The Bible Is The Word Of God
The Bible is a Divine Revelation. In the Bible we find out what God wants mankind to know about Himself and His plan.
The Bible is the
only written revelation of God to man.
No one has ever successfully refuted the Bible. Many mock the Bible but avoid challenging it point by point. No one who has done in-depth research, honestly examining the evidence for the Bible's inspiration and truthfulness, has been able to disprove the Bible.
History records many who set out to disprove the Bible, who instead became believers.
One Mind Behind The Bible
Our Bible is composed of 66 books, by about 40 different writers of various backgrounds, living during a period of about 1,600 years -- yet they present one message. Such a miracle can only be explained by there being one divine Author, who was in control of all these human writers.
The Bible writers came from many walks of life, including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, herdsmen, poets, statesmen, scholars, soldiers, priests, prophets, a tax collector, a tentmaking rabbi, and a Gentile doctor.
The Bible was written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
The writings contained in the Bible belong to a great variety of literary types including history, law, poetry, educational discourses, parables, biography, personal correspondence, and prophecy.
Books written by men have no unity of thought on even one subject. Some of them invariably disagree with others. But there is perfect unity between the books of the Bible -- which speak of hundreds of subjects in many fields. There is no contradiction among them.
Who but God could produce such a book?
Supernatural Origin
Some of the Bible writers recorded their own sins which brought them into disgrace. Many times their lives and worldly interests were imperiled because of what they wrote. Human nature causes people to do the opposite.
The writers claim a supernatural origin for their writings. Nearly 4,000 times expressions like "Thus says the Lord," "The word of the Lord came unto me," etc., are recorded in the Bible.
If the Bible is not God's Word, then the Bible is full of lies. Could a book so filled with lies cause millions of people to turn from their sins -- including lying?
Witness Of Fulfilled Prophecies
Hundreds of prophecies of future events were recorded in the Bible -- some of them centuries before fulfillment -- and not one detail of any of them has ever failed!
No other "religious book" foretells the future.
No one can refute the Bible's accurate prediction of future events with facts. All they can do is try to get you to ignore these marvelous facts.
Could man -- especially dozens of men, writing in different countries and different times -- foretell the future so accurately? Never! Only God could do such a tremendous thing.
No one but God could reveal the future in such detail, often hundreds of years before the events occurred. Not only the future of cities, nations, and the world, but also concerning the future birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Prophecies Concerning Christ
The Old Testament, written over a 1,000 year period, contains several hundred references to the coming Messiah -- all of which were fulfilled exactly in Jesus Christ.
The chance that all these predictions could come true exactly as written is beyond most human's comprehension, giving to any honest enquirer undeniable proof that God inspired the writing of the prophecies in the Bible.
Quote:
1 PETER 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
|
Quote:
LUKE 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
|
Quote:
JOHN 5:39, 46 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me... For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
|
The story of Jesus Christ is also woven into the Old Testament through types, symbols, and ceremonies. All the Bible points to Jesus Christ.
The biography of the patriarchs, the construction of the tabernacle and the temple, the services, the sacrifices, and the ceremonies, as well as other types and shadows -- all foreshadow Jesus Christ.
Witness Of Jesus
Any honest person who studies the historical evidence will conclude that Jesus Christ rose from death -- giving Him unique status. Jesus acknowledged the Old Testament, which was all of the Bible written at that time, as the Word of God.
Quote:
MATTHEW 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
|
The Bible bears the seal of Jesus' authority. He quoted the Old Testament dozens of times and referred to it as the Word of God.
For example, in Matthew 22:32, Jesus quotes from Exodus 3:6 and 15.
Quote:
MATTHEW 22:29, 31-32 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God... But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
|
Witness Of Bible Working For People
Millions have acted on the Bible's commands and have testified to receiving its promises. Probably someone living near you has such a testimony.
That the Bible message works for people -- in all places and all times -- is a proof that the same One who created us, and all things, is the Author of the Bible. Only the manufacturer knows what to write in the product handbook to make his product function properly.
Witness Of Changed Lives
Millions of individuals, as well as nations, have been changed for the better when they have accepted the Bible as the Word of God.
More people on Earth today believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible as the Word of God than any other creed or philosophy.
These millions of people have proved the claims of the Bible when its conditions were met.
Wherever the Bible is accepted people are lifted up to a higher plane of life.
The Bible message has changed the vilest sinners into the most loving saints. No other message ever has done that.
Individuals, and even whole societies, have been transformed wherever the Bible has been believed and obeyed. The Bible's fruits have always been good and wholesome. Neglect of the Bible has always meant sin, suffering, and sorrow.
Witness of Archeology
The Bible is historically correct. No one has ever proved otherwise.
The more we learn of history, the more the Bible is validated.
Hundreds of statements in the Bible, which in times past have been held untrue by enemies of the Bible, have recently been proven true by archaeologists. The more that archaeologists find from the past, the more the Bible is proven accurate historically.
No archaeological discovery has ever disproved a biblical reference. The Bible is trustworthy and historically reliable.
Bible Is Scientifically Correct
Some scientists would not agree that the Bible is correct -- but none can prove the Bible wrong. And there are many, many scientists who acknowledge that the Bible is scientifically correct.
Man has taken many centuries to discover many things the Bible stated thousands of years ago. Where did the writers of the Bible get their information -- if not from God?
Never Out-Of-Date
Although written hundreds of years ago, the Bible remains the most up-to-date book available today.
Books on every subject have to be replaced because they become out-of-date so quickly. But the Bible has never had to be revised. The KJV 1611 is God's transmitted Word, and needs no change!
Quote:
PSALM 89:34 My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the thing that has gone out of My lips.
|
Quote:
PSALM 119:89 Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven
|
.
The Bible has been the best-selling book because it universally speaks to the heart of people, and gives them the message of God.
Quote:
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.
|
The Bible is relevant to every person, in every culture, in every age, because the Bible is a living message -- which could only be authored by God.
Contrary To Human Thinking
The Bible is completely unlike a book which humans would write. The Bible condemns all mankind -- including the writers -- and teaches there is no way they can be saved except by accepting a gift -- the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches salvation through grace and not works, self-exaltation through self-abasement, finding your life by losing your life, the way to become great is by being a servant of all -- and other things opposite to human thought. People would not have written such things contrary to their nature, on their own.
The Bible deals frankly with the sins of its characters. People making things up try to make themselves look good. The Bible tells their stories realistically, with all their shortcomings.
Highest Moral Standards
The moral standards of the Bible are the highest known to man. They are impossible for man to achieve without divine help. Man would never set such unreachable standards for himself.
Quote:
MATTHEW 5:44, 48 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you... Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
|
Quote:
MATTHEW 18:21-22 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
|
Divinely Inspired
The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct.
By the inspiration of the Scriptures we mean that "special divine influence on the minds of the writers of the Bible, in virtue of which their production, apart from errors in transcription, and when rightly interpreted, together constitute an infallible rule of faith and practice."
Quote:
2 TIMOTHY 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
|
The above phrase, given by inspiration of God, translates a single Greek word. Literally the word means God-breathed. The words divinely inspired have probably the nearest English equivalent meaning.
God breathed into man what man breathed out.
Quote:
2 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.
HEBREWS 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
1 THESSALONIANS 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
|
Truly Recorded
Although everything in the Bible is truly recorded, everything said in the Bible is not the truth.
For example, the Bible contains statements made by the devil and those who were against God. The statements they made are not necessarily true, but they truly said the statements as recorded.
So, we can trust the Bible -- all of it -- as God's message to us.
Purpose Of Bible
The purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to mankind, and get us to come to God through Jesus Christ, so we can know Him.
Quote:
JOHN 1:1,14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
LUKE 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
JOHN 20:31 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.
|
Read the Bible yourself, and ask God to reveal Himself and His will to you.