Reasons the Bible is God's Word

CS Lewis: “Christianity, if false, is of no importance and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing that it cannot be is moderately important.”

The whole faith rests upon a book— the Bible. Jesus; God; the sin of man; ALL IS FOUND IN THE PAGES OF THE BIBLE

THE BIBLE ALONE CAN SUSTAIN ITS OWN TRUTH CLAIMS!

A dishonest doubter- when not believe regardless of the facts

an honest doubter- will come to the evidence and will believe

If the Bible be true, every other faith MUST be false.

RA Torrey

raised to be believe the Bible was the Word

shattered through brilliant skeptics

Ten Reasons Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God

G Campbell Morgan; Billy Graham— both had these same doubts

THE BIBLE CLAIMS TO BE THE WORD OF GOD

The Bible makes this claim:

Over 2K times in OT, assertion is made that God spoke.

Exodus 24:4: “And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Deuteronomy 4:2: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

Psalm 119:89: “LAMED. For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.”

Jeremiah 26:2: “Thus saith the Lord; Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord’s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:”

New Testament

The word of God- 40x

Luke 11:28: “But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”

Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

II Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

II Peter 1:21: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Concurrence- done by man and God in reference to the inspiration of the Bible. God used human instrumentality to write the Scriptures.

moved- a fisherman’s term; a boat pushed along by the wind

TERMS RELEVATION TO INSPIRATION:

REVELATION

INSPIRATION

ILLUMINATION- enlightening of man by God to reveal His Word

epistemology- HOW we receive knowledge

the needed 6th sense- the Holy Spirit of God

WHERE DOES INSPIRATION LIE?

it lies in the message itself- the words, not in the reader, not the product of mechanical dictation, NOT THE WRITER, not the thoughts/intentions/motives— THE WORDS

not everything that Paul wrote was inspired (he wrote 4 letters to Thessalonica)

inspiration is in the words God gave to mankind

ALL WRITTEN LETTERS COME OUT FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD— a word-for-word translation

dynamic equivalence- words to thoughts

formal translations- word-for-word

II Peter 1:20-21: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

HUMAN ELEMENT:

emotion

grammatical differences

100% inspired by God:

VERBAL- WORDS

PLENARY- EVERYTHING IN THE BIBLE; ALL THE BIBLE

“In effect, God signed every page of the Bible. We have every reason to believe that His signature was not forged. God has spoken and He has told us so.” -Erwin Lutzer

The call to preach— a deep conviction that the Bible is the Word of God!

How can we know?

We cannot rely on the doctrine of scripture until we are absolutely certain that God is the author.” John Calvin

SCIENTIFIC ACCURACIES-

Quranic explanation of the white, black, and brown man— God put clay in the oven— too little (white man), too much (black man), just right (brown man)

Bible- a harmony between science and the Bible

Supports of Earth

Greeks- Atlas supported earth

Hindus- supported on backs of elephants; which are supported on a tortoise; tortoise on snake; snake swimming in cosmic sea

FIRST BOOK OF BIBLE: Job 26:7: “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, And hangeth the earth upon nothing.”

FLAT EARTH THEORY

750 years before Christ: Isaiah 40:22: “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:”

circle- sphere; ball

HOW MANY STARS?

Genesis 22:15: “And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,”

Genesis 22:17: “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;”

Jeremiah 33:22: “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.”

Men have tried to count stars. Ptolemy counted 1,056. Tycho Brahe counted 777. Johannes found 1,005. The maximum seen by the naked eye is 4,000. However, Galileo discovered that there are more stars than can be numbered. Scientists now estimate that the universe contains 10 to 26th power stars— same order of magnitude as the number of grains of sand on the earth.

This agrees with Jeremiah.

THE LIFE OF THE FLESH IS IN THE BLOOD

Blood letting was an ancient practice.

Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

Circulation of blood was discovered in 1616 by William Harvey. EGYPTIAN MEDICINE—

NONE OF THESE DISEASES- SI McMillen references book called Papyrus Ebers written in 1552 BC; gives insights into the advancements of Egyptian Medicine in days of antiquity.

Moses did not learn these truths from Egypt! He learned them from God!

HE LEARNED BY INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURES

Moses knew the wisdom of Egyptians— yet, Moses wrote about biology, cleanliness, menstruation cycles, and the efficacy of blood. HYGIENE WAS A HUGE PART OF THE PENTATEUCH LAWS.

BLACK PLAGUE- no concept of sanitation— but if they had followed the instructions of Leviticus 13, many would have been saved.

Leviticus 13:2: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:”

PURIFICATION:

Numbers 19:11-12: “He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.”

WASH HANDS- 1:6 TO 1:84- SIMPLY BY WASHING HANDS AFTER TOUCHING THE DEAD

WATER CYCLE- Bible speaks about the water cycle

Ecclesiastes 1:7: “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”

Isaiah 55:10: “For as the rain cometh down, And the snow from heaven, And returneth not thither, But watereth the earth, And maketh it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:”

FULFILLED PROPHECY

Justin Martyr- to declare a thing shall come to pass long before it comes to being and then to bring it to pass, that is a work of God.

A staggering 27% of the Bible deals with predictions about the future.

Of the 31,124 verses, 8,352 are predictive.

Deuteronomy 18:22: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

TEST OF FALSE GODS: Isaiah 41:23: “Shew the things that are to come hereafter, That we may know that ye are gods: Yea, do good, or do evil, That we may be dismayed, and behold it together.”

Isaiah 41:24: “Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: An abomination is he that chooseth you.” YOU ARE NOTHING!

However, our God is able! Isaiah 42:9: “Behold, the former things are come to pass, And new things do I declare: Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Isaiah 46:9-10: “Remember the former things of old: For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:”

Isaiah 45:3: “And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, And hidden riches of secret places, That thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”

PRINCIPLE OF PROBABILITY: Dr. Stoner

Ezekiel 26:3-13: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls…”

Destruction of Tyre

M X N

7 definite events:

Neb will take city

other nations will help

Tyre will be flattened

the city would become a place where fishermen spread nets

timbers and stones cast into sea

citizens of other cities would be afraid

it will never be rebuilt

Dr. Stone used probability— estimated the odds that all would happen- 1:400M; yet, all 7 took place just as the Bible say. probability— estimated the odds that all would happen- 1:400M; yet, all 7 took place just as the Bible says.

ALSO, THEY DID NOT TAKE PLACE AT THE SAME TIME—

PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS;

Messiah:

Of Judah: Genesis 49:10: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come; And unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

2nd temple greater glory than the first: Haggai 2:7-9: “And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.”

preceded by John Baptist: Malachi 3:1: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, Even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.”

marred appearance; despised; silent before accusers; return to life- Isaiah 53

rides into Jerusalem on a donkey: Zechariah 9:9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; Lowly, and riding upon an ass, And upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Bethlehem of Ephratah: Micah 5:2: “But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” 80 miles away. 2 Bethlehems— one in the north and one in the south—

Magi pointed to prophecy; Matthew 2:3-6: “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Beth-lehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Beth-lehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.”

DID JESUS CLAIM TO BE MESSIAH?

John 4:25-26: “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.”

Matthew 16:15-17: “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

Mark 14:61-62: “But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”

OT- 108 distinct prophecies to Christ the Messiah; 1 in 100 quadrillion;

JESUS OR NO ONE!

Daniel 9

Daniel’s 70 weeks-

“The detail of this history as presented in Daniel 11 provides one of the most remarkable predictive portions of scripture.” -Leon Wood

DANIEL IS SO PRECISE THAT CRITICAL SCHOLARS HAVE ARGUED THAT IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN UNTIL AFTER THE EVENTS IT DESCRIBES; THEY USUALLY ASCRIBE TO THE BOOK A LATE DATE IN THE 2ND C BC

DEAD SEA SCROLLS BROUGHT THEIR ARGUMENTS TO NOTHING!

HISTORICAL ACCURACY