Jul 14, 1996 11 min read old-sermon

Reasons to Believe in the Bible

if you ever want to make an elevator ride more interesting, here’s an idea
turn around and casually ask your fellow elevator riders what they think of the Bible
and then hope you’re in a tall building, because it seems that everyone has an opinion on the Bible
the range of opinions is just incredible
some people believe it’s a flat-out pack of lies
and then other people call it the hope of the world
I guess I would be interested in knowing what your opinion is this morning
what do you really think about the Bible?
how seriously do you take it in your life?
is it just nice to have around? Or do you read it and obey its teaching?
is it a guide in your life, a compass?
how impressed are you by its wisdom?
I’ll bet there’s a wide range of responses in this church this morning
no matter what you feel about the Bible, you have to admit that it is unique
that’s not a subjective statement
let the facts speak for themselves
the Bible is unique in its COMPOSITION
it was written over a 1,600 year time span by some 40 different authors from very different cultures and backgrounds
it was written in three languages on three continents
and yet it carries an unmistakable thread of continuity within its pages
it’s unique in its composition
the Bible is unique in its CIRCULATION
it is without question the single most published book in the world
billions of copies have been printed and purchased over the years
tens of millions continue to be sold and circulated year after year after year
just show me another book that has stayed at the top of the bestseller list for two or three hundred years
most authors dream of writing a book that would top the bestseller list for a week or two
the Bible is unique in its TRANSLATIONS
it is the most translated book in the world
even though it’s already been translated into over 1,200 languages, a literal army of full-time translators is working today, making it available to more people groups
and the Bible is unique in its DURABILITY
it has survived bans and burnings
it has survived ridicule and criticism
countless kings and rulers have tried to eradicate it
but it lives on and its influence continues to spread
it has outlived its cruelest opponents
and the Bible is unique in the EFFECTS people claim it has had on their lives
people read books all the time
most of the time when they finish a book, they stuff it into the closet and begin reading another book
but it’s different with serious Bible readers
they never seem to finish the book
and when they do, they just begin reading it all over again
this morning millions of people are gathered at this very hour to, among other things, read and study the Bible
millions of people give testimony to the fact that the information they’ve learned from the Bible transformed their lives and altered their view of the world
not many books seem to have that affect on people’s lives, wouldn’t you agree?
so you say, “Okay, I’ll admit the Bible is unique, but let’s go on to some bigger questions”
well, let’s ask some hard questions about the Bible
IS IT ACCURATE?
more than a few people spout off about this issue, don’t they?
you’ve heard them
“Of course it’s not accurate! It’s riddled with mistakes and contradictions”
“It has nothing to do with historical fact”
have you heard these things said about the Bible?
if you have, you should know the truth
the Bible passes the historicity test with flying colors
that’s impressive, because the Bible makes hundreds of references to historical events and places and people, so there’s plenty of opportunity for contradiction with the historical record
but for the most part, there is remarkable agreement between the historical record and the biblical account
in the few cases where there are contradictions between the historical records and biblical account, archeological records have tended to prove that the biblical account is the more accurate account
for example, the Old Testament makes frequent reference to an enemy nation of the Israelites called the Hittites
historians have never been able to come up with any trace of evidence of the existence of the Hittite nation
of course, they criticized the Bible for making reference to this nation called the Hittites
but in 1906, an archeological dig confirmed the existence of the Hittite nation, and archeologists even unearthed their capital city and 40 other cities that comprised their empire
the Biblical account was the more accurate account
in Daniel 5, the Bible references a man named Belshazzar, the king of Babylon in that day
the historical record has held that Nabonidus was the king of Babylon at that time
a clear-cut contradiction
historians said, obviously the Bible is wrong
it’s an open and shut case
we have proof that Nabonidus was the king
but in 1956, archeologists unearthed 3 stones that contained the inscribed information that solved the problem
it seems that Nabonidus decided to lead his armies out to battle at a faraway battlefield
and so he installed his son as king in his absence
and his son’s name was Belshazzar
once again, it was determined that the Biblical account passed the test of historicity
in fact, in the last 100 years, scores of archeological finds solved what once seemed to be unexplainable contradictions between the historical accounts and the biblical record
the renowned Jewish archeological expert Nelson Glueck once said, “It may be categorically stated that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference, not even once.”
incidentally, the Book of Mormon, when it is subject to the test of historicity, fails horribly
the Book of Mormon contains the story of a vast civilization that supposedly existed in the Americas between approximately 600 BC and 400 AD
it records the name of tribes and cities and mountains and rivers and coinages of that civilization
and most Mormons believe that book lock, stock, and barrel
and yet not one single historian inside or outside of the Mormon church has ever been able to produce a single piece of artifact or evidence that would substantiate any of the claims of the Book of Mormon
the historical record cannot substantiate a single city, river, tribe, or mountain mentioned in the book
friends, this is devastating
it suggests to many including myself that the whole work may very well be a hoax
thank God that the Bible has no trouble passing the historicity test
in the handful of remaining conflicts between history and Scripture, the jury is still out
one can fully expect, though, that the Bible’s track record of accuracy will still stand
when all the evidence is finally in, when all the digs are finally completed, the Bible will no doubt retain its historical respectability
now, beyond the historical accuracy, I’ve found that most Bible critics have no idea how much manuscript evidence there is backing up the Bible’s credibility
here’s what I mean
in university, the professor assigns Homer’s Iliad or Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars
their writings have had an enormous impact on society over the years
they are some of the most famous books of ancient Greece
nobody questions the content of their works – their reliability or historicity
nobody says that errors have crept into their manuscripts in transmission over the centuries
they are just basically accepted at face value as being accurate representations of what the authors originally wrote
but did you know that there are ten existing copies of the ancient manuscripts of Caesar’s Gallic Wars?
less than ten to study and compare in order to determine accuracy in transmission throughout the years
with Homer’s Iliad, there are only 643 copies
now, take a guess how many copies of the New Testament are still in existence, to be compared and studied for the purpose of determining if they have been passed down accurately
the New Testament, what do you think?
wouldn’t it be great if there were 1,000?
or 2,000? That way we could say it’s 3 to 1 more manuscript evidence than Homer’s Iliad
friends, there are about 5,366 existing manuscripts that help us study and make sure that the information in the New Testament has come to us accurately over the years
manuscripts that were hand-copied have been found in Palestine, Syria and Egypt, and there is strong agreement among them no matter where they’re found
you might have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were found in a cave near the Dead Sea in 1947
they contained two copies of the book of Isaiah from the Old Testament that date back 1,000 years before the second oldest manuscripts
do you know what they found?
the copies “proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The 5 percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling”
we can confidently say of the Old Testament that there has been no substantial change in the text of the Old Testament in the last 2,000 years, and very little change before that
no wonder it is said that the Bible is the single most documented piece of literature there is
simply put, there is no equal with respect to manuscript documentation
for you trivia buffs, of the 184,590 words in the New Testament, how many words have been put on the questionable list?
words that are on the disputed list, which means there is some question about the grammatical sense or their meaning or interpretation
of 184,590 words, guess how many are on the disputed list, that scholars are still working on?
400
and none of the 400 make any difference on any major teaching or doctrine
but that is a fraction of one percent
incredible accuracy in manuscript evidence!
Norman Geisler writes, “We have 100 percent of the New Testament and we are sure about 99.5 percent of it. But if we did not have such good manuscript evidence, we could actually reconstruct almost the entire New Testament from quotations in the church fathers of the second and third centuries. Only eleven verses are missing” from their writings
even if all the copies of the New Testament had been burned at the end of the third century, we could have known virtually all of it by studying these writings
OKAY, YOU SAY, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MIRACLES RECORDED IN THE BIBLE?
“I mean, whales, and floods, and walks on water, and resurrections – how can I believe in this?”
the only answer we can give here is to make sure that we distinguish between God and the record of the activities of God, the Bible
last week we discussed reasons for believing in God
we went through four arguments that build a strong case for the existence of God
by definition, we said that God would be non-contingent and all-powerful and eternal and limitless
not just capable of creating the world, but creating of causing extraordinary things within the world
fully capable of causing a flood or a famine or doing a healing or resurrection
for a limitless being, miracles are merely recreational activity
the Bible was assigned the task of recording the miraculous activities of God
just because it records them from time to time, doesn’t mean that they are fantasies or fabrications made up by writers
besides, the miracles that the Bible records were almost all done in public places, and were witnessed by multitudes of people, Christian and non-Christian alike
had they been fabrications thought up by the writers, as soon as the writers circulated accounts of those miracles, there would have been a public outcry that demanded an apology and retraction
the New Testament documents were being circulated in a short enough time after the events took place that if it wasn’t accurate, there would have been a huge outcry
the New Testament documents spread like wildfire after the birth of the early church, and no contest of the contents was launched, despite the fact that the documents contained many references to supernatural activity and miracles
friends, the Bible is unique
and it is accurate historically, from manuscript evidence
but maybe one more question is the most important one
IS THE BIBLE INSPIRED? IS IT THE BOOK THAT GOD WROTE?
or is it a collection of religious stories that man wrote?
which is it?
you should know that without apology, the Bible itself claims to be inspired
(2 Timothy 3:16) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
(2 Peter 1:21) For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
over 3,000 times in the Bible, the writers used the expression, “Thus says the Lord”
so let there be no mistake as to what the Bible claims
it boldly asserts that God guided the minds and hearts of men to record through their various personalities and styles exactly what he wanted to communicate in written form
people ask, is there an substantiating evidence to back up the Bible’s claim to be inspired?
yes, there is
the first evidence would be fulfilled prophecy
because the Bible was written over a 1,600 year period, many of the earlier writers made bold predictions about what would happen in following centuries
you can build a strong case for the inspiration of the Bible on this point alone
the birth of Jesus Christ, for instance, was predicted several hundred years before his arrival
these prophecies were incredibly detailed, like saying what lineage he would descend from, what city he would be born in, his manner of birth, what his ministry would be like, how he would die
how can anyone account for these prophecies being filled to the letter several hundred years later apart from admitting that God must have played a part in authoring the prophecies?
let me cite another example
in the fifth century BC, there was a strong, vital city on the Mediterranean coast called the city of Tyre
the Bible prophet Ezekiel made the bold assertion that it would be utterly destroyed and that no city would ever be built on that site again
obviously, the people who heard that prophecy in that day thought he was deluded
it would be like me announcing this morning that Boston is living on borrowed time
but a few hundred years after the prophecy by Ezekiel, the prophecy was fulfilled in amazing detail
the city of Tyre was destroyed
if you go to Israel today, you can go to the flat rocks that once provided the foundation for that city
how do you count for the fulfillment of that plus hundreds of other fulfilled prophecies apart from the inspiration and authorship of God?
Jesus also stated repeatedly and categorically that the Scriptures are the word of God
CAN I SAY ONE MORE THING ABOUT THE ACCURACY OF THE BIBLE?
this is more subjective
I have found the Bible to be penetratingly accurate in what it says about me
painfully, penetratingly accurate in what it says about me
it speaks truthfully about who I really am
about what my human tendencies are, about what my nature as a man is
you’ll never read a book that cuts through the veneer as the Bible does, that gets to the root issues
to be candid, I suspect that many people know just enough about the Bible to have developed a vested interest in avoiding it
because they know that if they read it, it is going to speak truthfully to them, and they’ll have to change
a woman named Joan Olsen was an agnostic, although her parents were Christians
they had many discussions about the Bible, until Joan and her husband agreed to study Christianity
listen to what they found:
Dr. Olsen writes:
- I implied that our study would be honest and objective, a sincere search for truth. But our agnostic bias made us begin the search in a diabolically clever way. We would prove that the Bible is not the Word of God…
- “First,” I said [to Joan], “we will review all the agnostic arguments we heard during university and medical college years. Second, we will pick out and list the scientific mistakes in the Bible. These mistakes will prove it to be the word of men, not the Word of some infallible Creator”
after an intense study, listen to the conclusions of these agnostics:
- The Bible…represents God, motivated by an eternal love, reaching down to tell us about Himself and His plan for us…We also noted the remarkable unity and consistency evident in the Christian Scriptures…
- Contrary to our previous understanding, we found the Bible to be historically accurate. To the science of archeology the Bible owes its vindication in the matter of historical accuracy…
- Then there is the remarkable scientific accuracy of the Bible. Here was the exact target of the attack Joan and I had launched to disprove Christianity and Christ…We encountered great difficulty, however, in finding scientific mistakes in the Bible. Again and again we were forced to cancel out seeming mistakes because of more up-to-date evidence or information.
after months of serious questioning, Dr. and Mrs. Olsen concluded that the Bible is indeed God’s message to mankind
based on this belief, they both accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior
later, the journeyed to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) where they have served as missionaries since 1962
(Isaiah 40:8) The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
friends, the Bible is accurate, it is reliable, it is the very Word of God
I guess I would ask you the questions I began with this morning:
what do you really think about the Bible?
how seriously do you take it in your life?
is it just nice to have around? Or do you read it and obey its teaching?
is it a guide in your life, a compass?

adapted from a message by Bill Hybels

Darryl Dash

I'm a grateful husband, father, oupa, and pastor of Grace Fellowship Church Don Mills. I love learning, writing, and encouraging. I'm on a lifelong quest to become a humble, gracious old man.

Toronto, Canada

adapted from a message by Bill Hybels

Darryl Dash

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