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1.
Consider THE BIBLE'S DIVINE UNITY
The impossible
accomplished.
A. Written
By FORTY DIFFERENT MEN, ranging from sheepherders to
kings.
B.
Written on THREE DIFFERENT CONTINENTS.
C. Written
in THREE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.
D. Written
OVER A PERIOD OF MORE THAN FIFTEEN HUNDRED YEARS.
E. Written TO COVER THE HISTORY OF MAN FOR MORE
THAN FOUR THOUSAND YEARS.
And yet, the Bible tells ONE CONTINUOUS STORY WITH NO
CONTRADICTIONS.
2.
Consider THE BIBLE’S FULFILLED PROPHECY
History written ahead of time.
A. The
death of Jesus foretold SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE IT
HAPPENED, Psalms 22:16.
Compare John 19:18 and 20:25.
B. The
persecution of the Jews foretold FIVE HUNDRED YEARS
BEFORE IT HAPPENED. Read Deut the 28th
chapter.
C. The
destruction of great cities foretold: The city of Babylon,
Isa. 13:17-21.
The city of Tyre, Ezek. 26:4-14.
The city of Sidon, Ezek. 28:20-23.
D. The
FOUR RULING NATIONS OF HISTORY described by Daniel.
Daniel 2:1-45. He lived in 600 B.C. and prophesied that there would be four,
and ONLY FOUR WORLD KINGDOMS.
There is only one answer ~ God directed the writing of
the Bible!
3.
Consider THE BIBLE’S STATEMENTS PROVED BY
ARCHAEOLOGY
A message from the dead.
A. The walls of Jericho DID FALL AS THE BIBLE STATED.
The spade has uncovered them,
(Halley’s Bible Handbook).
B. King
Sargon DID LIVE AND REIGN.
Isa. 20:1. His name appears often in the
history uncovered by archaeology, (New Biblical Guide,
Vol. VI, pages 79-84).
C. King
Solomon WAS THE WORLD’S RICHEST MAN. The pick and shovel have found the ruins of his former glory.
(New Biblical Guide, Vol. V, pages 218-234.)
D. There
WAS A DEN OF LIONS IN DANIEL’S DAY. Archaeology has found such a den in the very city in
which Daniel was held captive.
(Dead Men Tell Tales, Harry Rimmer, pages
326-327.)
The statements of the Bible are PROVEN HISTORICAL
FACTS.
4.
Consider THE BIBLE’S INDESTRUCTIBILITY
That which cannot be destroyed.
A. Antiachus
Epiphanes, a Syrian king
tried with all his great authority to destroy
the Old Testament in the second century before Christ,
but failed.
B. The
Roman emperors waged ten distinct general persecutions
against the Christians and the Scriptures, and all
utterly failed to destroy God’s Word.
C. The
Roman Catholic Church was guilty of burning thousands
of Bibles and putting to death hundreds of its
translators at the stake, and yet the Bible lived
through it all.
D. Infidels
and atheists have in all centuries strived with all
their intellectual power to discredit and destroy the
Bible. They
have died and have been forgotten while the Bible
lives on.
In the face of such opposition, only God could have
delivered the Bible.
5.
Consider THE BIBLE’S SAFE DELIVERANCE FROM
THE INSPIRED WRITERS TO US
The Bible though the ages unchanged!
A. We can
trace the Old Testament back to the time of Ezra in
the fifth century before Christ, where we find it in
every essential just as we have it today.
B. The New
Testament can be traced back to the days of the
Apostles, and men living in that day quote from the
New Testament of that day which agrees perfectly with
the New Testament of today.
C. There
is no evidence from any field that would lead us to
believe that the Bible as we now have it, is in any
important respect different than when it was
originally written by its writers.
The truths of the Bible ARE UNCHANGED
6.
Consider THE BIBLE’S MARVELOUS INFLUENCE IN
THE WORLD
The greatest moral force in the universe. (The statistics here are out of date, but the
examples are still good.)
A. In
England, a Bible land, there is only one murder to
every 178,000 inhabitants.
In Holland, a Bible country, there is only one
murder to every 100,000 of the inhabitants.
In Rome where this Book is suppressed, there is
one for every 950 inhabitants.
B. In
London, a Bible city, there are four illegitimate
children for every 100 legitimate ones.
In Paris, where the Bible is scarcely ever
read, there are 48 for every 100, and in Rome, for
every 100 legitimate children, there are 243
illegitimate ones!
C. If you
know the history of education or law, you know the Bible is the foundation for both of them.
7. Consider THE BIBLE’S
SUPERIOR TEACHINGS
As high as the heavens are above
the earth, so are God’s words above man’s.
A. The
Bible draws clear moral distinctions. There is no blurring of them as in the case of the heathen
religions and most of human speculations.
B. The
Koran (the book of the Mohammedans) teaches that the
mountains were created to keep the world from moving.
The Hindus are taught that the earth rests on
the back of an elephant.
C. No
other book of religion or philosophy sets forth so
profound and rational teaching concerning God.
He has all the attributes which God ought to
have. He is holy, all wise, all powerful, just, merciful, eternal
and universal. This
conception of God is carried through from Genesis to
Revelation. Every
one of the writers of the Bible had the same
conception!
NOTABLE SAYINGS ABOUT THE
BIBLE
George Washington:
“It is impossible to rightly govern the world
without God and the Bible.”
Abraham Lincoln: “I
believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given
to man. All
the good from the Savior of the world is communicated
to us though this Book.”
Daniel Webster: “If
there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend,
the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures.
If we abide by the principles taught in the
Bible, our country will go on prospering.
But if we and our posterity neglect its
instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden
a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory
in profound obscurity.”
Andrew Jackson: “That
Book, Sir, is the rock on which our republic rests.”
John Quincy Adams:
“So great is my veneration for the Bible,
that the earlier my children begin to read it, the
more confident will by my hope that they will prove to
be useful citizens of their country and respectable
members of society.
I have for many years made it a practice to
read through the Bible once every year.”
Charles Dickens: “The
New Testament is the very best Book that ever was or
ever will be known in the world.”
Sir Isaac Newton:
“There are more sure marks of authenticity in
the Bible than in any profane history.”
Robert E. Lee: “In
all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has
never failed to give me light and strength.”
Dwight L. Moody: “I
prayed for faith, and thought that someday faith would
come down and strike me like lightning.
But faith did not come.
One day I read in Romans 10:17, ‘Now faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.’ I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith.
Now I opened my Bible and began to study, and
faith has been growing ever since.”
Sir Walter Scott:
“The most learned, acute and diligent student
cannot, in the longest life, obtain an entire
knowledge of this one volume.
The more deeply he works the mine, the richer
and more abundant he finds the ore. New light continually beams from this source of heavenly
knowledge, to direct the conduct and illustrate the
work of God and the ways of men; and he will at last
leave the world confessing that the more he studied
the Scriptures, the fuller conviction he had of his
own ignorance and of their inestimable value.”
This
little Book I’d rather own
Than all the gold and gems
That e’re in monarch’s coffers shone
Than all their diadems.
Nay,
were the sea a chrysolite,
The earth a golden ball,
And diamonds all the stars of night;
This Book were worth them all!
Don
DeWelt
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