Well, it’s happened—quicker than I thought. My current sermon mentors have all died—except one. I’ve used their sermons many times in my blogs. Well, I’m 79, so I should have accepted this possibility, but one of my favorites, Voddie Baucham, was only 56 when he died less than a week ago. I do come up with my own material, as evidenced when I give no credit to anybody else; but I find such great material elsewhere that I can’t resist summarizing them instead. I occasionally have used authors of books, but I only have space to summarize their main theme. In honor of Dr. Baucham, I would like to summarize a great sermon of his right now: Why Do You Believe the Bible?.
He begins with I Peter 3:15, where Peter says:
…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
Suppose someone asks you, “Why do you choose to believe the Bible?” We can’t use a lame answer, “because I was raised like that.” Nor can we use the seemingly great answer, “Well, I’ve tried it; and it works for me.” Why doesn’t that fly? Dr. Baucham said “What you did with that answer is open up a logical hole big enough to drive a Mack truck through. Say, a guy wanted to get sober and was told to search for a higher power. So he decides that a squirrel was his higher power…then what happens if he actually remained sober for 10 years? “He tried the squirrel and it worked for him.” According to your logic, his squirrel has as much authority as your Bible.
Well, here’s an answer you could try: I choose to believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report to us supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin.
Now let’s get you started on backing that statement up. Start with the first phase, …because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses. Look at II Peter 1:16-21:
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Let’s unpack this: First, the apostles claimed that they did not follow myths or fairy tales, or legends…they did not follow things that were Made Up. Consider Luke 1:1:
Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having investigated everything carefully of all things from the very first, to write it out to you, in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
Now, look at my next phrase: written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. I used to love crime dramas. What was the locked-down guarantee that you got your man? Corroborating witness testimony. We have that in abundance in the Bible. Look at John 1:1,3:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life… that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also…
The word “heard” suggests corroborating witness testimony.
Now, also note that corroborating eyewitnesses are mostly still alive at the time of Paul’s writing. This is very important to testimony. A witness who is dead is no value for proof. If they are alive, you can question them enough to determine if they agree, or if this Christian cult is fake. I’m sure the aggressive Jews who hounded them daily would interview every single one of these people. If Jesus rose from the dead, a spectacular supernatural event never seen before or since, it was the biggest rumor-mill for months. I Cor. 15:3-7:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive… Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
It is estimated that there were over 300 witnesses to the Resurrection still around at the time the Gospels were written--to testify that there was, indeed, a Resurrection of Jesus. They saw Him in the flesh.
Now let’s talk about the sophisticated Higher Criticism folks, who refused to believe in the supernatural, who claimed in 1881 that the Received Text (basis for the King James Version), considered reliable for nearly 300 years by that time, was supposedly corrupted sometime in the AD 150-300 area, and can no longer be used. (They had another version already prepared for us, a watered-down doctrine one). They further said, considering it a slander, “You know, we don’t have any originals of the Bible.” We are all supposed to gasp in horror. This is where Dr. Baucham was at his best. He said, let’s see what had to happen if overzealous monks tried the corrupt the Bible, somewhere in 150 to 350 AD, if that 1881 claim could be considered true. First, we are talking three levels of conspiracy. Level 1: There were, it is estimated, over 6000 manuscripts of the New Testament alone, being passed around then. They would have had to carefully steal and change a whole flock of manuscripts, let the new ink dry, get them back to the original storage, and not tell anyone, and dissuade any who regretted what they were doing. (The Bible was in hot demand by every literate person, so they would have had to inquire where each scroll was, and yet escape suspicion). The amount of time even getting corrupt priests and monks involved, staggers the imagination. If the 6000-figure doesn’t stun you, here’s a few comparisons: Julius Caesar wrote “Gallic War,” a classic of military strategy: We have 10 manuscripts. Aristotle’s “Poetics,” from the great philosopher of that day: We have 5 manuscripts.
Consider also that our Bible manuscripts were written, so say the secular experts, as early as AD 120. It is a fact that the earlier they are, the more likely they tell the truth. But for Gallic War, the earliest we have was written 900 years after the original. That’s so late, that we have no assurances of its accuracy in the frequent copying.
Now Level 2 conspiracy: The Bible was translated into multiple people’s languages (such as Syriac, Coptic, and Latin) already. So now the overzealous monks not only have to change many of the 6000 Greek manuscripts, but they also have to go find the Syriac, Coptic, and Latin translations, change those to match the lies you told in Greek, into those foreign-language scrolls as well. Did they have enough people familiar with these languages to do both of these levels? No way.
The biggest obstacle for believing the “corrupt” theory is Level 3 conspiracy. The early church fathers loved to write commentary on New Testament passages comparing to other verses on the same topic. It is estimated, in fact, that if we burned all the Bibles, we could reconstruct 95% of the New Testament it from available commentaries that were in existence. So: the overzealous monks would have to get 6000 manuscripts from the libraries of storage or from people who borrowed them, change them so the ink work can’t be seen, get them back with the original owner unknowing, AND get ahold of all of the New Testament in other languages, if there are enough people to do the language-change, AND get ahold of ALL the commentaries, change them too (I can’t imagine how many pages that would involve), and never, ever get caught.
HELP YOU if you believe that.
On to the next phrase, “they report to us supernatural events.” Not “superhuman.” We’re talking about tuff you can’t get good enough to do. Like the Mount of Transfiguration. Also, the healing of people who had a disease, KNOWN BY everybody, from birth. He did an instantaneous heal—in public. Not psychosomatic. Deaf from birth. Mute from birth. And what about, when Jesus tells the disciples, “Y’all go over to the other side of the lake and I’ll meet you.” So they got in their boat and hustled out to the middle of the lake. Later on the boat, when it was quiet, somebody, I don’t know who, said, Hey, umm…did Jesus say how he was comin’? “No, why?” Cuz he…he comin.’ And my favorite: Friday: Dead. Sunday: Risen.
Yes, these are supernatural events. Not only that, but many of those events took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies. We’re not talking Nostradamus stuff. SPECIFIC prophecies. What did Jesus do on the Cross, in front of, I might add, many witnesses? Well, look at Psalm 22, written (as is provable) 1000 years before Christ. What does the title say? “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” That’s a pretty specific prophecy, considering it was Jesus’ exact words on the Cross. Or, how about v. 7-8:
All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him
What was the mood and words of the people in Matthew 27:39-43, at the Cross? Exactly as prophesied 1000 years before:
And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42 “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him
Psalm 22:12:
I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
On the Cross, the arm bones in particular will be out of joint because you are trying to get a breath (you can’t inhale or exhale properly; you are suffocating, since you can’t get out the carbon dioxide and get in fresh oxygen), and pulling yourself up by the extended arms will ultimately dislocate them. (To support yourself with the legs, also nailed at the feet, would give you further enormous pain.) Blood will mix with a watery substance in the heart; it will, indeed, feel “like wax.”
In Psalm 22:15: My tongue clings to My jaws
Jesus response to this prophesied dry mouth: “I thirst.”
Psalm 22:16-17:
They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.
This prophecy predicted nails in the hands and feet. The reason Jesus could count His bones, and why people stare at Him, is because He was naked. It also prophesies how the Lamb, following Jewish custom, could not be presented to God the Father with a broken bone. In crucifixion, normally the Romans broke a leg to hasten death, if a Passover was coming up (at dusk)—but Jesus died so quickly that they did not need to break any bones. He was the bone-perfect Lamb presentation to His Father.
Finally, Psalm 22:18 says:
They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.
This prophecy was exactly fulfilled in Matthew 27: 35:
Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots
David wrote this psalm, having never once seen a crucifixion in his life. It was invented by the Romans only a few hundred years before Jesus’ crucifixion.
So we have nine clear prophecies in one Psalm. This does not even touch on other prophecies about Him (where He would be born, etc); nor does it touch the prophecies naming Cyrus, and so many others. What are the odds that this was all circumstantial?
Finally, the last phrase of our apologetic for why we believe the Bible. As it says up above: and claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin
Look at II Peter 1:20:
knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
For proof of that phrase, simply look at Psalm 22 vs Matthew 27. That’s the only explanation why specific prophecies were fulfilled hundreds of years before the actual history came down. God knew the future, and passed it on.
People claim you cannot trust words out of the pen of men. With that kind of logic, if the teacher in school tries to tell you, “You got that math question wrong because you didn’t use the Pythagorean theorem.” You could say, “You can’t mark me down for that. How can you say for sure that I got that wrong? That math book was written by men; men are fallible, so I don’t trust it.” Clearly a wrong logic. Just because men wrote a book, doesn’t automatically mean you can’t trust it. The question a smart person should ask is, “Is what’s written Reliable? Is it internally consistent? Is it corroborated?
Finally, “Voddie” loves it when people say, “You believe the Bible, but I am a man of science. Unless you can prove it to me scientifically, I just can’t believe that.” Well, “Bad Voddie” would say, “You don’t even deserve to remain in this argument; but I’m going to let you stay in the argument because I’m going to like what’s about to happen to you. Because intellectually I’m about to beat you like a tied-up goat.”
So here it is: How are you going to tell me that you are a man of science and then ask me to prove my theory to you “scientifically.” So you want me to use the scientific method? Do you realize that you don’t use the scientific method on historical events? Here’s the basics of the scientific method you should have learned in high school: The event has to be observable, measurable, and repeatable. But you can’t use the scientific method to even prove that George Washington was our first president. Why? Because his presidency is not observable (now), measurable, or repeatable.
For writings on history to be judged on truth, you use an evidentiary method. Like in a courtroom: Do we have any witnesses? Do they tell the same story? Truth is, we have no external evidence (aside from His enemies) against the Bible’s claim to be the Word of God. These people who insist that it is all fake, have no idea how evidence is obtained properly. Why did the disciples, losers in the game of learning from Jesus, confused about His intentions, suddenly become on-fire evangelists, boldly proclaiming the Word, willing to be martyrs—which they all did (except for John). The only possible reason: the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection, the “cult” of Christianity would have gone nowhere.
So it’s because God knew history in advance—was that a reasonable idea? Yes. And He loves us, and wants us to follow His Word. Is that a reasonable idea? Yes. So He guided and told men what to write. That’s why the Bible is the ONLY book that has these prophecies come exactly true. Look at the Bible itself: 40 authors, only a few who knew one another, wrote 66 books, over a 1500-year period—think of it—and yet every book says something about what God loves and hates, and every book tells how Jesus was predicted to be the Savior—and the Judge of all mankind. He came, performed unbelievable miracles, and voluntarily died to pay the penalty for our sin. If we truly believe what the Bible says, we can’t help but love Him, we want to be like Him, we want to live a godly life—and then, at the end, we are saved. On the other hand, it does not matter what we say, if we have no desire to magnify Him, and we live our lives in the world, for us, and do not abide in Him—then in the end we are NOT saved. None of this “once saved, I’m done.” A strictly emotional “salvation,” without intentionality of life change, or an “insurance against fire,” are no excuse to avoid hell. May God bless you. Seek Him. If you are true in your motives, you will find Him. And your life will never be the same.
Voddie Baucham loved the intellectual debate. He loved to state truths about culture. He has sermons in my blogs on homosexuality, and especially on how the family should Biblically structure their members. Nobody was like him. He is better off now, though.
I also want to pay tribute to my other sources that are gone. Particularly Dave Pawson, Chuck Missler, Dr. John MacArthur, RC Sproul, and Derek Prince. I can still rejoice that Dave Bercot is still around, along with many useful other sources to say the things that I think God wants me to say.
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