There are many proofs, which no one can refute, that the Bible is the
Word of the true God, who is the Creator of mankind and of the
unfathomable universe in which we find ourselves. Although the hundreds
of unfailing Bible prophecies are the most powerful proof, one of the
most obvious is the amazing consistency found in Scripture from Genesis
to Revelation.
Remember that most of the prophets through whom it was
written lived at different times in history, in different cultures, and
never met one another. The only rational explanation for this
consistency is what they all declared with one voice: that they were
each inspired of the one true God. These claims were not hidden or
tentatively stated but boldly and repeatedly affirmed.
For example, in the Pentateuch alone the declaration is made literally
hundreds of times that Moses was reporting what God had said directly
to him "face to face" (Ex 33:11. Num 14:14. Dt 5:2-5: 34:10).
Biblical prophets were not inspired indirectly through an angel
(as both Muhammad and Joseph Smith claimed they were)
but declared that they had personally heard from God himself!
Like Moses, Israel's many other prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi,
make this claim hundreds of
additional times. More than 60 times Ezekiel swears that "the word of
the Lord" came to him with the command to pass it on to mankind. So it
was with the other biblical prophets.
The Book of Job is believed to be the oldest book in the Bible, yet the
major biblical themes of redemption, resurrection, and the Second Coming
are clearly expressed. This is done in perfect harmony with all that
would be declared by prophets of God in the remaining pages of
Scripture over the next 1,600 years. Consider this powerful and pointed
declaration:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and
mine eyes shall behold, and not another....(Job 19:25-27)
Here Job clearly declares that his physical body will be resurrected,
even after being eaten by worms in the grave. He also knows that the
Redeemer who will make this possible is an eternal Being who will one
day come to earth and that he (Job), in his resurrected body, will see
the infinite God for himself. So it must be for us also. This is an
awesome, even frightening, prospect, which, were it more real to us,
would transform our lives!
Prophets who lived after Job, in writing additional Scripture, added
detail upon detail but never contradicted what was said before or what
followed later. In many cases they contributed additional Scripture
without having seen what had previously been written-and still without
contradiction. By comparison, there are no prophecies at all in the
Qur'an, the Hindu Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita, sayings of Buddha or Confucius,
or in the scriptures of other religions, all of which contain many
internal contradictions. Prophecy is unique to the Bible, and it is the
great proof that is overlooked by most preachers and apologists.
The Bible's perfect internal consistency is presently our focus. The
first mention of the promised virgin-born Redeemer/Messiah/Savior
(called the woman's seed) coming to earth is found in God's
pronouncement of judgment upon the serpent who beguiled Eve: "Her
seed...shall bruise thy head [a death blow]" (Gn 3:15).
The theme of the Lamb, which begins in Genesis as a promise of the
coming Messiah who would pay the penalty for the sins of mankind, is
progressively and consistently developed by prophets and apostles
throughout the entire Bible, Old and New Testaments. Israel's
deliverance from slavery in Egypt was through the blood of the Passover
lamb. The promise of Redemption through a coming One who would die in
sacrifice for our sins continued through the Levitical sacrifices. Its
fulfillment in the Messiah began to take shape with John the Baptist's
declaration of Christ: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world" (Jn 1:29)-and it will culminate with the
focus of heaven on the Lamb slain for the sins of the world (Rv 5 and
6), and God's eternal throne finally revealed to be "the throne of God
and of the Lamb" (Rv 22:1).
In spite of the prophesied enthusiastic welcome that Jesus of Nazareth
received on that first "Palm Sunday," the prophets foretold that the
Messiah would immediately be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zec
11:12,13), rejected by His own people, and crucified (Ps
22:14-16). That prophecy was given 500 years before
crucifixion was known. The prophets declared that three days later the
Messiah would rise from the dead, show Himself to His disciples for 40
days, then ascend to heaven.
No one could qualify as the promised Redeemer without fulfilling all of
these and many other prophecies. There are no rivals offering their
Messianic credentials. These prophecies and many others given in the
Bible to identify beyond question the Messiah were fulfilled by only
one Man. The many irrefutable prophecies and their fulfillment prove
that Jesus Christ, and He alone, is the Messiah. Yet most Jews refuse
to this day to accept what their own prophets foretold-and they remain
in unbelief, as do the vast majority of Gentiles.
In preaching the gospel to their Jewish contemporaries after Christ's
resurrection, the apostles recited these and numerous other detailed
prophecies given in advance so that the Messiah could be unmistakably
recognized when He came. They pointed to what all in Jerusalem knew:
that these prophecies, given centuries and even thousands of years
before to identify the Messiah, had all been fulfilled in the life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. For two thousand years,
these facts have been the solid foundation of the Christian's faith
that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Messiah of Israel, Savior of the
world, crucified for our sins, resurrected, now in heaven, and soon to
return to catch up His own to be with Him in the Father's house
forever. He is also coming as the judge to punish the unrepentant-a
part of the gospel often overlooked.
Presenting this proof was the modus operandi of the apostles in
preaching the gospel (Acts 17:2,3); and this remains the way,
though neglected, that we are to preach it today. Incredibly, the
prophetic foundation of the gospel is scarcely referred to by most
pastors, preachers, and evangelists. Instead, lost souls are offered
testimonies of celebrities and athletes and invited to "dialogue," as
though unchangeable truth can be revised to make it acceptable to an
alleged "post-modern" generation. The only "Scripture" most
of today's uncertain souls know is an emasculated, paraphrased "Bible,"
rewritten to eliminate conviction of sin and catering to the rebellion
of those who insist upon having the gospel modified to suit their
unbelief. God will not accommodate their rebellion!
Indeed, not only most unbelievers but most professed Christians as well
do not live as though they really expect, like Job, to stand before God
as their holy, righteous Judge-at least not soon. Being caught up to
heaven in the Rapture one day, which is supposed to be the "blessed
hope" (Ti 2:13) eagerly anticipated by every true Christian, is
increasingly denied by many evangelical leaders and their followers.
Nearly all Presbyterians, as well as Calvinists of other varieties, and
even many so-called watchdogs who claim to guard the church from error,
firmly oppose an imminent Rapture and insist that the church has replaced Israel.
There are, of course, many evangelicals who preach sound biblical truth
yet deny it in their lives. The prospect of soon seeing Jesus, whose
eyes are "as a flame of fire" and at whose feet John, the disciple whom
Jesus loved (Jn 13:2,23; 20:2; 21:7,20), fell "as dead" (Rv
1:17), ought to arouse the fear of God in our hearts! I think of this
often, and I tremble. On the one hand, the prospect of suddenly finding
ourselves in the glory of Christ, the One who loves us so much that in
great agony He suffered for our sins, thrills us and fills us with
excitement and joy-but at the same time it ought to fill us with awe
and life-changing fear. Yet how often do most of us even give this
imminent possibility a passing thought? Shame!
The irreverent and ignorant attitude of many pastors and their
followers is betrayed in their confident and casual talk about "hanging
out with Jesus" in heaven, as though He's just one of the guys instead
of the Creator of the universe! He knows our every thought, word, deed,
and motive. At last, standing before our Lord at His Judgment Seat, we
will see, revealed in the light of His perfect holiness, the blackness
of our deceitful, desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9,10). He
will wipe tears of shame and remorse from our eyes, never to be
remembered again, enfolding us in His infinite, eternal love.
The awesome reality of being in heaven, falling on our faces before
Christ and the Father on their throne, does not grip us as it should.
It all seems far away and unreal, obscured by good health, the prospect
of earthly joys, and the delusion that we have unlimited time to
experience them.
The hope of being snatched from this world at any moment, if really
believed, would have a powerful purifying effect upon us. Most of what
seems so important to us in our busy lives would become exceedingly
embarrassing in its pitiful triviality if the light of eternity shined
upon it. Take your highest ambition, most irresistible lust, your
greatest pleasure, dearest passion-and as soon as you add death to
these things they sink into nothingness. How sad that death must stare
us in the face before we receive this wisdom.
At the Judgment Seat of Christ, where "we must all appear...that every
one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor 5:10), the issue will
not be salvation or hell but reward or loss. There we, the Bride of
Christ, will be given pure white robes of righteousness for the
wedding!
When we see "the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2:8) in glory, "we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 Jn 3:2).
One day soon, however, by death or by the Rapture, the veil will be
removed. We will be with Him and shall see Him as He really is.
What a glorious, eternal day will have dawned at last.
Word of the true God, who is the Creator of mankind and of the
unfathomable universe in which we find ourselves. Although the hundreds
of unfailing Bible prophecies are the most powerful proof, one of the
most obvious is the amazing consistency found in Scripture from Genesis
to Revelation.
Remember that most of the prophets through whom it was
written lived at different times in history, in different cultures, and
never met one another. The only rational explanation for this
consistency is what they all declared with one voice: that they were
each inspired of the one true God. These claims were not hidden or
tentatively stated but boldly and repeatedly affirmed.
For example, in the Pentateuch alone the declaration is made literally
hundreds of times that Moses was reporting what God had said directly
to him "face to face" (Ex 33:11. Num 14:14. Dt 5:2-5: 34:10).
Biblical prophets were not inspired indirectly through an angel
(as both Muhammad and Joseph Smith claimed they were)
but declared that they had personally heard from God himself!
Like Moses, Israel's many other prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi,
make this claim hundreds of
additional times. More than 60 times Ezekiel swears that "the word of
the Lord" came to him with the command to pass it on to mankind. So it
was with the other biblical prophets.
The Book of Job is believed to be the oldest book in the Bible, yet the
major biblical themes of redemption, resurrection, and the Second Coming
are clearly expressed. This is done in perfect harmony with all that
would be declared by prophets of God in the remaining pages of
Scripture over the next 1,600 years. Consider this powerful and pointed
declaration:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and
mine eyes shall behold, and not another....(Job 19:25-27)
Here Job clearly declares that his physical body will be resurrected,
even after being eaten by worms in the grave. He also knows that the
Redeemer who will make this possible is an eternal Being who will one
day come to earth and that he (Job), in his resurrected body, will see
the infinite God for himself. So it must be for us also. This is an
awesome, even frightening, prospect, which, were it more real to us,
would transform our lives!
Prophets who lived after Job, in writing additional Scripture, added
detail upon detail but never contradicted what was said before or what
followed later. In many cases they contributed additional Scripture
without having seen what had previously been written-and still without
contradiction. By comparison, there are no prophecies at all in the
Qur'an, the Hindu Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita, sayings of Buddha or Confucius,
or in the scriptures of other religions, all of which contain many
internal contradictions. Prophecy is unique to the Bible, and it is the
great proof that is overlooked by most preachers and apologists.
The Bible's perfect internal consistency is presently our focus. The
first mention of the promised virgin-born Redeemer/Messiah/Savior
(called the woman's seed) coming to earth is found in God's
pronouncement of judgment upon the serpent who beguiled Eve: "Her
seed...shall bruise thy head [a death blow]" (Gn 3:15).
The theme of the Lamb, which begins in Genesis as a promise of the
coming Messiah who would pay the penalty for the sins of mankind, is
progressively and consistently developed by prophets and apostles
throughout the entire Bible, Old and New Testaments. Israel's
deliverance from slavery in Egypt was through the blood of the Passover
lamb. The promise of Redemption through a coming One who would die in
sacrifice for our sins continued through the Levitical sacrifices. Its
fulfillment in the Messiah began to take shape with John the Baptist's
declaration of Christ: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world" (Jn 1:29)-and it will culminate with the
focus of heaven on the Lamb slain for the sins of the world (Rv 5 and
6), and God's eternal throne finally revealed to be "the throne of God
and of the Lamb" (Rv 22:1).
In spite of the prophesied enthusiastic welcome that Jesus of Nazareth
received on that first "Palm Sunday," the prophets foretold that the
Messiah would immediately be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zec
11:12,13), rejected by His own people, and crucified (Ps
22:14-16). That prophecy was given 500 years before
crucifixion was known. The prophets declared that three days later the
Messiah would rise from the dead, show Himself to His disciples for 40
days, then ascend to heaven.
No one could qualify as the promised Redeemer without fulfilling all of
these and many other prophecies. There are no rivals offering their
Messianic credentials. These prophecies and many others given in the
Bible to identify beyond question the Messiah were fulfilled by only
one Man. The many irrefutable prophecies and their fulfillment prove
that Jesus Christ, and He alone, is the Messiah. Yet most Jews refuse
to this day to accept what their own prophets foretold-and they remain
in unbelief, as do the vast majority of Gentiles.
In preaching the gospel to their Jewish contemporaries after Christ's
resurrection, the apostles recited these and numerous other detailed
prophecies given in advance so that the Messiah could be unmistakably
recognized when He came. They pointed to what all in Jerusalem knew:
that these prophecies, given centuries and even thousands of years
before to identify the Messiah, had all been fulfilled in the life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. For two thousand years,
these facts have been the solid foundation of the Christian's faith
that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Messiah of Israel, Savior of the
world, crucified for our sins, resurrected, now in heaven, and soon to
return to catch up His own to be with Him in the Father's house
forever. He is also coming as the judge to punish the unrepentant-a
part of the gospel often overlooked.
Presenting this proof was the modus operandi of the apostles in
preaching the gospel (Acts 17:2,3); and this remains the way,
though neglected, that we are to preach it today. Incredibly, the
prophetic foundation of the gospel is scarcely referred to by most
pastors, preachers, and evangelists. Instead, lost souls are offered
testimonies of celebrities and athletes and invited to "dialogue," as
though unchangeable truth can be revised to make it acceptable to an
alleged "post-modern" generation. The only "Scripture" most
of today's uncertain souls know is an emasculated, paraphrased "Bible,"
rewritten to eliminate conviction of sin and catering to the rebellion
of those who insist upon having the gospel modified to suit their
unbelief. God will not accommodate their rebellion!
Indeed, not only most unbelievers but most professed Christians as well
do not live as though they really expect, like Job, to stand before God
as their holy, righteous Judge-at least not soon. Being caught up to
heaven in the Rapture one day, which is supposed to be the "blessed
hope" (Ti 2:13) eagerly anticipated by every true Christian, is
increasingly denied by many evangelical leaders and their followers.
Nearly all Presbyterians, as well as Calvinists of other varieties, and
even many so-called watchdogs who claim to guard the church from error,
firmly oppose an imminent Rapture and insist that the church has replaced Israel.
There are, of course, many evangelicals who preach sound biblical truth
yet deny it in their lives. The prospect of soon seeing Jesus, whose
eyes are "as a flame of fire" and at whose feet John, the disciple whom
Jesus loved (Jn 13:2,23; 20:2; 21:7,20), fell "as dead" (Rv
1:17), ought to arouse the fear of God in our hearts! I think of this
often, and I tremble. On the one hand, the prospect of suddenly finding
ourselves in the glory of Christ, the One who loves us so much that in
great agony He suffered for our sins, thrills us and fills us with
excitement and joy-but at the same time it ought to fill us with awe
and life-changing fear. Yet how often do most of us even give this
imminent possibility a passing thought? Shame!
The irreverent and ignorant attitude of many pastors and their
followers is betrayed in their confident and casual talk about "hanging
out with Jesus" in heaven, as though He's just one of the guys instead
of the Creator of the universe! He knows our every thought, word, deed,
and motive. At last, standing before our Lord at His Judgment Seat, we
will see, revealed in the light of His perfect holiness, the blackness
of our deceitful, desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9,10). He
will wipe tears of shame and remorse from our eyes, never to be
remembered again, enfolding us in His infinite, eternal love.
The awesome reality of being in heaven, falling on our faces before
Christ and the Father on their throne, does not grip us as it should.
It all seems far away and unreal, obscured by good health, the prospect
of earthly joys, and the delusion that we have unlimited time to
experience them.
The hope of being snatched from this world at any moment, if really
believed, would have a powerful purifying effect upon us. Most of what
seems so important to us in our busy lives would become exceedingly
embarrassing in its pitiful triviality if the light of eternity shined
upon it. Take your highest ambition, most irresistible lust, your
greatest pleasure, dearest passion-and as soon as you add death to
these things they sink into nothingness. How sad that death must stare
us in the face before we receive this wisdom.
At the Judgment Seat of Christ, where "we must all appear...that every
one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor 5:10), the issue will
not be salvation or hell but reward or loss. There we, the Bride of
Christ, will be given pure white robes of righteousness for the
wedding!
When we see "the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2:8) in glory, "we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 Jn 3:2).
One day soon, however, by death or by the Rapture, the veil will be
removed. We will be with Him and shall see Him as He really is.
What a glorious, eternal day will have dawned at last.
Last edited:
