Where did the bible come from?
Have you ever stopped and looked at a bible, wondering ‘Where did this thing come from?’. I mean seriously, where did this thing come from?
For Muslims the answer is simple, Mohammed recited the Koran to his followers. Mohammed died in 632 AD. Ali a disciple of Mohammed compiled the first Koran after Mohammed’s death. In 650AD the Islamic ruler Uthman ordered a standard version of the Koran to be created and all other copies, he disagreed with, to be burnt. Between Mohammed, Ali and Uthman you have today’s Koran.
For Mormons, they believe that the book of Mormon was given to the prophet Joseph Smith by the Angel Moroni in 1830. He published the book and there are no questions who wrote it.
The teachings of Buddhism come from the Buddha who was born around the 5th Century BC. After achieving enlightenment and destroying all desire, he surrounded himself with disciples and taught the people how to rise above suffering.
In the 1940’s Hubbard wrote about Dianetics and founded the scientology movement. He produced a few books and made a fortune of money selling them.
But where did the bible come from? Who created it? How old is it? How long did it take to write?
By the end of today’s sermon I am hoping to answer these questions and give you confidence in the bible as a platform to build your life.
The Bible is divided into two parts. The first is called the Old Testament, containing the 39 books of Hebrew Scripture, and the second portion is called the New Testament, containing 27 books. That is not interesting, what is interesting is that these books were written by hundreds of people. Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with 2.2 Billion people calling themselves Christian and one third of the globe regarding the bible as a source of faith.
Like it or hate it, you cannot ignore the bible and its impact upon our lives. But where did it come from? Is it reliable? Can I build my life upon it? I hope to answer these questions by the end of today’s sermon.
But before we go any further let’s lighten the mood with a joke.
A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, and looked at the old pages as he turned them. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible, and he picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that had been pressed in between the pages.
"Momma, look what I found," the boy called out.
"What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked.
With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered: "I think it's Adam's clothes!"
So let me first explain why the books of the bible are grouped the way they are (show chart explaining the books of the bible)
1) The bible before history
2) The bible in history
3) God in history
4) The New Testament and how the whole thing was put together
1) The bible before history
I was always fascinated, even as a child, by antiques and ancient times.
Margaret O'Brien
American, Actress (born 1937)
When asking ‘Can I base my life on the bible?’ I really want to know how old is it? I want something reliable.
I always think the best way to start this sermon is to look at the beginning.
The bible is so old; parts of it are what is called prehistory. That is, the beginning of Genesis existed even before complex writing existed.
You can see the opening parts of Genesis. It tells us that God has been caring for his creation since the beginning of the world, God has been caring for people and reaching out to them.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, "Let there be light "; and there was light.
Professor Saenz-Badillos, a director at Harvard University, records that the Hebrew Language is over 3,000 years old. Making it one of the oldest languages known to humanity. Even before the invention of writing, God was at work in the world. The first 11 chapters of Genesis contain a lot of poetry and memory tricks because they have existed even before writing existed. But how do we know that the story of creation did not get changed over time? How do we know that the oldest parts of the bible did not get changed like a game of Chinese whispers?
Turn in your bibles with me Genesis chapter 1.
Verses 3, 6, 9, 14, 20 and 24 all begin with the same phrase ‘And God said’. Making it a powerful chant to be memorised by people even before writing was invented.
The power of memory is quite incredible and it is not as easy to change well known songs or stories as you might imagine.
Here are some sayings that you have probably heard about but never seen written. You can tell me the words that are missing.
Aussie kids are __________ kids
We’re happy _________ vegemites
Lets go for something more ambitious and say the next line
Australians all let us rejoice …
Once upon a time in a land …
Then we have entire stories that we do not have time to recite.
From the original star wars movies, to Red Riding hood, to Christmas, to Robin Hood we all know the stories and we know if they have been changed. This is even more so in the ancient world when they did not have television or other distractions.
So the first 11 chapters of the bible are told in a story format with powerful memory tricks to help the message survive throughout history.
The first 11 chapters contain stories of God’s work in our world even before writing was developed and history was understood.
It helps us understand that God is at work in ways we do not understand.
2) The bible in history
“History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions” W. H. Auden (British poet 1907 – 1973)
Most of the Old Testament was written to answer one question. How did the people of God wind up captives to the Babylonian empire in 585 BC?
“15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. 17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.” 2 Chronicles 36:15-17
The first half of the bible answers questions like ‘Why is God not found in a temple?’ ‘Why is God not found in an idol?’ ‘What does it mean to worship God in your heart?’
In trying to answer these questions, in Babylon, the people of God put together the majority of the Old Testament.
The university of Nebraska press reveals that in 3200 BC Cuniform writing was invented. This is the first fully fledged writing system in history. Less than a thousand years later the bible is starting to be written and events are recorded as people see them take place.
From Genesis chapter 12 onwards we are now talking about a time in history where writing has been developed. The bible is not a history book but it does answer the question ‘What is God doing in History?’ From Genesis 12 to the book of revelation about 2,400 years of history is covered.
A fascinating part of the bible is watching the rise of civilisation. In Genesis 12 God tells Abram to find some land and start a new nation.
In Leviticus we see basic laws being written for the first time.
“1 The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting.” Leviticus 1:1
The bible is so old we see one of the first ever legal systems being created before our eyes.
59 These are the regulations concerning contamination by mildew in woolen or linen clothing, woven or knitted material, or any leather article, for pronouncing them clean or unclean. Leviticus 13:59
By the time of the book of Judges it is 1400 BC and the Middle Eastern people had organised themselves into tribes. This tribal nature of the Middle East, is why books like Judges appear so chaotic with people just ‘taking charge’ of the nation. It is what happened in those days for many people. Each tribe had its different gods, different rulers took charge and in the spring you went to war. Having a good old fight, was so common that newlywed men were free from having to fight for one year to make their wives happy and have children.
“5 If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.” Deuteronomy 24:5
We see the rise and fall of ancient Egypt, Babylon, Assyria and Rome. Empires come and go and the bible records it all.
Towards the end of the bible we are left with Paul travelling far into Asia and individual streets are named in the bible.
“22He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.” Acts 19:22
In Acts 9: 11 we are told the exact street that Paul goes to, to receive prayer 2,000 years ago.
11The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
Most importantly the apostle Paul reminds us that if Jesus did not historically rise from the dead, our faith is in vain.
“14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” 1 Corinthians 15:14
3) God in history
With so much history in the bible it is tempting to simply use it as a history book. Is this correct? No.
The bible is very clear it is not a history book, it is a book about God working in history. If you want a history book the bible itself tells you to go look for the ancient court records.
The other events of Jeroboam's reign, his wars and how he ruled, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel. 1 kings 4:19
Repeatedly in 1 Kings Chapters 14, 15 and 16 they keep referring to the court records about the king’s lives. In 2 Kings Chapter 1, 8 and 10 etc they keep reminding us there are court records if you only want the facts.
In 2 Chronicles Chapter 20 and Chapter 33 the court records are mentioned again and in Esther 10 more court records are also mentioned.
Because the bible does not focus upon court records, the bible focuses upon God in history.
A classic example of this is 2 Kings 22 where King Josiah finds a book of the law, he is so cut up he launches a war to turn the nation back to God. In 2 Chronicles 34 he launches a campaign to turn the nation back to God and then finds a book of the law, which order is correct?
Deliberately these stories are put together side by side to show you it does not matter. All that matters is that God is moving in history, if you want the exact facts the bible refers to you ancient court records.
The bible is honest in telling us it is about you, God and eternal salvation. The bible was formed over thousands of years of history and shows God’s great power.
“ 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
“1In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God” John 1:1
God working in history is such an important question, because in 1 Corinthians 15:13 “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.”
And truthfully all of us want to know, God can you really help me? Do you understand me?
I don’t want a religion based on feel good stuff. I don’t want a religion based on one man’s vision of an angel. I don’t want someone’s understanding of life. I want the truth, because I have only one life to live.
4) The New Testament and how the whole thing was put together
To give a man full knowledge of morality, I would send him to no other book than the New Testament.
John Locke
1632-1704, British Philosopher
The New Testament is probably the most interesting part of the bible for Christians, because it reveals Jesus Christ to us.
Jesus was such an explosive figure in the ancient world. Claiming to be God, healing the sick and teaching love for your enemies.
Dr Luke was not Jewish and he tells us about this fascination everyone had about Jesus.
3Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Luke 1: 3 - 4
So many books were written about Jesus, so many people were sending their servants to report about him. That the apostle John ended the bible with a strict warning
“18I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. ” (Revelation 22: 18 – 19)
“26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26
In the end the only books that Christians accept as inspired by God are:
1. Apostolic Origin — attributed to and based upon the preaching/teaching of the first-generation apostles (or their close companions).
2. Universal Acceptance — acknowledged by all major Christian communities in the ancient world (by the end of the fourth century) as well as accepted canon by Jewish authorities (for the Old Testament).
3. Liturgical Use — read publicly when early Christian communities gathered for the Lord's Supper (their weekly worship services).
4. Consistent Message — containing a theological outlook similar to or complementary to other accepted Christian writings.
In an English bible the books are grouped together not by history but by category.
I hope today you can gain confidence in your bible, knowing it was generated throughout history, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
1. The bible before history
2. The bible in history
3. God in history
4. The New Testament and how the whole thing was put together
