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First let us consider the uniqueness of the book. The Bible is unique in preparation, circulation, translation, and preservation. The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years by a great variety of men who were inspired of God. From the king of Babylon writing in Chaldean to the humble prophet of Samaria; from an educated doctor writing in Greek to the beautiful lyrics composed by a Hebrew shepherd in the field; from a statesman born in ancient Egypt to a fisherman of the Roman era; it is difficult to conceive of a more diverse group! Writing any volume of such length and being in compete harmony would indeed be a wonder, much less dealing with a topic so controversial as religion. No book in the history of the world has been as widely circulated as the scripture. Every year it outsells all of the top best-sellers and it has now been translated into over 1,200 different languages. Despite the hammers of higher criticism and the black-listing of dictators, the anvil of God's Word survives after the hammers where out. In 1759 the noted French infidel Voltaire purchased an estate called "Ferney" near the French-Swiss border where he lived and wrote his Anti-God, Anti-Christ material. He was convinced that he could destroy Christianity and the Bible. held up a copy of the Bible in the air and smugly proclaimed, "In 100 years this book will be forgotten and eliminated..." Shortly after his death, Voltaire's private residence became the headquarters of the Geneva Bible Society and became a major distribution hub for the very Bible he assigned to extinction. Discoveries of hundreds of copies of the ancient texts from a millennium before Christ reveal the remarkable preservation of the message throughout time. The Bible is also unique in message and influence. The Bible unequivocally claims to be the word of God (II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:16-21). Either it satisfies that claim or it is not a "good book." From beginning to end the Bible carries a message of the Messiah, God in the flesh. C.S. Lewis effectively countered the myth of Jesus Christ being merely a "good man." Christ claimed to be God. So either He was divine, or he was a deceitful impostor, or he was pathetically self-deluded. This has been called the Lord/Liar/Lunatic trilemma. Great men the world over have sought to plummet the message of the scriptures. From common people with no formal education to the brightest minds in the scientific world, most have found intellectual challenge and many have come to know spiritual fulfillment in the message of this unique book. Secondly, archaeology has independently confirmed the historical accuracy of the scriptures. Not only have many of the locations and traditions that are mentioned in the Bible been confirmed by field workers in the Middle East and researchers that study ancient histories, but specific events cited have often been shown to match in great detail. Associates for Biblical Research has extensively excavated Jericho. Just one of the interesting features about this city is that the walls appear to have fallen outward. While an invading army would typically ram the walls inward upon the debris, the Bible declares that God caused the walls to fall flat so that the Israelites could go straight in. Skeptics once believed that the book of Daniel was in error when it discussed Belshazzar ruling Babylon. The dynasties were revealed on cuneiform tablets excavated from ancient Babylon and Belshazzar did not appear on the list. Yet Unger's Bible Dictionary tells how a later find revealed that the sovereign, Nabonidus, traveled extensively and in his absence left his son Belshazzar to rule as co-regent. That is why, in seeking to offer the ultimate reward to anyone who could interpret the mysterious message of doom, Belshazzar offered the position of "third in the kingdom" (Daniel 5:7). He could do no more since he was only second himself. Sir William Ramsey is regarded as one of the greatest archaeologists ever to have lived. Skeptical of the authorship and accuracy of the gospels and Acts, Ramsey set out to investigate. Yet he concluded after 30 years of study that "Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy...this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians." (Ramsey, W.M., The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, 1953, p. 222, as cited in McDowell, 1991, p.71.) Thirdly there is the evidence of fulfilled prophecy. It is interesting to glance at a concordance and note how many times the scriptures say, "It is written" and harking back to one of the many prophecies. Making predictions in the Old Testament era was no light matter. The test for a prophet was 100% accuracy (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). The penalty for failing the test was death. Yet, in marked contrast to any other religious writings, about 30% of the Bible is prophecy! Let's just consider two of the many types of prophecies contained in the Bible: those regarding the Messiah and those that apply to Ancient Cities. McDowell presents 61 specific prophecies that were clearly fulfilled in Christ. These include: His birthplace, the flight to Egypt, His ancestry, the slaughter of the innocents, His being preceded by a messenger, the ministry starting in Galilee, His teaching with parables, His entry into Jerusalem on a colt, His betrayal by a friend, the 30 pieces of silver, His death upon a tree, the garments parted and lots cast, the gall and vinegar offered, His side pierced but no bones broken, the darkness over the land, and His burial with the rich, and his resurrection. Even if an impostor sought to pawn himself off as meeting some of these, there are a great many (like the events of one's birth) beyond his control. In his book Science Speaks, Peter Stoner has calculated the odds of just eight of the most remarkable prophecies coming true in the life of any man in human history as a mind-boggling 1 in 10 17. These are not common predictions that have decent odds of happening. No other religion in the world even makes a pretense that its founder is still alive, yet the prophets predicted the resurrection (Psalm 16:10). Remarkably, the exact timing of the Messiah's arrival was given in Daniel 9:24-26. Many of the Old Testament prophecies (like Malachi 3:1) demand that the temple be standing when the Messiah came. It was destroyed in A.D. 70 in fulfillment of Christ's prophecy (Matthew 24:2). Indeed, there was a narrow historical window in which the Messiah could come. For it was determined in Genesis 49:10 that he would be born before Israel lost the governmental scepter (the rabbis lost the right of capital punishment so important to their law in AD 7). That is why they had to appeal to Pilate in John 18:31. But Messiah had to be condemned after the Jews lost that right because it was predicted that he was to die by crucifixion (Psalm 22:16), rather that the Jewish method of stoning. Biblical prophecies with regard to ancient cities is equally remarkable. Skeptics have suggested that a message of impending doom spoken against an ancient city must come true eventually. Yet the dire predictions in the Bible are very specific such that the details of one city's prophecies do not fit the next one. The detailed prophecies involving ancient cities include Babylon, Chorazin-Bethsaida-Capernaum, Gaza-Ashkelon, Jerusalem, Moab-Ammon, Nineveh, Petra-Edom, Samaria, Sidon, Thebes-Memphis, Tyre, and others (McDowell, 1991). Contemplate just a few of them: 1. Among the several specific predictions with regard to ancient Edom are those in Ezekiel 25:13-14. It claims that Edom's destruction would leave the land desolate as far as Teman and that Israel would participate in their destruction. In Ezekiel 35:7 the prophet further notes Edom would no longer be a place of merchants and trade. Isaiah 34:14-15 claims it would be the habitation of wild animals. Lastly Jeremiah 49:18 predicts that it would never be inhabited again. This is a daunting series of prophecies, particularly when one considers that Petra, the capital of Edom, was one of the wonders of the ancient world--literally a city carved into a mountain and the Jews were in bondage when the prophecy was made! Yet under the Maccabean era the resurgent Israelites pillaged Edom. In dramatic fulfillment the Edomite empire was finally destroyed right up to the city of Teman. (Only Teman, or Maan was left and survives still today.) When the capital city of Petra was rediscovered (to the chagrin of critics who maintained that the Edomite civilization was mythical), it was found to be a ghost town, inhabited only by eagles, scorpions and other wild creatures.A most remarkable Old Testament prophecy has been fulfilled in the modern era. In keeping with the warning of Leviticus 26:33 and Deuteronomy 28:64 the children of Israel were scattered and tormented. From the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, to their banishment from Rome, to the pogroms of eastern Europe, to the holocaust; the Jewish people have suffered greatly. But Ezekiel 36:33-35 and 38:8 makes it very clear that the Jews were to return out of the other nations, rebuild their wasted cities, and recultivate their land (See also Jeremiah 16:14-15). It would seem highly unlikely that the Jews would remain distinct as a people, having no country and every motivation to intermarry and escape the stigma. Yet this Biblical prophecy has been completely fulfilled in recent history. From a population of only 20,000 identifiable Palestinian Jews in 1900, the modern reemergence of the Israeli nation has swelled that number to 6 million Jews. No other nation has been similarly reborn. Small wonder when the rationalist king Frederick the Great demanded of the court chaplain an unanswerable proof of the Bible's authenticity, the answer was given: "the Jew, your majesty!" As a prophet Himself, Christ made numerous predictions. In Matthew 24:3 the disciples posed a question about the timing of the end of the world, Armageddon, and the new kingdom. Jesus predicted in vs 14: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." He later would command them to go "into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). That was a command it would seem impossible for a motley group of followers of an itinerant preacher in the obscure nation to do. How could they go through all the world spreading His teachings and getting people to believe the incredible story of his death and resurrection? Yet they have done just that. Interestingly, even the advent of the modern skeptical era with a worldview based upon uniformitarianism was foretold in the scriptures (see II Peter 3:3-7). In Isaiah 41:23 the prophet lays out a challenge: "Show me the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods." The God of the Bible has dramatically met that challenge! Fourthly, there is the fact that the Bible is scientifically accurate. One must always be cautious against using circular reasoning such that scientific theories are enlightened by the scripture and then those theories are used to show that the scriptures are reliable. But quite aside from the evidence for controversial theories like special creation, or the co-existence of men and dinosaurs; there are a number of rather startling statements in the Bible which appear to be far more advanced than the scientific knowledge at the time of writing. Moreover, there has never been an irreconcilable discrepancy between scientific facts or laws and the scriptures. * Jeremiah 33:22 claims that the stars of the heaven are innumerable. Hippocrates, before the invention of the telescope charted and numbered 1,022 stars. Kepler later recounted and revised the number. Today scientists agree with Jeremiah. There are billions just in our galaxy! It is interesting that the Bible makes the number of stars roughly equivalent to the number of grains of sand on the seashore (Genesis 22:17; Hebrews 11:12). Carl Sagan also compared these two, leaning towards the number of stars being greater. Amazingly, the latest estimates of the gross number of sand grains are comparable to the modern estimated number of stars in the universe!Other verses could be cited. Just recently articles have been published claiming that the human rib is the only bone that has been shown to grow back. Is it merely a coincidence that this is the bone God took from Adam? A strong case has even been made that it is no accident that science has flourished to unprecedented levels in an era of Christian philosophy. Great classical scientists sought to seek God's thoughts after Him. The Biblical view gives reason to expect orderliness, laws, and repeatability that are the foundation for the scientific method. The fifth area of evidence is the demonstration of changed lives. That is, there is power in the Christian experience, power in the Christian story, and power in the Christian's departure. If the Bible only impacted a relative few in a single culture, one might be skeptical of its claims. But the message of salvation and reconciliation to the Creator has dramatically changed women and men of all ages and races throughout history. The message of the scripture is the highest of drama: the eternal omnipotent God pursuing the wayward creation to the extent of a humble birth and cruel, ignominious death. It is at once exquisitely mind-boggling and yet so simple that a child can understand and be affected by it. Millions of people from around the world can personalize the testimony of John Newton, the profane slave-trader turned Christian: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found--was blind, but now I see!" A number of books have compiled death bead accounts, giving the stories of both saved and unsaved people passing from this earth as told in the words of eye-witnesses. One such book is Voices from the Edge of Eternity by John Meyers. The impact grows as one perceives the remarkable similarity in so many of the accounts. Christians see great brightness, give lucid accounts of observing loved ones and leave their bodies with great hope and comfort. But heart-rending accounts of the passing of many unsaved souls are also given. It recounts the details of the great French skeptic Voltaire's passing from this life in the most awful of circumstance, crying out in darkness, hopelessness and despair. Even his nurse repeatedly said that for all the wealth of Europe, she would not see another infidel die! Hebrews 10:31 states, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." If the Bible gives evidence of being the word of God and it is reliable when it speaks historically, prophetically, etc.; than it is also likely to be trustworthy when it speaks theologically and gives the simple plan of salvation as follows... The Bible is very clear in making an exclusive claim on the path to God. "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; but he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him". (John 3:36) "Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Let us know if you would like more information about God's simple plan of salvation or how to live in a way pleasing to your Creator. |
