Garwood Presbyterian Church

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Where the Bible Came From

1. From God
   1. But how do we know this is true?
2. What the Bible Itself Says
   1. II Timothy 3:14-17
   2. II Peter 1:20-21
3. Evidence
   1. Written by > 40 people, on 3 continents, in 3 languages, over about 1,500 years.
   2. Yet, it is known as one book. Is this humanly possible? How could this be true?
      1. Because the real author is God.
4. Proof
   1. There are about 100 different Old Testament prophecies about Jesus.
   2. All 100 came true. How likely is this by accident, or, in fact, did the Old Testament writers correctly predict it because God inspired them?
      1. To get 8 correct by chance, it would be like covering the state of Texas with 2 feet of silver dollars, and then on the first try picking out one silver dollar with a special mark on it.
      2. To have 48 of the prophecies about Jesus come true by chance, the odds are 10 to the 157 power. That is, the odds are 1 chance versus 1 with 157 zeros behind it.
      3. This makes it completely impossible for humans to have written all the prophecies about Jesus correctly.
      4. The only way it could have been done is for God, who knows the future, to have inspired the writers to say and write down what they did.
   3. Could the New Testament writers have lied about what they wrote about Jesus life, or rewritten the Old Testament to match Jesus' life?
      1. They could not have lied about Jesus' life in writing the New Testament, writing it to match the Old Testament whether it was true or not, because there is no written objection by Jewish or Roman writers about the accuracy of the New Testament. If it recorded Jesus' life inaccurately, the Christian's opponents of their day would have certainly made their objection known.
      2. The New Testament writers could not have changed the Old Testament to match Jesus life and then falsely claim He was the Messiah and Son of God, because another religion separate from Christianity has independently kept another copy of the Old Testament, the Jewish faith. You can go to a synagogue and look up all 100 prophecies about Jesus in their holy Scriptures and you will find that they are all exactly the same as recorded in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.
   4. Therefore, we can confidently proclaim that although the Bible was written by people, that they were inspired by God, who is the real author of it, and that Jesus is, in fact, the prophesied Messiah and Son of God.
5. How to Personally Know That the Bible Comes From God
   1. Try it and see if its lifegiving truth from God doesn't change your life for the better!