Evidence That The Holy Scriptures Must Be True

One of the most common objections I receive to my preaching on campus is: "Why do you expect us to believe some book written thousands of years ago by a bunch of dead men?" This question actually strikes at the heart of the matter. If the Holy Scriptures are true, then everything I preach according to the Word is true and those not living according to its precepts are in BIG trouble. However, if the Holy Scriptures are not true, nothing I preach even matters. So, is there evidence that establishes that the Holy Scriptures MUST be true? Indeed, the evidence is everywhere. We will examine just a few of the reasons why the Holy Scriptures MUST be true.

THE PROPHETIC ACCURACY

No other religious text in the world contains the specific prophetic claims found in the Holy Scriptures. Most of the religious texts do not even dare touch prophecy. Buddhists, Confucianists, and the followers of Mohammed have their sacred writings, but in them the element of prophecy is strangely absent.

Scripture predicted in Daniel chapter 9 that there would be EXACTLY 483 years between the decree issued to rebuild the Jewish Temple to the day the Jewish Messiah will be nailed to a tree. Daniel chapter 9 is dated by most archeologists to around 500 BCE.

Sure enough, the secular historian Josephus and other historical encyclopedias show that exactly 483 years from the day Artaxerxes, the Grecian Emperor, ordered the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt, Jesus the Messiah (YahShua ha Mashiach) was nailed to the tree. It was 483 years EXACTLY to the day. How could Daniel, writing in 500 BCE, prophesied with such accuracy the very day the Messiah would be killed? The answer is obvious: only a man in touch with the Divine Creator could make such a prophecy.

In the book of Jeremiah, dated by archeologists to have been written around 600 BCE, the prophet predicted that the Jews would be enslaved by Babylon for 70 years and then allowed to return to Israel and rebuild their temple. Again, the secular historian Josephus as well as other historical encyclopedias record that exactly 70 years passed from the first siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians to the day King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Israel.

Again, how could a man prophesy so accurately more than 70 years before these events would take place? The answer is simple: this author wrote from the inspiration given him by YahVeh (the name of the Hebrew Creator).

The destruction of Tyre, the invasion of Jerusalem, the fall of Babylon and Rome -- each was accurately predicted and fulfilled in the smallest details.

In the life of YahShua Himself, over 300 Messianic prophecies were fulfilled. Hundreds of years before the Messiah was born in 4 BCE, prophecies predicted he would be born in Bethlehem, grow up as a youth in Egypt, grow up as a young man in Nazareth, die by being nailed to a tree, etc. The chances that YahShua fulfilled all 300 of these prophecies by mere accident is statistically impossible. By the laws of chance it is ONE in a number followed by 181 zeroes!

As you can see, any person who seriously studies the prophecies made in Scripture and then verifies the fulfillment of these prophecies by reading secular historians can easily see that the Holy Scriptures MUST have been written by the Creator of the Universe. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures MUST be true.

THE SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY

It is a matter of historical fact that science has never developed significantly anywhere except where there was a Christian influence. Science has mainly developed and advanced in areas where the Scriptures were most freely read. Galileo, Newton, Pascal and Copernicus and many others knew the Scriptures and knew its Author.

Thousands of years before Columbus sailed across the ocean, and hundreds of years before the Greeks ever hypothesized that the world was round, Isaiah 40:21-22 records the spherical nature of the earth. This book is dated around 750 BCE.

In Job 26:7, a book dated around 3000 BCE, the Scriptures factually establishes the earth’s free float in space. In Job 25:5, the moon is shown to be a reflector, unlike the radiating sun. Keep in mind, when these scriptures were written, most of the scientific community thought the world to be held up by "three elephants on the back of a tortoise".

Modern precision telescopes have charted a "runaway" star in space, Arcturus, which drifts with all its planets in tow at 27.5 miles a second. The Scriptures recorded its wanderings centuries before the telescope in Job 38:32.

300 years ago it was discovered that physical life was resident in the blood; the Scriptures recorded this fact 3500 years ago in Leviticus 17:11.

THE MYTH OF NUMEROUS TRANSLATIONS

Even when faced with all this evidence, students often cry out, "Yes, but the Scriptures have been translated so many times and rewritten so many times, how can I even trust what I read?" This question betrays an ignorance of translation history.

In the 1st century, the Hebrew scriptures of the "Old Testament" (Tanakh) were already locked in and agreed upon as true. The "New Testament" (Renewed Covenant) was written in the 1st century in Hebrew and Greek. Because of severe persecution, anti-Messiah Jews, and anti-semitism, the Hebrew Renewed Covenant was destroyed save the gospel of Matthew and portions of other books. The Textus Receptus is the Greek Renewed Covenant compiled from the most reliable, scholarly reviewed manuscripts.

By the 4th century, as the Roman Catholic Church began to grow in power, it sought to destroy the Textus Receptus and to create its own version, the Latin Vulgate. Because the RCC was so pagan, it had to eliminate the original translation of scriptures and substitute it with a version that would uphold their pagan religion. The Latin Vulgate removed hundreds of verses, added hundreds more, and twisted the Scriptures beyond recognition. The RCC could not tolerate the original Greek Textus Receptus because the truth in that original translation undermined the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

However, the RCC was never able to destroy the Textus Receptus. Monks secretly took the original Greek manuscripts of the Renewed Covenant to the Byzantine Empire. Over the next 1000 years, the Textus Receptus remained preserved and untouched in the Byzantine Empire.

Around 1500, a man named Erasmus, a high official in the Roman Catholic Church, began to see the paganism and corruption in his religion. Using his wealth, power and prestige, he helped finance a caravan of wagons that brought the Textus Receptus from Byzantium, across Europe, and into Germany. Translators, defying threats from the Roman Catholic Church, completed a translation of the Greek Textus Receptus into German that is now known as the Tyndale Bible.

A few years later, the translators also made an English translation of the Greek Textus Receptus that is now known as the King James Bible.

I prefer a King James Bible because many of the other modern translations (NIV, NASB, etc.) are translated from either the very corrupt Latin Vulgate or from suspect Greek manuscripts. The KJV is one of only two English translations derived ONLY from the Textus Receptus. This is why many of the modern translations leave out hundreds of verses that are found in the KJV.

As you can see, the King James Bible was only translated ONCE, from the original Greek Textus Receptus, to the old English version of the King James Bible made available in the early 1500’s. The idea that the Scriptures have endured many translations is simply a myth.

STILL NOT CONVINCED?

In the 1950’s archeologists discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of these scrolls was a portion of the Old Testament Book called Isaiah. This Isaiah scroll was dated around 150 BCE. When compared with a modern day KJV translation of Isaiah, the discrepancies between them were nil.

We have THOUSANDS of Greek New Testament manuscripts that formed the Textus Receptus in existence today. The discrepancies between those manuscripts are virtually zero. We have FAR FEWER original manuscripts of Plato, Aristotle or Shakespeare, yet the truth of their works are hardly ever questioned. We have far more proof that the Holy Scriptures are true and have maintained their translational integrity over the years.

MODERN DAY ARCHEOLOGY

In the last 20 years, archeology has done what no theologian could possibly do in proving the truth of the Holy Scriptures. They have now discovered the ashen remains of Sodom and Gomorrah, preserved in petrified sulfuric ash. They have discovered Jericho, with its walls toppled OUTWARD. The Scriptures record the Israelites marching around the city 7 times before YahVeh caused the walls to tumble. Archeologists could not understand what would make the city walls fall outward. Surely an invasion would cause the walls to fall inward, not outward. And what city would try and break down its own walls to fall outward? The only explanation is the one given in Holy Scriptures.

Recently archeologists discovered an underwater land bridge in the Gulf of Aqaba. Under thousands of feet of water, they discovered 18th dynasty Egyptian chariot wheels and horse bones. The 18th dynasty is the same period the Scriptures record Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. What were horse bones and Egyptian chariot wheels doing at the bottom of a sea? The Scriptures record Moses parting the sea and after the Israelites passed over, the Egyptian army pursued. However, as the Egyptian army raced through the divided sea, the water came crashing down upon them.

Twenty years ago, atheists laughed at Christians for believing such "fairytales". Now, bolstered with archeological proof, Christians are laughing at the atheists.

THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER

So, sinner, what will you do with this information? Are you still going to pretend that the Holy Scriptures have no evidence for being true? Are you still going to ignore the greatest book ever written, one upon which your entire civilization has been built?

Or, like the student you should be, are you going to investigate the claims of this tract and verify this information? Are you brave enough to discover the evidence for the truth of the Holy Scriptures?

You have no excuse. Either you make the effort to find out if this tract is true, or you ignore the evidence. But I promise you, if you choose the former, you will discover even MORE evidence that the Scriptures must be true. If you choose the latter, you will one day die and burn in the Lake of Fire forever. The choice is up to you.

In YahShua and by His Torah, Daniel J. Lee -- Portland State University Campus Preacher