More Word to the World

Summary

We’ve examined some of the evidences why we can be assured that the Bible is the Word of God. We looked at the testimony of scripture itself, indicating that it came by inspiration of God and then God moved the people to speak and write it. We saw the testimony of Jesus Christ confirming that both the Old Testament and the New Testament were from God. And Peter confirmed that Paul’s letters were scripture. The supremely high moral content and character of the Bible clearly identifies it as the Word of God. And finally, history, science and prophecy also confirm the accuracy of scripture.

The Bible is what is says it is: God’s Word.
Ps 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Ps 1:1-2
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

One of the most important facts concerning the Bible is that the Words from its pages continue every year to miraculously change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
John 5:39 Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

John 20:30-31
30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
31 But these are written , that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

B. Fulfilled prophecies concerning Jesus the Messiah

The Old Testament predicted many events concerning the Messiah (approximately 456 predictions). Among them are:

a. His genealogy from the tribe of Judah through King David
b. His miraculous conception
c. His ministry in Galilee
d. His rejection by Jews
e. Time of birth
f. Place of birth
g. Triumphal entry into Jerusalem
h. Betrayal for 30 pieces of silver
i. Details of his trial, death, his silence, being hit, spit on, punished with other criminals, crucifixion, piercing, mockery, offering of gall and vinegar, the casting of lots for His garments, unbroken bones, burial with the rich, resurrection and ascension.

Every one of these details of Jesus’ life were predicted long before Jesus was born. The mathematical probability that one person could fulfill all these predictions is virtually impossible. But the Bible is a miraculous book—a book from God. And with God, nothing shall be impossible.

Fulfilled Prophecy

The Bible is the only prophetic book of major religions. It is the ONLY book whose specific predictions have come to pass without error. There are approximately 1800 predictions in the Bible and many have already been literally fulfilled and some are being fulfilled in our day.

A. Fulfilled prophecies concerning Israel

One of the most astounding prophecies in scripture is the re-gathering of the Jews to the land called Palestine. God made a promise to the father of the Jews, Abraham, that He would give them the land of Canaan or Palestine as we call it today.They eventually occupied it and their kings ruled from there. However, they rebelled against God and God removed them as punishment for their rebellion.

He then promised to return them:

Isaiah 11:10-12
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

This ancient prophecy was fulfilled when some of you were children and teenagers. This is one of the most remarkable fulfillments of prophecy. After 1900 years of not existing as a nation, Israel was re-gathered into their land and became a nation again on May 14, 1948. Jews continue to pour into Israel every week and it was reported in the Jerusalem Post last week that it is estimated that the population of Jews living in Israel will exceed the population of Jews living outside of Israel some time this year. Considered in the large scheme, that is miraculous!

C. Dinosaurs in the Bible

Taken from http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/dinos.shtml.

Behemoth: Job 40:15-24 tells of a huge creature whose tail is as a cedar tree, ribs like bars of iron and he eats vegetation. He is called the “First of the ways of God” which in Hebrew implies it is the biggest animal ever created by God. The largest land animal discovered is the brachiosaurus and all descriptions of Behemoth match him with the brachiosaurus.

Leviathan: Job 41, Psalm 104:25-26, Isaiah 27:1 all describe this creature as a sea dragon, ferocious, terrifying with terrible teeth, scales of armor, and he breathes out fire. His description closely matches a kronosaurus. Speaking of fire breathing, that is something that even the small bombardier beetle of Central American can do with a flame throwing nozzle that sprays high temperature jet of gas.

The history of every culture is filled with stories of fire-breathing dragons. If you think about it, in all the past ages wouldn’t someone have made up a story of a fire-breathing lion or something? No. The dragon stories are based on truth, and only “dragons” breathed fire.

Many fossil dinosaur skulls contain unexplained, empty passages. Scientists have not been able to guess the reason for these passages. It could be that some dinosaurs used these passages as “gas tanks” for the combustible mixture used to “breathe fire.”

Continuation of the topic, “Agreement with Science”…

d. Blood plays an essential role in sustaining life
Leviticus 17:14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel , Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

e. Isolating infected people is mentioned in Leviticus 13:45-46.

f. Washing after handling a dead body is called for in Numbers 19:11-19.

g. Burying raw sewage is spoken of in Deuteronomy 23:12-13.

h. Leviticus 11:1-47 lists foods that should not be eaten. Dr. David I. Macht did a study of these animals in 1953 and found that they have a higher toxicity level than the clean animals.

i. Pork is a good example, for when improperly cooked, it carries the risk of trichinosis.

j. Circumcision called for in Genesis 17:12 offers many potential medical benefits resulting in resistance to phimosis, balanoposthitis, prostate cancer and AIDS.

k. Deuteronomy 20:19-20 and 22:6-7 offer sound ecological advice concerning the conservation of natural resources.

l. The earth hangs on nothing in outer space
Job 26:7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

m. The earth is round
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:

n. The hydrological cycle shows that the rain on land came from water which evaporated from the sea.
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.

o. The Two Laws of Thermodynamics, the two most fundamental principles of modern science are inferred in Genesis 2:2-3 (energy cannot be created or destroyed), and Psalms 102:25-26 (matter goes from organization to chaos).

Agreement with science

Not only have many historical discoveries confirmed the Bible as true, but there is agreement with science as well. During the ancient days when the Bible was written, people held many superstitious beliefs and false scientific concepts, yet the Bible never contradicts true science. If it were not for the divine inspiration of the Bible, it would also be full of scientific errors.

There are many scientific truths that were not known during the ancient days during which the Bible was written but are recorded in scripture.

a. Water currents are referred to in:
Psalms 8:8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

b. The global wind circuits that are only obvious from outer space:
Ecclesiastes 1:6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

c. Ocean springs (something Job could not have personal knowledge of) are mentioned in:
Job 38:16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

Yesterday we began to show archeological discoveries that support scriptural accounts. We continue today.

b. A writing dating from 900 or 800 BC was found in Northern Israel refers to the House of David and events recorded in 2 Kings.

c. A Moabite stone dated from 930 BC was written by the king of Moab and records events concerning Israel and mentions their God Yahweh, mirroring events described in 2 Kings 3:4-5 concerning Moab rebelling against Israel.

d. 2 Chronicles 12 mentions conquests of the Egyptian King Shishak. Archaeologists have long known about the Egyptian Pharaoh Shoshenq and his conquests from the carvings on the temple of Amun at Karnak . The names of several cities referred to in the Bible that this Pharaoh conquered have been confirmed as well as their existence during the time periods spoken of in the Bible. Cities named in the conquests in the Book of Joshua have also been confirmed.

e. A clay seal used by scribes has been discovered in Israel that refers to Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch mentioned in Jeremiah 36:1, 4 and has been authentically dated for this period.

f. The water tunnel built by Hezekiah according to 2 Kings 20:20 was discovered in 1838, and more recently, in 2003, Israeli and British scientists have dated the tunnel to around 700 BC. Hezekiah reigned 727-698 BC.

Http://www.christiananswers.net/archaeology/home.html notes many interesting archeological findings that confirm facts in the Bible. Because God cannot tell a lie, we would expect nothing less of His Word, and archeology has certainly offered confirmation of the accuracy of the truth found in the Bible.

Historical and Scientific Verification

We’ve examined the testimony of scripture itself, the testimony of Jesus Christ and the character of the Bible as reasons we can know it is God’s word. Now let us take a look at proofs from history and science.

Agreement with history

Archeological studies and historical research have added to the body of evidence that confirms the accuracy of the Bible. As an example, the Bible speaks of the existence of the Hittites who were a powerful kingdom in the Middle East in the days of Moses and Joshua. The Bible was the only source of information about these people until the late 1800s and many critics of the Bible said the Hittites were merely invented by biblical authors. However, archaeologists researching in Turkey have since found the capital city of the Hittite empire along with their massive library.

Dr. Bryant Wood has done research around the ancient city of Jericho and has shown the evidence perfectly matches the biblical account of the fall of the walls of Jericho .

Http://conservativecolloquium.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/archeological-evidence-supporting-the-credibility-and-accuracy-of-the-bible/ is a conservative intellectual website that hosts the article, “Archeological Evidence Supporting the Credibility and Accuracy of the Bible.” The article lists numerous discoveries. Among those are:

a. A seven foot slab of black granite was erected 1209 BC by the son of Ramses the Great of Egypt—it mentions the nation Israel .

Check back for more…

Unity

The Bible’s content and moral superiority are characteristics that indicate it is the Word of God. But a third characteristic, its unity of message, is also a strong witness for the Bible.

The Bible was written over a time span of 1500 years by more than forty different writers from widely different backgrounds. Moses was educated in the royal palace of Egypt and Peter was a Galilean fisherman who was called “unlearned and ignorant”. Solomon was a very wise king, Luke was a doctor, Paul a trained theologian, yet Amos was among the herdsmen of Tekoa (a shepherd), and Matthew was a tax collector. Yet even with the wide spectrum of backgrounds of the writers and the huge span of time over which it was written, it presents a consistent and coherent message on morality, salvation and one plan for the future.

Try to imagine how a book that began to be written by someone 1500 years ago, around 500 AD that just got completed this year. Imagine that book with such a variety and such a number of authors as the Bible. Add to the mix the fact that some of the authors lived on three different continents during the days before email and faxes and could not collaborate on the topic. What is the chance that book would come out with such a highly spiritual content, such moral superiority, and such a totally unified message like the Bible?

The Bible is the only Book that demonstrates such high character—Why? Because it is the Word of God.

The Character of the Bible

Content
The first characteristic to note is the content of the Bible—the Bible is a Book that contains answers to man’s deepest philosophical and spiritual questions. The “big” questions of life such as, “Who am I, where did I come from, what is my purpose for being here, where am I going?” Are all answered in the Bible. What that means is that the content of the Bible provides life’s answers that can only come from God.

Moral superiority
A second characteristic to note is that the Bible is morally superior to any other book. The Bible teaches about holiness, morality, love, justice, truth, grace, and mercy in a way that no other book does. No other ancient book on religion has such a unique emphasis on strict monotheism and or ethical conduct. The Bible contains the highest moral teachings of any book in the world.

If the world’s most moral book is not what it claims to be, than it would have to be the world’s biggest lie. But it proclaims its own words to be truth. The one Book that is morally superior to all others is a book that could only have come from God.