Transcript Why Trust the Bible?

An Introduction to
Bible Prophecy
Some statistics …
 Written over a period of 1,400 years (Moses to C1)
 by around 40 different “authors”
 great diversity of writing styles (narrative, poetry,
prophecy, parable, apocalyptic literature, etc.).
 And yet it maintains an astounding consistency in
theme cohesion.
 Bible contains 3,566,480 letters, 773,746 words,
31,102 verses, 1,189 chapters, and 66 books.
 The average word of the Bible contains fewer than
five letters. Very few big words!
The Anvil Of God's Word
Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith's door
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
When looking in, I saw upon the floor,
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.
"How many anvils have you had," said I,
"To wear and batter these hammers so?"
"Just one," said he; then with a twinkling eye,
"The anvil wears the hammers out, you know."
More statistics …
 Middle chapter & shortest: Psalm 117. Only 2 verses.
 Middle verse in the Bible: Psalm 118:8.
 Middle book of the Old Testament: Proverbs.
 Middle chapter of the Old Testament: Job 29.
 Middle verse of the Old Testament: 2 Chron 10:15.
 Shortest verse in OT: I Chron 1:25; longest: Est 8:9.
 Middle book of the New Testament is II Thess.
 Bible divided into chapters by Cardinal Hugo (1250)
 New Testament verses: Sir Robert Stephens (1551)
Why Trust it? Typical Answers
 “We know the Bible is true by faith.” (Heb 11:1)
 Sound pious, but not very logical, nor a correct
application of Scripture.
 Scripture proves Scripture! (II Tim 3:16)
 Vicious circular argument. Muslims claim the same
 Textual Consistency and Uniqueness
 Uniqueness & authenticity to the original do not
necessarily prove source is true. Simply mean the Bible is
unique and has been accurately transmitted.
 Archaeology – confirms but cannot prove
 Prophecy – could claim forgery but see later

Manuscripts

Archaeology

Prophecy

Statistics
Manuscripts
 Eyewitnesses (Luke)
 External Enemies
 Many have tried to
disprove – all failed
 New in Old Concealed
Old in New Revealed,
 Remember the maths

Difficult Questions!
How do we know the Bible is true, and
people weren’t just making it all up
1) Masoretes
2) Dead Sea Scrolls
3) Prophecy
4) Loadsa manuscripts!

What is the Bible?
One book … or many?
Who wrote the Bible and Where did it come from?
 Old Testament: 40 different writers, lots of scribes.
 New Testament: 8 or 9 writers; original manuscripts
copied many times as Christians fled persecution.
 Many copies destroyed by enemies of the church.
 Fortunately many early copies survived – more than
any other ancient document!
EARLY COPIES
*Codex Alexandrinus A.D. 450
*Codex Vaticanus A.D. 340
*Codex Sinaiaticus A.D. 400
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS 1500 B.C. – A.D. 100
 Septuagint: 70 Jewish scholars in Egypt translated OT
from Hebrew into Greek in about 250 BC
 Masoretes: Jewish scribes (600 A.D.) whose job was to
keep OT text error-free. How did they do it?
Vulgate
ANCIENT VERSIONS
ANCIENT COPIES
e.g. Septuagint
EARLY COPIES
*Codex Alexandrinus A.D. 450
*Codex Vaticanus A.D. 340 *Codex Sinaiaticus A.D. 400
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS
 Vulgate: (not vulgar!)
Latin translation by
Jerome (400 AD)
 Was the preferred
version of the
Catholic Church
for centuries
1500 B.C. – A.D. 100
Wycliffe (1329-1384) first English translation (from Latin)
Tyndale: translation of New Testament in 1525.
15,000 copies, in 6 editions, smuggled to England 1525-30.
Church authorities destroyed many copies
Couldn’t stop the flow of Bibles from Germany into England.
May 1535: Tyndale arrested
Condemned to death after over a
year in prison.
Strangled and burned at the stake
on 6 Oct 1536.
Final words: “Lord, open the king
of England’s eyes.”
Miles Coverdale also fled England
Met Tyndale & helped translate
Pentateuch.
John Rogers, friend of Tyndale, published
a Bible under name of
Thomas Matthew.
Matthew’s Bible revised in
1538 – sent to all churches
in England.
Called the Great Bible (it
was huge!)
First English Bible the king
allowed to be used in public.
•James VI of Scotland (1566–1625)
•1603: QE I died; James I of
England and Ireland
•Religious conflicts in England.
•1604 refused Puritan petition
•Authorised official translation of
the Bible, “King James Version”
•Guido Fawkes & co objected!
King James authorised a new
English translation - more
accurate than previous
translations.
More than fifty scholars,
trained in Hebrew and
Greek, began the work in
1607. Several committees
before it was finalised.
After KJV was published,
earlier and better
manuscripts discovered.
Revised Version (1885) many changes to AV based
on ‘better’ Greek texts
Dead Sea Scrolls &
lots of other
manuscripts - all
discovered in 20th C.
Provided scholars
with 100’s of ancient
manuscripts - much
better idea of what
the Bible originally
said.
At the same time,
discoveries have
shown that the Bible
as we know it is very
accurate.
Scroll with book of Isaiah from Dead Sea Scrolls
Can I trust it?
 Remember the Masoretes?
After a scroll was completed, another scribe would
count the letters.
 Letters as numbers - if they did not add up to the
correct amount, the scroll was destroyed.
 Next, middle word of the Old Testament was found
and compared to what it should be. If it did not match,
the scroll was destroyed. Smallest mistake would result
in the destruction of the scroll.
 Copying process was so exact that little difference seen
comparing the Isaiah scroll found by the Dead Sea (2nd
Cen B.C.) and the Masoretic text (9th Cen A.D.)
 NT: 13,000 manuscripts + lots of quotes - reconstruct
our entire New Testament except for 11 verses!
Textual Proof
AUTHOR
New Testament
Livy (Titus Livius)
Homer (Iliad)
Pliny the Younger
(History)
Suetonius (De Vita
Caesarum)
Also minor works
Horace
Caesar
Tacitus (Annals)
WHEN EARLIES
WRITTEN
T COPY
40-100 AD
59 BC –AD 17
900 BC
61-113 AD
125 AD
4TH C
400 BC
850 AD
TIME
SPAN
(YEARS)
25
300
500
750
N° OF
COPIES
75-160 AD
950 AD
800
8
100 AD
1000 AD
900
900
1
100-44 BC
900 AD
1,000
10
100 AD
1100 AD
1,000
20
24,000 +
20
643
7
The Importance of Bible Prophecy
God’s seal of authenticity on the Bible
What do OT prophecies about Jesus mean to
NT Christians?
Many prophecies about Jesus already fulfilled
down to last detail
We can be confident of the accuracy,
faithfulness, & reliability of the Word of God.
If all of the prophecies about the first coming
of Christ were fulfilled precisely, why doubt
whatever else God says in His Word?
First, some Maths ...
 Let’s say a prophecy has a 50:50 probability
of being fulfilled
 This is the same as a 1 in 2 chance or 1/2
 If P = probability and n = number of proph’s
 Then for a 1 in 2 probability, Pn = ½n
 For 1 prophecy Pn = ½1 = 0.50 or 50% (1/2)
 If P=¼, for 2 prophecies, P2 =¼2
 The Bible has 1,817 individual predictions
concerning 737 separate subjects! (more)
Examples of prophecy fulfilled
Topic
Prophecy Where fulfilled
1. Called “Mighty God”
2. Called from Egypt
3. Children slaughtered
4. Died with wicked
5. His stripes = healing
6. People’s disbelief
7. Suffered for us
8. Virgin birth
9. When to be born
10. Where born
Isa 9:6-7
Hos 11:1
Jer 31:15
Isa 53:9
Isa 53:4
Isa 53:1
Isa 53:4
Isa 7:14
Dan 9:25
Mic 5:2
 Luke 1:35
 Matt 2:14-15
 Matt 2:16-18
 Luke 23:33
 1 Peter 2:24
 John 12:37-38
 Matt 8:17
 Matt 1:23
 Lk 2:1-2
 Matt 2:5-6
Objections
 The Church made it all up ...
 Even their enemies knew that was not so!
 No historic incident better supported than the
resurrection of Christ. Biased assumptions
 Jesus knew the prophecies – He arranged it
 Many prophecies were outside of His control
 Prophecies written after the event
 Septuagint translated between 3rd – 1st C. BC