The Bible’s Own Proof
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2Pe 1:19-21)
The late, Dr. Walter Wilson of Kansas City, medical doctor, tent maker and pastor, said something like this: “God wrote two books. One book, you can hold in your hand and it’s called: The Bible. The other book is the creation of the earth and the vast universe”. (I heard him say this sixty years ago.) You can’t have a watch without a watch maker. An effect is always smaller than its cause…and a cause is always bigger than its effect.
A few years ago, a few TV programs were aired by a group of highly rated professors entitled: “In Search of the Real Jesus.” Their approach was to sift through archaeological diggings and various museum relics for verifying the Jesus of the Bible. That has been the approach of “Higher Criticism” for over a hundred years. “It will be true when we say it is true.” These fellows should ‘fess up and tell the people they want to sell books to that they are broken up into various camps and they can’t agree with each other any more than Bible-believing Christians can agree on some things. ‘nuff said.
We already know the Bible to be the Word of God whether these dedicated students find any more significant relics. It’s a bit like the efforts of sending space craft aloft and ignoring the vast treasure lying buried in our oceans. Some of most reliable proofs of Bible trustworthiness is the Bible itself.
When I was in the sixth grade, we lived in Elizabethton, TN. Our curriculum included a study of the Greek gods. I was particularly interested in Thor, the god of thunder and for lending us his name for our Thursday of the week. (Thor’s day.) My thoughts: “These people thought their gods were the true gods. How do I know my God is the true God?” My best, honest reason was that it was what my mother believed and she was a good woman. For several years I read my Bible, attended church, and kept this question in the back of my mind. It was bedrock that the most honest people I knew believed the Bible was the book of the real God.
“Isn’t the Bible as reliable as the Greek writings? Why do these public-school text books raise the question of which god and did not include the Bible as being as reliable as the Greek books of mythology?” Then, I processed through a bit of college philosophy studies and found philosophy gurus couldn’t agree with each other. So, the Greeks took a big chance on honoring Thor and their other chief gods. Their gods were defective.
At last, I came across some of the prophetic statements of the Bible and went to county fairs. At the County Fair, there was the jar of marbles or jelly beans and you could pay to guess how many were in the jar. That would be almost impossible, so, I didn’t waste my money on it. I had never heard of “compound probability.” That’s a little branch of math that deals with the probability of a certain thing being true. The more factors that go into the problem, the less likely you are to come up with the right answer.
Many years later, I was teaching a high-school prophecy class and we considered what the chances were that Jesus could fulfill the prophesies in the Old Testament concerning Himself. Some math students in Texas had already taken it on as a project and concluded that it was one chance in 1, followed by 80 zeros. I began making zeros on an eight-foot chalk board and found I could draw 40 reasonable-size zeros across the chalk board. So, I had to go across the chalk board twice with zeros. There it was: a one followed by eighty zeroes. I never heard of any state lotteries having that many zeroes, not even a national lottery would have that many zeroes.
Even before I heard of compound probability, I had looked at the element of prophecy in the Bible and knew that I had found something the gods of the Greeks didn’t have. None of the gods of any nation in the history of the world has ever had a proven rate of fulfilled prophecies in its literature. None!
That’s why I enjoy walking around in the Library of Congress, realizing there’s not one book in the massive national library that can tell the future. Well, there IS one book: there are some Bibles in the Library of Congress. That one book in our largest library tells the most significant things that are going to happen in the future. It also tells where we came from and what our purpose is in being here.
Consider these verses on what God says about Himself.
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. (Isa 42:9)
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isaiah 46:9-10)
Jesus said: Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. (Joh 13:19)
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. (Act 15:18)
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the main things that interests me about the trustworthiness of the Bible. There are other reasons, but this is one of the foundational proofs that the Bible is reliable. It would take several months of articles like this to go through all the Bible prophecies and their fulfillment. The Bible contains plenty of proof in its own pages to prove it is what it says it is: The Word of God. Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MARCH 27, 2017 – MONDAY
A.M. Josh: 19-20 P.M. Luke: 5:17-39
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Memory Verse This Month:
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psa 19:14)
Song for Today:
Glory to His Name(2:01) – (Male Trio) (Calvary Mem. Church – S.Pines, NC)
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