Seven Reasons to Believe The Bible!

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)

There is a study done by Pastor Erwin Lutzer that is so clear, accurate and detailed in explaining why we, all people, should believe The Bible, entitled "Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust The Bible".  The seven reasons he gives are:

1. The Logical Claims of the Bible
2. The Historical Reliability of the Bible
3. The Prophetic Predictions of the Bible
4. The Authority of Christ
5. The Story of Creation
6. The Role of God's Providence in Creating the Bible
7. The Power of God's Word in Your Life

We will expound on reason # 3 - the Prophetic Predictions of the Bible.  As Pastor Lutzer states, Nostradamus and so many other predictors of the future and fortune tellers are believed by people, and most of the time their predictions are full of vague, broad and widely interpretable information.  Even people who profess to be Christians have given false "prophecies".  God warns us not to entertain these people or listen to them: There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, ... (Deuteronomy 18:10-12); But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.  (II Peter 2:1-2, 18-21)

It is not wise to seek counsel and instruction solely from other people, who can come up with all kinds of ideas and imaginations, based on their feelings and beliefs at any given time: A fool also multiplies words. No man knows what is to be; Who can tell him what will be after him? (Ecclesiastes 10:14) “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven— what can you do? Deeper than Sheol [Hell]— what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. (Job 11:7-9) How much better to believe God, who never changes and always stays the same, regardless of what's going on in the world: “For I am the Lord, I do not change;... (Malachi 3:6); “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, ... for in Him we live and move and have our being, ... (Acts 17:24, 28); Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. (Psalm 139:7-8) Yes, God used men to speak and write His Words, but "the Lord God says,'...'" (II Peter 1:16-21)

But to get back to why we can believe the Bible, based on the prophecies of God, the following has to be the most convincing reason of all.  The book of Isaiah was written between 700-680 B.C., and God said: Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”’ “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— ... For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1, 4-5) Not only does God prophecy that Jerusalem will be destroyed and the children of Isreal will be taken into captivity by the Babylonian nation, but He goes on to prophecy that after a period of time, which ended up being seventy years, the children of Isreal will be allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city by the Babylonian ruler at the time, and He states his name, Cyrus; all of this prophecied by God nearly 200 years before it happens, as is recorded in Ezra 1 - 6, somewhere between 600-530 B.C.!  This fact is also documented in many other historical books, which we can verify for ourselves regarding Cyrus the Great.

Why did God specify the name, Cyrus, in His prophecy?  Because unlike the other so-called prophets, predictors or fortune tellers at that time, He was proving beyond a doubt that He is the One and Only True and Living God: “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, Since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, Let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’” (Isaiah 44:6-8)  God is the only One ... who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; (Romans 4:17); But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) First we have to believe in God, then we have to believe the Word of God, and then and only then can we “Repent, and let every one of [us] be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and [we] shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38) We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God in order to understand the Word of God because ...the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (I Corinthians 2:14)

*Copy of the book can be ordered here!

There are hundreds of other examples of fullfilled prophecy spoken by God that could be given, and there is still hundreds more that will be fullfilled.  Another one we can research is God prophecies the destruction of the city of Tyre by "many nations" through the prophet Ezekiel around 592-587 B.C. (Ezekiel 26-28), and it was fullfilled starting with Nebuchadnezzer, king of Babylon around 573 B.C. (Ezekiel 26:7-14) and completed by Alexander the Great and the help of many conquered nations around 356-323 B.C. (Ezekiel 26:3-6, Alexander the Great)  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (I John 4:1) This is the Word of the Lord! Amen.