FAITH ON TRIAL – Part 3: Why the Bible? Is there any external evidence that validates the reliability of the Bible?

Can we trust that the Bible is reliable?

It stands alone when compared to other sacred writings

No other sacred text alludes to God, the loving all-powerful and infinite Creator, coming down to earth to live in human form and become to personally redeem us. This Redeemer, Jesus Christ, makes a way for all of us to have a more and better life. Even today, anyone who recognizes Jesus Christ and trusts him alone to restore them is completely transformed.

There is no other alleged divine book or writing that has a story like this or has the credentials that the Bible has. The more you read the Bible the more you realize that it’s really a window to the reality of the world we live in.

FAITH ON TRIAL – Part 3d: Why the Bible? Is there any external evidence that validates the reliability of the Bible?

Can we trust that the Bible is reliable?

It’s proven to be God’s words to us through prophecy.

Many religious books claim to be divinely inspired, but only the Bible has evidence of supernatural confirmation. We have seen that Jesus, being God incarnate, affirms the inspiration of the Bible. One of the greatest proofs of the accuracy and trustworthiness of the Bible are the 2,000 or so prophecies that have already been fulfilled. It’s one of the best proofs that the Bible is supernatural or the words of God to us. But, how in the world would any human do that and come completely true often right down to the details. The biblical authors made hundreds of specific prophecies of future events that have happened exactly as predicted. No book in history can compare to the Bible when it comes to the fulfillment of prophecy.

Here are some examples. Ezekiel predicted the destruction of Tyre well before it happened. He even gave some specific things to verify in his prophecy that the city would be destroyed, many nations would fight against her, the debris of the city would be thrown into the ocean, the city would never be found again, and fishermen would come there to lay their nets.

King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the mainland city of Tyre and in 333 B.C. Alexander the Great laid siege to the city completely destroyed the part of the city that was an island. Today, Tyre is a small fishing town where fishing boats come to rest and fisherman spread their nets. The great ancient city of Tyre to this day lies buried in ruins exactly as prophesied. If we were to calculate the odds of this event happening by chance, the figures would be astronomical. No, it was not by coincidence.

For example, there are nearly 300 prophecies made about Jesus in the Old Testament, prophecies such as His place of birth, how he would die, His rejection by the nation of Israel, and so on. All these prophecies were made hundreds of years before Jesus ever came to earth. Because of the accuracy of the prophecies, many skeptics have believed that they must have been written after A.D. 70 – after the birth and death of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem. Skeptics have even tried to deny that they are even prophecies. But you can’t argue with the evidence that the biblical writings happened well before the predicted events occurred.

Here’s a really wild example. One of the most amazing prophecies predicted when Jesus would die on the cross some 500 years before it happened. It’s in Daniel 9:25-26. Look at Luke 19:38-42 === “… if only you had known that on this day …” v. 42. Jesus was making a reference to Daniel ch. 9 – “The Anointed One” (i.e., the Messiah) will come and in Luke 19:44 is says that they did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them. Jesus was saying to the people – if you would have known the prophecy in Daniel 9 – you would be sitting here waiting for me to come. Some 500 years before the event, Daniel said it would happen.

Another prophecy is from Psalm 22 which predicts the crucifixion of the Messiah, mentions how the Roman soldiers would cast lots for Jesus’ garment and it even talks about what the enemies of Jesus would say about him as he hung on the cross. Well, maybe ch. 22 in the book of Psalms was written after Jesus was crucified.

However, in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. These scrolls contained the book of Isaiah, the book of the Psalms and other prophetic books. When dated, they were found to be written from 120 to 100 B.C., well before Jesus was born. It would have been an incredible accomplishment for Jesus to have fulfilled the numerous prophecies. Some say these prophecies were fulfilled by chance, but the odds against this would be exceptionally large. It would take more a greater leap of faith to believe in that chance happening than in the fact that Jesus is God and these prophecies are divinely inspired. The record of prophecy is thus evidence for the unique, supernatural origin of the Bible.

Maybe you’re thinking the disciples just simply read the O.T. and decided to fulfill these prophecies themselves. If that’s true then they were in on an elaborate hoax – the worst and most diabolic hoax the world has even known then. That means that they stole the body of Jesus and hid it somewhere then. And, to top it off not only did they know it was a lie, they died for that lie. Well, maybe you’re saying that’s no big deal because a lot of people have died for a lie. But, 11 of the 12 disciples died horrible deaths because of their faith in Jesus. Do you really think that they would have died horrible deaths for Jesus if they were in on a scam and they knew it was a lie? WHO WOULD DIE FOR A LIE THAT THEY KNEW WAS A LIE?

I want you to read along with me what Peter Stoner, a scientist in the area of mathematical probability wrote in his book SCIENCE SPEAKS THESE WORDS. “If we take just 8 of the 300 prophesies concerning Christ we will find the probability of them coming to pass is 10 to the 17th power.” Now stay with me. Stoner goes on to illustrate it this way. He said that if you took 10 to the 17th power silver dollars and spread them across the state of Texas, they would cover this great state two feet deep. Are you with me? He added that if you took one of the coins, marked the back of it, threw it in the mix, mixed them all with a giant mixer, then blindfolded someone, dropped him or her off from a helicopter with instructions to pick up only one coin, what would be the chance the marked silver dollar would be chosen? The same chance that Jesus would have had if He would have fulfilled only eight of the 300 prophecies. That is just eight. We are talking about something supernatural, something otherworldly, something that is inspired, something that separates this book from all other writings.

FAITH ON TRIAL – Part 3c: Why the Bible? Is there any external evidence that validates the reliability of the Bible?

Can we trust that the Bible is reliable?

It’s validated by archaeology.

Archaeology attests to the historical reliability of the Bible. Over the last 100 years, there have been lots of Middle Eastern archaeological discoveries that have proven the Bible to be true and accurate in its historical descriptions. Nelson Glueck, a renowned Jewish archaeologist, states, “No archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.” Dr. William Albright, who was probably the foremost authority in Middle East archaeology in his time, said this about the Bible: “There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of the Old Testament. At this time, the number of archaeological discoveries that relate to the Bible number in the hundreds of thousands.” Albright wasn’t a Christian, he was an archaeologist.

Archaeology has verified numerous ancient sites, civilizations, and biblical characters whose existence were questioned by the academic world and often dismissed as myths. Biblical archaeology has silenced many critics as new discoveries support the facts of the Bible.

Here are a few examples of the historical accuracy of the Bible. Critics of the Bible said that the Hittite civilization that the Bible mentions never existed. According to the Bible, the Hittites were a powerful force in the Middle East from 1750 B.C. until 1200 B.C. (Genesis 15:20, 2 Samuel 11, and 1 Kings 10:29). Prior to the late nineteenth century, nothing was known of the Hittites outside the Bible.

However, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, archaeologists in Turkey discovered a city which proved to be the capital of the Hittite empire. In the city they discovered a massive library of thousands of tablets. These tablets showed that the Hittite civilization actually existed.

Doubters of the Bible said that King David didn’t even exist. He was just a myth. But, in 1993, an archaeological team in Israel discovered an inscription on a stone-like table made by a King of Syria who was writing about his victories over the Israelites. And, take one guess whose name was on the inscription – King David! Just like the Bible says, David truly lived.

Skeptics also said that there as no such person as Caiaphas the High Priest during the time in Jesus. But, in 1990, they discovered the family tomb of Caiaphas with his name inscribed on an ossuary that belonged to him. It’s on display in Jerusalem so we have the guy’s bones who actually pronounced the death sentence on Jesus. Once again the Bible is validated.

Critics said that Pontius Pilate never existed until in 1961, a team doing excavation in Ceasarea found a huge stone with the name “Pontius Pilate” inscribed in Latin. The Bible is validated.

There is truth, there is love in those letters because they were God-breathed, God-given. The same cannot be said of other truth sources of other major world religions. We have a truth source backed up by history and archeology but the other major world religions don’t have that.

Maybe you’re thinking that doesn’t prove anything – it just shows us that the Bible is accurate historical but it doesn’t show that the Bible is actually the words of God, that it’s supernatural. There’s more though …