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

Good evening. My name is Dr. Derek Zand, and I've been asked to speak on why trust the Bible. First, what is the Bible? The Bible is 66 books, 39 books in the 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.

The Bible’s Scope, Authorship, and Historical Reach

Some wrote in the wilderness, others in dungeons, some from a palace, others on a military campaign. The earliest books of the Bible may date from around the 13th century before Christ, and the last books from around 90 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. The Bible is the most studied book in world history. But what does the Bible say about itself? Over 2 ,000 times in the Old Testament, there are clauses like, And God spoke.

The word of the Lord came, and God said. In the New Testament, 2 Peter 1, verse 21 says, The Bible claims to be the word of God. But the mere fact that the Bible claims to be the word of God does not automatically mean that it is.

If your friend claims to be a watermelon, that doesn't mean he is. What matters is the convincing evidence inside and outside the 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 Bible.

Do not trust the Bible because of your parents' faith. Now, understanding the faith of people you respect is a great place to start, but don't stop there. Make your faith your own. Come to terms yourself with the trustworthiness of the Bible.

You don't dress just like your parents, do you? You have your own music. You have your own habits. Be sure to have your own faith. Well, why should we trust the Bible? Well, one reason is its amazing unity.

The Bible’s Unity Across Authors, Cultures, and Centuries

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. The Bible deals with some controversial topics.

Marriage, Satan, deception, sin, sex, murder. That's just the first four chapters. From there, it goes on to destruction and politics, race, Israel, Jesus, the church, hope, and a closing battle that is better than any Avengers movie.

Yet the Bible coheres. Lest anyone think that this is not remarkable, consider this exercise. Find ten people from your neighborhood with similar cultural backgrounds who happen to speak the same language.

Ask them to write their opinion on only one controversial topic, like, let's say, the meaning of life. Would you expect them all to agree? I don't think so. The Bible does not consist of merely ten authors, but forty.

It was written not in one generation, but over thirteen hundred years or more. Not by authors of the same educational background, culture, and language, but with vastly different educational experiences.

From many different cultures, from three continents, speaking three different languages, who wrote not just on one subject, but on many. And yet the Bible is a unity. It's harmony unexplained by coincidence.

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

Jesus is the center of the Bible's unity. The Old Testament points to Jesus, and the New Testament springs from Jesus' life, ministry, and spirit. No other book has such credentials, or even comes close.

Victor Hugo said, England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England. Well, we can also trust the Bible because of fulfilled prophecy. In the first century, there was a philosopher named Philo, and there was a historian named Josephus.

Fulfilled Prophecy and the Reliability of Scripture

They considered all biblical authors to be prophets. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 19 says, we have the prophetic message as something completely reliable. The purpose of prophecy is to let us know that God exists and that he has a plan for this world.

By foretelling events hundreds of years in advance, the Bible demonstrates a knowledge of the future too specific to be a good guess. Consider this example. The prophet Isaiah wrote around 700 BC. At that time, the city of Jerusalem was built and the temple standing.

And yet, Isaiah chapters 44 and 45 prophesy about a King Cyrus who will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt. And of the temple, let its foundations be laid. It doesn't sound quite right. At that time, Jerusalem was built and the temple was on top of its foundation.

100 years later, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. And sure enough, 160 years after Isaiah, a Persian King named Cyrus decreed to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. 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.

It happened. And it's far from the only scriptural prophecy to be fulfilled. Fulfilled prophecy evidences the trustworthiness of the Bible and the existence of God. Well, we can also trust the Bible because of Jesus and the apostles.

Jesus, the Apostles, and the Bible They Trusted

John Bright was an Old Testament scholar. He reminds, Jesus Christ himself trusted the Old Testament and treated it as authoritative. In his time on earth, Jesus knew no other scripture. Jesus knew no other God than the God of the Old Testament, his father.

Jesus confronted the devil face to face saying, it is written. Referring to the Old Testament. So it is not simplistic, but entirely profound to say, if the Old Testament was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for you and me.

But Jesus was not alone. For the first two decades after Jesus' resurrection, the only parts of the New Testament were fragmentary accounts of his life and teaching. During this time, the church dramatically extended its influence into Syria and Asia Minor and North Africa.

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

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

The Bible’s Promises, Wisdom, and Reward

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

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

2 Timothy 3, verse 16 reminds, all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. My friend, scripture brings its own reward. 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. Well friends, another reason we trust the Bible is a recognition that life is tremendously complex and sometimes heart-breakingly difficult.

Yet the Bible explains human suffering. It points to the great reality that this world is not as it should be. It reminds and it enables the possibility of human flourishing. And the Bible even allows for mystery.

So why trust the Bible? Well, we just lack other good options. Our culture today abounds in technological advances, religious pluralism, and secular humanism. But I do not see other sources of wisdom that approach the Bible.

Now, the cool thing is that the resources that I have used to put this message together, you can use as well. I would encourage you to check them out and to go on further in your own study about the trustworthiness of the Bible.

People have wondered if the Bible really works for a long time. But I can tell you, based on my personal experience, that it does. For nearly 2 ,000 years, in culture after culture, in language after language, person after person, has personally experienced the trustworthiness of the Bible.

As I have. When I was 21 years old, I was in the Central American country of Honduras, working at a medical clinic. And in that season of my life, my particular assignment was to help build a wall around that clinic.

Personal Experience, External Standards, and Building a Life on Scripture

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. 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.

We want to build a life that somehow, by the end of it, would be worth it, worth our effort. Now, I'd like to think that way back then in Honduras, that I worked just as hard as the Honduran bricklayers that I was working with.

But I certainly didn't work as effectively. The part of the wall that I built ended up crooked and weak. Their part was straight and strong. I was placing each brick in relation to the last, doing the best I could at a skill that was entirely new to me.

Frankly, guessing quite a bit. Brick after brick, what I was doing never seemed wrong until I backed up and got some perspective on this wall I was trying to build. Those Honduran bricklayers, they had something I lacked.

An external point of reference. A fishing line stretched right along the section of the wall they were building. It was easy to miss, but it was their true guide. It was the key to the power and beauty of their work.

They didn't trust their eye, they didn't trust the brick they had just put down. They trusted an external reference. I needed something outside me to guide me as I built my life day by day. That standard had to start before me and extend long after my time would be done.

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

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.

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 Bible. Read it. Memorize it. And live it. God bless you.