Dear friends:

Thanks to all of you who have purchased additional postage for this newsletter.  God bless you for your encouragement.

This is part 3 of the series, "The reliability of God's Word."  Today's message is a continuation of the proofs that the Bible is divinely inspired and totally reliable in every detail, historically and theologically.

Jim
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Proof from prophecy

Prophecy, or the prediction of future events, gives the Bible an internal authenticity.  This is one of the great marvels of the Bible, one that distinguishes it from all other writings.

God’s prophets spoke and wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about future events, about nations, especially concerning God’s covenant people, Israel, and most importantly, about the coming of the Messiah.  The events have occurred without fail, in detail, just as prophesied.  Unlike modern-day psychics whose track record is at best no better than chance would provide, these prophets were 100 percent accurate.  They could not make a mistake, the only such group in the history of the world.  This confirmed the divine origin of their information.

For example, about 600 years before Christ, the prophet Ezekiel wrote about the destruction of the city of Tyre.  Its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar came just a few years later.  History has shown the prophecy’s amazing details to have happened; Tyre became a “bare rock” where fishermen spread their nets, and the city was never rebuilt.

There are many other such prophecies and fulfillments concerning various locations and people, such as Sidon, Edom, and Nineveh.

Many prophecies foretold the historic plight of the Hebrew people, such as their first dispersion in 586 B.C. and return under Ezra, and the later second dispersion and worldwide persecution, which was also foretold by Christ (Luke 21:24).  The Bible also prophesies that they would someday return to the land from all over the earth, which many thought was impossible.  Now, almost 2,000 years later, the nation of Israel was “born in a day,” May 14 1948, by an unprecedented United Nations decree.  This was a fulfillment of Isaiah, who some 2,500 years earlier had written: Who has ever heard of such a thing?… Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? (Isaiah 66:8).

The greatest and most important prophecies concern the coming of Messiah. There are some 300 detailed prophecies of both His first coming and His second coming.  These include the timing of His first coming (Daniel 9:25), His deity (Isaiah 9:6), His place of birth (Micah 5:2), His suffering and crucifixion for our sins (Isaiah chapter 53), His resurrection (Psalm 16:10), His second coming (Zechariah 14:4), plus many other details.  He first came on schedule some 2,000 years ago, and His return will be on schedule, and there are many reasons from the prophecies and signs given to believe that this event will be soon.  One major sign is the miraculous reestablishment of Israel in just our generation, rendering futile all such speculation about the timing of Christ’s return before May 14, 1948.

Proof from the Bible’s claims about itself Unlike any other book, the Bible consistently claims itself to be divinely inspired and to be the Word of God.  For example:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

Your word is truth (Psalm 119:160. John 17:17).

Every word of God proves true (Proverbs 30:5, RSV).

Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35).

Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89, KJV).

Especially relevant to the purpose of this book, the Bible says of itself: For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Not only does the Bible claim to be divinely inspired, in its pages the Creator even speaks in the first person!  Expressions such as, “And God said…” followed by a quote appear about 3,800 times in the Old Testament alone, someone has counted.

These claims and characteristics are in a book that espouses truth, morality and all that is good.  It is illogical that such a book would be a hoax, and a conspiracy is impossible because of the vast differences in time and place of the writers and events.   Also, of the large number of people involved, someone would have surely spoken up.
 

Proof from Jesus Christ

Previous reasons given are compelling, but this one is the most persuasive of all: The Son of God Himself believed and taught the Bible’s complete inspiration and reliability.  The One who is considered by even non-Christians as the wisest and most saintly person who ever lived taught the infallibility of the Bible, saying such things as, “It is written… Search the Scriptures… Have you read… Scripture cannot be broken.”

He spoke of the total accuracy of even the “jot” and “tittle,” the smallest characters of the Hebrew alphabet.

He spoke confidently about past events and people, such as Noah and the ark, Jonah and the whale, Abraham and Moses.  The holy Son of God could not deceive, nor was He ignorant, having all knowledge.

Even after His resurrection, in His glorified body, Christ taught the infallibility of the Scriptures.  On one occasion, He rebuked His disciples for being “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” (He said all, not some!)

Of course, in Jesus’ day, there was no New Testament, which was written later under His direction.  But He placed His stamp of authority on it by anticipation when He told the disciples, But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26).

Proof from science The Bible does not claim to be a science book, yet it contains scientific truth, revealed supernaturally to its writers centuries before humans discovered those truths.

For example, only in relative recent years has science understood the cycles of water, how it evaporates, then collects in the clouds, then comes back to earth as train or snow.  However, God revealed this in Job 36:27-28: He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams.

Job lived over 3,500 years ago.  Another example is the biblical revelation that the earth is round, and not flat, as believed until recent history: He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth (Isaiah 40:22).

And that the actual life of our flesh is in our blood: For the life of a creature is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).

When the Bible does address a scientific matter that may seem contrary to today’s understanding, it would be wise to believe it.  A contemporary example is the theory of evolution -- that man evolved from some prehistoric, random collision of molecules, then apes --which even contradicts known scientific principles and the fossil record, but yet is foolishly taught as truth in our educational systems by those who do not want to acknowledge a moral God to whom they will be accountable.
 

To be continued....