The Bible: God’s Word
I unashamedly believe the Bible to be from God. The primary reason for such faith is easily summed up in two words: Jesus Christ. Consider the evidence from Jesus regarding the Old Testament.
Jesus and Old Testament history
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Events Creation Genesis 1-2 Ark and flood Genesis 6-8 Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 19 Lot's wife Genesis 19 Manna Exodus 16 Brazen serpent Numbers 21 Jonah and fish Jonah 1-2 |
Jesus' Reference Mark 13:19 Matthew 24:37-39 Luke 17:29 Luke 17:32 John 6:31-32 John 3:14 Matthew 12:39-41 |
Jesus referenced all the above as actual historical events and people. Did he know they did not occur? Then he was a liar. Did he really believe in what was actually fiction? Then he was a fool. Was he correct? Then these events occurred and the people really lived.
Jesus and Old Testament prophecy
One prophet will suffice: Isaiah. Jesus quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10 in Matthew 13:14-15 and from Isaiah 61:1 in Luke 4:16-21. In both instances Jesus affirmed that what Isaiah had prophesied over seven centuries beforehand was being fulfilled in His day. Was Jesus wrong about this? If He was, then Jesus was either a liar for knowing better or a fool for thinking it. If neither liar nor fool, then Jesus told the truth and Isaiah was truly a prophet inspired by God.
Jesus and Old Testament inspiration
In Matthew 22:31-32, Jesus quoted Exodus 3:6 and said that this Old Testament passage “was spoken to you by God.” And in Matt. 19:4-5 "Have you not read" refers to what Moses wrote, but Jesus states that "he who made them from the beginning" said it in Gen. 2:24. Jesus truly believe that “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21).
If Jesus was either mistaken about all of the above claims or He engaged in deliberate deception, He cannot be trusted in regard to anything else He said. But if He’s not a charlatan or a fool, then He is what He claims to be—God’s Son (John 5:18)—and the scriptures are what they claim to be: “inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
David Smitherman