Can I Trust The Bible? 

Foundations of the Faith

Can I Trust the Bible?

The 8 Wonders of the Bible!

1) The Wonder of Its Formation

Written by 36-40 authors:

INCREDIBLE!!

From many walks of life:

• Moses – (grew up in Pharaoh’s house then later was a shepherd)
• David – (shepherd – king)
• Samuel – (prophet)
• Ezra – (scribe)
• Nehemiah – (kings cupbearer)
• Solomon – (king)
• Daniel – (politician)
• Matthew – (tax collector)
• Mark – (servant)
• Luke – (physician)
• Paul – (priest)
• And more!

From different cultures and parts of the world:

• Moses (Egypt)
• David (Israel)
• Daniel (Babylon)
• Apostles (Israel)
• N. T. Churches (Ephesus, Corinth, Galatia, Philippi, Colossae, Thessalonica)

Written in 3 different languages:

• Most of the Old Testament (Hebrew)
• Daniel and Ezra (Aramaic)
• New Testament (Greek)

Written over a period of 2000 years!!

INCREDIBLE!!

The formation of the Bible is one of the greatest wonders of all time!

A quick note here; the formation of the Bible includes 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. These 66 books have been well documented over the course of the formation of the Bible to be truly given by God. There is no need for any additional books nor is there proof of any other additional writings to have been inspired by God. Some have tried to add the 16 books of historical Jewish writings called the “apocrypha”, but some of the main reasons why these books have not been accepted as inspired Scripture is because;

• They do not claim authority of being God’s Word
• They were not regarded as God’s Word by the Jewish people who wrote them nor those who were responsible for caring for and preserving the Word of God.
• They were not considered Scripture by Jesus or any other apostle and New Testament writer.
• They contain teachings inconsistent with the rest of Scripture.

2) The Wonder of Its Harmony 

• 66 books
• 36 to 40 authors
• From all different places and ways of life
• Written over 2000 years

And yet when you read the Bible it seems like only ONE person wrote it.  It has perfect harmony. It all fits together to create a rock solid foundation like a cinderblock foundation of a house.

This is AMAZING!  This is WONDERFUL!

The reason why it seems like only one person wrote it is because God told each person what words to write down. We call this “INSPIRATION”. (2 Peter 1: 20-21), “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Here is a way you can see better how WONDERFUL the Bibles’ agreement and harmony really is.  Get just 5 to 10 of your friends or family to sit around the table and give each one a pen and paper.  Now tell them they can write anything they want.  They might ask you the following questions;

• Write about what?
• Write about who?
• Of what period of time, past, present, future?
• Of what place, city, country, nation?

Tell them that they are to make their own choice.  Also tell them they cannot look at what others are writing about and whatever everyone writes about, when they are done, it must be in total agreement and harmony.

• Watch how funny and crazy it all turns out!

With all these facts considered, its unity and harmony has been described as nothing short of supernatural! It has become one of the greatest wonders of all time. All 66 books by 36 – 40 authors over 2000 years are in total agreement and oneness in prophecy, doctrine, theme, historical account, and instruction for everyday living.

The harmony of the Bible will forever be one of the greatest wonders of all time!

3) The Wonder of Its Age 

The oldest book in the Bible is Job which was written 4,000 years ago!  How many people do you know who have a book in their house that is 4,000 years old?  This is another reason why the Bible is one of the great wonders of the world.  It has been around for a very long time and it has made a big difference in the history of countries from many years ago and all the way up to today.

When you read the history of these countries you will discover that Gods’ Word made a very big difference in all of them.

The Bible is not only the oldest of all books but it is the only one that will last FOREVER!  

(Matthew 24:35), “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

4) The Wonder of Its Sale 

• No other book has sold more copies than the Bible!
• It is the Best seller of all time
• About 3,500 languages have some of the Bible, and 1,600 languages have the full New Testament!
• The United Nations has reported that the Bible, beyond compare, is the world’s most translated work.
• On April 8, 1976, the American Bible society presented President Gerald Ford with the 2 billionth copy that they had printed! WOW! 2,000,000,000 is a very big number and that is a lot of Bibles!

It has been said that if you put every Bible today side by side, it would circle the earth three times!

Before it was sold at auction in 2021, in Niagara Falls, Canada, as you walk into the Guinness Building of World Records, one of the first things you come to that is inside a big glass case is “THE WORLD’S BEST SELLER OF ALL TIME” – “THE BIBLE”.

5) The Wonder of Its Interest 

The Bible has been read by many people all over the world. Both old and young people love reading the Bible. Even children love memorizing their favorite Scriptures and exciting Bible stories. More people are interested in the Bible than any other book that has ever been written.

• You will find the Bible in hospitals, hotels, prisons, and courtrooms.
• It is the most popular book that people turn to in the hour of tragedy and death to find comfort and strength.
• It is the most popular book that people will read to find strength to keep them from going down a wrong path.
• People turn to it because they find it pure, unmixed with myth and wild imagining of guessing.
• They find it to be sober and the greatest source of spiritual strength.
• They find it to have the answers to the questions of life and death.
• No other book has gained such world-wide attention.
• No other book has been so highly proclaimed, exalted and trusted.
• People fall in love with it because it answers their questions that they have about Heaven and many things that are important to them in this life.

No other book has received so much love, interest and attention and no other book has been so wonderfully talked about and trusted.

• President John Quincy Adams: “So great is my veneration of the Bible, that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society.”
• Author Charles Dickens: “The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world.”
• President Andrew Jackson: “That book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests.”
• President Abraham Lincoln: “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man.  All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book.”
• Herbert Hoover: “The whole of the inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the Prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life.”

6) The Wonder of Its Inspiration

The Bible makes us want to do good things.

• Many hospitals have been built because of the Bible!
• Many schools have been built because of the Bible!
• There are many missions around the world that help feed the poor because of the Bible!
• Many buildings have been built to give the homeless people a place to go because of the Bible!
• Millions of people have given money to help others because of the Bible!
• Many buildings have been built for church gatherings because of the Bible!
• Many laws in Government which contribute to peace and happiness are because of the Bible!
• Millions of songs that make us happy and comforted have been written because of the Bible!
• Many Holidays that we celebrate with friends and family are because of the Bible!

This is WONDERFUL!!!

7) The Wonder of Its Preservation 

The Bible has been the most loved of all books but it has not been without its foes.

Time and again kings and governments (such as the Roman Empire and communist states) have sought to burn and abolish it. Yet God has preserved it for us today and it can be found in almost every home in many nations and is available for any who would want one.

For 3600 years, its writings have stood the test of time. Kings and governments have perished, but THE BIBLE IS STILL HERE!

Man would have to go to the moon if they were to totally get rid of every bible. In fact when the Apollo 14 space crew went to the moon, commander Edgar Mitchell left a miniature microfilm copy containing Genesis 1:1 in sixteen languages along with a copy of the full and complete Bible.

Now you’d have to destroy outer space, too! Wireless radio & TV broadcasts have made it so that the bible now exists as signals propagating through the universe.  Modern physics have proved that these wireless signals will literally travel forever, reaching further and further from earth, and traveling at the speed of light.

Even today if man could succeed in destroying every Bible, God’s Word would still be here in the hearts of his people.

When one also stops to consider the many different changes that have occurred throughout time, for writings to have been so preserved, in honesty we must all say that indeed, the Bible has been wonderfully preserved! 

WOW AT THE WONDER OF ITS PRESERVATION!

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

(Matthew 24:35)

8) The Wonder of Its Power 

The Bible Proves it’s from God

The “WOW” of the Bible

The Bible declares that it is to be the ultimate authority to govern our lives (Psalm 19:7-11), the guide that is to direct us (Psalm 119:105) and the “spiritual food” that is to sustain us (Matthew 4:4), because it is the Word of God. 

The Bible not only tells us it is the Word of God but it proves it is.  The powerful proof we are about to witness in this study will bear evidence of the truth claimed by the Bible in this following verse;

(2 Timothy 3:16), “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”

Even though God used men to write the Bible, it was God by His Holy Spirit that told the men what words to write.  In fact, over 3,800 times, the writers of the Old Testament claimed to be actually writing the Word of God as we see in these following verses;

   (Joshua 24:2), “…Thus says the LORD God of Israel…”

   (Jeremiah 1:13), “And the word of the LORD came to me 

But did God give us proof that the Bible is His Word? 

The answer is: “Absolutely Yes!”

The “WOW” of the Bible

Before we go much further when you last stepped outside did you notice the sun up in the sky?  Did you say immediately:

• WOW! The sun is so bright!  Where is it getting that power from?

• WOW! The sun gives us so much warmth and keeps on burning and burning and burning and does not stop or run out of “fuel”!

• WOW! The sun stays exactly where we need it to be!  If it went a little further away from us, everything would freeze and die and if it came a little closer to us, everything would burn up!  

• WOW! The sun is so important to us because it causes the vegetables and fruit to grow so we could have food to eat!

• WOW! I am so happy and thankful that the sun is there another day!

When you last stepped outside and saw the sun, you probably did not think this or barely notice the sun was even there.  Why is this?  Whatever the reason was, it still does not take away how amazing the sun really is and how we need it so much each day.

To many people, the Bible is the same way.  It is so amazing but some people do not see the “WOW” of it.  As we read on, let’s see if you can see it.  

8A – The Stars of Heaven and the Sands of the Sea

(Genesis 22:15-17), “Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said… blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore…”

Now stop and think.  Genesis was written by Moses around 1500 BC. With only the naked eye, it is only humanly possible to see 10,000 or fewer stars. In comparison, all the sand of the seashore is an excessively huge number. In fact, you can hold 10,000 grains of fine sand in one hand. Why would Moses equate the relatively small number of visible stars he saw in the heavens to the excessively huge number of grains of sand he saw on the earth?     

3,100 years before the telescope was aimed at the sky, how did Moses know that our understanding of the number of stars in the heavens would be multiplied?  How did he know the number of the stars in heaven are actually a similar order of magnitude as the number of grains of sand on the earth? How did Moses know the offspring of Abraham would also be multiplied during these same years?

Because God, who knew, told Moses to write those words!

The Bible sees what we cannot see. We can believe and trust that its words are indeed from God!

8B – The Earth hangs upon NOTHING, (not on a turtle or elephant or Atlas)!!! 

(Job 26:7), “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.”

Job was written 4000 years ago.  The idea that the earth hangs upon nothing has been an accepted fact of science only in the last 400 years.  For the longest time man believed the earth was held up by the back of a giant turtle or elephant and maybe possibly by a giant man called “Atlas”.

Now with our astronauts going up in their space ship and looking back at earth, we see that the Bible was once again 100% correct!!!  How did Job know this? 

Because God, who knew, told Job to write those words!

8C – Can’t Buy or Sell Unless Approved

(Revelation 13:16-17), “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

Stop and Think.  The apostle John wrote these words 2000 years ago. That was a time when money had to be physically exchanged, and no modern technology existed. A time where the concept of a single entity (the beast) having the worldwide ability to instantly control something happening anyplace in the world would have been difficult to imagine and impossible to enforce. Yet the prophecy of Revelation speaks of a future time where a single entity can directly control if a buy/sell purchase transaction is approved or declined at any time or place in the world.

But now 2000 years later we have a worldwide web of communication called the internet.  We have digital (non-physical) based currencies such as credit cards and online banking. We now have the technology to allow a single entity to approve or decline any buy/sell transaction, from any place in the world, at any time. 

The credit cards, banks, and currencies we see in use today do not appear to have the specific mark/name/number of the beast on them. However, they do demonstrate that we now live in a world where the prophecy of Revelation 13:16-17 could easily be implemented and enforced. Just like the Bible says one day will happen!

Back during the days of John nobody knew about the computers, the internet, or even the electricity that would someday power this technological ability. The concept of someone having the ability to instantly communicate or control something on the other side of the world wasn’t even comprehendible.  But now it is our reality.  

Please stop for just a moment and REALLY consider the tremendous foresight that John had.  How did John know this would all become possible 2,000 years later?  

Because God, who knew, told John to write those words!

8D – The People of Israel are Back Home in Their Land After 2,600 Years!

Because the people of Israel did many bad things against God 2,600 years ago, the Lord caused them to be taken from their homeland and scattered throughout the world.  God pleaded with the children of Israel and told them He will bless them, take care of them and protect them as long as they loved Him and remained faithful.  He also warned them if they refused, He would remove them from their homeland and scatter them among the nations. 

(Ezekiel 36:16-19), “Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds;… Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.”

This happened in 605 B.C. when God chose King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to bring his soldiers against the city of Jerusalem and punish the people of Israel.  He destroyed their city, their Temple and took them away as slaves. The people of Israel were no longer a nation and were scattered all over the known world at that time.  Year after year passed by and they were still scattered without a homeland.  Even after 2,500 years later they had no place to call their home.

Stop just for a moment and consider how impossible it was for a scattered people over 2,500 years, with no homeland, no central government, no military might, and hated by so many other countries world-wide, to come back together, back to their homeland and back once again as a nation of people!

Historians claimed IT WOULD TAKE A MIRACLE!

But God in His mercy promised that one day He will bring the people of Israel back to their land and become a nation once again.

(Ezekiel 36:24-28), “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land…. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”

Then one day, JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAID it would happen, the people of Israel were able to go back home!!!  On May 14, 1948 AD, two thousand, five hundred and fifty-four years later, Israel was declared a nation once again!  With the help of the countries of Britain, America, Russia, and the majority of the United Nations, Israel was declared to be a nation.

How did Ezekiel know this?

Because God, who knew, told Ezekiel to write those words!

8E – Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream – 5 Ruling Nations

After King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the world around 600 B.C., God gave him a dream about a huge statue of a king made of different metals;

(Daniel 2:31-33), “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.”

God’s Word goes on to explain beyond our own understanding and with amazing accuracy that there will be five nations that will rise to power and rule the world and then Jesus will come with His kingdom.  

The Head of Gold = 606 BC

Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian Nation (Daniel 2:36-38)

The Silver = 538 BC

The Medes and Persians (Daniel 2:39a; 5:30-31; 6:28; 8:20)

The Brass = 330 BC

Greece (with Alexander the Great) (Daniel 2:39b; 8:21a)

The Iron = 80 BC

Rome (Daniel 2:40)

The Iron and Clay

The Last Gentile Kingdom Before Jesus Comes with His Kingdom (Daniel 2:41-42)

What powerful proof of the Bible’s ability to foresee the future. We are talking about a real miracle! What do you think the chances are of someone during the time of Daniel be able to predict the next four nations that would rise to a state of being the most powerful nations in the world over the next 600 years?!!! History happened exactly how the Bible said it would!!!

How did Daniel know this? 

Because God, who knew, told Daniel to write those words!

8F – Wash Hands with RUNNING Water

(Leviticus 15:13), “And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in running water; then he shall be clean.”

When you wash dirty hands in a bowl of standing water, don’t they look clean to the natural eye? They do look clean and this is what people thought for many years but the truth is, the hands are still dirty and contain many germs that could make you sick and spread to others. Moses wrote those words down in Leviticus in 1500 BC when he warned the people of Israel.  

It wasn’t long ago that the microscope was invented and we could see the reality. The number of germs still on the hands after washing in a bowl of standing water is shocking.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta wrote the following warning, “With the possible exception of immunization, hand-washing (with running water) is the most effective disease-preventing measure anyone can practice.” Some studies indicated that running water even when without soap, is still more effective at preventing the spread of the flu than ethanol-based hand sanitizer!

What is so amazing is that the Bible, 3500 years ago, long before the microscope was invented, already knew this.  But how did Moses know?

Because God, who knew, told Moses to write those words!

8G – The Rebuilding of The Jewish Temple

For almost 2000 years, Israel has been without a Temple. Who would ever think that after all this time, the people of Israel would once again see their Temple built. 

In recent decades plans have been made and materials gathered to begin rebuilding it again!  

How did Matthew know this would happen? 

Because God, who knew, told Matthew to write those words!

Conclusion          

These are the 

8 Wonders of the Bible! 

The Wow of The Bible

The Bible proves it is from God in a powerful way.  But just like the sun in the sky, if people in their heart and mind do not really and sincerely see how amazing it really is and how we need it so much each day, they will not see the “WOW” of the Bible. 

Now stop and think.  We can honestly say that there has been a great POWER in every one of the “Eight Wonders of the Bible” that we have studied so far.  But the POWER does not stop there.  

Like no other book it breaks into the most difficult place in the world to make things better.

Do you know where the most difficult place in the world is?

The most difficult place in the world is the heart of a sinner.  But the words of the Bible get into their heart and change them into a kind, loving and God-fearing person who now loves God and loves others!

(Hebrews 4:12), “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

BUILDING A FOUNDATION THAT WILL NEVER CRACK!