G1 Conference Session 2: Dr. Derek Zahnd "Why we can Trust the Bible"

Genesis Apologetics

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Good evening. My name is Dr. Derek Zand, and I've been asked to speak on why trust the

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Bible. First, what is the Bible? The Bible is 66 books, 39 books in the

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Old Testament, 27 books in the New Testament, written by over 40 authors, scholars and kings, shepherds and farmers, priests and physicians, tent makers and fishermen, peasants and philosophers.

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Some wrote in the wilderness, others in dungeons, some from a palace, others on a military campaign.

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The earliest books of the Bible may date from around the 13th century before Christ, and the last books from around 90

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AD, more than a 1300 -year period. The Bible was the first book ever printed and has now been translated into over 2 ,000 languages.

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The Bible is the most studied book in world history. But what does the

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Bible say about itself? Over 2 ,000 times in the

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Old Testament, there are clauses like, And God spoke. The word of the

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Lord came, and God said. In the New Testament, 2

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Peter 1, verse 21 says, The Bible claims to be the word of God.

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But the mere fact that the Bible claims to be the word of God does not automatically mean that it is.

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If your friend claims to be a watermelon, that doesn't mean he is.

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What matters is the convincing evidence inside and outside the

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Bible that it is the word of God. Now, before we go into that, let's talk for just a moment about why we should not trust the

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Bible. Do not trust the Bible because of your parents' faith.

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Now, understanding the faith of people you respect is a great place to start, but don't stop there.

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Make your faith your own. Come to terms yourself with the trustworthiness of the

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Bible. You don't dress just like your parents, do you? You have your own music.

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You have your own habits. Be sure to have your own faith.

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Well, why should we trust the Bible? Well, one reason is its amazing unity.

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Although the Bible is composed by a diverse group of people from different cultures and different languages over more than a millennia, it's a unity, and that unity reveals the hand of God.

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The Bible deals with some controversial topics. Marriage, Satan, deception, sin, sex, murder.

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That's just the first four chapters. From there, it goes on to destruction and politics, race,

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Israel, Jesus, the church, hope, and a closing battle that is better than any

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Avengers movie. Yet the Bible coheres. Lest anyone think that this is not remarkable, consider this exercise.

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Find ten people from your neighborhood with similar cultural backgrounds who happen to speak the same language.

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Ask them to write their opinion on only one controversial topic, like, let's say, the meaning of life.

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Would you expect them all to agree? I don't think so.

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The Bible does not consist of merely ten authors, but forty. It was written not in one generation, but over 1 ,300 years or more.

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Not by authors of the same educational background, culture, and language, but with vastly different educational experiences.

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From many different cultures, from three continents, speaking three different languages, who wrote not just on one subject, but on many.

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And yet the Bible is a unity. It's harmony unexplained by coincidence.

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From beginning to end, the Bible is one unfolding story of God's plan to win his family back, to bring his kingdom fully to bear.

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God does this chiefly through the saving work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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Jesus is the center of the Bible's unity. The Old Testament points to Jesus, and the

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New Testament springs from Jesus' life, ministry, and spirit.

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No other book has such credentials, or even comes close. Victor Hugo said,

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England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare.

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England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made

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England. Well, we can also trust the Bible because of fulfilled prophecy.

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In the first century, there was a philosopher named Philo, and there was a historian named Josephus. They considered all biblical authors to be prophets.

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2 Peter 1 and verse 19 says, we have the prophetic message as something completely reliable.

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The purpose of prophecy is to let us know that God exists, and that he has a plan for this world.

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By foretelling events hundreds of years in advance, the Bible demonstrates a knowledge of the future too specific to be a good guess.

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Consider this example. The prophet Isaiah wrote around 700

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BC. At that time, the city of Jerusalem was built, and the temple standing.

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And yet, Isaiah chapters 44 and 45 prophesy about a King Cyrus, who will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt.

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And of the temple, let its foundations be laid. It doesn't sound quite right.

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At that time, Jerusalem was built, and the temple was on top of its foundation.

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100 years later, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed.

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And sure enough, 160 years after Isaiah, a Persian King named

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Cyrus decreed to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

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Isaiah predicted that a man named Cyrus, who would be born in another 100 years, would give the command to rebuild the temple, which was actually standing when he wrote.

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It happened, and is far from the only scriptural prophecy to be fulfilled.

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Fulfilled prophecy evidences the trustworthiness of the Bible and the existence of God.

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Well, we can also trust the Bible because of Jesus and the apostles.

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John Bright was an Old Testament scholar. He reminds, Jesus Christ himself trusted the

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Old Testament and treated it as authoritative. In his time on earth,

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Jesus knew no other scripture. Jesus knew no other God than the

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God of the Old Testament, his Father. Jesus confronted the devil face to face, saying, it is written.

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Referring to the Old Testament. So it is not simplistic, but entirely profound to say, if the

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Old Testament was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for you and me.

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But Jesus was not alone. For the first two decades after Jesus' resurrection, the only parts of the

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New Testament were fragmentary accounts of his life and teachings. During this time, the church dramatically extended its influence into Syria and Asia Minor and North Africa.

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And what the church was teaching and preaching was the Old Testament, reinterpreted by Jesus and his followers.

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We can also say, if the Old Testament was good enough for the first followers of Jesus Christ, it is good enough for you and me.

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Well, we can trust the Bible because of its promise of reward. Now, I'm not talking about a heretical prosperity gospel, which of course is no gospel at all.

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The lives of Paul, Jesus, the first Christians, the early church, they all clearly testified to the emptiness of the so -called prosperity gospel.

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But I am saying that the Bible contains unflinching promises of reward for those people who will live by it.

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Joshua 1 .8 says, keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

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Then you will be prosperous and successful. Psalm 1 said, blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the

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Lord. In Matthew 7, verses 24 -27, Jesus said, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

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2 Timothy 3, verse 16 reminds, all scripture is God -breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

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My friend, scripture brings its own reward.

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You and I need to be taught, you and I need to be rebuked on occasion, you and I need to be corrected, and you and I need to be trained in the righteousness of God.

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Well friends, another reason we trust the Bible is a recognition that life is tremendously complex.

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And sometimes heartbreakingly difficult. Yet the

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Bible explains human suffering. It points to the great reality that this world is not as it should be.

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It reminds and it enables the possibility of human flourishing.

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And the Bible even allows for mystery. So why trust the

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Bible? Well, we just lack other good options. Our culture today abounds in technological advances, religious pluralism, and secular humanism.

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But I do not see other sources of wisdom that approach the

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Bible. Now, the cool thing is that the resources that I have used to put this message together, you can use as well.

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I would encourage you to check them out and to go on further in your own study about the trustworthiness of the

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Bible. People have wondered if the Bible really works for a long time.

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But I can tell you, based on my personal experience, that it does.

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For nearly 2 ,000 years, in culture after culture, in language after language, person after person, has personally experienced the trustworthiness of the

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Bible. As I have. When I was 21 years old,

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I was in the Central American country of Honduras, working at a medical clinic.

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And in that season of my life, my particular assignment was to help build a wall around that clinic.

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Now at the time, I was praying about how to live my own life. And it occurred to me that each of our days is a little bit like a brick.

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We lay one brick down, we pick up another, and we put it in front of the previous brick, and we are building a life, day by day, brick by brick.

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We want to build a life that somehow, by the end of it, would be worth it, worth our effort.

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Now, I'd like to think that way back then in Honduras that I worked just as hard as the

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Honduran bricklayers that I was working with. But I certainly didn't work as effectively.

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The part of the wall that I built ended up crooked and weak.

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Their part was straight and strong. I was placing each brick in relation to the last, doing the best

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I could at a skill that was entirely new to me. Frankly, guessing quite a bit.

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Brick after brick, what I was doing never seemed wrong until I backed up and got some perspective on this wall

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I was trying to build. Those Honduran bricklayers, they had something

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I lacked. An external point of reference. A fishing line stretched right along the section of the wall they were building.

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It was easy to miss, but it was their true guide. It was the key to the power and beauty of their work.

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They didn't trust their eye, they didn't trust the brick they'd just put down. They trusted an external reference.

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I needed something outside me to guide me as I built my life, day by day.

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That standard had to start before me and extend long after my time would be done.

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It had to be level, it had to be reliable, it had to be true. It had to have been tested for centuries, it had to be absolutely trustworthy.

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My friends, that standard is the Bible. I have never regretted putting my trust in the scriptures.

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Whatever brick you're about to lay down in your life, maybe you're making an important decision about a relationship, or maybe you're making an important decision about where you will continue your education, or what you will give the days of your life to, you want to benefit from having a trustworthy guide in your life.

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That guide is the Bible. If you want a life that is satisfying, full, and fruitful, a life that is strong and beautiful, trust the

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Bible, read it, memorize it, and live it.