January 25, 2009 am
A
STUDY OF GOD (3)
Why the God of the Bible?
We are in the midst of study in which we
hope to gain a better understanding of God with the hope that such will
lead to properly submitting to Him in all that we do.
In the first two lessons of this study, we have presented some
proofs to establish the existence of God.
But we live in a religiously divided world.
Not only are there hundreds of denominations that profess to
follow the God of the Bible, there are also world religions with various
deities and sacred writings that are prevalent in different parts of the
world – Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.
They all have “sacred writings” (though not all profess
inspiration) and profess to be a true religion.
So why should we accept the God of the Bible?
And considering the Bible, why accept Jesus Christ as the Son of
God? (I say this because Judaism accepts the Old Testament as part of
the Law, and even Islam accepts the Bible as sacred writings though they
believe it has been corrupted).
In our lesson
today we are going to present some reasons to accept the God of the
Bible. Unlike the past two
lessons, in which we appealed primarily to external evidence (evidence
outside the Bible); in this lesson we are going to look at the Bible
itself. If we can prove the
Bible is the word of God then we can reject all others gods as false.
a.
The
uniformity of the Bible –
2 Timothy 3:16-17 notes that all scripture given by inspiration is
profitable to make the man of God complete.
i.
One of the
proofs that we presented for the existence of God is the design of the
universe. Where there is
design, there has to be a creative force behind it.
The same is true of the word of God, the Bible.
When you consider the background behind the Bible, it becomes
clear that someone had to be behind it.
ii.
It is
proven historically that the Bible was not written as a novel by a
single writer.
1.
What would
happen if you were to assemble 20 different “authorities” together in
one location from the same generation, speaking the same language and
coming from similar walks of life and, without corroboration, you asked
them to write on some controversial subject such as morality and then
put their findings together.
You would get a number of different responses, many of which would
contradict one another. That
would be expected AND IF there was complete unity you would naturally
suspect that there was corroboration (and you would be right).
The reason for this goes back to the numbers of probability.
2.
Now
consider the Bible. It was
written over the course of 1600 years beginning with Moses (Gen.-Deut.)
and ending with John the apostle (Revelation) by about 40 different men.
It was composed on 3 continents in 3 different languages (Hebrew,
Greek & Aramaic) from men of all different backgrounds (political
leaders, fishermen, a physician, kings, tax collectors, etc.).
3.
Yet in
spite of this, there is a unity of theme that transcends any other
literary work. It is a message
that begins in a garden when man first sinned and culminates with the
hope that God provided by sending His Son.
Every book of the Bible looks toward our redemption.
There are no contradictions found within its pages.
iii.
Why?
Because there was a design behind the book.
2 Peter 1:20-21 explains this.
Romans 15:4, while speaking of the Old Testament makes the point about
the word of God.
b.
Scientific foreknowledge -
The Bible is not a science book, BUT when it speaks scientifically, it
is completely accurate. One
of the remarkable things about the Bible is how it is ahead of its time
in many of its observations.
It says things that only one who has knowledge & control (i.e. a
designer) would know. God,
as our Creator, is informed.
Consider some of the following examples.
i.
Hebrews 11:3, “By
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so
that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
As we examine this text we note that it speaks of God, being
Spirit, created this world from nothing.
But here is another consideration: Because of scientific
advancements we know that everything is made up of atoms, which are so
tiny that they cannot be seen with the naked eye.
ii.
Isaiah 40:22 describes the
circle of the earth that God sits above.
This was not proved until many about 20 centuries later when
Columbus sailed around the earth, proving it was not flat.
iii.
Psalm 102:25,26, “Of old You lad the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work
of Your hands. They will
perish, but You will endure; Yes,
they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change
them, And they will be changed.”
In our last lesson we discussed the 2nd Law of
Thermodynamics. This verse
verifies that such is scientifically accurate (see also Isa 51:6).
iv.
Genesis 15:5, 22:17 God
assures Abraham of His promise and tells him to count the stars of the
heavens< if you are able to number them.”
Also Heb. 11:12,
Jer. 33:22, “As the host
of heaven cannot be numbered…”
It is only in recent centuries that man has discovered how many billions
of stars there are. Prior to
that, man thought he could count the stars (usually around 1000 stars).
Now we know better.
v.
Job
26:7, speaks of God
hanging the earth on nothing.
This was not scientifically confirmed until Copernicus about 1500
A.D.
vi.
Acts 17:26 speaks of every
nation being of one blood.
It is only with recent advancements in science that we have confirmed
the truth of this.
vii.
Psalm 8:4-8,speaks of fish
passing through the paths of the sea.
Matthew Maury is considered the father of Oceanography.
He lived in the 1800’s (1806-1873).
He was bedridden with a serious illness and asked his son to read
the Bible to him. While
reading Psalms he came across our passage.
When he recovered, he went looking for the paths and discovered
them.
viii.
Genesis 1:1, 3, don’t
forget the “building blocks of the universe.”
In the beginning (time) God created (power) the heaven (space)
and the earth (matter)…And the Spirit of God moved (motion)…”
ix.
In
addition to this, there are the sanitary laws given to the Israelites in
Exodus – Deuteronomy.
Laws which we now
UNDERSTAND why they are needed.
NOTE: Primitive cultures may have figured out some of these
things because of results, but they could not explain them in detail.
God enacted LAWS which were for their protection.
x.
These are just a few of the dozens of passages in scripture that address
scientific facts not proven until centuries or even millennia later.
They imply there must be a creator behind this work.
Note: Many of these examples are found at:
http://100777.com/node/534
c.
Historical accuracy – the
Bible mentions many persons and places that for centuries were
questioned as to their existence.
As Archaeology continues to unearth history, more and more of the
places and people are confirmed to exist.
i.
Genesis 40:9-11 speaks of
the chief butler who was put in prison along with Joseph.
The dream he had dealt with grape vines.
Critics of the Bible cite Herodotus, an ancient historian who
said Egyptians grew no grapes and drank no wine.
But since then, ancient Egyptian tombs have depicted scenes in
which not only did they grow grapes, they made wine and drank it.
ii.
The
Hittite nation is
mentioned several times in the history of the Old Testament.
For a long time there was no mention of the Hittites in
historical records and archeological findings.
But in 1876, George Smith, did research in Asia Minor which
confirmed the existence of the Hittites (called Hatti).
iii.
The
fall of Jericho, as
recorded in Joshua 6 has been proven to have happened just as it was
recorded. In 1929, as the
ruins were excavated it was discovered that Jericho had a double wall
for protection will houses built across the 2 walls.
This explains the assistance of Rahab in helping the spies
escape.
iv.
Sargon, king of Assyria,
mentioned only in
Isaiah 20:1, was
questioned concerning his existence until P.E. Botta uncovered his
palace in the 1840s.
v.
There is
not ONE place or person in scripture that has been disproved to have
existed. (NOTE: Not all places have been
d.
Various
prophecies point toward its inspiration.
Never underestimate the power of
prophecy.
Deut. 18:20-22 notes that whether or not a prophecy comes to pass is a
test of whether or not the prophet is true (Cf. Deut. 13:1-3 – a test).
Isa 43:9, “Let all the nations be
gathered together, And let the people be assembled. Who among them can
declare this, And show us former things? Let them bring out their
witnesses, that they may be justified; Or let them hear and say, "It is
truth." Also note Isaiah
46:8-11.
There were many prophecies foretold of
the fate of various nations.
i.
Isaiah 13:17-19 speaks of
Babylon being overthrown by the Medes.
Bear in mind that Isaiah prophesied around 750-700 B.C. before
Northern Israel fell to the Assyrians.
History records that Assyria fell to Babylon (around 625 B.C.)
which fell to the MedoPersians in 536 B.C. More than 200 years before
the events, Isaiah sets up what would happen.
Only one with foreknowledge could do that.
ii.
Isaiah 44:28, “Who
says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure,
saying to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Your
foundation shall be laid.’”
NOTE here that Isaiah NAMES the leader who would restore
Jerusalem and begin the rebuilding of the temple.
e.
The
impact of the Bible
i.
In all of
history, no book has had the impact on civilization like the Bible has.
ii.
The laws
of the Bible have transformed nations and even more, changed lives.
The Bible has the power to take a hardened sinner and transform
him into a godly person.
It has saved marriages, made societies better, changed attitudes
within individuals, given hope to the hopeless and done so many other
things.
It CANNOT be denied that if the moral principles of the Bible were
followed by all this world would be a much better place.
It appeals not as much to the worldly, but it gives reason and hope to
ANYONE who lives by its precepts, even if they face the most pitiful
earthly existence.
iii.
This
within itself testifies to the power of the Bible (Romans 1:16, Psalm
19:7). It also points toward
it being a message of love from our creator to help us while we live
down here and give us purpose as we prepare for what lies beyond this
life.
iv.
One other
observation as I bring this lesson to a close: I find it interesting how
the Bible is resisted by so many.
Christians are despised by the godless and worldly.
Our views are assaulted and often we are maligned.
This within itself describes the impact of the Bible in this
world. If its enemies see
the need to destroy it and remove ANY mention of God from their lives it
is obviously a testimony to the power of this book and its potential to
impact our lives. That alone
should cause us to consider it.
And the Bible warned that this would happen: 1 Peter 4:4 notes
that those of this world who “think
it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of
dissipation, speaking evil of you.” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:12, 2 Pet. 2:12,
John 17:14, etc.).
When you consider all these facts about
the Bible, it becomes clear that the Bible is a product of God and
therefore it is to be respected as such.
And if it is respected as the word of God, then we need to study
it and respect what it says.
ONE point the Bible emphasizes is that there is only ONE True God
(Exodus 20:3, Isa 43:10-11, Eph. 4:4, 1 Cor. 8:6).
Therefore, if the Bible be true (and it is), then we must reject
all other gods and religions which are contrary to it.
It is my hope that I have validated this fact in this lesson.