Sunday Sermons

The Bible - Part 1

Mark Dunagan
08/12/07 - Sunday Morning

The Bible

After examining the amazing order and design of the Universe, our carefully constructed bodies and our very nature, the most reasonable explanation for all of this is: God exists and He created man. This being true, the next logical thought is: What has God said. It is unreasonable that God would put all this planning an effort into creating man and then leave him without any instructions or guidance.

The Possibility and Probability of a Revelation

The maker of a computer designs it for a specific purpose and writes programs and instructions in it to help it to fulfill its intended purposes, functioning the way he intended. The maker of a car builds it to run to certain specifications, including with the vehicle an operations manual to help properly care for and use the car. So also the Maker of man, having a purpose and plan in mind for that man, has left instructions so that man can reach his full potential (2 Peter 1:3; Psalm 119:97-105).

The Necessity of Such a Revelation

Although “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1-4, it is impossible to know His character, His purposes or His plans without being given more information. Man has always seen what has been created, understands its magnitude and design and longs to worship something (Acts 17:23). Left to his own judgments or wisdom man most often ends up worshipping the creature, not the Creator (Romans 1:25, Jeremiah 10:1-5). Without revelation from God to man, man by his own wisdom and resources can never know God and His will (Indestructible Foundations, Peter Wilson). The Bible claims to be that instruction manual, God’s revelation to man (2 Timothy 3:16). Is there evidence to support what the Bible claims? This lesson will examine such evidence.

Evidences of Inspiration

· Fulfilled Prophecy:

The Bible is the only book that contains a large body of prophecies relating to individual nations, cities, peoples, and a Messiah. In all of Greek and Latin literature there is not one specific prophecy of a great historic event to come or of a Savior to come.

Remember, these prophecies were in print long before such events took place and especially before Jesus was born. In fact, the Bible itself notes that the true prophet was 100 percent accurate in their predictions concerning the future (Deuteronomy 18:21-22), and we would expect the Bible to contain such prophecies seeing that the overall author is God who knows the future. One such example is the prophecies against the ancient city of Tyre were spoken between 595 and 570 B.C. (Ezekiel 1:2; 29:17). Ezekiel clearly predicted that God would make Tyre “a bare rock” (26:5), “a place for the spreading of nets” (26:5), “throw your stones and your timbers and your debris into the water” (26:12), and “You will be built no more” (26:14). In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great came against Tyre. The Inhabitants had deserted the mainland city to take up residence on the island city of Tyre half a mile off shore. Alexander built a causeway (which still exists today), connecting the mainland to the island city. To build this land bridge Alexander had the complete mainland city cast into the sea, even to the point of scraping off all the topsoil down to bedrock. Alexander’s method of attack was not anticipated for there was no precedent for it in the annals of warfare. Therefore, in a very unique fashion the prophecy was fulfilled in a completely unexpected manner and the mainland city of Tyre became a bare rock.

· High Moral Standard:

Right up front, let us be impressed that the Bible stresses inward as well as outward purity (2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 2:1-2; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3). The writers have no tolerance for hypocrisy or religion that is merely external or from ulterior motives (Matthew 6:1-4). While other books may have a flash of moral teaching (the Koran, Bhagavad-Gita (Hindu), Tripitaka (Buddhist), and various modern self-help books, the Bible is the only book that sums up the totality of all religious and moral truth (2 Peter 1:3; Jude 3; John 16:13). Justin Martyr noted, “Whatever things were rightly said among all men, are the property of us Christians” (Apology, II). The point is that when people hit the nail on the head concerning some moral issue, they are only agreeing with what God has already said. Geisler argues, “A book that sums up and transcends the best morality of all books of all time is best explained as God’s Word. The Bible is such a book. Therefore, the Bible is best explained as God’s Word” (A General Introduction to the Bible, Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, pp. 120-121).

· The Bible’s Unity:

Although written over a time span of 1500 years, by about 40 different human authors, on three continents, there exists not even one contradiction in doctrinal teaching from Genesis to Revelation. Doctrinal Unity: Most sermons that you will hear confirm this truth, as a preacher will cite passages from various books in both Testaments to make his point (Psalm 119:89 “All Thy commandments are faithful”; 119:128). And this is not merely a unity on superficial topics or questions; rather the Bible is unified from beginning to end on topics that remain controversial among even today.Organic Unity: That is, all parts of the Bible are necessary to the complete whole. Every book of the Bible is essential. What book of the Bible could we afford to discard? Genesis? Exodus? Leviticus? Psalms? Proverbs? Jeremiah? Matthew? Acts? Romans? Or, in other words, which book of the Bible has proven fruitless in promoting your understanding of God and His will? (Psalm 119:160 “The sum of Thy word is truth”; James 2:11). Unity of Style: The Bible is a very condensed collection of books, yet contains one epic after another. The Creation of the universe and mankind is told in only two chapters. Sin enters the world in one chapter. The birth of Jesus is revealed in Matthew 2 and Luke 2. The death of John the Baptist we find in Matthew 14:10. The whole life of Jesus Christ upon this earth is found in four short Gospels. Throughout the Bible, the reader can perceive the divine restraint that prevented the human authors from elaborating or rambling. Any human writer, relying upon his own inspiration, would have written volumes concerning the Creation, what God was doing before the Creation, the flood, the birth, life and death of Jesus (John 21:25), and the lives and deaths of each one of the apostles, and so on. Thus, we must conclude, that the extreme brevity of the Biblical record reflects the truth that “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21).

· Pre-scientific Foreknowledge:

The Bible mentions many scientific truths long before man discovered such with his technology. The earth is round (Isaiah 40:22). Oceanography, the paths in the sea (Psalm 8). Life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:10-16). Sanitation, quarantine, and infectious diseases (Leviticus 13-14). The number of the stars (Genesis 13:16). The water vapor cycle, the process of rain, evaporation and condensation (Ecclesiastes 1). The dimensions of the ark (Genesis 6:15), dimensions still used in ship building to this day. The law of biogenesis, life begets life and that after its own kind (Genesis 1:11). The first law of thermodynamics, no new matter is being created (Genesis 2:1). The second law of thermodynamics, matter and energy can become unusable and the universe is running down (Hebrews 1:10-12). Both men and women have a seed of procreation (Genesis 3:15). The eighth day is the best day to circumcise a newborn boy (Acts 7:8). In addition, the Bible does not contain any of the ignorance, superstition or junk science of the time and surrounding cultures when it was written. None of the men who wrote the Bible claimed to be scientists, so how did they know all these things without having any scientific tools or instruments?

Jesus’ View of Scripture:

Eventually any view of the Bible must confront Jesus’ own view of the Scriptures. What did Jesus believe and teach about the Bible? Jesus viewed the smallest details in the Old Testament translation that He possessed as being part of the genuine text of Scripture. When Jesus looked that the copy of the Old Testament in existence in His day, He did not see a corrupted text: “Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). Jesus considered the copy of the Law that was in existence in His day to be the Word of God (John 17:17) right down to the smallest detail, and therefore in force and binding upon the Jewish people right up until the time that He would die upon the cross. Clearly, Jesus had absolute confidence in the Scriptures. He argued from them, quoted them often, used them to answer complicated questions, and constantly appealed to them. Over and over Jesus will say, “It is written”.

· He viewed Scripture to be of Divine Origin:

He spoke of Scripture as being the commandment of God (Mark 7:8,9,13). Thus Jesus is making a clear distinction between God’s word and man’s word. Scripture was also the product of the Holy Spirit, “Then how does David in the Spirit” (Matthew 22:43).

· He viewed Scripture as being Eternal:

In at least three passages Jesus speaks of the eternal character of Scripture (Matthew 5:17-18; 24:35; Luke 16:16-17). “This comparison of Scripture with the continuance of the physical creation elevates the Scriptures to such an extent that they cannot be accounted for apart from a supernatural origin” (Lightner p. 15).

· He viewed all Commands Essential:

“But these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23). Observe Jesus’ line of argument here. He does not argue that tithing was unnecessary, or certain laws in Scripture take precedence or even conflict with others and a choice has to be made, but rather, both things ought to have been done because they are both in Scripture.

· He viewed Scripture as the Final Authority:

Often Jesus Himself submitted to the authority of Scripture, even in extenuating circumstances (Matthew 4:4; Matthew 16:21-23). If the Son of God, God in the flesh obeyed Scripture even under the most difficult circumstances, then disobedience to the word of God is never justified under any circumstance.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017