Lesson 2: Can the Bible be Trusted

1. 2 Timothy 3:16

· The Bible itself says it is inspired by God (See 1 Cor 2:13)

2. 2 Peter 1:21 “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

· The Bible claims that the men who wrote it did so under the direct guidance of God. The real author of this book, then, is God.

· Study Note: The Bible claims it was given by God. But so do other religious books—The Book of Mormon, The Quran, etc

3. Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants.”

· God desires that people understand Him and His ways and so has revealed much about Himself to us.

· Study Note: God has given us a book because He wants us to understand Him, trust Him, and worship Him. The kind of relationship He desires with us is built of knowing each other personally.

4. 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 “No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”

· We need God to help us understand the things He has revealed to us.

· Study Note: If you receive a letter from your brother and there is a portion you don’t fully understand, should you call him or me to get clarification? The one who wrote the letter can give the best explanation. The Bible is God’s “letter” to us and we need His help to understand it. Before opening the Bible, always ask Him to be with you to give you understanding

5. Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children”

· The things which God sees that we need to understand, He has given to us in Scripture.

· Study Note If you receive a letter from your brother and there is a portion you don’t fully understand, should you call him or me to get clarification? The one who wrote the letter can give the best explanation. The Bible is God’s “letter” to us and we need His help to understand it. Before opening the Bible, always ask Him to be with you to give you understanding.

6. Daniel 2:1-3 The king could not remember his dreams.

· Study Note: The king was curious about the future of his kingdom as he went to sleep. God gave him a dream, but he could not remember it. He desperately wanted to know the dream and its meaning. He called all his wise men, but they could not tell it to him and their gods weren’t interested.

7. Daniel 2:11 “There is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with ______.”

8. Daniel 2:26-28 “But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.”

· Study Note: Daniel spoke of the God of heaven as being interested and willing to reveal things to the king.

9. Daniel 2:31-35 In the dream the king saw an image made of four different metals, which was then destroyed by a great stone.

· Study Note: The dream involved symbols. There was a great image of a man made of four different metals—gold, silver, brass, and iron. It would be destroyed by a stone of super-human origin.

10. Daniel 2:36-45 The interpretation speaks of four great kingdoms followed by a time of divided kingdoms and then the setting up of God’s kingdom.

Babylon 620 B.C. – 538 B.C. (Nabonidus Chronicle discovered in 1972) Medo-Persia 538 B.C. – 357 B.C. Greece 357 B.C. – 146 B.C. (Rise of the Macedonian Empire 356 B.C)* (Battle of Corinth 146 B.C.) Rome 146 B.C. – A.D. 476 Divided Nations A.D. 476 – Present (All attempts to build an empire since A.D. 476 have failed.) History has shown that Bible prophecy is completely accurate. The Bible can foretell the future.

*Alexander the Great’s reign 356-323 B.C. (33 YEARS)

· Study Note: The interpretation said that each metal represented a different empire, starting with Babylon. The fourth would not be followed by another, but by a division into many nations. When Rome fell, it broke into ten nations. Efforts to establish another great world empire have included: Charles V, Napoleon, Hitler, and Lenin. All have failed. And so, the prediction given through Daniel 2,600 years ago, has come to pass in every point. This is just one of many predictions made in the Bible hundreds of years before their exact fulfillment. There is no other book in all the world that has anything close to this record.

11. Isaiah 46:5, 8-10 “I am God, and there is other like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from the ancient times things that are not yet done”

· What sets God apart from all others is His ability to accurately foretell the future. So with His Word.

· Study Note: No other god could tell the future with any accuracy. No other book than the Bible can foretell the future with accuracy— not the Book of Mormon, not the Quran, not the writings of Confucius or of the Buddha. This point distinguishes the Bible as the only true book from the God of heaven, who alone can tell the future, “declaring the end from the beginning.

12. 11. Psalm 34:8 (532) “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.”

· The best way so see the Bible can be trusted is to test it for ourselves, applying its promises and picture of God to our own lives.

· Study Note: God wants to be known by us. He wants us to try His trustworthiness, to put to the test the promises He makes in His Word, the Bible. As we do, we see for ourselves that in the Bible we have reliable information about who God is.

APPEAL: Would you like to taste the Lord and His Word in your life? Yes ______

NEXT TIME: The Origin of Sin and Suffering