Q: Where did the Bible come from, and why is it so important? How do I know it’s really true?
A: Those are really three questions, and all three are very important! If the Bible is just another book full of stories, how can we know who God is and what He’s like? So let me answer those questions!
1-Where did the Bible come from? The Bible is a combination of 66 books written down by over 40 authors over a time period of about 1500 years. However, the Bible wasn’t written by men; the Bible was written by God. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” (2 Timothy 3:16) God didn’t physically write the Bible with His fingers, but He did write it in another sense. Peter describes this process when he said, “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit (God) told men what to write, and they wrote it down. The Bible claims over 3,000 times that its words are from God. No other holy book even claims to be written by their god, but only by one of their gods’ followers.
The earliest manuscripts we have today with parts of the Old Testament date all the way back to the Second Century B.C. The Bible was finished being written in the first Century A.D. after Jesus died and the apostles and a few others finished writing up historical accounts of what happened while Jesus was on earth and how the churches were to act and live now in light of how their life had been changed because of Jesus. After the Bible was written, it was translated into many different languages, and within those languages, the language of the Bible has been updated in different “versions”. For example, in the English language we speak, one of the earliest translations (but not the very first) was the King James Version. Watch how the wording changes in the following verse (James 4:3) from the 1611 King James Version to the 2001 English Standard Version:
“Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.”
“Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.”
2-Why is the Bible important? The Bible is important because without it, we cannot know God or grow to be more like Him. The Bible tells us how we can know God-through His Son, Jesus. Through every verse of the Bible-in every historical account, song, etc.-God shows us just a little more of Himself, who He is and what He likes and dislikes. And when we see His character, we see who He wants us to become-more like Himself.
3- How do I know the things written in the Bible actually happened and are God’s words? Excellent question! The Bible is made up of history, poetry, songs, wisdom literature, prophecy, and instructions for how followers of Jesus are to live. But how are we to know someone didn’t just make up the stories? There are three ways I’ll discuss:
1: The historical events described in the Bible actually happened. Every secular history account and archeological record we have found has completely backed up rather than refute the historical people, places, and events recorded in the Bible. For instance, the rise and fall of Greece and Rome recorded in the book of Daniel is read in school history books to this day. Additionally, Tyre and Sidon’s destruction was mentioned in Isaiah, and those ruined cities have been found by archeologists.
2: Science backs up the Bible. The Bible is not a science book. However, whenever it makes a scientific statement, that statement proves to be true. For example, many years ago scientists believed they could disprove the Bible because it said the stars could not be numbered, and they believed they had numbered and charted all the stars. However, when more powerful telescopes were invented, they realized the Bible had indeed been correct. There was no way man could have known that the stars were innumerable before that point, but God knew how many stars there were because he had created them.
3: The prophecies made in the Bible actually happened. The Bible was not all written at one time, as I explained earlier. From as far back as the first book of the Bible, God told men future events that would happen, and all those events (except those in Revelation which will happen at the end of the world) have occurred. For example, there were 48 prophecies concerning the Messiah, Jesus, prophesied hundreds of years before He was born. A few are that he would be born in Bethlehem, be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver, have his hands and feet pierced, be silent before his accusers, enter Jerusalem on a donkey, and have his garments divided and cast lots for. Every single prophecy in Scripture concerning the Messiah was fulfilled in Jesus. A mathematician calculated that the odds of all those prophecies being fulfilled in one man are 1 to the 157th power. In other words, it is impossible. Yet Jesus fulfilled them all! Truly, God must have inspired those prophecies!
Despite all these proofs, the Bible is questioned more than any historical book. When you read Plato’s speeches, do you doubt that Plato was a real person? Do you doubt that he actually wrote the things he said he did? What about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg address? Obviously not! It’s history! It’s substantiated by other history and archeology! There were eyewitnesses! So why do we look at the Bible, God’s Word, and question whether God is real or whether He really wrote all the things He said He did? The fact that the Bible is God’s Word and Jesus was a real person who was fully God and fully man and died on a cross, then rose from the dead, are historical facts. There were over 17 historical eyewitness accounts (outside the Bible) that have been found recording the crucifixion of Jesus, and over 500 people saw Him alive after His resurrection. So why is there so much doubt?
Ultimately, you must decide whether you will have faith and trust that the Bible is real and God is who He says He is and has done for you what He says He has done, or that the Bible is just a fairy tale, and God is not knowable.
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