The Bible – Can we trust it? (2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Tim. 3:14-17)
Billy Milton - August 20, 2006
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I want to say right away that, whether you believe it or not, the Bible is a unique and remarkable book! It’s actually a library of 66 books written over a span of 1,500 years. There isn’t another book in history that took that long to write. 40 different authors wrote the Bible ranging from kings to fishermen, with a 1st century civil servant thrown in for good measure. The authors wrote from an astonishing variety of locations in 16 different countries in 3 different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). Their writings cover hundreds of controversial subjects yet, despite this enormous diversity, they speak in perfect unity. This can’t be explained by coincidence or by collusion. The variables are too great.
Think about it: If I brought up one controversial subject. Let’s say, the war in Iraq. If all of us in this room were to write just a couple of paragraphs on that subject, do you think we would all have total unity in our opinions? Absolutely not! Yet the Bible with all its enormous diversity spoke with perfect unity on a broad range of controversial subjects. The only logical answer to that amazing unity is that there was one Master Editor who designed the book. The Bible is God’s Word to the human race.
The Bible also enjoys unique long-standing popularity.
Since the Bible began to roll off of Guttenberg’s Printing Press in 1450 AD it has maintained the #1 spot as the best selling book of all time. Others might outsell it in any given week but over the months and years none come near – not Harry Potter, not the Da Vinci Code. It now sells between 30 million and 60 million copies worldwide every year.
It is the single most popular book in the world, the most translated book in history, over 1200 languages, and it’s also the most smuggled book ever. In some Islamic nations, people risk their lives to get their hands on a Bible. I’ve got about 30!
No other book has been as scrutinized, ridiculed, criticized, misinterpreted, banned and burned like the Bible. Kings, emperors, dictators and governments have all tried to wipe it out of existence but it just keeps living on and changing lives. The noted French philosopher and skeptic Voltaire died in 1778. Before he died he said, “Within 100 years the Bible will be a forgotten book.” When Voltaire died they auctioned off his home and it was purchased for the headquarters of the French Bible Society. The Bible outlives its pallbearers. Jesus knew what He was talking about when He said, “Heaven and earth may pass away but my Words will never pass away.”
The Bible is also unique in its relevance. There has never been a book like it. It’s as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago. This book will give you timeless answers for almost every issue in your life from marriage to money and even business. Despite all of this, some people are still not impressed. They question the reliability of the Bible and say that it’s a book of ancient myths and full of mistakes. Mind you, most of those who say that haven’t actually read it. They just heard that….!
So that’s the subject we are going to tackle today. Is the Bible reliable?
Reasons You Can Rely On the Bible: I’d love to spend ages on every single point here but that would take me hours so I need to ask your forgiveness and really just skim through this to give you a flavour.
1. The Bible is textually reliable.
Can we say with confidence that the Bible we have today is what was written by the original authors? Well, the integrity of any historical document depends on the number of manuscripts we have to examine. The Bible is the most documented book in civilization. There are over 14000 ancient manuscripts and fragments of the Old Testament in existence and over 24,000 copies of the New Testament. Outside the Bible the record for most manuscripts belongs to Homer’s Iliad (647) and yet I’ve never heard anyone claim that the Iliad is a fake.
In all of those almost 40000 manuscripts there is less than 1 variation per 1,000 words. A variation might be something like the difference between you and we, which in Greek is one letter (humeis vs hemeis). Those variations are extremely minor and not one affects the understanding of a Biblical doctrine. Renowned archeologist, Sir William Ramsey said, “The Bible writers are of the first rank and should be placed among the greatest historians that have ever lived.” You may not like what the text says but it is almost 100% certain that it’s what the authors wrote.
However, despite the text having been preserved with great credibility that does not necessarily mean the text is true. How do we know if the Bible is true?
2. The Bible is historically credible.
A couple of examples: Take Pontius Pilate – doubters said that he was a figment of the gospel writers’ imagination that they dreamed up as a bad guy villain. There was no reference to him in all of Roman history. In the mid 20th century a helicopter gun ship was flying down the coast of Israel and they noticed a circle in the sand. They began to dig and excavated an entire city called Caesarea Philippi and a magnificent amphitheatre. There was a plaque dedicating it to the man who built it, Pontius Pilate. I’ve seen it.
In the OT Daniel writes of Belshazzar the King. Skeptics read that and pointed out that in the Babylonian records there was never a King Belshazzar. The King at that time was Nabanightes. They said, “The Bible cannot be trusted.” 1956 a Babylonian chronicle was discovered that revealed Nabanightes left his throne for a 10-year period (the period Daniel wrote about) and Belshazzar replaced him as king. The Bible was vindicated. Time and again the Bible has been proven accurate historically.
Jordan, Nineveh, Soddom and Gommorah, The Hittites – all supposed to have been invented by the Bible writers – evidence for all has been found. It’s as if every time a spade goes into the ground another critic of the Bible gets buried. There have been over 25,000 archeological discoveries that substantiate the validity of scripture. Historian Nelson Gluck - “It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference.” Isn’t that phenomenal?
3. The Bible was written by eyewitnesses
If you want accuracy you get an eyewitness. Matthew and John were eyewitnesses. This doesn’t mean that an eyewitness will agree on every single detail, indeed we’d be very suspicious if they did. For instance, what colour of shirt am I wearing? If we disagree here, who’s lying? Right, none of us. In his first epistle, the Apostle John wrote:“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1) John is saying – I was there and saw it. Peter told Mark the story of the life of Jesus and Mark wrote it down. In 2 Peter 1:16 he tells us the same thing John did: “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” Experts like Craig Bloomberg and William Albright place the writings of the New Testament accounts of Jesus 30-45 years after his death. There were eyewitnesses still alive at the time. If the writers of the New Testament were not telling the truth they would have been discredited immediately. If this incredible story of the Gospels and the Acts were a fabrication, eyewitnesses would have been coming out of the 1st C. woodwork to call the writers liars. But they didn’t, because it was all true.
4. The Bible is inspired by God.
The main reason for its incredible credibility is found in 2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” In various ways, over 3,000 times the Bible declares, “Thus says the Lord”. God says it! That’s called inspiration and we know the Bible is inspired not just because of its incredible unity and accuracy but also because of…
The evidence of fulfilled prophecy If there were a book that foretold future events with incredible accuracy and has never been wrong, wouldn’t you think that book to be inspired? No I’m not talking about the predictions of Nostredamus which are so general as to be laughable. I’m talking of course about the Bible. For example, there are 25 specific prophecies concerning the sufferings of Jesus Christ, written 1000-500 years before his death, which were fulfilled in Jesus during the 24 hours leading up to his crucifixion. I’ve got them all here if you want to read them afterwards you can ask me for a copy.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally hundreds of prophecies and they could not have happened by chance, it’s a mathematical impossibility. And this incredible prophetic accuracy cannot be attributed to any other religious documents. Ruben Smith who compiled a personal library of 25,000 books wrote, “Islam cannot point to any prophesies of the coming of Mohammed uttered hundreds of years before his birth. Neither can the founders of any cult in this country rightly identify any ancient text specifically foretelling an appearance.” The Bible is uniquely the inspired Word of God.
5. The Bible works in real life.
Unlike any other book the Bible could claim millions of testimonies of changing the lives of people who have read and applied it. Personally I can tell you the Bible:-
- Has given me strength when I’ve felt like quitting
- It has confronted me over my attitudes
- It has convicted me over my sin
- This book has changed my perspective on my past
- Has showed me how to live in the present
- And it’s given me hope for the future
But, if we are honest, most people do not have intellectual issues with the Bible but lifestyle issues with the Bible. If they applied it, the Bible would be like a surgeons scalpel and they don’t want to submit to the surgery. This is what the Bible says about itself. “For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.” Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)
They don’t want to think about sin, and repentance, and Heaven, and Hell and judgment. They don’t want to hear a Word from God. It would cramp their style. It would rain on the comfortable picnic of their lives. As such they would rather trying to discredit the Bible rather than evaluate it with an open heart and mind.
Today we did a fleeting overview of why the Bible can be trusted. Ultimately you have to decide where you stand with this book. If the Bible is the inspired Word of God don’t you think you should learn what it says about this life and the life to come? Check out what it says about various areas of your life and begin applying it. I’m totally confident you’ll discover that it’s true and it can be trusted.