Growing up, I've struggled with this question quite a bit. Many of us are Christians and we believe that the Bible is true but many of us don't know why we believe the Bible is true. To claim to someone that God's Word is 100% true and is found completely in one book is pretty unbelievable. To tell someone that there are stories in the Bible where people walk on water, animals talk and the people rise from the dead seems completely unlikely. How can we show someone who isn't a believer that the Bible is indeed 100% accurate? One could write a book on this topic so let me just share a few facts about the authenticity of the Bible and also give you a few links if you wish to dig a little deeper.
Fulfilled Prophecies
If you've ever opened a Bible, chances are you've probably read one of the many prophecies it holds. A prophesy is, by definition, a message that has been communicated to a prophet which the prophet then communicates to others (source). So the prophecies in the Bible were communicated to the writer by God himself. How do we know this is true? Let's take apart one example: Daniel, the author of the book Daniel in the Bible (duh), predicted that Jesus would come as Israel's Savior 483 years their emperor gave them permission to rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 19:24-27). Pretty big claim, right? Well, it came true. Every single bit of it was fulfilled hundreds of years after it was written. Could Daniel have predicted something like that without the help of God? I doubt it.
Check this one out, it's a little more straightforward than the last: The prophecy says:
"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zechariah 9:9)
The fulfillment comes a little later: "6The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.T 8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
10When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
11The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." (Matthew 21:6-11)
That's a pretty bold prediction to say that Jesus would come riding on a donkey, right? And not only that, that claim was written in 520 BC. 520 years before Jesus was ever born. And let's not forget to mention that Matthew had never seen what was written when in Zechariah 9:9 this happened/was written.
How do these prophecies prove that the Bible is true? Well, simply put, no prophecy from the Bible has gone unfulfilled. Other religious texts can't say that. When witnessing, after explaining the prophecies, say something like "Every prophecy, every promise, in the Bible was fulfilled. God didn't forget. It's safe to believe and put all your faith in the Bible, God doesn't plan on forgetting the promises He made to us. Like the prophecies, He plans to fulfill them."
This is just a glance at how real the Bible truly is. In future posts, I'll go more into other evidences that are just as amazing as these fulfilled prophecies.
In His Service,
Jillian
Further Reading:
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