How can I know the Bible is from God?

Ryan Brooks

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We have been given an “anchor” in the Word of God.

That means that we can go out into the world God has called us into and succeed as long as we remain anchored to the Word.

Scuba Diver analogy

not on a tank, but on a line.

as long as you are connected to the line you can go as far as the line allows.

where the line cannot go you cannot go.

Where the Word of God does not go we cannot go.

How is it a lifeline? an anchor?

God speaks to us through His word!

So, in this world we have fresh oxygen for our souls b/c we are connected to the Lord.

His heart and will.

We can survive in the dark and in the harder places of society.

My hope is that we leave with a renewed interested in God’s Word. It’s alive and read for today!

Why does the Bible matter today?

If God spoke and had His heart and will written down for the world to read then knowing it is of the utmost importance!

We have been talking about so many important topics this summer. From last week on the gay community and Christianity, love versus fear, recognizing our own weaknesses and having grace for others. We’ve looked at where Paul says that he became all things to all men that he might by all means save some. A lot of really important topics and I believe this week is also important.

The Word of God is the single most important document in the history of the world. For in it God has given us a template for living. And a template for understanding God, the world, myself and my destiny.

The eternal God has revealed His view of history and His involvement in it. He has revealed our origin and our end. The Bible is a collection of books describing the One true God.

Ultimately it is a story of redemption.

It is the most printed book of all time. If you add up the top 10 most read books ever the nine added all together are but a small fraction of the Bible.

Our topic for the week is this: How can I know the Bible is from God?

I have to tell you that’s a subject I like. I think it’s so interesting but I imagine there is a large group of people in here who don’t want to say it out loud because then we will think that aren’t good Christians! But they are thinking- I don’t really care about that subject at all.

I get it. I know it doesn’t sound very exciting and honestly liking it or not liking it has nothing to do with being a good Christian! We’re all Christians in progress so no worries!

Why is this important?

We have been given an “anchor” in the Word of God. That means that we can go out into the world God has called us into and succeed as long as we remain anchored to the Word.

Maybe another analogy is that the Bible becomes a lifeline if you would. Imagine a scuba diver not on a tank but on a line. As long as he/she is connected to the line they can go as far as the line allows. Where the

line cannot go they cannot go. Where the Word of God does not go we cannot go.

And this, for me, is so significant. Because Jesus has called us to live out our faith in the real world we need to be connected to the lifeline. Now why is the BIble the lifeline? Isn’t it the HOly Spirit or Jesus. It’s just an analogy that I’m using but the reason I’m using a lifeline to speak of the Bible is because God through the Spirit speaks to us from the Bible.

And so while we are living in the world we have wonderful, fresh oxygen for our souls because we are connected to the Lord. We are hearing His heart and will and because of it we can survive in the dark and in the harder places of society.

There’s another analogy that I think too many Christians are using. We come to our churches and we sing our songs and read from our Bibles. Sometimes I think we treat life like a boxing match- Christians go to your corner, heathens go to yours, Muslims go to yours, Gay people go to yours, Atheists go to yours!

But we aren’t in a boxing match. We are out in the deep of the ocean and as far and as deep as the lifeline of God’s Word allows and as far and as deep as you are willing, we can go there.

So today as we look at the Bible I don’t want to do this with a dry mentality that says- we are Christians and we read the Bible and we love it and if you don’t then what kind of a Christian are you. No, I hope

that we can leave here today with a renewed interest in God’s Word because it is alive and real for today!

We received several questions on the subject of the Bible. -How can I know that the Bible is actually from God? - Am I supposed to believe everything the Bible says? These are great questions and I’m so happy to get to talk about this. So here is what we are going to do in our time together.

- Answer the question: Why does the Bible matter today?

- Look at how we know the Bible actually is God’s Words.

Why does the Bible matter today?

If the Bible is true for today then I have a clear path forward for knowing what to believe and how to live my life. I have a path for understanding the complex issues of life and I have a path of hope in the valleys of my life.

If God spoke and had His heart and will written down for the world to read then knowing it is of the utmost importance!

The eternal God has revealed His view of history and His involvement in it. He has revealed our origin and our end. The Bible is a collection of books describing the One true God.

Ultimately it is a story of redemption.

It is the most printed book of all time. If you add up the top 10 most read books ever the nine added all together are but a small fraction of the Bible.

In July 2008 Apple opened it’s App Store and of the first apps on there was a Bible app.

In the first three days after its launch in 2008, the Bible App was installed 83,000 times. By 2010, it reached 10 million installs. In 2010, it climbed to 50 million. And it doubled to 100 million the very next year.

Today, YouVersion says the Bible App has been installed on more than 300 million unique devices.

In the last decade, according to YouVersion, Bible App users have read 70 billion chapters and listened to 12 billion chapters of the Bible; made 4 billion highlights, bookmarks and notes; shared more than 950 million verses to social media; and completed 2.4 billion days of Bible readingplans.

When it launched, the app had 15 versions of the Bible and two languages. Today, after partnerships with publishers and Bible societies, Scripture is available in more than 1,700 different versions and more than 1,200 languages.

Inspired Empirical Evidence

The Bible is NOT a science book; though it’s knowledge of science is well beyond its own time.

The Bible is NOT a history book though to be considered inspired and accurate we have to believe that the history in the Bible ought to be accurate too. This is the case.

The Hittites: Forty-eight times in the Scriptures, a people called the Hittites are mentioned. We find them blocking Israel's path as it sought to enter the promised land. We read of Uriah, the Hittite, whom David sent to his untimely death. However, in all the records of antiquity, not a reference to those people was to be found, and therefore, the skeptics attributed them to the imagination and fiction.

In 1876, George Smith, began a study of monuments at a place called Djerabis in Asia Minor. This city proved out to be old Carchemish, a capital of the ancient Hatti. We now know that the Hatti were the Hittites of the Bible, who, according to Prof. A.H. Sayce, "contended on equal terms with both Egypt and Assyria." The Hittites not only proved

to be a real people, but their empire was shown to be one of the great ones of ancient times.

Sargon: In , we read, "In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him)..." This is the only mention of King Sargon in the Bible, and the only one in ancient literature. His place in history was severely questioned on this account. But in the years, 1842-1845, P.E. Botta, uncovered the tremendous royal palace of Sargon. Among the other things discovered was an account of the siege of Ashdod mentioned in Isaiah. Once more the Bible was right, the critics wrong.

The Bible is NOT a book of archeology but of course the facts of the Bible should be accurate if we are to accept that the Bible is the Word of God!

Though the Bible speaks so much about King David archeology could not prove that such a king ever existed. We had absolutely no proof until 1993.

The Tel Dan inscription, or “House of David” inscription, was discovered in 1993 at the site of Tel Dan in northern Israel in an excavation directed by Israeli archaeologist Avraham Biran.

This is also true of Pontius Pilate who played a major role in the death of Jesus. Archeology had nothing on him until 1961.

In 1961, while excavating a Roman theatre near Caesarea, Dr. Frova and some Italian archaeologists discovered a stone slab which was part of the steps of the theatre. It's inscription said that it was from "Pontius Pilate, the Prefect of Judea." It read: "Tiberium, Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea."

Ok that’s enough of that! I’m simply wanting you to see that the Bible is NOT a collection of good ideas and

thoughts that men over time have brought together to form a religion of good. The Bible is much more than that and history, archeology and science prove that the Word of God is no ordinary book.

God did not give us the Word so that we could prove history or science. Instead God gave us His Word so that we might know Him, know ourselves and be born again!

Internal Evidence

The Bible claims to be inspired. That means that the Bible claims to come from God and if it comes from God it must be perfect. Now I know that some of you, will say that just because the Bible claims to be inspired doesn’t mean it is. This is a very good point. But if a book claims

to be inspired then we need to discern and dissect it to see if it indeed is.

First the verses.

- The Lord has spoken. , - Hear the word which the Lord speaks. Thus says the Lord... - The word of the Lord came expressly. , - The word of the Lord that came ... the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said... - The word of the Lord came to Jonah. - The word of the Lord that came to Micah. - The word of the Lord came to Zechariah. - The things I write are commands of Lord. - We say by the word of the Lord. - The Spirit expressly says. , - All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching & furnishing to all good works. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The Bible absolutely claims to be inspired by God. Now again claiming this doesn’t prove that it is.

The Bible 100% claims to be inspired by God. So either the Word of God is or it isn’t but it can’t be in between. Either there is a God who gave us His Word or there is not a god but just men who formed a religion.

Let’s look at some of the ways we can know the Bible is indeed the inspired Word of God.

Textual Consistency

One argument for the inspiration of the Bible is its own consistency. This book we call the Bible is actually 66 separate books written by 40 different authors on three different continents, over a span of 1500 years in three languages.

1 Book 66 separate books 40 authors 3 languages 3 continents 1500 years

40 different authors: These writers came from a variety of backgrounds and occupations. They included shepherds (Hosea and Amos) fishermen (Peter and John), a tax collector (Matthew), a doctor (Luke), and a military general (Joshua). At least four of the writers lived in the royal household: the kings (David and Solomon), a prime minister (Daniel) and a cupbearer (Nehemiah). Only a few of them, such as Paul, Luke, and Moses, received the finest education of their time.

The books of the Bible were composed upon three different continents - Africa, Asia, and Europe. For example, the writings of Ezekiel were composed in Babylon (Asia); Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible in the Sinai desert (Africa); and the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to Philippi while in Rome (Europe).

And yet the Bible can be read from beginning to end with a total consistency. It’s as if 1 Person were ensuring that this story was told accurately. It’s as if there is a God who authored the story but penned it through different men over time!

I wanted to try and give you an idea of how tremendous this is by contrasting this with some other religious book but the truth is that it can’t be done. There is nothing even close so that there is absolutely no way to try and give you a sense for how unique the Bible is from other religious books!

Manuscript Evidence

Ok so let’s move on. Let me be the critic for a minute. How can we trust that the Bible we are holding in our hands today is actually the Word of God that God gave originally? How can we trust it’s accuracy? Maybe we agree that the Bible is from God but who's to say that it hasn’t been changed over time?

So with that let’s talk about manuscript evidence.

Let me begin with the importance of eyewitness account. In a trial today an eyewitness is a solid testimony. Eyewitness testimony has sent many people to prison hasn’t it. As we consider the NT let’s remember that the gospels were written or sourced from an eyewitness. The accounts were first hand; not passed down from several different generations.

Beyond the eyewitness account we have the writings themselves.

Some scholars argued that the story of Jesus’ life was written so far later than the actual events that the factuality of the events and messages have been distorted. In other words by the time someone actually wrote down what Jesus said it was too late to be able to be certain that the person wrote 100% accurately.

Is this true? In fact it’s quite the opposite. The very latest dating given for the writing of the gospels is Mark’s in the 70’s, Luke and Matthew in the 80’s and John in the 90’s.

That means that there were thousands of people who also witnessed the events that were written about in the gospels who, if these stories were false, could have easily refuted them. If what Mark wrote was wrong there were so many people who could have corrected that but nobody did; this is true for all the gospel writers.

Alexander the Great is a person of great historical value whose biography has helped us to understand the events of his lifetime and their impact on the world. There is very little question regarding the historicity of Alexander and his life. Yet the earliest known biography written on the life of Alexander was 400 years later by Arrian and Plutarch.

A biography written 400 years later is according to historians and manuscript evidence sufficient proof of the historicity of Alexander and his life. If that is true then the writings of the gospels are certainly valid since they were written not even 50 years after Jesus died.

No Originals! It’s true that we have no original manuscripts. We don’t have the gospel of Mark written by the hand of Mark. This has led some

to question the validity. So we need to consider this. Can we really believe that the copies we have are accurate?

One of the issues that scholars consider is the multiplicity of copies. If no original exists then you have to compare the copies. Are the copies similar? Are there glaring differences that would bring the document into challenge? If the copies are similar are they exactly alike? Are the copies all from one area?

If copies are similar and yet from different regions and timeframes you can ascertain the value of the document.

So the multiplicity of the copies of a document is an important issue.

How does the Bible do in terms of manuscript evidence? Are there many ancient manuscripts? If so how many and how many of those agree with each other?

Let me first show you this ppt of other ancient books and their manuscript evidence.

Author

Date Written

Earliest Copy

Time Between

# of copies

Tacitus

100 AD

1100 A.D.

1000

Aristotle

384 BC

1100 A.D.

1400

Homer (Illiad)

900 BC

400 BC

500

643

50-100 AD

130 AD

less than 100

5600

In addition to this there are thousands of copies into Syriac, Latin and other languages totally 24,000 copies!

In recent years certain portions of texts have been discovered that are really amazing. Amazing in that they are texts discovered very close in time to the original writings.

Manuscript

Contents

Date Written

Discover ed

Time Between

Location

p52 (John Rylands Fragment)

,3 7- 38

96 AD

125 AD

John Rylands Library, Manchester, England

P4 6 (Chester Beatty Papyrus)

50-70 AD

200 AD

150 years

Chester Beatty Museum, Dublin & Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan library

8:15-25, 27-35; 10:1-11,22,24 -33,35; 16:1-23, 25-27; Heb.; 1 & 2 Cor., Eph., Gal., Phil., Col.; ,9-10; 2:1-3; 5:5-9, 23-28

P 6 6 (Bodmer Papyrus)

,-14

70 AD

200 AD

130 years

Cologne, Germany

:26; fragment of 14:29-21:9

In 2016, researchers were finally able to read portions of a scroll they discovered in Israel in 1970! It was so burnt up that there was no way to recover any of it until recently. They did some fancy 3d imaging and were able to digitally piece it back together. It was a 2000 year old scroll and it is the book of Leviticus.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/sc ientists-finally-read-the-oldest-biblical-text-ever-found-a7323296.html

That’s all I want to say about manuscript evidence. I mean honestly it is absolutely enormous the evidence to defend the Bible from the context of textual evidence.

Prophecy: Another massive element to proving the Bible is the Word of God is prophecy.

Why is prophecy important?

Scholars have estimated that there are about 2500 prophecies in the Bible with over 2000 already having been fulfilled.

So we still have 500 to go! Does prophecy help us to know that the Bible is the Word of God? Absolutely!

If I told you today that I believe many of you are going to go home in your car after church that isn’t going to impress you. But if I told you that you were going home in your grey Honda you might be impressed if I was correct. But what if I could go further- your car has 124,789 miles on it, it pulls a little bit to the left because you hit the curb on November 17, 2017 at 4:51 PM on Telegraph Canyon Road. I think at this point if I was describing your car and everything I said was correct I would have your attention.

And then if I told you that on Tuesday there will be an accident on the 805 and Olympic so don’t go near that intersection at 8:22 in the morning and the accident will be with a red Toyota and a black mercedes. The driver of the mercedes will be 5.11 tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. His name will be Jeff and he will feel so terrible about the accident because it was his fault. He wasn’t paying attention because he and his wife had been in an argument.

So you would go there before 8:22 in the morning and you would see if all of this happened.

Now if none of that happened you would probably not come back to church; but if all of it happened you would probably be here early!

Imagine that my prophesies included 322 unique features and ALL of them were fulfilled. That would be amazing and that describes Jesus in the Bible. Approximately 322 identifying markers given to the coming Messiah fulfilled by Jesus. This is just beyond possible!

And we know that these were not added in to the manuscripts after Jesus lived because we have most of these before Jesus lived!

Fulfilled prophecy is something that sets the Bible apart from every other religious book. There are 26 other religious books that people of faith believe are divinely inspired (the Vedas, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Qur'an, the Book of Mormon, etc.). Of these twenty-six books, none of them, not a single one, contains any specific, fulfilled prophecies!

I could go on but hopefully you get it.

One more thing I want to show you regarding believing the Bible is the Word of God.

The Testimony of Jesus. Jesus believed in the Bible.

1. He believed the Old Testament was historical fact. Some examples of historical facts:1

—Abel was a real individual

—Noah and the flood (, 27)

—Abraham

; )—Sodom and Gomorrah

—Lot (and wife!)

—Isaac and Jacob ()

, 49, 5 8—Manna

—Serpent

—Jonah (vs. 42—Sheba)

—Daniel and Isaiah

So where does this leave us?

You choose whether or not to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. We choose not by what we say but by whether or not we obey. I can say I believe in the Bible but the real issue is: am I doing what God says? And I’m not asking this question of any of us in a judgmental way? Not one of us in this room or watching online can do God’s will perfectly. We

are works in progress. What I’m asking you and I to consider today is who or what makes the decisions in your life?

Jacob was an amazing person in the Old Testament. He really loved God and at the same time he was unwilling to trust God. He loved him but he couldn’t trust him. And when you look at his life you see a person whom God blessed but who suffered so much and who had so much unnecessary hardship.

I think a lot of us Christians are like this: we love God but we are unwilling to trust Him when it interferes with our feelings or desires.

And I know that the work God is doing in our lives as His people is to enrich us with more of His love, His purposes, His calling, His thoughts over our lives and all of these so often come to us through His Word.

Let’s be people of the Word!

Last thought: The Bible is where we are introduced to the real Jesus. The One who became One of us and died for all of us so that He could save whoever would turn to Him.

Today’s message might sound like it’s mainly for Christians but it wasn’t my intention. My hope is that people who are considering Christianity OR who are having a hard time believing in God because of these kinds

of questions will leave with a greater sense of confidence. Here’s how confident I am- go home, open your Bible and ask God (even if you still aren’t sure there is a god!) ask God to speak to you. And you read it with an openness to hear from Him. I’m confident He will speak to you.

God loves you so much that He passed on through faithful people a copy of His Word. So that we can navigate our own lives, our own purposes and His love. The BIble is the story of God loving mankind so much that in spite of our history He is for us. He showed that on a cross where He died for our sins.

I pray you find encouragement in God’s Word this week!

Additional Resources Jesus believed the Bible

2. He believed the books were written by the men whose names they bear:

◦ Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Torah): , 8; , 12:26 (“Book of Moses”—the Torah); ; 16:29,31; 24:27, 44 (“Christ’s Canon”); ; 5:45, 46; 7:19;

(“The Law [Torah] was given by Moses; Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.”)5

◦ Isaiah wrote “both” Isaiah’s: ; [Liberals claim that was composed after the fall of Jerusalem by another writer they call “Deutero-Isaiah”. The only real “reason” for their claim is that a straightforward dating would mean that predictive prophecy was possible, and liberals have decreed a priori that knowledge of the future is impossible (like miracles in general). Thus these portions must have been written after the events. However, there is nothing in the text itself to hint of a different author.

Jonah wrote Jonah:

Daniel wrote Daniel:

3. He believed the Old Testament was spoken by God Himself, or written by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, even though the pen was held by men: , 5 ; 22:31, 32, 43; ; . 4. He believed Scripture was more powerful than His miracles: , 31.

5. He actually quoted it in overthrowing Satan! The O.T. Scriptures were the arbiter in every dispute: ; , 31.

One final question. So let’s accept that the Bible we have is accurate and the Word of God. But isn’t it also true that the NT was just compiled by a bunch of Christians like a few hundred years later? Couldn’t they have accidentally included a book they shouldn’t have or left a book out they shouldn’t have?

Good question and I’m so glad you asked!

Canon of Scripture. The word canon simply refers to a completed or whole work. We believe that the NT canon is a complete work and exactly the books that God wants us to have. There are reasons for this view.

We also believe that without question there are no books that accidentally were NOT included and I’ll talk about that in a minute.

I’ll just mention the 4 criteria they applied in determining the canonicity of a book.

(1) Apostolicity. Was the author an apostle or did he have a connection with an apostle? For example, Mark wrote under Peter’s authority, and Luke wrote under Paul’s authority.

(2) Acceptance. Was the book accepted by the church at large? The recognition given a particular book by the church was important. By this

canon false books were rejected (but it also delayed recognition of some legitimate books).

(3) Content. Did the book reflect consistency of doctrine with what had been accepted as orthodox teaching? The spurious “gospel of Peter” was rejected as a result of this principle.

(4)Inspiration. Did the book reflect the quality of inspiration? The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha were rejected as a result of not meeting this test. The book should bear evidence of high moral and spiritual values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit.

Probably the most popular non canonical letter is the gospel of Thomas. Many liberals will say that this should be included in the writings of the New Testament. Or the gospel of Mary, or the letter of Barnabas.

Keep in mind that people would write a letter and then attach it to the name of someone well known in Christianity so as to get attention.

So should the gospel of Thomas be in the Bible? Absolutely not! It does not match the criteria laid out.

Let me read to you the last verses of the Gospel of Thomas.

114. Simon Peter said to them: "Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life." Jesus said: "Look, I will draw her in so as to

make her male, so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you." (But I say to you): "Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."

114. Simon Péter azt mondta nekik: „Vegyük rá Máriát, hogy elhagyjon bennünket, mert nők nem érdemlik meg az életet!”

This is just ridiculous. Friends don’t buy into the lie that there are these great books out there that didn’t get included but should have! We have exactly what God intended for us!

You can read it and know that this is what God is saying. So please do that. Please get in to the Bible and remember that this is from God.