THE BIBLE IS ACTUALLY THE WORDS OF GOD

Surrounded by many doubts, religions, and antagonistic worldviews, we need to be reassured that the Bible is the Word of God. And there are many reasons to believe this – the miracles, fulfilled prophecies, its wisdom, changed lives and societies, and internal and external correspondence with the evidences. There is another set of reasons that is less well-known but no less weighty – the nature of the Bible itself.

Let me give you one small example of this – the negative things that the Bible says about its people. Think of it like this – If you want to start a new religion, you have to promise your target audience successful outcomes or benefits. If your religion is not appealing, no one will come. However, the Word of God often promises failure. For example, God informed Israel through Moses:

·       “…this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them…And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods…For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. (Deuteronomy 31:16-18, 20 ESV)

Moses then reaffirmed this dismal verdict to God’s chosen people:

·       “For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death…For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.” (Deuteronomy 31:27-29)

God then gave Moses a prophetic song to teach to Israel, which detailed their future rebellions and the resulting suffering. However, these dismal prophecies should raise many questions:

·       Wouldn’t a man-made religion prophesy blessings rather than failures and the resulting curses? Why are these Scriptures so different from those of other religions?

·       Why are they so antagonistic to what we ordinarily want to hear?

·       Why would Israel continue to follow such a religion?

·       Why would they recognize such writings as God-given and canonize them?

It must have been undeniable to them that these came from God and had been validated by His many miracles, like the ten miraculous plagues against Egypt, Mount Sinai, and forty years of free meals in the form of manna from heaven. Moses had repeatedly reminded Israel of these miracles as proof that God was with them:

·       Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. (Deuteronomy 4:34-36)

There are other aspects of God’s Word that we normally find highly offensive. However, it is these very things that demonstrate that the Bible is not the Word of man but of God.