The Bible: Is It the Inspired Word of God?
No Ordinary Book The Bible is not just any ordinary book. Its message has caused people from all generations, all walks of life, and all nationalities to change the direction of their lives radically. Written words on their own do not have this kind of power. However, if the Bible is the inspired word of God, then its words have the weight and power to affect such profound change. In The Bible: Is It Really Accurate and Reliable?, we concluded that the Bible is truth and not fiction – that it is historically reliable and its authors are credible. For those reasons, we can look to the Bible to answer the question: Is the Bible the inspired Word of God? God Breathed The Bible was written by ordinary men with no extraordinary power or authority. The authors did not claim the words they wrote as their own, but rather attributed them to God. Paul, in 2nd Timothy 3:16 says that “All scripture is inspired by God.” Inspired comes from the Greek word theopneustos, which means God-breathed. Over and over again, both the Old and the New Testaments refer to Scripture as the Word of God. Prophecy In the Old Testament, God spoke through prophets like Moses and Jeremiah. God chose these prophets to communicate His message to the world. Jeremiah provides a great example of how prophets were chosen and used by God. Jeremiah 1:5-10 says: “The Lord said to me, ‘Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I chose you…I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.’ I answered, ‘Oh, Lord God, I really do not know how to speak well enough for that’…The Lord said to me…’But go to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you…’ Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me. Know for certain that I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” The Old Testament is filled with prophecies relating to the rise and fall of nations and kingdoms. Prophecies in the Old Testament were written hundreds, if not thousands, of years before they came to pass. An example of an Old Testament prophecy relating to the fall of a nation is recorded in Ezekiel. Between 587 and 586 B.C. Ezekiel predicted that many nations would come against the city of Tyre and that eventually Nebuchadnezzar would destroy it. In Ezekiel 26:12, Ezekiel predicted that the stone, timber, and rubble of the ancient City of Tyre would be thrown into the sea. “They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea.” This prophecy came to pass when Alexander the Great attacked Tyre in 333-332 B.C. His armies threw the stones, timber and rubble of the City into the sea to make a land bridge. This bridge is still there. There are hundreds more prophecies recorded in the Old Testament that later came to pass. The accuracy of these prophecies is uncanny and the likelihood of them coming to pass is low, unless of course, they were given by God to the prophets supernaturally. In addition to prophets predicting the rise and fall of people and nations, the prophets predicted the coming of Jesus Christ. There are over 300 prophecies concerning Jesus. Some prophecies tell when he would be born, “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes…” Daniel 9:24-25 his lineage, “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’” 2nd Samuel 12-16 that he would die and rise again. “I keep my eyes always on the Lord.With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;my body also will rest secure,because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life;you will fill me with joy in your presence,with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:8-11 Can One Man Fulfill All These Prophecies? What are the chances that one man would fulfill these prophecies? College students decided to conduct a scientific study to help answer this question. They used only 8 of the prophecies concerning Jesus. Upon completion of the study, they determined that the chance that one man would fulfill just 8 of these prophecies was 1 in 1017. I have trouble imagining that number, so I’m going to use the visualization that Peter Stoner, in his book Science Speaks, used:Imagine that we took 1017 silver dollars and laid them across the entire state of Texas. By the time we got done, they covered all of Texas
5 Ways Jesus is Like the Passover Lamb
From Adam to Jesus, we see that innocent blood must be shed for the guilty. Sin must be paid for, and payment must be made through a sacrifice that only God can provide.
Lessons From Moses and Pharaoh: Do Not Harden Your Heart
Even today, Pharaoh’s character offers us much insight into humanity’s flawed nature. He is more than just an evil ruler; he represents us at our worst.
Finding Jesus in Exodus
The first time we meet Jesus in the Bible is not in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament. We meet Him in the very first book of the Bible—in Genesis. Genesis is full of Jesus. We see that through Jesus, God spoke creation into existence. We see hints of Him as the Seed of Promise. Then we are given insight into why He is called the Last Adam. We see Him in Adam and Eve’s First Sacrifice, Noah’s Ark of Salvation, Jacob’s Ladder, and in the very obscure but relevant priest Melchizedek. Finally, the lives of Isaac and Joseph plainly point us directly to Him. From Genesis, we move on to Exodus, which like the book before it, also provides glimpses of humanity’s savior. In the first chapters of Exodus, we see Jesus in a burning bush, as the Great I Am, and as a personal God. These images of Jesus help us to understand His nature and character better. Reading: Exodus 2 and 3 Jesus as the Burning Bush Throughout the Bible, God often appears as fire. The book of Exodus is no exception. God shows himself to Moses and the Israelites in the form of fire several times: He guided the Israelites through the wilderness for 40 years by appearing as a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). He displayed His powerful presence to them when He descended on Mount Sinai in fire (Exodus 19:18). But probably the most memorable occasion is His appearance to Moses in “flames of fire from within a bush” (Exodus 3:1-6). This story of the burning bush is rich in symbolism. Some believe that the burning bush is an acacia bush, the same type used in the construction of the Ark and the Tabernacle. Thorns The burning bush had thorns. Not part of God’s original creation, they only appeared after man sinned as a curse on the land. For this reason, thorns have come to represent sin. Jesus wore a crown of thorns to the cross. Like the crown He was wearing, He took our sins with Him to the cross. On the cross, Jesus was stricken but not crushed, just as the burning bush was consumed by fire but not burned. Humaness and Divinity The burning bush helps us understand Christ’s simultaneous humanness and divinity. The fire did not consume the bush, just as the divinity of Jesus did not consume His humanity. Humanity and divinity could coexist in the same body. The bush consumed by fire was not less of a bush because it was consumed by fire; it was both wood and fire. Just as Jesus, when taking the form of a man, is not less God, He is both fully man and fully God. Jesus as the “I Am” During the burning bush saga, God appeared to Moses and identified himself as the “God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6, 3:15, 3:16, Exodus 4:5). “God” is the Hebrew word Elohim, which means god or God. By referring to himself as “God of your father,” He distinguishes himself from the other gods of that time, the gods worshiped by surrounding cultures, and identifies himself as the same God who had made a covenant with the patriarchs, beginning with Abraham, 400 years earlier. In this covenant, God had promised Abraham and his descendants land (Genesis 12:1), numerous descendants (Genesis 12:2), and blessing and redemption (Genesis 12:3). God also wanted to remind Moses that, just as He was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He was also with Moses. He is the God who will fulfill His promises. Moses asked God, ‘What should I tell the Israelites? Your name is?’ (Exodus 3:13) God answered, “I AM WHO I AM.” Here, God is telling us three things. He is Eternal No matter when or where Jesus is there. He is eternal. Moses, author of Psalm 90, beautifully writes of God’s eternal nature: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:2). He is Self-Sufficient Jesus doesn’t depend on anything or anyone else for His existence. He is self-sufficient. Again, we turn to a Psalm to majestically echo this truth: “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains” (Psalm 50:10-12). He is the Source of Everything God is the source of all that we see and all that we don’t see. In God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). The Prophet Isaiah reminds us, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom” (Isaiah 40:28). Jesus as a Personal God After reminding Moses of who He was to Moses’ forefathers, He then gave Moses His personal name: YAHWEH (Exodus 3:15). YAHWEH is the ancient form of “He will be” or “I AM.” YAHWEH appears over 6,500 times in the Old Testament. In our English Bible, God’s personal name YAHWEH is “LORD” in all caps. God wanted to remind Moses that He is a personal God—He is about relationships and covenant. He demonstrates that He is personal when He heard the Israelites’ cries from their bondage in Egypt (Exodus 2:24), and He saw their misery (Exodus 3:7). But He didn’t just leave them crying out in misery, He rescued them! (Exodus 3:8). Jesus Said He Was “I Am” Jesus in John 8:58 said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” The Jews recognized this reference to God and were ready to stone Jesus to death for such blasphemy (John 8:59). By making this statement, Jesus is telling us the same three things that God told us when he said, “I AM.” Jesus is saying that no matter when or where He is, He is there. He is eternal. In Revelation, He said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” …. “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” Revelation 1:8. Jesus
Sent by God: Moses, a Type Of Christ
For 400 years, Egypt enslaved Israel in the darkness of bondage. But God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he heard his people’s cries and took action. He saved Moses, a Hebrew baby boy from certain death, raised him to power in Egypt, then hid him in exile in Midian to prepare him for his ultimate calling: the saving of Israel. Fast forward 1,500 years, the Israelites were again enslaved in darkness, but this time because God had been silent for 400 years. Like before, God would speak through a baby boy; the baby boy Jesus who would not only save Israel but save the entire world!
Finding Jesus in the Old Testament: From Genesis to Moses
Reading Exodus 1 & 2 About 2,500 years passed from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. Adam’s one act of disobedience plunged the whole creation abruptly into an ice-cold curse. However, in the same moment that it seemed as if all hope was lost, God promised us a way out, a Savior (Genesis 3:15). The Book of Genesis gives us a foretaste of God’s divine plan of salvation; how He would fulfill his promise of redemption through one family, the family of Abraham. What God hinted at after the fall of man, He unveiled further in the three promises He made to Abraham, which together we call the Abrahamic Covenant: the promise to make Abraham into a great nation through which all nations would be blessed (Genesis 12:2-3), the promise to give Abraham’s offspring land (Genesis 12:7), and the promise to give Abraham descendants far too great to count (Genesis 13:15-16). God repeated these promises to Isaac, the son of Abraham, and to Jacob, the son of Isaac. Genesis takes us through the lives of these three patriarchs showing us how they acted in faith and held tightly onto the promises of God. Jacob, whose name became Israel, fathered 12 sons, who would later become the 12 tribes of Israel. Genesis ends with Abraham’s descendants, although living in Egypt, far away from the promised land, still holding on tight to God’s promises of a nation, land, and descendants (Genesis 50:24-25). READING: EXODUS 1&2 Exodus picks up around 280 years after the death of Joseph, the last recorded event in Genesis. Joseph, the son of Jacob, and second in command in the pagan nation of Egypt, rescued his family from famine by offering them refuge with him. In response, Jacob (Israel) left Canaan and brought his entire family to Egypt to live, where they stayed for over 400 years (Exodus 12:40). While in Egypt, Abraham’s offspring began to see God fulfill His promise of many descendants to Abraham. The Israelites flourished and grew in numbers from 70 people (Exodus 1:5) to around 2 million (Numbers 1:46). They became “so numerous that the land was filled with them” (Exodus 2:7). Israel was becoming a great nation, not in the promised land, but instead, in Egypt. As Israel’s numbers increased, the Egyptian’s tolerance of them decreased. The Israelites sheer numbers threatened Egypt, and eventually, because of this fear, Egypt enslaved and oppressed them. The promises of God could not be stopped, not even by enslavement or oppression, because “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread” (Exodus 1:12). Satan, who constantly schemed to destroy the line of the promised Messiah, began to work in the heart of the Egyptian king. He ordered every Hebrew baby boy to be thrown into the Nile (Exodus 1:22). Nevertheless, Satan’s plot failed, as we will see in the story of Moses. Moses was born in Egypt to Hebrew parents during this time of Egyptian subjugation. Moses’ mother devised a plan to save her son from being thrown into the Nile River to die. She hid Moses for three months, but when she could hide him no longer, she put him in a basket and placed him in the Nile near the royal bathing place. The Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses, and “felt sorry for him” (Exodus 2:6). Moses’ sister, who had been watching this scene unfold, approached Pharaoh’s daughter and asked if she wanted her to find a Hebrew nurse to feed the baby. Pharaoh’s daughter agreed, and Moses’ mom became his nurse. When Moses was old enough to be weaned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him (Exodus 2:1-10). Pharaoh’s daughter raised Moses with all the privileges of the Egyptian court, but instead of accepting this privilege, Moses “refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (Hebrews 11:24). After seeing an Egyptian beat a fellow Hebrew, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. The next day, Moses returned to his people and witnessed two Hebrews in a fight. Moses tried to make peace between the two men, but they rejected his help and mocked him. Pharaoh heard what happened and tried to kill Moses. Moses fled Egypt to Midian, not a short journey. Once he arrived in Midian, he sat down by a well. (Exodus 2:11-15). At the well, he saw shepherds harassing the 7 daughters of Jethro, a priest of Midian. Moses rescued the girls and watered their flocks. Moses remained in Midian for 40 years. He married Zipporah, one of the daughters of Jethro, and became a shepherd. During these 40 years, the Israelites in Egypt “groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them (Exodus 2:23-25). God heard the cries of his people. God had not forgotten them, and he had not forgotten about Moses. God had been making preparations behind the scenes. He had answered the people’s prayers before the Israelite even uttered them. God saved a Hebrew baby from certain death, positioned him in a position of power in Egypt, and then exiled him to Midian, all in preparation for what was to come: the liberation of His chosen people, the Israelites from Egypt. God had promised the Israelites he would make them into a great nation, give them land, and make them numerous. Amid oppression and slavery, these promises must have seemed distant and unobtainable to the Israelites. But God was working. God is always working. Through this story, even in the middle of trying times, even when God’s promises seem distant and unobtainable, we can rest assured that He is working and that what He promises will come to pass.