What About The Bible? Part-1, II Timothy 3:16
The Old Testament
Introduction
I heard the story about a formerly pagan New Hebrides chieftain who sat peacefully reading the Bible, when he was interrupted by a French trader. “Bah,” he said in French, “why are you reading the Bible? I suppose the missionaries have got hold of you, you poor fool. Throw it way! The Bible never did anybody any good.”
To this the chieftain calmly replied, “If it wasn’t for this Bible, you’d be over there in my kettle by now!”
Transition
The Bible is the number one bestseller of all time. But it is much more than just another book on the bestseller list isn’t it. The Bible is the living and breathing word of God. It is the basis of faith and all knowledge.
The Bible is not merely a collection of words on pages which are to be read and understood. It is only in the pages of the Bible than man is fully able to understand himself from the proper perspective of the God who created Him.
Indeed, we do not simply read the Bible – the Bible reads us!
While the Bible is the inspired word of God it has not come to us dangling from a golden string dropped from the heavens in its present form. The Bible has come to us in its present form as a result of God providentially inspiring the prophets of Israel and the saints of the early Church.
God spoke, they recorded what was said, and then God preserved and protected His word right up to this very day. Indeed, the story of the greatest book of all time is a story of God’s Sovereign protection of His word of redemption and salvation to His creation!
For the next few weeks I will seek to offer a concise answer to the following questions; is the Bible accurate? Is the bible trustworthy? Is the Bible understandable and if so, how is it to be understood? These are questions which have eternal significance. They are good questions deserve answers.
It my prayer that we embark on this journey together, your faith will be strengthened, your mind will be fed, and that your heart will find satisfaction in Christ as you see Him revealed in the pages of the word of God!
Exposition
The Bible is made up of sixty six individual books which were written by forty divinely inspired writers over a period of more than sixteen hundred years. This Bible is, in fact, not one book but several inspired texts which were collected by God’s appointed servants over many years and later canonized into one book.
The Bible is composed of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is made up of thirty nine books and is divided into five sections. The first five books of the Bible are known by the Christian Church as the Pentateuch or the “Five Books of Moses.” They are also referred to as the Torah or the written law. These books, and most likely the book of Job, were written by Moses who almost certainly recorded history that had been passed down orally for a number of generations.
The Books of History are made up of twelve books which include books like Joshua, First and Second Kings, and the book of Esther. The Books of History provide detailed accounts of the history of the Nation of Israel and God’s dealings with His people. These books were written by various authors such as Ezra and Jeremiah. These books provide ample information about the ancient world.
Interestingly, modern archeology has confirmed much of the accounts of the biblical record. Prior to about the middle of the nineteenth century archeology was really little more than grave robbing. There are many treasures of antiquity which were found by way of destroying ancient sites.
The modern archeological era, though, has provided us with detailed accounts of ancient people groups – including the confirmation with strong historical evidence of many of the events that are recorded in the Bible.
In the fifth and sixth chapters of the book of Joshua (5:13 - 6:27) are recorded the events of the battle of Jericho. God had instructed the Israelites to enter into the land which He had promised to them. In order to do this they were to face several battles on their conquest to occupy the land and drive out the pagan people groups who occupied the land at the time. The first battle associated with this conquest was the battle of Jericho.
Rather than fight a traditional battle with the inhabitants of the city, God commanded the Israelite soldiers to march around the great walls of the city once a day for six days while the priests blew the trumpet of the Lord. On the seventh day they were blow the trumpet and all of the people were to shout and then the Lord would deliver the city into the hands of the Israelites. “So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.” (Joshua 6:20 NKJV)
For biblical scholars and archeologists alike the modern day remains of the city of Jericho are intriguing. If archeology can provide evidence which supports the biblical account then that evidence helps to support the historicity and accuracy of the Bible. If the Bible can be trusted in regard to historical accounts then this lends a great deal of credibility to the overall message of the Bible – namely the nature of God’s relationship with humanity.
In the 1930’s and later the remains of the city of Jericho were excavated extensively. John Garstang, the noted British archaeologist of the early twentieth century, found evidence of what he believed to be the remains of a double-walled city that had faced the army’s of Joshua. Garstang wrote; “The outer wall suffered most, its remains falling down the slope. The inner wall is preserved only where it abuts the citadel, or tower, to a height of eighteen feet; elsewhere it is found largely to have fallen, together with the remains of buildings upon it… traces of intense fire are plain to see, including reddened masses of brick, cracked stones, charred timbers and ashes… as to the main fact, then, there remains no doubt: the walls fell outwards so completely that he attackers would be able to clamber up and over their ruins into the city.” (Thompson Chain Reference Bible, 2218)
Garstang’s work was later confirmed by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950’s, the German archeologists Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger, and others right up this very day. Even with such strong archeological evidence, there are of course many skeptics who say that it must have been an earthquake or some other natural occurrence which caused the walls of Jericho to fall.
It likely was an earthquake that God used to destroy the walls of the city of Jericho. The outward direction that the walls fell in is consistent with an earthquake. Only there are some factors which demand divine causality of the earthquake. The only wall which was left standing was the North wall. There is no architectural reason for this. All of the walls were built the same way and with the same material.
The Bible does say, in Joshua 2:1, that Rahab the harlot had housed the spies that Joshua had sent into the city and that because of her support of the Israelites God would spare her life. Her house was built against the city wall. Apparently it was built against the North city wall. “And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” (Joshua 6:25 NKJV)
There is another factor which must be considered. How could Joshua possibly have known when and where an earthquake was to occur? The Bible says that on the seventh day the Israelites blew the trumpets and all of the people shouted and the walls of this mighty city fell down. Since it is no possible or it is at least incredibly unlikely that the shouts of even several thousand people could make huge city walls fall down and since it is also not possible that Joshua knew when and where an earthquake was to strike we can conclude that there must have been some other factor involved. Since the biblical account has been proven to be accurate we can take stock, as the famed radio commentator Paul Harvey says, in the rest of the story.
God delivered the city into the hands of His people just as He had declared He would do. He also spared the life of Rahab just as He said He would do. While the Bible is not primarily a history or science book, God has provided an accurate record of historical events so that we can be sure of the accuracy of the redemptive message of the Bible. If the Bible can be trusted even in small details of historical events then it can be trusted in all that it says about humanity and redemption!
The Books of Poetry such as Psalms and Proverbs which contain wisdom and songs of praise and worship to God. The books of poetry also contain prophecy and instruction. Certainly, every book of the Bible speaks of God’s glory and has something to say in regard to the chief message of the Bible – redemption. The books of the prophets, which number seventeen in all, are divided into the five Major Prophets and the twelve Minor Prophets.
I remember several years ago a friend asked me, “Which is better; the Old Testament or the New Testament?" There are many Christians who wonder the same thing and most often it the Old Testament which is neglected or misunderstood because we have been taught that the stories in the Old Testament are little more than illustrations and life lessons. While there is much of that in the Old Testament there is so much more! In the Old Testament we find Christ concealed and in the New Testament we find Christ revealed.
While the Old Testament is the story of God’s dealings with Israel, it is ultimately the story of the redemption of humanity.
Conclusion
The longer I am a Christian and the more time I spend studying the bible the more convinced I become of the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. The first words of the Bible are, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1 NKJV) God is what philosophy refers to as the uncaused cause. He is the starting point of all reality. He is the measure of all things. He is the cause behind the effect of the universe and all that is in it. In the very first words of the Torah the eternality of God is expressed and by implication the nature of the word of God – both are eternal and unchanging. Psalms 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” (NKJV)
When I was a teenager I lived for a couple of years high in the Rocky Mountains in Butte, Montana. One of my favorite things to do was to just take hike through the mountains. I would often ask someone to drop me off at the edge of town – which happened to be the base of a huge mountain range known as the Continental Divide. I would usually take along a little a back filled with food and water for the day’s adventure, a pocket knife and a few survival essentials, and my gold pan.
I would walk up and down the trails of the mountain; I would smell the clean air blowing through the pine trees; I would turn over rocks and gaze over the meadows and valleys that I would travel through. I would pray and commune with God. I would sometimes stop at the little streams to sift through the sand with my gold pan to see what I could find.
I found lots of treasures on my hikes as I experienced God and the wonder of His creation. It is just the same way with the Bible. As we come to God’s word we open the pages and turn over a few rocks, we take in the clean and refreshing air of the Bible’s message, and we too discover flakes and nuggets of gold! The gold that we find in the Bible however, is much more precious than any metal. We mine eternal truths, life changing certainties, and lasting hope.
The Bible is trustworthy and the more we learn through archeology and other sciences, the more its message is confirmed. The Bible is sure footing for this life and it is a treasure to be valued more than any other treasure on this earth!
