About this Episode

The Bible is Historically Reliable, You Can Trust It!

The Most Popular Book… Can You Trust It?

Main Scripture Reference(s): Isaiah 40:8 NIV, 2 Timothy 3:14-17 NIV, Luke 19:37-40 NIV

Isaiah 40:8 (NIV)

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.

2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NIV)

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God* may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Luke 19:37-40 (NIV)

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"* "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 40 "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

1. The Discovered Places confirm the trustworthiness of the Bible

Scriptures referenced: Genesis 14:9-12, Genesis 19:23-26

A. Sodom and Gomorrah

Genesis 14:9-12 (NIV)

Against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar--four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills. 11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

Genesis 19:23-26 (NIV)

By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

B. Megiddo and Solomon's Stables

Scriptures referenced: 2 Chronicles 9:25-28

2 Chronicles 9:25-28 (NIV)

Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horses,* which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 26 He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from all other countries.

Nelson Glueck

“Don’t walk away at the first sign of a contradiction or a problem. Sometimes scientific study needs to play catch up with the Bible.

C. The Pool of Bethsaida

John 5:1-9 (NIV)

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda* and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.* 4 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

2. The identified people confirm the trustworthiness of the Bible.

A. Balaam

Scriptures referenced: Numbers 22:4-6, umbers 22:22-40

Number 22:4-6

The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, "This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field." So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said: "A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. 6 Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed."

Numbers 22:22-40 (NIV)

But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road. 24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat the donkey again. 26 Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and it said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?

B. King David

Scriptures referenced: 2 Samuel 11:1-3, Psalm 23:1-4, Acts 13:21-23

2 Samuel 11:1-3

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite."

Psalm 23:1-4

A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,* I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Acts 13:21-23

Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.' 23 "From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.

C. Pontius Pilate

Scriptures referenced: Matthew 27:22-26 NIV

Matthew 27:22-26 (NIV)

What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him!" 23 "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" 24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!" 25 All the people answered, "His blood is on us and on our children!" 26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified

F.F. Bruce

“It can’t have been so easy as some writers seem to think to invent words and deeds of Jesus in those early years, when so many of his disciples were about, who could remember what had and had not happened.”

3. The fulfilled prophecies confirm the trustworthiness of the Bible.

Scriptures referenced: Micah 5:2, Isaiah 53:3-6, Psalm 22:1, Psalm 22:14-18, Matthew 24:1-2, Matthew 24:42-44, Acts 1:10-11, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4, Revelation 22:20-21

A. The Messiah to be born in Bethlehem

Micah 5:2 (NIV)

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans* of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

B. The Suffering Messiah

Isaiah 53:3-6 (NIV)

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Psalm 22:1 (NIV)

*For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

Psalm 22:14-18 (NIV)

For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

C. The Destruction of the Temple

Matthew 24:1-2 (NIV)

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

D. Yet to be fulfilled: The Return of Jesus Christ

Matthew 24:42-44 (NIV)

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Acts 1:10-11 (NIV)

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 (NIV)

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

Revelation 22:20-21 (NIV)

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

Augustine

The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home.

Because We Need More . . .

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS, THOUGHTS and THINGS TO PONDER

For your personal discipleship, discussion with family, your Life-Group, or your watch party

Quick Review:

Ask yourself: Was there a particular point or passage of Scripture that inspired, encourage, challenged, confused, or caught your attention?

• Review the main idea behind each of the points.

The Bible is not an ordinary book.

1. In what ways do you personally find the bible unique?

2. How do the claims of the bible invite you or ghallenge you?

3. Do you treat the bible in a way that is consistent with it's uniqueness?

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