Sir Isaac Newton is quoted as saying that “There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any other profound history.” The Bible is truly a living document, the very word of God. Let’s explore three types of evidence to verify this fact. Consider 1) the “manuscript evidence”, 2) knowledge written thousands of years ago that science has proven to be accurate, and 3) the fulfillment of the prophecies contained in the Bible.
1. Manuscript Evidence
The Bible as we know it initially existed as handwritten manuscripts. Historians analyze manuscripts to determine the authenticity of ancient documents. Today, there are over 24,000 copies containing all or parts of the New Testament, dating back to AD 50. This is extraordinary! Homer’s Iliad, which is the most famous book in ancient Greece and the next best documented in history, has only 643 surviving copies. (In fact, there are more disputed lines in 643 manuscripts of the Iliad than in all the New Testament manuscripts.) Contrast this with the fact that we have NO manuscripts of any of William Shakespeare’s 37 plays, which were written less than 400 years ago. behind.
2. Ancient discoveries
Science proves again and again that the Bible is the inspired word of God. Consider three examples:
Two thousand five hundred years ago, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the earth as “round” at a time when everyone believed it to be flat (Isaiah 40:22). The story dates the “discovery” of the spherical nature of the world to around the 16th century.
During the time of Job, a god named Atlas was believed to hold the earth on his shoulders! No one believed that the earth “hangs on nothing” (Job 26:7) Job is the oldest book in the Bible; it was written more than 3500 years ago
Ecclesiastes 1:7 says, “All rivers flow into the sea, but the sea is not full; to where the rivers come from, there they return again.” The writer of Ecclesiastes knew about condensation and evaporation. We call it the water cycle. Galileo is credited with making this discovery in 1630! Ecclesiastes was composed in 1000 BC
3. Prophecy
There are many prophecies made in the Bible that history records as having been fulfilled. Here we note only one with various aspects fulfilled in literal detail. To this day, the fulfillment of this prophecy is beyond dispute.
Ezekiel 26:1-6,12 says: “…the word of the Lord came to me, saying…Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will cause many nations to come up against you…And they will destroy the walls of Tyre, and they will pull down its towers; I will also remove its dust from it, and I will make it like the top of a rock. They will break down your walls, and destroy your precious houses, and they will put your stones and your wood and your dust in the midst of the waters.”
Tire was the mighty city of the ancient kingdom of Phoenicia. This prophecy was given around the year 586 BC. C. Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar, laid siege to the city for 13 years, literally pulling down the walls and towers, as Ezekiel’s words foretold. During that time, the citizens of Tire escaped to an island off the coast and began to rebuild the city. Babylon had no army, so Tire survived the long battle. But in 333 a. C. (250 years later), the army of Greece, led by Alexander the Great, placed the city’s “stones, wood and dust” on the mainland “in the middle of the water”, to build a bridge to the island. Tire was completely destroyed, never to recover. To this day, fishermen can be found there “spreading their nets” to dry, just as the prophecy says.
4. Close
Woodrow Wilson once said that “When you have read the Bible, you will know that it is the Word of God, because you will have found the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty.” The more scripture is studied, the clearer the truth becomes, that the Bible is the word of God, revealed to man.
Sources include:
Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Vol. 1, 50-51
Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, Moody, Chicago, revised and expanded 1986, 366-67.