In the bible in 2 Peter 1:16 we hear “For we have not followed cunningly devised fabled when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”
Never before has there been so many who question God. Not only do they question the word of God, but the existence of Him as well. Now I won’t deal with this subject of the existence of God except to say that in order to not believe there is a God you must first take leave of your senses! Because the simple fact that creation itself is here and the known physical world revolves on cause and effect we know there MUST be a God!
But there is a more subtle thought in the world than this. Many people may not be ignorant of the existence of a God, but they are deceived as to who God is and what His word is! We see people say “I believe in God, just not the God of the bible.” Or I believe in God and the bible, but I don’t think you can trust the bible.” There is a common reason for this type of deception. It is because people believe in a God they imagine themselves and make up rather than the shown God of the bible! People believe a fable such as humpty dumpty. We as Christians do not!
Now we believe in the one true God of the bible. We believe it because of the word of God given to us in the form of the bible! We know it to be true and alive, but the world does not because they have not applied it to their lives! They say “It’s a story written by men and not by God.” Then we hear people talk about how many times it has been translated and they say “The translators couldn’t keep it together.” The list goes on.
But today I want to show you exactly why you can trust the bible. Now you can CHOSE to ignore all of this, but refusing to acknowledge the truth doesn’t make you right. I hope to maybe put an end to doubts over Gods word and to show that God truly is the God of the bible! It’s important to know too because you will be judged by the doctrines and words in the bible!
These are some of the reasons to believe the bible is the word of God and is true: For one, it was written by eyewitnesses. Another reason is that all of the stories match up! And finally because it has never been wrong.
Lets look first again to this passage of scripture. Peter said they were eyewitnesses! This man Peter walked with Jesus. The things he speaks of are things he has seen himself. Just as every book in the bible has been written by those people who lived in the times of the things they wrote of.
Each one witnessed these things themselves. As far back as geneses we find the writings of not just Moses but every eyewitness to the stories contained in the book! If you look at it you can find contained in it who the authors were. I personally believe God wrote the first part then handed the pen over to men.
Many of the books have been given the name of the author to make it easier to understand who wrote it! And we can find a pattern in these books. Joshua was there when the walls of Jericho fell. David was there when he wrote many of the psalms. Samuel was there anointing the kings. And Daniel was there telling of the kingdoms to come and being thrown into a den of lions YET HE LIVED! Ruth was eyewitness to the redemptive act done on her by Boaz. Even Matthew, Mark, Luke and John walked with Jesus. All of these people were eyewitnesses! Even in the history of the historians you can find proofs as to if they lived in these times and where they were.
In fact the bible even has much of the new testament written by a man who became a Christian after Jesus had been crucified and resurrected. His name was Paul. He was an eyewitness to how life is now that Jesus gave His life for us! All these have given testimonies as to what happened in their lives. Even today Christians are eyewitnesses to the power of God who saves us.
But that is only the beginning! The bible was written by eyewitnesses, but the remarkable thing is that it was written by eyewitnesses who lived hundreds of years apart yet testified of the same things! Every book in the bible is an exact fit to each other! 2 Peter 1:19 tells us not only can we be sure because of eyewitness accounts, but we can have even more assurance in that each account matches! “We have also a more sure word of prophecy.” and reading down to verse 20 we see why we can be more sure, “no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation.” Meaning you can’t take any one scripture alone, they all connect!
Lets look at this like an investigation. Lets say we have a car crash. Sixty six people witnessed it. We take them aside and interrogate them and each of us gives an account of what they seen that matches perfectly with the others. Naturally you would believe they are telling the truth because they all have an air tight story. In the same way we have 66 books in the bible. Many of the authors had never met each other yet they all gave testimonies that fit perfectly together.
2 Peter 1:21 lets us know how so many years can separate the author and so many kingdoms yet they testify to the same things. “For the prophecy came not at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
To get 66 people from different times to make up a story that fit together perfectly it would take God Himself to inspire the words to be written. Lets go back to the car crash. Lets ask the 66 people to make it up. Their stories are not going to match are they? That’s how you can tell who lies in an investigation. Get a lot of stories and if 4 out of five match you can know the 1 is a lie. By the way, that’s how we can be sure we have the right books in the bible too.
These books written hundreds of years apart, all say the same thing. It’s because God had His hand on it. There is no conspiracy. Daniel didn’t live in the days of the kingdoms he prophesied over, yet they came. Isaiah didn’t live in the days of Jesus yet he told exactly who He would be and what He would do. The stories match because God had His hand on it!
Now these people who watched the car crash may have seen it from different angles. One may say the car had a large dent in the door, while the other witness may say it had no dents at all. Is this a contradiction? No it isn’t. One person looked at the passenger side and the other looked at the driver side. It is easy to point out so called “flaws” in a testimonies of the witnesses because they watched from different view points. But if you are looking for the truth and not to just discredit the eyewitnesses stories then you won’t stop the investigation and call them liars because you didn’t understand what they had seen. You would accept the answer they give as to why they gave two supposedly different accounts and understand they still watched the same thing.
But as it was said in the bible, people want to believe a lie and not the truth. That is why the investigator refuses to understand they all watched the same thing from different angles. He isn’t looking for the truth, he is looking for a lie that the witnesses didn’t see it. It’s why people claim contradictions in the bible and refuse the answers given to help understand why the bible isn’t in contradiction.
I was asked about a “contradiction” once and gave a biblical reply. The response I got was “Why can’t you just be wrong?! Just because you give an answer that makes sense it doesn’t mean the scripture makes sense now!” Does that sound like someone who wants to make sense of things or someone who wants the bible to be wrong? That’s why I won’t go into supposed contradictions. I won’t waste my time with a black hole who doesn’t want to let the light shine! You must decide if you want the truth or a lie.
And this brings me to my final reason we can believe the bible. Not only can we believe because of eyewitness accounts that match, but we can believe because after all the attempts to discredit the bible and get rid of it…it is still here! All this time and people still can not get around the word of God! You can ignore it, but you can’t escape it!
You can believe the bible is the word of God. You can believe it because of the eyewitness testimonies given in it and by Christians who really live by it. This testimony is true and we know it because it matches all the other ones. We know it because it has never been wrong.
I ask you to chose to believe the truth. Believe it because you will be judged by it. Live it, because you will be judged by it. Jesus said in John 12:48 “He that rejects me, and receives not my words has one that judges him: the word I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
You have more than enough reason to believe. You have reason to follow God. The bible speaks of Jesus as savior. He is the one who will bring you to the God that made the universe just for you to live in because He loves you. The bible tells of the joy knowing God can give, and the destruction not knowing God will bring. I ask you to believe and come to know Jesus.
It’s as simple as ABC to know God. A: Acknowledge you are not perfect. B: Believe Jesus died and rose from the grave as the bible said just to save you from eternal separation from God. C: Confess Him as Lord and savior with your mouth, and continue to walk with God. Would you pray this with me? Pray it to God. He hears, trust me I know. I am an eyewitness. He will save you if you really mean it.
“Lord I acknowledge I am not perfect. I am not close to you. I want to be. I believe Jesus died for me to make a way for me to be close to you. I ask you to save me. I confess you are my savior and Lord. I will continue to get to know you and draw closer to you. I pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.”
If you prayed it and meant it then it is done. You are on the road to heaven. Continue on that road by continuing to read the bible and get to know God. IT wouldn’t hurt to surround yourself with Christians like at church either. Not everyone is perfect and we all see things from different angles. But it’s up to you to see Gods word for yourself.
Christians, if you are not in the word… you need to be. The best way to get to know God is to know His word. It will make you grow and help secure you. Don’t compromise with the world! Don’t let questions cause you to doubt. They are only answers that you don’t know. If you believe… act like it and grow in God. If you don’t spend time with God, your conduct will convict you that you are not where you should be. Get back to God and His word. We can believe His word.
