Faith is a confident assurance—a well-grounded assurance, that
something we want and hope for is going to
happen. It is a conviction of the
reality of things we hope for—which we
cannot see up ahead, is waiting for us.
Faith comes to a man after
hearing the words of God.
If a man wants to be saved, he
must hear and study the words of
God about salvation—that is
the Gospel of Christ. The
gospel is the power of God to
salvation for those who believe.
Let us therefore study
the Holy Bible to verify if it is really God's words that are written in
it, validate its truthfulness and satisfy ourselves if
we can ground or root our faith in it.
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04A.1
How did God reveal His words to man?
In Hebrews 1:1-2, this is recorded:
"God, who at various times
and in different ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets,"
"has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed
heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds." (New King James
Version)
In times past, God spoke to His people at
various times and in different ways to the Fathers through the Prophets.
Note: The Bible is divided into three
dispensation of time:
- The era of the fathers or patriarchs
was from the time the first man was created by God to the beginning of
the time of the prophets of ancient Israel.
- The era of the prophets ended with
the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- The birth of Christ is also the beginning
of the last dispensation of time,
the Christian era, and it will end on the second coming of the Lord.
04A.2
How did the Prophets speak the words of God?
In Jeremiah 26:2 this is written:
"Thus says the Lord: `Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak
to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord's house,
all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a
word. (NKJV)
They spoke the words that God commanded them to speak, "without
diminishing a word".
04A.3 How
were the words spoken by God preserved and how did these came to us?
"'Thus speaks
the Lord God of Israel, saying:
'Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.'"
(Jer.30:2 NKJV)
God commanded His servants to commit them
to write in a book, as what He commanded to prophet Jeremiah, one of
those whom God has entrusted the writing of His words:
04A.4
What is the reason why the God's words are commanded to be written in a
book?
Now go, write it before them
on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to
come for ever and ever. (Isaiah 30:8, American Standard)
The words of God was written in a book "for
the time to come forever and ever".
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04A.5
Who first wrote the words of God in a book?
In the following verses, these are written:
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write these words, for according to
the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with
Israel.'' (Ex:34:27, NKJV)
And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in
the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and
twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
(Ex:24:4, NKJV)
God Himself commanded Moses to write His
words, so
Moses wrote all the words spoken to him by the Lord.
.According to Bible scholars, Moses wrote
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
in about 1350 B.C.
04A.6
Who wrote the words spoken by God to Jeremiah?
In Jeremiah 36:4 this is written:
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and
Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of
Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him.
(NKJV)
Baruch, the son of Neriah, was instructed by Jeremiah, to write all the
words of the Lord that was spoken to him. According to Bible
scholars, the Old Testament books of
Jeremiah and Lamentations was written in about
600 B.C.
04A.7 In the
Christian Era who also spoke and wrote the words of God?
In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, this is
recorded:
For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when
you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God,
which also effectively works in you who believe. ( NKJV)
The Apostles spoke the words of God which was spoken to them by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Many of them, like James, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
John, Paul, Peter, wrote the books of the New Testament of the Bible
from about 45 A.D. to about 90 A.D.
04A.8 Which
book contains the words of God written by His commissioned writers?
In II Timothy 3:15-17, this is written:
"and that from childhood you
have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (II Tim. 3:15-17,
NKJV)
The compilation of books is called the "Holy
Scriptures" by the Apostles. Today it is popularly called the "Holy Bible".
__________________
The Holy Bible was written unlike any other
book made by man. Here are some facts about the Holy Bible from bible
scholars:
-
All in all the Holy
bible consist of 66 books, and is divided into the
Old Testament - 39 books written from about 1350
B.C. to about 430 B.C., and the New Testament - 27
books written from about 45 A.D. to about 90 A.D.
-
These books was
written by about 40 divinely inspired writers over a
period of more than 1500 years.
-
The
Bible as written by God's people
from all walks of life, (kings,
shepherd, fisherman, tent maker, tax collector, etc) with great
differences in writing styles, in a span of more
than 15 centuries, yet every book in the Bible is
consistent in its message.
It is impossible for human beings to have planned such
an intricate combination of books in over 50
generations.
-
Most of the scriptures are manually written on weak
materials like papyrus, yet many copies of the Old
Testament scriptures survived. Manually written bible
manuscripts have survived despite weather, persecution
and time for about 3000 years. Please note that the
printing press, a mechanical device, was invented in
Germany by Johannes Gutenberg only in 1445 A.D.
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