The amazing thing about the Bible is not that it was written by so many authors, it is that it had so many authors and yet it contains no actual contradictions, no errors in its original text. It is amazing that so many people agreed on such deep truths. This is not because these people conspired to make it all work out, we try to do that all the time in many walks of life and that many people are never able to agree perfectly on so much.
So, the question is how is this possible? It is only possible because Scripture comes from the ‘mouth of God’ (Duet. 8:6). Paul the Apostles agrees that the Old Testament is ‘God-breathed’ (2 Tim. 3:16). Jesus who is God the Son, said it is foolish not to believe the Old Testament. So, we know that the Old Testament has been establish by the Bible as God’s Word, and we see in Psalm 138:2 that God puts His word above His name in importance.
Because His word shows who He is. What about the New Testament? The Apostle Peter gives the commandments of the apostles the same authority as the Old Testament prophets (2 Peter 3:1-2). Peter also teaches that Paul’s letters are Scripture in 2 Peter 3:15-16 and in 1 Timothy 5:18 Paul quotes Luke 10:7 as Scripture. Ok, so the Bible believes it is the Word of God, but how does that show us that the Bible is true.
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If we are to assume that we have the genuine original text, which we have over 5,000 copies of the original text that sufficiently shows we do, then the question is why believe God’s word is the word of God? Titus 2:1 tells us that God does not lie and in John 10:35 Jesus said that Scripture cannot be broken. Which means God’s word must be infallible, it must be inerrant. One of the ways that God proves His word is true is by showing us what will happen before it does.
One of the greatest instances of this is Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 Weeks in Daniel 9:24-25. This is an amazing prophecy that foretold to the day when Jesus would make his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. First, it’s important to know that a guy named Ptolemy II Philadelphus commissioned The Septuagint in 270 B.C. where the Old Testament (including the book of Daniel) was translated by 70 seventy scholars into Greek almost three centuries before Jesus was born. This speaks to the authenticity of Daniel’s prophecy, because we have proof that it was written before it happened.
Now, in this prophecy Daniel talks about weeks. A “week” of years is common in the Bible like the “sabbath for the land,” when the land was to rest every seventh year (Exodus 23:10-11); Leban asked Jacob to serve him for a week (seven years) for his daughter (Gen. 29:27); Also like when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 days (years) before entering into the promise land (Numbers 14:33,34a).
So, back then a year was measured by 360 days, including leap years: 69 weeks comes out to 483 years or 173,880 days. In verse 25, Daniel talks about a future event when the command would be given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (including the street and the wall) starting off the 69-week period of the 70 weeks: this began with Artaxerxes Longimanus’ command on March 14, 445 B.C. and ended at the moment, also told of in Zechariah 9:9 and John 12:15, of the Triumphal Entry on April 6, 32 A.D., exactly 483 years to the day foretold by Daniel. God said it and it happened exactly how he said it.
Prophecy proves the authenticity of the Word of God. 100% of the things God has foretold us have come true to date. No other religious book can boost of prophecies that have constantly been 100% true. Another important proof is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Acts 1:3 tells us that, ‘He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.’ Jesus rose from the dead, and there is an amazing amount of historical evidence, eye-witness testimony to validate this fact.
In conclusion, if we know Scripture to be God breathed and He has shown us proofs of this fact by showing us what will happen before it happens. If Jesus said the Bible is God’s word and we know that what He said is true because He proved the truth of His words by dying and coming back to life. Then we can conclude that the Bible is God’s Word and that it is His only word as Jesus also said, ‘“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6, ESV).
References
- Deuteronomy 8:6 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- Psalms 138:2 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- 2 Peter 3:1-2 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- 2 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- 1 Timothy 5:18 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- Luke 10:7 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- Titus 2:1 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- John 10:35 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
- Daniel 9:24-25 (NIV) – Bible Gateway
