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4. WE KNOW THAT THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE CHRIST SAID IT IS
Imagine a courtroom scene. You are one of the jurymen. The Bible is being tried. On one side are the witnesses who speak against it. On the other side arises Christ, the Incomparable, unique in His Person, sinless in character, matchless in wisdom. He witnesses FOR the Bible.
The value of testimony in court depends on three things: the witness' character (is he honest? can his testimony be depended upon?), his intelligence, and his knowledge of the facts in the particular case before the court.
Put on the stand the best representative of Atheism the world has to offer. Who knows best whether the Bible is God's Word, Christ or the Atheist? Who would you rather believe? Remember, Christ the Son of God is the greatest "Specialist" of all time on the question of religion. His sinless life, His miraculous power, His resurrection from the dead, prove Him to be what He claimed to be, the Second Person of the Trinity. Men are finite and earthy; Christ is the Eternal One who came down from Heaven. He KNOWS whether the Bible is a God-given Book.
And Christ emphatically, repeatedly, unequivocally testified that the Bible is God's Word. He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled," Matt. 5:18. "The Scripture cannot be broken," John 10:35. And there are scores of other utterances from the Son of God, revealing clearly that the Bible is an infallible, inspired Book from God.
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Reader, who will you believe? Will
you depend for your eternal welfare on the word of a fellow-creature, sinful,
who knows no more about it than you do, or will you depend on the testimony of
Him who is the Image of the Invisible God?
2. WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE THE HUMAN AUTHORS OF IT TESTIFIED THAT THEY RECEIVED IT FROM GOD
The prophets and apostles who wrote the Bible uniformly testify, in effect, that they were merely the stenographers, that God gave them the words to write. They take their stand in the court next to Christ and testify FOR the Bible. They were holy, intelligent men; many of them sealed their testimony with their blood. If they had been false witnesses they would have recanted under persecution.
John Wesley
stated the argument in words something like this: The Bible was written either
by God, good men,
or bad men. Bad men could not have written it, for the Bible is a good Book, and
fresh waters do not come from a salt fountain; bad men would not have written
it, for the Bible strongly condemns sin and sinners, and wicked would not
condemn themselves to hell. Good men could not have written it, and then
deliberately said God wrote it: they would no longer have been good; good men
would not have written it for the definite purpose of deception, for good men do
not deceive. Hence, the only One left who could have written it is God. Dr.
Haldeman aptly said, "Man could not have written the Bible if he would, and
would not have written it if he could."
Over 2500 times the Old Testament claims to be the Ford of God; and the New Testament makes the same
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claim 500 times. Prophets and Apostles both witnessed to the Divine inspiration of Scripture in such words as these, "The Word of the Lord came unto me saying," "And the Lord said," etc. The testimony of Scripture to itself is summed up in 2 Peter 1:21, "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
Reader, will you believe the testimony of such men as John who said, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, . . . declare we unto you." (1 John 1:1-3). Or will you believe the testimony of an infidel, born centuries later, a creature of habits and sin, who lectured against the Bible at $200 a night; or of another, an atheist who grovelled into a drunkard's grave?
3. THE BEST AND THE WISEST PEOPLE OF THE WORLD HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IT
To put the proposition bluntly before our jurymen: the active criminal and gangster is not known as a Christian; the best Citizen is. And so it has always been. It is men with a blunted moral sense who reject the Bible.
A pagan African was once brought to England. After several months residence there, he asked of his own accord if he might become a Christian, and this is the reason he gave: "I have watched the white man, and I have seen that the good people believe the Bible and the wicked ones don't. I want to become a Christian."
Note, we say the "good" people and the "wise" people; not necessarily the "intelligent" people, for intelligence is divided on both sides of the question, for intelligence may be wicked. But the Bible is not lacking today, nor has it in any past age, from testimony from top-notch intelligence. Lord Bacon was said by competent judges
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to have had the greatest mind given man, with the possible exception of Aristotle. Bacon said, "I believe the Bible is the Word of God whereby His will is revealed." Gladstone, "possessor of one of the greatest brains Europe ever produced" once said, "I have spent 70 years of my life studying that Book to satisfy my heart; it is the Word of God. I bank my life on the statement that I believe this Book to be the solid rock of Holy Scripture." Locke, who has been termed "the most acute thinker and reasoner of the past two centuries" spent the last fourteen years of his life in the constant study of the Bible, and then gave this decision: "It has God for its Author, salvation for its end, and truth without mixture of error for its matter." These testimonies might be multiplied ad infinitum.
Jurymen, will you believe the people BEST acquainted with God or will you believe the people LEAST acquainted with God?
4. THE BIBLE GIVES US A PRE-WRITTEN HISTORY OF A NATION—THE JEWS
Next, men of the jury, I want to call your attention to this phenomenon: the Book tells accurately, BEFOREHAND, the hectic history of the children of Israel. Their Egyptian bondage, their conquest of Canaan, the outcome of all their wars, the division of the kingdom after the reign of Solomon, the Babylonian captivity, the partial restoration to Palestine with the rebuilding of the Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, the world-wide dispersion, ARE ALL PREDICTED. (See Gen. 15:13-16; Exodus chapters 1-12; 1 Kings 11:30-33; Jerem. 25: 1-14; Dan. 9:24-27; etc.)
The strange thing about many of these predictions is
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they speak of MISFORTUNE for the very nation that gave them, and because of that the very nation to whom they were delivered REJECTED THE PROPHET WHO GAVE THEM, AND HIS PROPHECIES. (One reading of the book of Jeremiah will demonstrate this fact to the average reader.)
None but God could write an accurate history of a nation years, and in some cases, hundreds of years, before the events happened. Men of the jury, the logic is inescapable; we are FORCED to the conclusion THAT GOD WROTE THE BOOK.
5. THE BIBLE (written and completed over 1800 years ago, when the British Empire was still unborn, and when the European races were still in the swaddling clothes of savagery) DESCRIBES EXACTLY, PRECISELY, WITH UNCANNY EXACTITUDE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE AS THEY ARE TODAY
Jurymen, let me ask you this question. How many times have you yourself used this (or similar) expressions—"He tried to Jew me down." Each time you did so, you were, wittingly or unwittingly, establishing the truthfulness of God's Word for the Bible said millenniums ago that, because of disobedience, Israel should be cast out from their land of Palestine and be "a proverb and a byword among the people." (1 Kings 9:7). And is it not an astonishing thing that the word "Sheeny" comes from the Hebrew word translated "byword" in the passage in Deut. 28:37: "And thou (Israel) shalt be an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee."
The Bible further predicted that the Jews would be
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"scattered among all nations" (Deuter. 28:37, 64)f and that they should be "wanderers among the nations" (Hos. 9:17), to which fact the common proverb, "the wandering Jew" bears abundant testimony.
Note the marvelous predictions in Hosea 3:4-5: "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without a image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: AFTERWARD shall the children of Israel RETURN, and seek the Lord their God ... IN THE LATTER DAYS." This passage predicts these facts: the continuance of the Jewish people as a race (1) WITHOUT a government of their own; (2) WITHOUT the central rite of their religion (the daily "sacrifice" in the temple); (3) WITHOUT the house for the public worship—their meeting place, the temple—("pillar," i.e. the temple pillars); (4) and WITHOUT even idolatry, to which they invariably turned when they departed from the living God ("teraphim," i.e., images); and (5) WITHOUT the High Priesthood (ephod, a garment of the High Priest); and, mark you, that persistence as a race should keep on despite the fact that they were to be SCATTERED among all nations. So here we have the miracle of history: that a scattered, persecuted peoples, deprived of their own government and the central facts and customs of their religion should not be assimilated and lose their national identity. That passage in Hosea reads like HISTORY, as though some one were describing the past experience of the Jews for the last 2,000 years; but the fact is, universally acknowledged, that it was written 2,500 years ago! We challenge any one to produce a historic parallel to that: scattering, loss of government, but AGE-LONG CONTINUANCE AS A SEPARATE RACE. Note also,
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that IN THE LATTER DAYS the children of Israel are scheduled to RETURN to Palestine, and eventually to return to God. And the marvelous fact is that this return (to be accomplished gradually—in stages—according to Ezek. 38 and 39) has already begun, under the Zionist movement, organized in 1897.
Furthermore, men of the jury, the New Testament distinctly teaches that Israel as a nation would be blinded (judicially, because they rejected Christ) and NOT believe His gospel; but that there would be a believing-remnant (Romans 11:1-10). Today we witness that phenomenon too: the vast majority of Jews do NOT accept the New Testament; but there are some—here a few and there a few—that DO.
Well might the late Lord Chancellor Erskine say: "The universal dispersion of the Jews throughout the world, their unexampled sufferings, and their wondrous preservation, would be sufficient to establish the truth of the Scriptures if all other testimony were sunk to the bottom of the sea."
6. THE BIBLE GIVES A PRE-WRITTEN LIFE OF CHRIST
Gentlemen of the jury, this phenomenon is most amazing. It is a fact unparalleled in the profane and other so-called "sacred" literature of the world! Who could have written the principle facts of the life of George Washington from 400 to 1500 years before he was born? BUT THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE OLD TESTAMENT DOES WITH THE LIFE OF CHRIST. Over 250 distinct, definite prophecies tell WHERE, HOW and WHEN He was to be born; the visitors (shepherds and wise men) He was to have at His birth; the tribe (Judah)
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and the family (David) that He was to come from; the return from the flight into Egypt; His public ministry; His forerunner (John the Baptist) and scores of other events. (See Micah 5:2; Isa. 7:14; Dan. 9:24; Ps. 72:10, 15; Ps. 89:4, 36; Gen. 49:10; Hos. 11:1; etc., etc.)
His death is given in great detail, in the Old Testament prophecies. Read the 22nd Psalm, written 1000 years before Christ came, as a description of His death by crucifixion. When it is remembered that the Jewish method of capital punishment was by STONING, and they knew nothing about death by crucifixion (which was a Roman institution) until centuries after this prophecy was written, one is compelled to .admit that the chapter HAD to be written by inspiration of God.
As an illustration of the MINUTE DETAIL that prophecy deals with, thus marking it genuine and fool-proof, note verse 18 of the 22nd Psalm. "They parted my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture." This was literally fulfilled, but unconsciously, by the Roman soldiers who crucified Christ. Here is the New Testament record, "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also His coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be." (John 19:23-24). How amazing! There were four soldiers, and each of them took one of His five garments; there remained the fifth: Christ's seamless robe. How should they divide that? They did not care to spoil it by cutting it, so they threw dice for it! To think, that this insignificant action of throwing dice should find its way to the prophetic page, and be revealed 1000 years before ever it happened! Where is
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the possibility of guess work in that? Even a moron would not accuse such detailed prophecies of being "shrewd guesses."
The above, as well as scores of other predictions, fully demonstrate two things: That the God who knows all things is the God who dictated the Bible, and that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah, for all the predictions were fulfilled in Him. The Old Testament gives a PHOTOGRAPH of the Coming Messiah; when the Messiah came He had to answer EXACTLY to that photograph. Jesus did. None but God could write a Book, using a score of men, during several centuries of time, containing a puzzle like that! None but God could give the solution to the puzzle and present the Individual who perfectly fulfilled ALL the predictions!
7. THE BIBLE PRESENTS THE ONLY PERFECT CHARACTER KNOWN TO HISTORY AND TO LITERATURE
All the literature of the world, historical, biographical, dramatic, fictional, or any other kind, has not been able to- portray a perfect man—real or fictitious. But, gentlemen of the jury, the Bible contains that phenomenon too —the depiction of THE PERFECT CHARACTER, Christ Jesus. Here is One. who is wiser than Solomon, more patient than Job, meeker than Moses, more courageous than David; here is One who never made a mistake in act or judgment, never apologized, never changed His opinions or teachings, never retracted a statement; here is One who was never late, was never in a hurry, never lost control of Himself in argument so that His voice was heard in the street; here is One who PRACTICED every teaching He ever gave, who could have had the highest place among men but took the lowest; here is One who
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had the tenderness of a mother, the love of a bride, the courage of a king, the sternness of a judge, the dignity of an autocrat; and marvel of marvels—ALL OF THE SO-CALLED OPPOSING VIRTUES BLENDED PERFECTLY IN HIM, He was not lopsided. The moral glory of Christ is a most fascinating subject: we could easily fill this booklet with a treatise on it.
Now here is the argument: No man, or combination of men could ever invent such a Character. Rosseau states the case very well in these words, "It is more inconceivable that a number of persons should agree to write such a history (the Gospels), than that One should be the author of it, for the inventor would be a more remarkable character than the Hero." In other words "It would take a Jesus to forge a Jesus."
Mr. Simon Greenleaf, £he greatest authority in the world on "Evidence," whose books on "Evidence" student lawyers study, has written a book on The Four Gospels. In this book he examines the Gospels minutely, and concludes they are absolutely authentic. He says in substance, "The character of Jesus was either that of a person who actually lived, or the invention of the imaginations of the writers of the Gospels. If such a character was the product of four men's imaginations, then you have the most marvelous display of genius ever struck from the pen of men. For .four men, unknown as authors before or after, achieve the portrayal of ,a character so perfect that it can claim to be Deity one moment and the next stoop to wash dirty feet, one day raise the dead, next day be hung on a gibbet, and these without loss of dignity. And in addition, these men attain such heights of literary genius that they portray this character without any description or explanation but simply by recounting His words and actions. Words so matchless in
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wisdom as to mark their author as having wisdom from God.
There is bat one conclusion to the matter. The Man, whom the Gospels present as Jesus, is the promised Christ—"God manifest in the flesh."
8. THE BIBLE GIVES A PRE-WRITTEN HISTORY OF THE WORLD, in so far as the history of the world is related to the plan and purpose of God as revealed in Scripture
This history is given, in broad outline, and in symbolic language, in the book of Daniel. The chronological order, and the character, of the four great world empires from Daniel's time to the Roman Empire, and even up to our times and beyond, are given under the figure of A Great Image in Daniel 2:31-45, and under the figure of Four Beasts in Daniel 7. These four world Empires—Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome have come and gone. The last phase of the Revived Roman Empire is being developed right now in Europe.
Fifty years ago, critical students of Daniel tried to show that Daniel was written AFTER the predicted events had happened. But recent archeological findings have established the early date of Daniel, so that its predictions stand as true prophecies: proof of the fact, dear friends, that GOD HAS SPOKEN!
9. THE BIBLE PERFECTLY WORLD DESCRIBES THE WORLD AS IT IS TODAY
Honored gentlemen of the jury, I wish to present this fact to you, which you have, no doubt, already sensed: Any man of ordinary learning and intelligence can prove
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or disprove the Bible without spending years of time in study and research to do so. It isn't even necessary for him to be able to read the Bible in the original languages. All he must have, to perform the test, is two things: (1) A statement of the prophecies of the Bible that deal with the world, or with the Jews, or with the Church, as they exist today; and (2) a look around at the world in which we live. For more than eighteen centuries the Bible has been in the world in its completed form—so enough time has elapsed to absolutely preclude guessing, and to reveal forgery if there is any. Our task then is this: EXAMINE the predictions of the Book that claims to foreknow the future; EXAMINE the world as it is today and SEE for ourselves whether or not the Bible predictions are true; if they are we have all the proof we need that the Bible is God's Book.
The apostle Paul presents a picture of the world of "the last days" from the moral viewpoint in 2 Tim. 3:1-7. This passage presents the non-Christian world, in essence, as (1) "lovers of themselves," i.e., selfishness; (2) "lovers of money," i.e., covetousness; (3) "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God," i.e. pleasure-seeking at the expense of spiritual responsibility. I ask you, gentlemen, does this not describe our generation?
The Lord Jesus presents a picture of the world from the spiritual viewpoint in Luke 17:26-31, which clearly shows that the people will be worldly, commercial and material, at the expense of spiritual interests. Is it not true to fact?
The Saviour presents another picture of the world "in the latter days" from the international viewpoint, in Luke 21 and Matthew 24. He features the five international terrors: "wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places." The world today, viewed
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as a whole, certainly verifies His predictions. "Wars and rumors of wars" are with us; the severity of earthquakes, according to seismographic records, is steadily increasing. The World War was followed by many famines and pestilences in many lands. All major wars are. Our Lord's prediction is scientifically accurate.
These predictions, coming from Christ and Paul, are all the more remarkable for one would expect, had they been misguided zealots, that they would picture the world soon to be conquered by their Gospel. Both teach that the world will get "worse and worse" (morally and spiritually) and ripen for judgment; and that Christ will come personally, at the end of the age, to set the world right and reign as King of kings Himself.
The prophet Daniel presents a picture of the world, very compact, from the cultural viewpoint. Daniel 12:4, speaking of the "time of the end," says: "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." The widespread travel and popular education of our day certainly place the mantle of truth over the shoulders of the prophet, and indicates we are nearing that time.
10. THE BIBLE GIVES A PREWRITTEN HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
Honored sirs, the Church of Christ is on earth today— the largest institution known to man. It can be traced back, historically, to the first century. You cannot account for the existence of the church save on the basis of the fact that IT WAS STARTED BY CHRIST. The Bible has been the visible tie that has bound it together, and the nursing bottle that has sustained it, through the centuries. A little thought should convince the most skeptical, if his mind be not closed to the truth, that it takes a
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SUPERNATURAL FORCE to originate and keep going, without power of sword or gold, and in the face, frequently, of most violent persecution, an institution like the church.
Christ foretold the birth of the church and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 1:8; 2:1-4). The fact that the church should be an "assembly of called out ones"—a few saved from among the many, rather than the conversion of whole nations—is revealed in Acts 15:13-15. This is true historically and at the present time. The fact that the church should be made up of both Jew's and Gentiles, with their natural animosity dissolved in the brotherhood of Christ, is true historically, and true today. (Ephesians 2:14-18). The endurance of the church, despite terrible persecutions, and age-long conflicts, is foretold by Christ in John 16:2 and Matt. 16:20, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The eventual, worldwide preaching of the gospel as a witness to all nations is declared in Matt. 24:14. And that fact is being accomplished today. The various eras of church history can be traced accurately in Revelation 2 and 3.
It is easy to be seen, gentlemen, that none but an all-wise God could foretell the birth and future of such a cosmopolitan institution as the church.
11. THE BIBLE PERFECTLY DESCRIBES THE CHURCH AS IT IS TODAY
And let me say, in the very outset, honorable sirs, that the Bible description of the church of Christ in the latter days is anything but complimentary. BUT IT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE TO FACT. The departure from orthodox doctrine, on the part of some, in the latter days, is
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stated in 1 Timothy 4:1: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith." The prediction is abundantly verified by the rise, during the last 75 years, of a host of sects, cults and isms that have departed from "sound doctrine." The apathy, wealth, and spiritual lukewarmness of the professing church as a whole, with the presence in the church of a minority of earnest Christians, EXACTLY DESCRIBES CONDITIONS IN PROTESTANTISM TODAY, and is clearly foretold in Revelation 3:14-17, 7:13. The prophesied rise, "in the last days" of scoffers saying, "Where is the promise of His coming" (2 Peter 3:3-4) is being witnessed today.
12. THE HUNDREDS OF OTHER DEFINITE, DETAILED PROPHECIES THAT HAVE BEEN FULFILLED, WITHOUT ONE FAILING, PROVE CONCLUSIVELY THAT THE BIBLE IS OF DIVINE ORIGIN
Fellow citizens and honored jurymen, we are going to call on two witnesses—HISTORY and THE WORLD TODAY—to testify as to the truthfulness or error of ancient Bible prophecies.
The amazing fact is this: Whenever careful examination is made History and The World Today absolutely, invariably verify Ancient Bible Prophecies.
The prophet declared that Jerusalem should "be plowed as a field and the mountain of the house (should be) as high places of a forest." (Micah 3:12). Urquhart informs us that the "mountain of the house," the place where the Temple was built, a limited space of about 350 feet in extent, was for generations "covered with lofty cypresses and other trees." The other half of the prediction also
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has a remarkable fulfillment. Much of the level portion of what was ancient Zion, part of which is outside of the modern walls of Jerusalem, HAS LITERALLY BECOME A PLOWED FIELD. "Prophecy" said that Palestine was to be made "desolate" (Lev. 26:32)—and it was; Palestine was to become a mecca for pilgrims and travelers of all countries (Deu. 29:22, 24)—and it has been, and is; Egypt was to be humbled, continue as a "base" kingdom, never again to be ruled over by a native prince (Ezek. 29:14; 30:13)—and these prophecies have all been literally fulfilled; the Cherethites (Philistines) were to be destroyed as a nation (Zeph. 2:5)—and they have been; Askelon was scheduled to become a "desolation" (Zeph. 2:4)—and it is to this day; Tyre was to be destroyed and become as bare as the top of a rock, a place for fishermen to spread their nets (Ezek. 26:12-15)—and all of these predictions have been most amazingly fulfilled, as any visitor to the ancient site of Tyre can testify. And this list of fulfilled prophecies, did space permit, could be lengthened into hundreds of definite examples. And the remarkable fact is that NOT ONE BIBLE PROPHECY HAS EVER FAILED. This marvelous fact has "stopped the mouths of scoffers and changed the heart of infidels."
The Bible of all books in the world is unique in this respect. "Under the Christian religion," said Pascal, noted French mathematician, "I find actual prophecy, and I find it in no other." (About 40 years ago Dr. A. T. Pier-son investigated the so-called "Mother Shipton's Prophecy," a prophetic hoax describing modern life, which claimed to have been written in 1448. He found that it was written in 1862 by a Charles Hindley, and palmed off on a credulous public!) We challenge the world to produce any other book of true prophecies as the Bible, or
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to demonstrate a single failure in the hundreds of Bible prophecies! It
can't be done.
13. THE FACT THAT THE BIBLE HAS A UNIFIED TESTIMONY DESPITE THE GREAT DIVERSITY OF ITS HUMAN AUTHORSHIP PROVES THAT THERE IS ONE MASTER MIND—THE REAL AUTHOR OF THE BOOK—BEHIND ALL THE HUMAN WRITERS
The Bible is composed of 66 different books, written during 16 centuries of time, by about 40 different authors who were of different stations in life and who came from totally different environments. Each one of these men added a few pieces to the Structure of God's building—the Bible—and when it was completed it was found to be symmetrical and architectural—A UNIFIED WHOLE! Genesis and Daniel of the Old Testament dove tail exactly into Revelation of the New Testament; and Leviticus into Hebrews. The 66 books of the Bible present a unified PROGRAM for the ages of the world's history; both Testaments are centered in the same PERSON Christ; and the teachings are never contradictory, when rightly understood.
To show the force of this amazing fact—the unity of the Bible—let me ask what unity of thought would there be in a symposium of medicine, written by 40 different authors, each expressing his own ideas of the subject? You would have 40 different schools of thought represented, giving a hodge-podge of "incongruous incompatibility!"
"Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:21).
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14. THE BIBLE PROVES ITSELF TO BE THE
WORD OF GOD BY ITS POWER IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS TO MAKE THEM HOLY
Let us apply a Bible test to the Bible itself: "By then-fruits ye shall know
them." Gentlemen of the jury, I can take you to scores of Rescue Missions in our
country and show you reclaimed drunkards, libertines, and women of the street
that have been saved, and lifted from filth and sin, by the Gospel of the Bible!
I can take you into thousands of Protestant Churches of all denominations where
the true Gospel is preached and show you happy Christians who have been saved
and KEPT from ever falling into the grosser sins. I can take you to Africa and
other pagan countries and show you sober and humanized men who were formerly
bloodthirsty cannibals, WON TO A HOLY LIFE BY THE BOOK! And what victorious
testimonies they give! And we don't need to go to a past generation either, for
our own age has multitudes of such living witnesses, won from a thousand and one
sins that fallen man is heir to, BY BELIEVING AND OBEYING THE BOOK!
Marcus
Aurelius, Confucius and other philosophers wrote some good moral and ethical
maxims, but no one is won to a life of holiness by reading them. They present an
ideal, but lack the vital power that the Bible alone has to lift the soul to
that ideal. The Bible accomplishes this by leading us to direct contact with
GOD, by regeneration through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Biblical answer to the needs of a fallen race is spiritual regeneration of
the individuals who repent and believe His gospel. Then, as the Christian yields
his life and heart and will to Christ, he grows in grace and becomes daily more
like his Redeemer. (See 2 Pet. 3:18).