Secondary Evidences

RECAP: When you and I read a text book we assume its true. This same respect is owed when you pick up the Bible. Not as though the Bible is down on the level of a text book, but that it self-attests to its own authority being the truthful words of it’s Author, God Himself. Therefore, since God, who is truth and cannot lie, has authored the Bible, it is to be considered the final authority, because if we subject it to the reasoning of dead men who don’t fear God, which makes them fools, would we not be assuming that fools are more intelligent than the wisdom of God? It is then, by the Bible alone, through the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, that we receive understanding of the world and are now properly equipped to examine the same facts as the unregenerate, however now with a proper and consistent worldview.

Breakdown 2 Peter 1:16-21 before beginning lecture. Peter links the authority of God’s Word to them on the mountain to the authority of the Word of God

2 Peter 1:16–21 NKJV

16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Today’s summary statement and outline of 2 Peter 1 is a quote from Voddie Baucham which reads:

“The Bible is a reliable source of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim their writings are divine rather than human in origin.”

The Bible is a Reliable Historical Source (v16a)

Archaeological Evidences

David

Many people believed that David was nothing more than a fictional character, made us by the Bible. However, In 1993, excavators at Tel Da uncovered an inscription with the word BYTDWD on it. They convincingly argued that the word means “house of David” and dates to the ninth century BC. The inscription had been sealed by a later Assyrian destruction layer firmly dated to 733/722 BC. An ash layer is an archaeologist’s dream. Anything sealed beneath it must be dated earlier, because there is no possibility of intrusion by later artifacts. Pottery directly beneath the destruction level dates to the ninth and eighth centuries BC, and from this period the so-called House of David inscription must have come.

Pontius Pilate

The Pontius Pilate Inscription (first century A.D.) was found in 1961 in the theatre of Caesarea Maritima, the city of Pilate’s residence in Palestine. Among the few lines still legible are the words “Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea.” The inscription is the first archaeological evidence for Pilate, before whom Jesus was tried and condemned to death (Matt. 27:11–26).

The Politarch Inscriptions

Luke’s writing of Acts has faced intense attacks for his calling the Chief Magistrates of Thessalonica, Politarchs in Acts 17:6, but this stopped when the Politarch Inscriptions were discovered validating Luke’s claims. Luke has been proven to be a 1st class historian who constantly utilizes the proper titles of officials even as they rank up within society!

Yohanan Ben Ha’galgol

The Gospels have been criticized by skeptics claiming that crucifixions in the first century were never done with nails piercing the victims. That was until a burial site where the bodies of those who revolted against Rome’s destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 were found. Among the bodies was Yohanan Ben Ha’galgol who’s remains still has the nails in them.

The Moabite Stone

Crossway writes, “In 1868, a missionary in Jerusalem found a stone tablet for sale that appeared to be from ancient times. The sellers broke the tablet into a number of pieces to sell them one at a time to make more money. Fortunately, a copy of the tablet was made prior to the break (this copy is in the Louvre today). On the tablet is a text written in Moabite dating to the ninth century BC. It was perhaps a victory stone erected by King Mesha to commemorate his military achievements. The text begins, “I am Mesha son of Chemosh, king of Moab.” Prominent in the text is the king’s version of a war fought with Israel in 850 BC, in which Moab revolted against King Jehoram of the northern kingdom of Israel soon after the death of Ahab. Of particular interest is that the Bible records the same incident in 2 Kings 3. The two accounts differ in perspective. Mesha emphasizes his victories over Israel in capturing cities under Israelite control. The biblical writer, to the contrary, highlights Israel’s successful counter attacks against the Moabites.

Nazareth

Skeptics have claimed that Nazareth never existed during the time of Christ therefore the Gospel’s couldn’t be considered accurate. This was until the 1950’s and 60’s where excavations revealed that Nazareth was indeed a small, mostly Jewish, village during the time of Christ.

The Hittites

The secular world scoffed at the Bible for mentioning the Hittites over 50 times boldly asserting that those people never existed and were nothing but fiction. That was until 1876 where Archaeologists found evidence of the Hittite people and they soon discovered that they were a massive power in the 15th and 16th Century BC.

Secular Witnesses

-Each of these individuals are secular sources, which are not believers, recording historical records of Christ further evidencing that the Jesus Christ lived as His Word says.

Seutonius in work “Life of Claudius 25:4”

Josephus (37 AD -100) in his book “The Antiquities”

Tacitus (56 AD - 117) in his book “Annals 15:44”

Pliny the Younger (61 AD -113) “Letter [To Emperor Trajan} 10:96-97”

Lucian (115 AD - 200) “The Works of Lucian of Samosata”

Celsus (Late 2nd Century) “Contra Celsus” by Origen

Phlegon (80 AD - 140)

Mara Bar-Serapion (70 AD - ?)

Scientific Accuracy

Dr. Andrew Snelling who works with Answers in Genesis gives us three points on the scientific accuracy of the Bible which in the past were laughed at by men but are now proven to be true.

Astronomy

Stars are innumerable (Genesis 22:17; Jeremiah 33:22)Stars differ in glory (1 Corinthians 15:41)Stars follow a predictable pattern (Jeremiah 31:35)Earth is round, not flat (Isaiah 40:22; Psalm 103:12)Earth hangs on nothing (not built on pillars) (Job 26:7)Scientific evidence of a young universe: 1) Spiral galaxies 2) “Missing” supernova remnants 3) Short-lived comets 4) Moon moving away from Earth

Geology

Water cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:7; Isaiah 55:10)Sea currents (Psalm 8:8)“Fountains of the deep broken up” (Genesis 7:11)Scientific evidence of a young earth: 1) Continents erode too fast 2) Too much mud on the sea floor 3) Too much sodium in the ocean 4) Too rapid decay of earth’s magnetic field

Biology

Blood circulation (Leviticus 17:11)Scientific evidence of a recent creation: 1) DNA programming for irreducibly complex protein sequences 2) Lack of missing links in the fossil record 3) Dinosaur blood vessels in fossils

Also the life is in the blood and George Washington.

Unity

The Bible has astounding unity. Ask them questions here?

How many books in the Bible? 66

How many authors? About 40 and most never met.

How many years? About 1500

How many languages? 3

How many continents? 3

So, the Bible is a volume of 66 books containing different genres from poetry, to wisdom, to narratives and more that address hundreds of different topics written by men in caves, prisons, palaces across 3 different continents written in 3 different languages by authors, most of which never met, across a span of over 1500 years and the whole Bible comes together to perfectly tell one unbreakable story of the God of glory and His salvation of fallen man.

How is this possible but by the hand of God!

Reliable Transmission

Okay, but how do we know we actually have God’s Word now? Well, here is a quick slideshow by my friend Dr. Stephen Boyce with Explain Apologetics. An astounding reality is not that we are lacking manuscripts and scrambling to find some way to defend ourselves but we have such an embarrassment of riches it isn’t funny! And the more we manuscripts find, we aren’t discovering that we have been way off, but that God has preserved His Word as He said!

If we didn’t have a single manuscript today. The early church father quote the NT so much that if we only had the quotes that we have from them today. We would have all but 11 verses of the New Testament.

Written By Eyewitnesses (16b)

-Emphasize v 16 “eyewitness” and v18 “we” “heard”.

-This is eyewitness testimony of multiple men, since there are more than one witnesses that means that this was falsifiable meaning that if he was lying they could rat him out, these are multiple men testifying that they both saw and heard the events that took place at the mount of transfiguration.

But what about after the Resurrection? 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 “1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.”

This means that there were at least 301 other witnesses alive when Paul wrote that. So all anyone had to do was go interrogate them to see if Paul was lying!

Atheists will always say, “Well, I’m a man of science! But the scientific method doesn’t work on historic facts! The only reliable method is the evidentiary method and the Bible passes that with flying colors.

Fulfillment of Specific Prophecies (19-21)

Prophesy of King Cyrus of Persia

When Isaiah was writing between 700-680 BC, Babylon was just up and coming, yet he predicted that this nation would eventually take the Jews captive. This prediction came true about 100 years later in three stages with its climax in the seige of 586 BC. But not only did he prophesy that, but He went on to say that Persia would conquer Babylon, and when he prophesied that Persia was barely in existence. And THEN, in Isaiah 44:26-28, he goes on an names the name of the Persian king that would free the Jews to return to Jerusalem over 150 years before it even happened!

Why did God give Isaiah this prophesy? Well, in Isaiah 44 He does it to contrast Himself to the false god’s. And second, in Isaiah 45 He does it so we will stand in awe of the works of God!

Prophesy of the Destruction of Tyre

Ezekiel prophesied that God would raise up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to come against Tyre with his army of horseman and that Tyre would be destroyed and in Ezekiel 23:3-6 he tells us what Tyre would look like after God’s judgment was done. Ezekiel 26:12 gives us a more in depth look telling us that: 1. Nebuchadnezzar will destroy Tyre. 2. Many Nations will come against Tyre. 3. Tyre will become bare like the top of a flat rock. 4. Fishermen will spread their nets over the sites. 5. Tyre will be thrown into the water and never be rebuilt.

Prophesy of Christ

There are over 300 prophecies in the Scriptures that Christ fulfilled. One mathematician said that the odds of that are 1 in 100 quadrillion. Or, if you filled texas up with coins.

But one of the first ones I think of is Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” Where the very birthplace of the Lord is given 700 years before it even happens