BIBLE DOCTRINE I

LECTURE 6

BIBLIOLOGY: CREDIBILITY

The following is taken from David Cloud’s ebook ‘Attention to Doctrine’. That which is in blue-gray color is from R. Sargeant’s book ‘Landmarks of Baptist Doctrine’. All that is in light gray color are Pastor Warner’s comments.

We have just studied the ‘canonization’ of the Bible. We have understood the facts behind the issue and have taken a solid step of faith that God did indeed put together the Books that He wanted us to have as The Word of God… the 66 books that we have in our KJV Bibles. We now move on to the issue of the ‘credibility of the Bible’. This study will give us many more factual scientific reasons to trust that God indeed has put together the Books He wanted for us and that this Bible is indeed God’s Word. In some upcoming lectures, we will learn about the doctrine of the preservation of the Scriptures, and how we got our blessed KJV Bible. We will finish off by looking at all the perversions of the Bible that are readily available today.

Bible-believing Baptists approach doctrine from the ‘first truth’ that the Bible ‘is truth’ (Jn 17:17). However, many unbelievers will not accept this premise. Therefore, it becomes necessary to actually prove the Bible for what it claims to be…God’s perfect Word to mankind.

The Bible’s Proof

In the final analysis, a man must accept that the Bible is the Word of God by faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). At the same time, Bible faith is not a blind leap into the dark. It is confidence in a believable Record that God has given, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). The writers of the Bible explain to us that they were not delivering cunningly devised fables but an inspired record based on “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:16). The following are solid reasons that help prove that the Bible, with its 66 books, is indeed God’s Holy Word for mankind:

1. The Bible’s unique construction help proves that it is the Word of God. The Bible was written by 40 different authors representing some 19 different occupations (shepherd, farmer, fisherman, tax collector, medical doctor, king, etc.) who lived during a period of some 1,600 years. That is approximately 50 generations. The first 39 chapters of the Bible were written in the Hebrew language over a period of about 1,000 years. There was then a 400-year gap when no Scriptures were written. After that, the last 27 chapters of the Bible were written in the Greek language during a period covering roughly 50 years. The writers could not have collaborated, because they did not even live at the same time. The product is one book that fits together perfectly and contains no contradictions or errors. There is nothing else like this in all of man’s history. This is nothing short of a miracle!

2. The spirituality of the Bible’s authors help prove that it is the Word of God. The Bible testifies that “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:21), and an examination of the lives of the Bible’s writers rings true to this testimony. These were serious men. They came from all walks of life. They were men of good reputation and sound mind. Many of them were viciously persecuted and killed for the testimony they held. Their motivation certainly was not covetousness and [for] worldly advantage. They all claimed that God had put His hand upon them to speak His Word. The lives they lived, and the testimonies they held, and the deaths they died gave mighty evidence that they were telling the truth. Every man used to author a book of the Bible was in a class all of his own amongst his peers; he stood out as a leader among ‘men of God’.

3. Fulfilled prophecy proves the Bible to be the Word of God. The Bible contains a vast amount of prophecy, much of which has been fulfilled. The predictions are precise and detailed, and the fulfillment is exact.

a. Prophecies Pertaining to Jesus Christ. Jesus’ entire life was prophesied before he was born. These prophecies described his birthplace (Micah 5:2), virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14), sinless life (Isaiah 53:9), miracles (Isa. 35:5), wonderful speech (Isaiah 50:4), rejection by the Jewish nation (Isaiah 53:2), crucifixion (Psalm 22:16), burial in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9), and resurrection (Psalm 16).

b. Prophecies about Israel. The continued existence of Israel is one of history’s most amazing stories, and it was prophesied in Scripture in great detail.

(1) Israel’s history was prophesied by Moses and recorded in the book of Deuteronomy about 4,000 years ago. God warned that if Israel broke His law she would be “plucked from off the land” and scattered “among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other” (Deut. 28:63-64)…This is an accurate description of Israel’s history from the first century until now. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman armies under Titus and then in 135 A.D. Jerusalem was plowed under on the order of Emperor Hadrian in response to the Jewish rebellion led by Bar Kochbar. The Jewish people were scattered to the ends of the earth and found no rest. They were hated by the Muslims and hounded and persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church throughout Europe for a thousand years. Hitler’s regime tried to destroy them. Giving preference to the Arabs, England tried to keep them from returning to their land after World War II. They are the object of hatred until this very day. Most of the world is opposed to Israel and the reporting in secular publications about the Middle East crisis is generally slanted against her.

(2) But Bible prophecy also foretold that Israel would be brought back into her land and that she would remain a nation even after all of this, and that is exactly what happened in 1948. Never before in the history of the world has a race of people been scattered throughout the world and persecuted for 2,000 years and then come back together as a nation with their ancient language intact. In 1800 there were only six thousand Jews in Palestine, but by 2000 there were over five million (John Ecob, Amillennialism Weighed and Found Wanting, p. 44- 45). The continued existence of Israel is a very great miracle and an irrefutable evidence of the divine inspiration of the Bible.

4. The Bible’s scientific accuracy proves that it is the Word of God. The Bible is not a scientific manual, but it is scientifically accurate, even from its earliest pages (Job; written about 3500 years ago!).

a. Job says the earth is hung upon nothing (Job 26:7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.).

b. Job says the air has weight (“the weight for the winds,” Job 28:25). It was not until the 17th century that Galileo discovered that atmosphere has weight, and the modern science of aerodynamics is based on this scientific fact.

c. Job describes the amazing balance of the atmosphere and hydrosphere (Job 28:24-26 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:). “We now know that the global weights of air and water must be in critical relationship to each other, and to the earth as a whole, to maintain life on earth. ... Planet earth is uniquely designed for life, and its atmosphere and hydrosphere are the most important components of that design. If the weights of either air or water were much different than they are, life as we know it could not survive” (Henry Morris).

d. Job describes the amazing process of cloud formation and rain making.

(1) First, he describes how that water can be transported in the air when water weighs more than air (Job 36:27-29 For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.). “Water is converted by solar energy into the vapor state. Since water vapor is lighter than air, the winds can first elevate, then transport the water from the oceans to the lands where it is needed. There, under the right conditions, the vapor can condense around dust particles, salt particles, or other nuclei of condensation. When this happens, clouds are formed. Water vapor is invisible, whereas clouds are aggregations of liquid water droplets” (Morris).

(2) Job also describes how the clouds can stay aloft, how they can be balanced in the sky (Job 37:16 Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?) and how water can be bound up in a cloud and not rent (Job 26:8 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.). The answer is in Job 36:27, “For he maketh small the drops of water....” “The water droplets are indeed very small, and their weight is sustained by the drag force of the uprushing winds, as the air is pushed skyward due to temperature decrease with elevation” (Morris).

(3) Next, Job describes how the clouds are finally rent so that rain comes forth (“by watering he wearieth the thick cloud,” Job 37:11). “That is, the water droplets coalesce to form larger and larger drops, which finally become so large that their weight is greater than the drag forces of the uprushing atmospheric turbulence, causing them to fall to the ground as rain or snow” (Morris).

(4) Finally, Job describes the role that lightning plays in the creation of rain (“he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,” Job 28:26; “a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth,” Job 38:25-26). “These violent electrical currents, in some complex energy exchange not yet fully understood, cause the small water droplets to bind together with others to form larger drops. Finally, this remarkable series of events delivers the rain to the thirsty ground” (Morris).

e. Job describes the rotation of the earth that produces the night and day sequences (Job 38:12-14 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.). “Job suggests not only that the earth was suspended in space but also that it rotates about its north-projecting axis”(Morris).

f. Job describes the springs of the sea (Job 38:16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?). Man had no way to know about the fresh-water springs on the ocean floor by firsthand observation until recent times. Modern science has discovered that there are thousands of underwater springs that add millions of metric tons of water into the oceans each year.

g. Job understands that light has a way and that darkness has a place (Job 38:19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,). “That is, light is not to be located in a certain place or situation. Neither does it simply appear, or disappear, instantaneously. Light is traveling! It dwells in a ‘way,’ always on the way to someplace else. Though usually traveling in waves, sometimes it seems to move as a stream of particles, but it is always moving. When light stops, there is darkness. Thus, darkness is static, staying in place; but light is dynamic, dwelling in a way” (Morris).

h. The Bible describes the parting of light (Job 38:24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?). It was not until the 17th century that it was discovered that light passing through a prism is separated into seven colors. Further, “This may refer not only to the visible light spectrum (red to violet) but also to all the physical systems developed around the basic entity of light” (Henry Morris).

i. The Bible says that the light creates wind (Job 38:24), but it is only in recent times that modern weather science has discovered that wind is created as the sun heats up the surface of the earth, causing the hot air to rise and cooler air to fall, creating weather systems.

j. The Bible says plants and animals reproduce after their kind (Genesis 1). This is in perfect harmony with everything that can be observed and tested by modern science. There is great variety within kinds, all sorts of different roses and trees and frogs and dogs, but there is no reproduction between kinds, between roses and trees or frogs and dogs.

k. The Bible says the heavens cannot be measured and the stars are without number (Genesis 22:17; Jeremiah 31:37). Before the invention of the telescope, man could see only a few hundred stars at the most with the naked eye. Yet today we know that the stars are innumerable and that space is seemingly infinite. There are 300 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone. In 1999, observations by NASA astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope, suggested that there are 125 billion galaxies in the universe. The most up-to-date star count was announced in July 2003 as 70 sextillion observable stars (70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).