Truth Magazine

By Earl E. Robertson

Jesus’ attitude toward the Scriptures is manifested in manifold ways. The Scriptures affected every aspect of Jesus the Christ: His co-existence with the Father, the testimony of the prophets foretelling His coming, His birth, His life and ministry, trial, death, burial, resurrection and ascension. No person ever had so much written about Him and required of Him as Jesus. And in minute detail, He filled full every demand and expectation required of Him by the Scriptures. He did not meet the expectations some assumed of Him, but He met every requirement demanded of Him in Scripture. This, within itself, is sufficient for anyone to know Jesus’ attitude toward the sacred writings. Just before His ascension to glory He said, “These are the words which I spike unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Lk. 24:44). His testimony regarding scriptural events to transpire in His life reveals His total consciousness of the absoluteness of the Scriptures. Jesus’ testimony shows that He regarded the Scriptures as the voice of God, eternal in their nature, complete and adequate to the accomplishment of all right living in bringing human behavior into acceptance with God.

The testimony of Jesus declares His acceptance of the accuracy of Scripture. He relied upon what they said, believing they held the solutions to human problems. He believed the Scriptures held the answers to the problems and difficulties of the human family: the problems within one’s self; problems between two or more; and the difficulties between man and God because of sin. Jesus’ question, “Have ye not read” (Matt. 19:4; Mk. 12:10), reveals the essential place for Scripture within the lives of all, and the urgency for all to see the scriptural answers for us couched therein.

It Is Written

When tempted of the devil in the wilderness, Jesus repeatedly responded, “It is written” (Matt. 4:4, 7,10). The Son of God incarnate appealing to the Scriptures as a weapon of defense against the bold Satanic efforts to lead him away from right, said, “It is written.” The one who is unable to say, “It is written,” is defenseless having no spiritual panoply. Jesus could not only quote the Scriptures but he could properly apply them. Only when that which “is written” is rightfully used does it bless the user. Satan, Jesus’ enemy, quoted Scripture to Jesus, but he misused it. Scripture can’t be properly used without it accomplishing God’s intent (cf. Isa. 55:11). Scripture is to the Christian “the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17), and it was this very sword that the Lord used against the enemy of all man-kind by which He retained His rightful place before God as Redeemer.

The wonderful writings of the prophets about Jesus were used by Jesus often in His ministry. Peter said to Cornelius, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). To the unbelieving Jews, Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they that testify of me” (John 5:39). These scriptures Jesus could quote and accurately use seeking to benefit the very ones who also knew them but did not know their meaning. Being able to rightfully say, “it is written” as Jesus did, is the chart and compass of all true religion. Any religious leader who cannot appeal to the Scriptures for authority to support his teaching and practice is not of God.

Must Be Fulfilled

Jesus’ testimony to the absoluteness of scripture is found in His declaration, “the scriptures must be fulfilled” (Mk. 14:49; Matt. 26:54). Unfulfilled Scripture would make its author a liar. As Paul preached to the Gentiles in Pisidia, “And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he bath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” (Acts 13:32, 3), so did Jesus testify that Scripture must be fulfilled (Lk. 22:37). Peter testified the same, saying, “But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled” (Acts 3:18).

Jesus believed the Scripture could be understood and properly applied. Jesus did for His disciples what the evangelist Philip did for the eunuch through a proper use of Old Testament writings. Philip preached Jesus to the eunuch (Acts 8:35) from Isaiah 53:7,8. On the day Jesus arose from the dead two disciples went to a village, Emmaus, talking about the things that had happened. During this, Jesus “himself drew near, and went with them.” Seeing their astonishment, Jesus said, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Lk. 24:25-27). Philip also said to Nathaniel, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the. Law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth” (Jn. 1:45).

This testimony is further corroborated by the testimony of the Samaritan woman. She said to Jesus, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things” (Jn. 4:25). The supernatural behavior of Jesus caused her to relate Him to the prophesies concerning Him. She said, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet” (Jn. 4:19). Ending her conversation with Him she ran into the city, and said to the men there, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (Jn. 4:29). Her understanding of Scripture led her to this conclusion.

Jesus was the master teacher in using Old Testament Scripture. His use of Isaiah 61:1,2 in the synagogue at Nazareth is a good illustration of this. He read the verses before the Rabbis and others in the synagogue service and made application of them to Himself. He told them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Lk. 4:16-21). The people “bear him witness” and wondered at the gracious words He had spoken.

Jesus told His disciples “that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Lk. 24:44). Jesus not only said “all things must be fulfilled,” He meant all things. All things in the law, the prophets, the psalms!

Scripture Can Stand Alone

Jesus went to the city of Nain, and getting near the gate, He met some men carrying a dead man out. The dead man was the only son of a widow. Jesus had compassion on her and raised her dead son to life. The people seeing this declared “that a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people” (Lk. 7:16). John the Baptist heard of this ministry of Jesus and sent two of his own disciples to Jesus for them to ask Him, “Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?” In the presence of them Jesus “cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.” Upon this, he told the two disciples to go and “tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached” (Lk. 7:22). In this Jesus did not say, “Yes, I am he” or “No, I am not the one.” Jesus knew that John the Baptist knew the Scriptures and that he believed what they said about the Christ that should come. John knew that Isaiah 35:5, 6 said certain things would be done by the Christ when he would come into the world, and, furthermore, John knew that only Christ would be doing these things. He could believe Jesus was the one for His works bore witness to such (Jn. 10:25, 38). The world had never seen the blind receive their sight (Jn. 9:32). John, hearing that Jesus was performing such miracles, knew that he had to be the one of whom the prophets had testified. Jesus knew this much about John.

When the Pharisees came to Jesus and asked Him if it is lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause, He knew their effort to entrap Him would not be successful if he continued to testify the rightful place of Scripture in giving answer to them. Jesus did not bother Himself to deal with either school of the Rabbis’ efforts in interpretation of Deuteronoray 24:1-4, the bill of divorcement. Rather, He pitched His battle for the pattern of marriage; He appealed to the beginning. Jesus said in answer to them, “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female . . . . Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so” (Matt. 19:4, 8). Jesus was willing to let plain statements of Scriptures stand alone in giving answer to the agonizing questions and problems faced by the people of his day. This example should be emulated by the followers of Jesus today.

Furthermore, Jesus testified the “scripture cannot be broken” (Jn. 10:35). Inasmuch as Scripture is bound in heaven prior to its being bound on earth (Matt. 16:19), it cannot be invalidated or loosed by man. Man has no power to loose what God binds, and neither can he bind what God does not. The teaching of Jesus regarding Scripture causes profound reverence toward the Sacred Oracles. His whole life was made up of doing what Scripture required of Him. What an example (cf. 1 Cor. 11:1)! Jesus never asked for a meeting with the prophets at a conference table to “negotiate” with them about the things they said of Him. Neither should any follower of the Christ today ask for such a meeting for compromise! Man lives by every word of God, says Jesus (Matt. 4:4).

Conclusion

When time is no more and the elements are melting with fervent heat (2 Pet. 3:10), and the judgment comes for each of us, it will then again be that we must face the Scriptures. Jesus says, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (Jn. 12:48). Since one’s whole life (cf. Eccl. 12:13) has to do with Scripture, and then the judgment, too, should we not give the proper testimony about the Scriptures? We obey it to be saved from sin, walk in it to have fellowship with God, and will face it in the judgment at last.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 1, pp. 11-12
January 6, 1983

By Ron Halbrook

Yes, I believe the Bible because of its genuine, fulfilled prophecies. A “prophecy” means any message claiming to be miraculously inspired of God. It may concern duties or events of the past, present, or future. We are thinking especially of predictive prophecy here.(1) As a forecast of the future, it provides a means by which to test the prophet’s claim that his explanations of past and present events or duties came from God. The veracity of his larger message of prophecy depends upon the success or failure of his predictions. We can prove the larger message of the Bible true by a study of its accurate predictions.

The Bible itself proposes the acid test for all men who claim to speak for God and to foretell the future. Every false prophet must live in dread of the future because man cannot accurately forecast the details of history. Moses told his followers how to expose lies about powers of the occult, magic, enchantment, witchcraft, mediums, palmists, necromancers, and other assorted false prophets:

And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord bath not spoken?

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet bath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him (Deut. 18:21-22).

Lying prophets are sometimes specific in their predictions, but more often vague. The more specific they are, the more vulnerable to exposure. The ancient arts of soothsaying and astrology always have been notoriously vague in speech.

In Greece, too, oracles were pronounced by the Pythian prophetess, who by vapors and the like was aroused to a practice of the mantic art. In Dodona it was the voice of the divinity in Nature, which they sought to read in the rustling of the trees and the murmuring of the water. How uncertain these sources were was well known to heathen antiquity. The ancients complain of the enigmatical character of the Sibyline utterances and the doubtful nature of what was said.(2)

Even a little investigation exposes William Miller (1782-1849), Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-44), Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), Ellen G. White (1827-1915), Charles T. Russell (1852-1916), Joseph F. Rutherford (1869-1942), Edgar Cayce (1872-1945), Jeane Dixon (1918- ), and other so-called “modern prophets” as masters of deceit. They made predictions by the claim of divine insight or assistance, and failed:

1. Miller set the end of the world for 1843, then 1844.

2. Smith said in 1831-32 that the New Jerusalem and Temple would be built at Independence, Missouri “in this generation,” and that the War Between the States (1861-65) was about to begin in 1832, which would engulf and make “a full end of all nations.” At another time, he said the end of the world could not be expected until 1891. He established Mormonism.

3. Eddy’s “Christian Science” writings teach that the Lord revealed to her that such things as pain, physical disease, tumors, broken bone, and death are “illusions” which disappear with the acceptance of her message. She mothered the Christian Science religion.

4. White claimed to relate visions from God in her many writings, but Walter T. Rea documents her plagerism in his book The White Lie, proving that she was neither inspired nor honest. She founded Seventh Day Adventism.

5. Russell and Rutherford fathered Millennial Dawnism or the “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” a religion which from its inception has predicted, recalculated, and re-refigured the date of the world’s “end” 1914, 1918, 1925, and 1975. Presumably, current leaders are back at the drawing boards again.

6. Cayce’s trance “readings” explained dreams as prophecies, told of reincarnated lives, and prescribed dietary and health aids through divine or occult assistance. The Association for Research and Enlightment, Inc. of Virginia Beach, Virginia perpetuated his ideas after his death.

7. Dixon’s so-called accurate prophecies are highly publicized but not her prediction that World War III would occur in 1958 and not her 1965 forecast that “Russia will be the first nation to put a man on the moon.” The vague inspirational vaporings of her horoscopes have appeared in major newspapers for many years.(3)

The amazing thing about the Bible is that it never made a prophecy that failed!

In fact, the Bible is the only book in all history that contains genuine prophecies – predictions that have been consistently, unerringly fulfilled in the events forecast. Since man cannot by human powers foretell the future, the only adequate explanation for the genuine prophecies of Scripture is that God spoke through the authors. I believe the Bible because of its genuine, fulfilled prophecies concerning the Jews~of ancient history and especially concerning the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Not only was Jesus the subject of Old Testament prophecies, but also he predicted future events with unfailing accuracy. In the form of genuine, fulfilled prophecies, the Bible gives indestructible evidence for (1) the existence of the true God, (2) the divine inspiration of the Bible, and (3) the Deity or divine nature of Jesus Christ.

The Jews, God’s Witnesses

First, consider the ancient history of the Jews in prophecy. Isaiah compares what spokesmen for God said about the ancient nation of Israel with the actual history of Israel to prove the existence of true Deity. Thus Israel bears testimony or serves as a witness to God’s existence:

Ye are my witness, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior.

I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God (Isa. 43:10-12).

God challenged “all the nations” to produce a similar witness and He ridiculed all the idols of heathen religion as “their own witnesses; they see not, nor know” (44:9).

The history of the Jews, Hebrews, or Israelites began about 1800 B.C. when God promised to give Abram a land, to make of him a great nation, and to bring out of him a blessing for men of all nations (Gen. 12:1-3). Abram was told that his seed would be enslaved by another people before possessing the promised land of Canaan, but also that they would take the land some 400 years after Abram’s time (15:13-16). The paradox of slaves leaving the place of bondage “with great substance” is mentioned (15:14). The promises were repeated to Isaac and Jacob. Jacob’s family went into Egypt, multiplied into a host, and were enslaved. When Moses led the Jewish people out of Egyptian bondage, they carried the bounty of Egypt (Ex. 12:33-36). These Hebrews or Israelites took Canaan about 1400 B.C. (see book of Joshua).(4) Every prediction was fulfilled in detail.

Just before the Hebrews entered Canaan, Moses told them on behalf of God exactly what their future history would be (Deut. 28-30). If they served God faithfully, they could expect prosperity and protection from God. Disobedience would bring disaster and destruction – including invasions by foreign nations who would drive the Jews into starvation, cannibalism, defeat, and deportation as slaves (28:36-37, 41, 48-57). But should the Jews truly repent of their sins while in captivity, God promised to return them to their promised land (30:1-10). Moses recorded all of these things in about 1400 B.C. and subsequent prophets reaffirmed them often with added detail. Israel fulfilled every word during the centuries after Moses.

After a period during which God guided His people through judges, Israel chose the rule of kings – Saul, David, and Solomon. Then about 900 B.C., the nation divided into a northern Kingdom called Israel or Samaria and a Southern Kingdom called Judah, with separate kings. Because of Samaria’s rampant idolatry, not long after the division she suffered numerous disasters, including the ravages of cannibalism among her own people during the seige by Syria (2 Kgs. 6:24-29). During the middle 700s, the prophet Isaiah said that Assyria would descend like a flood from the North into Canaan, engulfing Samaria and leaving only the head of Judah – Jerusalem – above the waters (Isa. 8:4-8). History records that Samaria went into Assyrian captivity in 721 B.C. Judah, too, was invaded. But as Assyrian King Sennacherib’s own annals show, Jerusalem escaped his hands: “Himself [Hezekiah], like a bird in a cage in the midst of Jerusalem, his royal city, I shut up.”(5) This face-saving euphemism means that Sennacherib temporarily surrounded the city but could not take it.

The prophet Isaiah predicted the fall of Assyria to Babylon, and that the moral and religious decay of Judah would bring God’s wrath in the form of Babylonian captivity (chap. 39). When the prophecy was made, Assyria and not Babylon was the dominant power! This, too, came to pass in every detail, with the final destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Not long before the fall came, the prophet Jeremiah foretold that Judah’s people would eat their own children under the Babylonian seige (Jer. 19:9).

Another prophet, Ezekiel, had been taken into Babylon before Jerusalem’s final collapse. Even from the foreign land he continued to accurately predict the details of Judah’s suffering (Ezek. 1:1-3). For instance, he foretold that King Zedekiah could not resist Babylon’s assult, would try to escape his besieged capitol, would be captured while attempting the escape, would be blinded but taken to Babylon alive, and would die there (chap. 12). The very day of the invader’s attack on Jerusalem was named (24:1-2). Thus the prophets spoke “things which lay beyond their natural horizon and which were contrary to all probability. “(6)

Jeremiah specified that Judah’s captivity would last “seventy years” and that God would then destroy Babylon (Jer. 25:11-12). To top it all off, Isaiah said that God would bring Judah’s deliverer “from the east” and called him by name nearly 200 years in advance! In the day of fulfillment, the calculated guesses of lying prognosticators would be confounded:

Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things . . .

That frustrateth the tokens of the liars ….

That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth and counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof . . .

That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid (Isa. 44:24-28).

The prophet here claims that history will verify or confirm the word of God’s true prophet and will expose the fraud of pretenders. History records that the Medo-Persians overthrew Babylon and later the Persian King Cyrus released the Jews from captivity to return home to Canaan. There, they rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord.

National success and prosperity were promised to Israel if it obeyed the true and living God – the eternal I AM. Destruction and captivity were promised for disobedience, return and restoration for repentance. The history of Israel was foretold and explained by Moses hundreds of years before the events transpired. Truly, Israel’s history bears testimony to the reality of the living God and proves the Bibe is a divine revelation.

Prophecies of the Messiah

The prophets as messengers of God reached beyond Israel’s restoration in 536 B.C. to explain her ultimate end and purpose. God had told Abram that out of a prepared people in a prepared land would come a blessing to men of all nations (Gen. 12:3). Daniel, in Babylon on the eve of the Medo-Persian period, said that in the time of the fourth kingdom from Babylon God would raise up “the Messiah the Prince.” This would signify the beginning of a new kingdom – new in nature, purpose, and duration. The new King would come to offer divine pardon from sin, would invite men of “the whole world” to share in this kingdom, and – unlike every other king – would rule “for ever” (Dan. 2:41-45; 9:24-27).

The ultimate sin of Israel was foretold: it would “cut off” or put to death God’s anointed King (Dan. 9:26). For this terrible rebellion, God would destroy Israel, leave Jerusalem and the temple “desolate,” and thus abrogate Israel’s national existence (9:27). She had served her purpose – to bear to the world the Savior. There was no reason nor promise for a renewed national existence.

Were the Jews then left without any hope or token of love from God? To the contrary, any Jew can participate in God’s new kingdom, just like men of all other nations. Indeed, if Israel had listened, her prophets had promised this new King and kingdom from the moment of Abram’s call unto the end of her national existence. The prophecies of the Messiah are the crowning evidence and ultimate proof that the Bible is the Word of God! Not the Jews alone, but all men can know there is a true and living God,,and that we have His Word. Notice a sampling of prophecies concerning the Savior by periods of time:

1. 1,800 to 1,400 Years Before Christ. God told Abram, “And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). About 400 years later, Moses warned the Jews against false prophets, urged them to hear only true prophets of God, and pointed them to one great Prophet who would finally speak for God (Deut. 18:18-19).

2. 1,000 Years Before Christ. Many of David’s Psalms are Messianic. The Second Psalm pictures a time when the power of men would be exercised “against the Lord, and against his anointed” – a word meaning Messiah or Christ. The divine decree is stated: God’s anointed King will be “begotten” or raised up (from the dead, Acts 13:33) to rule.

Psalm 22 begins, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The one from whom God’s help for the moment is withdrawn cries out to God and is mocked by his enemies who surround him like wild animals. He dies after great thirst, hands and feet pierced, and yet with his bones intact. Amazingly, David describes in detail the disposition of the dying man’s clothes: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (v. 18). Yet, suddenly, the one who died lives again, breaking forth with praises to God for deliverance. Men from all nations follow him and join in praises to God (vv. 22-31). The brief 110th Psalm shows the Lord God (the Father) telling the Lord Messiah of David, “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” This King was also to be “a priest” and a judge among the nations.

3. 800 to 400 Years Before Christ. Isaiah’s prophecies further developed the revelation of the Messianic Ruler. He would be:

a. King of peace for men of all nations (2:1-5).

b. Born of a virgin and called Immanuel – God with us (7:14).

c. The ultimate Ruler – “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (9:6-7).

d. From the royal family of Jesse (David’s father), yet a king uniting Jews and Gentile (11:1-12).

e. God’s suffering servant and the Savior of men lost in sin (chap. 53).

Chapter 53 contains many paradoxes or apparent contradictions and many minute details. That precludes any escape from possible failures of prophecy through the loophole of vague generalities, as commonly practiced by false prophets in every age. For instance, the anointed Servant of God would:

f. Appear without pomp and circumstance (vv. 1-2).

g. Be rejected by his own people (v. 3).

h. Suffer in innocence for the sins of the guilty (vv. 4-6).

i. Suffer without protest (v. 7).

j. Be the victim of gross injustice (v. 8).

k. Be “cut off” or put to death in his suffering (v. 8).

l. Die a dishonorable death and yet receive an honorable burial (v. 9).

m. Return to prolong his days after having died (v. 10).

n. Be glorified through the pardon and justification he would bring to lost sinners (vv. 11-12).

How could any prophet expect so many diverse and seemingly incongruous elements to be found in one solitary life?

Other prophets added to the mass of predictive prophecies. Messiah’s reign would:

o. Establish a new covenant with Israel and Judah, unlike the Mosaic law in several important ways (Jer. 31:31-34).

p. Unite the divided house of Israel under one King and Shepherd (Ezek. 34:23-31; 37:15-28).

q. Begin in the time of the Roman Empire and continue for ever (Dan. 2:31-45).

r. Be signified by the birth of Israel’s new Ruler in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2).

s. Be heralded by a forerunner like the prophet Eli jah (Mal. 3:1; 4:5-6).

The integrity and genuineness of the Old Testament text cannot be fairly impugned. The prophecies of the Messiah were written before, not during and after, the time of Jesus. The completed Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek about 250 B.C. (the Septuagint translation). The Dead Sea Scrolls are copies of the Old Testament books in the Hebrew language made about 200-100 B.C. All recent discoveries in the field of Old Testament textual studies confirm the genuineness and accuracy of the Masoretic or standard Hebrew text.(7) The prophecies clearly existed before Jesus lived.

Fulfillment In Jesus: The Word of Prophecy Made More Sure!

The New Testament writers testified that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies – thus confirming them as the true, sure, and certain Word of God (2 Pet. 1:19-21). The New Testament was not written several centuries after Jesus lived, allowing time for myths and legends to grow up, but were written by the contempories and eye witnesses of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.(8)

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John lived in the first century during the time of the Roman Empire. They recorded the birth of Jesus of a virgin, from the lineage of Abraham and David, in an humble setting at Bethlehem. As Jesus neared the time of His public ministry, a forerunner named John announced that God’s new kingdom was at hand. Jesus’ life of unselfish service and His ministry of teaching included miracles which verified His Messianic claims. Yet His own people violated their canons of justice and manipulated the power of Rome to convict Him of capital crimes. His hands and feet were pierced in shameful execution on a cross, from whence He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” After executing Him, the soldiers split one of His garments into four pieces, a piece for each man, and cast lots for the garment called a vesture.

From that cross He was taken by friends to receive an honorable burial in a rich man’s new tomb. After the third day, Jesus arose from the dead and proved Himself alive by many infallible proofs. The testimony of the gospel writers is unanimous on this point.

The remaining New Testament books – Acts through Revelation – explain how Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and was proclaimed as the Savior of men lost in sin. This preaching began in Jerusalem, spread into Judea, then into Samaria, and by stages into all the world. Jesus was proclaimed the Messiah, both Lord and Christ, the Prophet like Moses, God’s Anointed King, the Prince of Peace, The mighty God, the Shepherd of our souls, the High Priest of a New Covenant, and the Judge of the world! Men of all the world – of Judah and of Samaria, Jews and also Gentiles -were united in the kingdom of this Savior.

God pardoned and united men as they exercised faith in His divine Son by repenting of their sins, by confessing Him, and by being immersed in water (see book of Acts). Their attitudes and conduct were transformed into the image of God’s Son, touching every facet and relationship of life. They received new duties and privileges of worship and service in local assemblies of Christians, meeting to perpetuate the gospel and to publicly praise God. The New Testament pattern of preaching, faith, and conduct made it possible for the kingdom and truth of Christ to go marching on for ever (1 Tim. 3:14-15; 2 Pet. 1:12-15).

Every prophecy was fulfilled – including every minute detail and every paradox, which precludes deception. We may add that Jesus personally, and also through Him ambassadors or apostles, made a number of propehcies. These in like manner have come to pass unerringly:

1. His betrayal by Judas (Matt. 26:17-25).

2. His death by crucifixion (20:19).

3. His resurrection on the third day (16:21; 20:19).

4. The establishment of his kingdom in the generation of His contemporaries (16:18-19, 28; Mk. 9:1).

5. The fall of Jerusalem in the same generation (Matt. 24:1-34).

6. Various apostasies or fallings away from the truth of His kingdom (24:10-12; Acts 20:29-30; 1 Tim. 4:1-3).

7. The preservation of the Word of God (1 Pet. 1:23-25).

Prophecies which remain to be fulfilled await the patience of God, who is offering every possible opportunity for men to enter Christ’s kingdom. But those prophecies of the end of time, the final judgment of all men, and the committal of men to their eternal destinies (Jn. 5:28-29; 2 Pet. 3) are as sure and certain as the prophecies which went before. Every Word of God is sure.

And we can be sure. The evidence is overwhelming. God exists! Jesus Christ is God’s Son! We can be sure that the Bible is God’s true Word because of its genuine, fulfilled prophecies! Predictive prophecy confirms the larger

message. The more we examine the Bible, the more certain we will be. Truly, we are without excuse for not accepting God, His Word, and His Son. Why not obey the gospel of Christ today!

Endnotes

1. On the definition of prophecy, see: 1. The Bible (Ex. 4:10-16; 7:1; Deut. 18:18-19; Jet. 1:4-10; 2 Pet. 1:20-21); 2. Greek-English dictionaries (as Thayer’s Lexicon: “an interpreter or spokesman for God; one through whom God speaks . . . . one who speaks forth by divine inspiration,” p. 553); and 3. James Orr, gen. ed., International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Chicago: Howard-Severance Co., 1915), IV:2461 (“. . . the contents of the prophetic discourses are not at all confined to the future. Everything that God has to announce to mankind, revelations concerning His will, admonitions, warnings, He is able to announce through the mouth of the prophet . . . . The prophets interpret also for the people that which is happening and that which has occurred . . . . They lay bare the inner reason for external occurrences and explain such events in their connection with the providential government of God.”).

2. I.S.B.E., IV:2466.

3. On Miller, see Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1972), pp. 479-80.

For Smith On Independence, see Doctrines and Covenants 84:2-5 & 31; 57:1-3; 101:17, 20, 70-74; on War, D. & C. 87; on “end,” D. & C. 130:15.

On Eddy, see her Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures.

On White, see Rea, The White Lie (Turlock, Cal.: M. & R. Publ., 1982) and review in Time Magazine, 2 Aug. 1982, p. 49.

On Russell, Rutherford, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, see Edmond C. Gruss, Apostles of Deceit (Presbyterian & Reformed Publ. Co., 1970) and Robert A. Morey, “A Jehovah’s Witness? . . . ,” Christianity Today XXVI, 14 (3 Sept. 1982):37-39.

On Cayce and Dixon, see Ron Halbrook, “The Challenge to Scriptural Authority: Witchcraft,” in Biblical Authority: Its Meaning and Application, Florida College Annual Lectures 1974 (Marion, Ind.: Cogdill Foundation Publ., 1973), pp. 5-24. For Dixon on Russia, see Ruth Montgomery, A Gift of Prophecy: The Phenomenal Jeane Dixon (New York: Bantam Books, 1966, reprint from 1965), p. 186.

4. On the date of the exodus from Egypt and the taking of Canaan, 1 Kings 6:1 says that Solomon began to build the temple “in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt.” Solomon lived in the 10th century B.C., the 900s. Therefore, the exodus dates about 1400 B.C.

5. The Oriental Institute Prism as found in D. D. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib (University of Chicago Press).

6. I.S.B.E., IV:2460, emphasis added.

7. On the Scrolls, see A. Douglas Tushingham, “The Men Who Hid the Dead Sea Scrolls,” National Geographic Magazine CXIV, 6 (Dec. 1958):784-808; “Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Charles F. Pfeiffer, ed., The Biblical World: A Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1966), pp. 184-92.

See also the excellent bibliography and article by Alan R. Millard, “In Praise of Ancient Scribes,” Biblical Archeologist 45, 3 (Summer 1982):143-53, which says, “The Dead Sea Scrolls make explicit what had previously been supposed by many, that the Massoretic text preserves an earlier text-type current in the century or so prior to the Fall of Jerusalem. Between the completion of some books of the Old Testament and the Scrolls there is a relatively short period of time” (p. 152).

8. John A.T. Robinson is of a modernist school of biblical scholars who have questioned the authenticity of New Testament books, but even he finally admitted that the New Testament was written totally in the first century. A good summary of his two books, Redating the New Testament and Can We Trust the New Testament?, appears in Time Magazine, 21 March 1977, p. 95.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 1, pp. 6-10
January 6, 1983

By Dudley Ross Spears]

The Bible is more than just a book. It is a library of books. The books of the Bible are united in such a wonderful way that one is forced to the conclusion that it is more than a random collection of literary works. There is behind the Bible a hand that guides and controls it from its revelation to its preservation. The Greek term biblia originally meant “books.” The prophet Daniel was reading the prophetic writings of Jeremiah and the Scripture says that Jeremiah was included in “the books” (Dan. 9:2). Over the years, the plural came to be a singular and “the books” simply became the book. That is the Bible, a book of wonderful unity.

To appreciate the wonderful unity of the Bible, one should look at its diversity first. The Hebrew writer tells us, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. . .” (Heb. 1:1-2a). The tense of “hath spoken” means that all that God has revealed to man has been revealed. It is complete. Down through centuries of revelation, these diverse ways were blended together by a common thread. The Bible is a record of the revelations of God to man in various times or ages, by different men and methods. The truth that God spoke through Christ is also affirmed by this statement. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (Eph. 1:7-10).

The blending of variety one discovers in the Bible distinguishes it from all other books, both secular and “sacred.” The so-called sacred writings of the Moslem religion, Hinduism and other such religions have no unity. They are collections of sayings, legends and cultic phenomena. The Bible, on the other hand, is a book wherein variety is blended into unity. Writers from a variety of backgrounds wrote with a single purpose and with only one theme. Writings of different time periods, various countries, and different personalities, wrote a single book without consulting with one another. Of no other literary production could such be said. This alone demonstrates the uniqueness and divinity of the Bible.

The Bible is a book with unity of purpose. That purpose is the revealing of God’s great scheme of redemption of fallen humanity. Genesis begins the story by furnishing the basis on which redemption is necessary. The garden of Eden is withdrawn from mankind in Genesis because of sin and offered again in Revelation. A great drama is unfolded in all the books between the first and last books of the Bible. James Orr wrote, “The opening chapters of Genesis have their counterpart in the `new heaven and new earth’ and paradise restored of the closing chapters of Revelation” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 468). The plan that is developed in the Bible does not vary from book to book; rather it culminates in a perfect plan. The Old Testament law, with its sacrifices and rituals, anticipates something in the future that will be much better. A New Testament writer wrote, “For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh” (Heb. 10:1). The offering of the body of Jesus Christ on the cross provided a full and sufficient atonement for the redemption of sinful men.

The prophetic books of the Old Testament unite the Old with the New Testament. They not only provide a bridge between the Testaments, they also furnish factual evidence that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, the Messiah. The prophecies of His virgin birth, His life on earth, His death and suffering are all fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said, “These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44). All of the prophecies about Christ and His work on earth are fulfilled. Another quotation from James Orr is fitting here. He wrote, “How truly all that was imperfect, transitional, temporary, in the Old Testament was brought to realization and completion in the redemption and spiritual kingdom of Christ need not be dwelt upon. Christ is the prophet, priest and king of the New Covenant. His perfect sacrifice, `once for all,’ supercedes and abolishes the typical sacrifices of the old economy” (Ibid.).

The different writers and books of the Bible all have one basic theme. It is, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The theme of God’s love for mankind runs like a golden thread throughout the Bible. His love made it possible for sinful men to be reconciled to God, through Christ. As an expression of His love, God not only gave His son, He also revealed the plan of salvation. With the gift of Jesus Christ as God’s part of that plan, there came also the procedural requirements which men must obey in order to be saved. Here again, one finds perfect unity. Jesus began to speak the terms of the great salvation and confirmed it to His apostles (Heb. 2:3-4). When Jesus told His disciples to go teach all nations by preaching the gospel, He told them also that those who believe the gospel and are baptized would be saved from sin. In each case of conversion in Acts of the Apostles, the uniform procedure was the same. The preaching of Christ was followed by believers repenting of their sins and on a confession of Christ as their Lord, were baptized. There is no variation. The question naturally arises in an open and honest mind, how such a unity is possible. How could such a unity exist with so many different writers from all walks of life? The only satisfactory answer is that a master weaver guided the golden thread of His own will throughout the entire fabric of the Bible.

One also observes the marvelous unity of the Bible in its progressive revelation that culminates in a terminal of perfection. During the ministry of Christ on earth, He told His disciples, “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). In the next verse He promised to send them an infallible guide, the Holy Spirit, who would bring them to “all truth” (John 16:13). Once “all truth” was revealed, revelation was completed and ceased. It is marvelous to behold – the final word of revelation blended perfectly together to furnish us with all truth. A divine guiding hand, the Holy Spirit, searched the mind of God and taught the writers of the Bible how to reveal that to all men for all time (1 Cor. 2:8-13). A thing that is complete and perfect as is the Bible admits no addition nor subtraction. One cannot alter a perfect thing in any way without destroying its perfection. Those who do so incur the wrath of God and will pay the penalty (Rev. 22:18-20; Gal. 1:8-9).

The following illustration from W.H. Griffith Thomas summarizes the unity of the Bible and shows how God is behind it all.

“All this inevitably compels the question as to how a unity of this kind is possible, and there is only one answer. Some years ago while a tunnel was being constructed in London, five shafts were sunk, and ten sets of men worked toward each other from opposite directions. Ultimately the sets met in the middle of the tunnel at the depth of one hundred feet. They were working practically in the dark, but they fitted so well together when the tunnels met each other that every one could see there was a master-mind who had planned the whole thing. And so the various writers of the Old and New Testaments were working separately, as it were, in a tunnel in the dark, and the apostle Peter tells us they did not know exactly the meaning of their own words (1 Pet. 1:11). But by and by they met, and now that we have the Bible complete, the writers are seen to have worked together and to have dovetailed into one another, thus showing the presence and power of a mastermind, which is none other than that of the Holy Spirit of God” (How We Got our Bible, Moody Press, p. 72).

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 1, pp. 5-6
January 6, 1983

By Mike Willis

Does the Bible claim to be a direct revelation from God? Are men claiming more for the Bible than it claims for itself when they state that the Bible is inspired of God? These questions need to be answered. The number of men who have accepted the tenets of religious modernism are increasing; indeed, some among the liberals are already writing articles regarding the clashes between the gospels, Paul’s prejudice against women, the documentary hypothesis for the authorship of Genesis and the Law, and the form criticism approach to the authorship of the gospels. Is there a reasonable ground for holding the Bible to be inspired of God?

What Do We Mean By Inspiration?

When we state that the Bible is “inspired” very few people would disagree. However, all of those who believe that the Bible is inspired do not mean the same thing when they make the statement, “The Bible is inspired.” The word “inspiration” is used to mean “an inspiring or being inspired mentally or emotionally; an inspiring influence; any stimulus to creative thought or action.” When some refer to the Bible being inspired they have no higher meaning than that the Bible inspires them like viewing the Grand Canyon also inspires them or that the Bible is inspired in the same sense as Shakespeare’s writings are inspiring.

When I speak of “inspiration,” I am referring to a “superintendence of God the Holy Spirit over the writers of the Scriptures, as a result of which these Scriptures possess divine authority and trustworthiness and, possessing such Divine authority and truthworthiness, are free from error” (Edward J. Young, Thy Word Is Truth, p. 27). God so superintended the writing of the Bible that His word was communicated to man, preserving the authors from making historical or scientific blunders in the writing thereof.

Is Inspiration Possible?

Some deny that inspiration is possible because of the weakness of human language or for other reasons. There is nothing too hard for God to accomplish (Jer. 32:17,27). When one admits the existence of an Almighty God, the possibility of a divinely inspired revelation follows. If one admits that God exists and is the Creator of man, it should follow that the Creator would likely make contact in some way with His creation. The probability of a revelation is thereby given. Revelation is also a necessity. If a finite man is going to know anything definite about God, he can only learn it through God revealing it to him. Man’s reason alone can never deduce the Christian’s God. Our arguments for the existence of God cannot tell us if there is one God or many gods. Granting the existence of one God, the creation cannot tell us anything about His character; we cannot know whether He is a loving God or hostile God without divine communication. Therefore, if man is going to positively know anything about God, He must reveal Himself to us.

The ability of revelation to be given can be illustrated by Matthew 16:16. There Peter made the good confession, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied that “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (16:17). Peter’s knowledge of Jesus did not come through someone telling him who Jesus was or because he was exceptionally perceptive. God the Father revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Either revelation is possible or we cannot know who Jesus is. Was it possible for God to reveal who Jesus was? Could that revelation which Peter spoke be reduced to writing? Did it have any less intelligibility because it was reduced to writing? Matthew 16:16 contains a direct revelation from God which was reduced to writing.

Results From Denying The Inspiration of the Bible

If one denies that the Bible is divinely inspired and, therefore, preserved from containing errors, there are certain conclusions resulting therefrom. The admission that the Bible contains errors has certain logical conclusions. Consider some of them with me:

1. Man must be the end of all knowledge, not the Bible. When one admits that errors are in the Bible, man must pass judgment on every statement in the Bible to determine whether or not it is in error. Hence, man becomes the standard for right or wrong instead of the Bible.

2. The Bible is not an infallible guide for doctrine and morals. If the Bible has errors in it, those errors might relate to doctrine or morals. If the Bible’s doctrine of inspiration cannot be trusted, how can we be sure that its doctrine about God can be trusted? How can we be sure that its doctrine about Jesus, the atonement, or salvation is truthful?

3. The Bible is full of lies and myth. If the Bible contains errors, it is filled with the ignorances, prejudices, and mythological concepts of men of a bygone era. Those who deny the inspiration of the Bible generally deny its historicity. The historical records of the miraculous is assaulted; miracles become myths. Divine revelation becomes man’s lies, ignorances and prejudices.

4. The Bible is not authoritative. The bottom line is that the Bible is not authoritative to man in his life. He feels no obligation to obey this book, because its morals and doctrines are merely man’s reflections – reflections with which he may or may not agree. Having cast aside the Bible an authoritative man is left with nothing but his subjective judgment for determining right and wrong. Every man becomes a law unto himself.

Hence, the Bible is altogether undermined by those who deny its inspiration. We must be willing to go back to the Bible and let it become our all-sufficient revelation from God.

The Bible’s Claim For Itself

Some might object to letting the Bible speak in its own defense. I do not use the Bible to prove that the Bible is inspired in a circular type of reasoning. I am using this material to show (1) that the Bible claims to be inspired and (2) the degree of inspiration being claimed by the Scriptures. This is designed to show that we are not claiming more for the Bible than it claims for itself.

The evidence of the Bible’s claim for itself is overwhelming. “The Old Testament alone affirms 3,808 times that it is transmitting the very words of God” (Rene Pache, The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture, p. 37). Thousands of times the writers would begin, “Thus saith the Lord . . .” (Isa. 66:1) or “. . . the word of the Lord came to me, saying . . .” (Jer. 2:1). These statements are either the truth or a lie. Men either received and delivered a word from God or they passed off their subjective conclusions as the word of God. The Bible affirms that God was speaking through. these men.

Consider these following evidences:

1. 2 Peter 1:20-21. Discussing the origin of Scripture, Peter wrote, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The Old Testament did not come from the “will of man” (i. e. man’s own reasoning, investigation, or conclusions from observation); it came as a revelation from God.

2. 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Paul wrote, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The words of the Bible are “breathed of God” (inspired: theopneustos).

3. 1 Corinthians 2:6-13. The things which God has prepared for them that love God have been revealed to the apostles by the Holy Spirit. That revelation has been communicated to man under the direction of the Holy Spirit who combined spiritual things with spiritual words. The very words used by the apostles were given to them by the Holy Spirit.

To further illustrate how the Holy Spirit divinely revealed to the apostles what’they were to write and say, consider this promise:

And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you (Matt. 10:18-20).

God would reveal to the Apostles how and what they should speak.

Furthermore, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the Apostles to “teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (Jn. 14:26) and “to guide you into all truth” (Jn. 16:13). Consequently, the things which the apostles wrote were the word of God (1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Thess. 2:13). They were “scripture” (2 Pet. 3:16; 1 Tim. 5:18) in the same sense as the writings of the Old Testament were considered authoritative Scripture.

4. Luke 16:17. Speaking regarding the Old Testament, Jesus said, “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Regarding His own spoken words, He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). “Scripture cannot be broken” (Jn. 10:35).

5. John 12:48. The revealed word of God shall judge us. Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (12:47-48).

6. 1 Peter 1:24-25. The living and abiding word will endure forever. “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

The Word of The Writer Was The Word of God

It is interesting to notice how the New Testament authors refer to the Old Testament to understand Jesus’ (see parallel article on Jesus’ testimony about Scripture) and other writers’ concept about the Holy Scripture.

Psalm 95:7-11 is quoted in Hebrews 3:7 and 4:7. In 3:7 the passage is introduced by saying, “. . . as the Holy Ghost saith . . . .” In 4:7, it is introduced as follows: “Again, he (God) limiteth a certain day, saying in David . . . .” In Matthew 15, Jesus carefully contrasted the traditions of men from the word of God in quoting Exodus 20 and 21. A statement worded by Adam in Genesis 2:24 is attributed by Jesus to God in Matthew 19:4. In quoting Psalm 110, Jesus attributed it to David in the Spirit (Matt. 22:43).

This line of argument could be extended for pages to show that the New Testament speakers and writers attributed what was written in the Old Testament to the Holy Spirit who inspired the holy prophets. What was spoken and recorded in the Old Testament was the revelation from God.

Conclusion

Men may reach the conclusion that the Bible is not a revelation from God. However, there is no way possible for men to reach the conclusion that (1) the Bible does not claim to be inspired from God and (2) the Bible refers to itself as being the word of God. There can be no doubt that the first century church accepted the Old Testament as a direct revelation from God and the apostles doctrine as being a revelation on the same level with the Old Testament.

The other articles in this issue are designed to examine the evidences for sustaining the claim which the Bible makes for itself. Are there grounds for accepting the Bible’s claim to be a revelation from God? Can reasonable men conclude that the Bible is a divine revelation? Or, can man accept the Bible as a divine revelation only by burying one’s head and ignoring the facts? The rest of this issue shows reasons for accepting the Bible’s claim for itself as a divinely inspired revelation from God.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 1, 2-4
January 6, 1983