow that a little child could come and get a drink of water without fear of drowning.

That is God’s precious, holy Word. The Word of God. Know it. Believe it. It is True.

Conclusion

our faith is not based on imagination or feelings but facts in a relationship and the Bible proves through its own text

that it was not invented by a man but written by an almighty omniscient and all loving God

So what are you going to do with it?

let it sit on a shelf and gather dust.

or let it feed your very Soul