So what do all these prophecies and Gospel narratives tell us to believe about Scripture? They tell us that prophecies about John the Baptist are uncannily accuracate. Even though John is not the main focus of Scripture and John the Baptist is lesser in nature than Jesus all the prophecy about him are dead accurate
John…a mere predecessor to Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the true centrality of Scripture and the main character of Scripture and the One Whom all Scripture speaks.
We see all (4) Gospels repeat certain things about John the Baptist with certainty.
(1) By the Gospels repeating / reaffirming one another they produces their own internal evidence and validate themselves.
(2) John the Baptist fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 that he’s the predecessor to the Lord
(3) Because of being a predecessor John fulfills the requirement of the Messenger of Malachi that will precede the Messenger of the Covenant who is the Lord Jesus Christ
(4) John the Baptist purpose is clear according to Matthew, Mark & Luke... “he’s preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
It is here that the rubber meets the road. It is here we see all roads lead to Jesus Christ.
i. The OT Scripture points to the Messenger or the one who “will prepare the way for the Lord”ii. The Messenger John, is pointing the way to “repentance and forgiveness”
iii. The Messenger John, is pointing the way to “repentance and the One who can forgive sin
iv. All these factors circle in on Jesus Christ in a tightening spiral.
v. All of these things zero in on Jesus like a target.
vi. All of these things make Jesus the target for Crucifixion and Resurrection
vii. All of these rings zero in on the Centrality of Scripture: Jesus
viii. As the facts zero in they become increasingly detailed
ix. As the facts zero in they become increasingly clear
x. All foretell of a Messiah that will forgive their sins
xi. Exactly as foretold/foreseen in Scripture
It is a plan folks…plain as day it’s a plan…just as I outlined it here.
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God in His wisdom was painstaking in detailing aspects of John the Baptist’s life up to 700 years ahead of time. How much more does this speak to accuracy of prophecy about His only begotten Son? If Bible can be trusted with painstakingly details of John the Baptist, and Old Testament style prophet in the desert near the Jordon River it certainly can be trusted w/ details concerning Jesus. Especially Jesus’ death and Resurrection according to Scripture. And this is exactly what we see in Bible HUNDREDS OF TIMES! The prophecies of Bible have never been wrong. Jesus’ Birth, Life and Death fulfilled over 300 of them. The odds of even a dozen of them being fulfilled by one man borders on impossible, 100’s make the story of Jesus’ life divinely planned. Hundreds of individual prophecies by many people...all equal Jesus. Astounding! Even Paul alludes to the importance of the accuracy of Scripture and its roll in validating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”
So why is inerrancy and accuracy of Scripture so important to you? Let me pose these questions and the answer to my question becomes obvious.
Question #1: What do all heresies have in common?
Answer: They doubt something that was in the Word of God-Thereby doubting God Himself
Question #2: What do all the backslidings of Israel in the OT have in common?
Answer: They either doubt something that is in the word of God-Thereby doubting God
Answer: Or they disobeyed the word-Thereby disobeying God
Question #3: How many sins or disobedient acts did man commit the Garden to cause the Fall of man?
Answer: ONE!
Question #4: How many sins can send you to Hell if you do not repent?
Answer: ONE!
Question #5: What do we conclude from this line of reasoning?
Answer: Every disobedient act matters!!! To doubt the Bible is disobedience to God, therefore it is SIN!
If Scripture is truly inerrant (which I believe it is) then when it tells you you’re justified and declared righteous in Christ by faith…you are. When it tells you you’re justified and declared righteous… you’ll be saved from sin…and you are given the gift of eternal life. On flip side of the coin: If you don’t believe in inerrancy all these things are thrown into question. The Bible then dissolves into a meaningless No-Man’s Land that is subject to the interpretation of sinful man. The Devil will attack Scripture first since it is an easiest target. It is God’s revealed Word/Will to man. It is mankind’s main link God. By destroying belief in the truth of Bible the Devil breaks a main link between man and God. By breaking/confusing this link man becomes confused in disobedience and disarray.
On the flipside: God states these things about His word: God commanded us to read Scripture and commit it to our hearts. To internalize it, make it part of who we are
[The Shema] Deuteronomy 6:1- 9 “These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
What value is there in Scripture? Let’s look at what God says about His own word
Scripture is Pure-Psalms 12:6 - The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
Scripture is Supreme-Psalms 138:2 - I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word
Scripture is Nourishing-Matthew 4:4 - But Jesus answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Scripture is Precious-Psalms 119:14 -In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. Psalms 119:72 - The law (Torah) of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Psalm 119:127 - Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold. Psalms 119:162 - I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.
Scripture is Complete-Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
In the end, for any human to call Scripture into question as untrue is to question God. It is an attempt to trump God’s authority and make themself the authority. This sounds dangerously like an Idol and this is unbiblical. Man is not the highest authority, GOD IS! If people do not get this foundation principle right …all other truths unravel. We are then doomed to judgment and doomed to be eternally seperated from a holy God. We as Christians need to get this right. Inerrancy and Infallibility of the Bible is foundational to our Christian Faith.
Scripture is inerrant. To deny this is to deny your Christian faith. To doubt things in the Bible is to doubt God Therefore its disobedience to God. Therefore it is SIN.
Go read and believe your Bible! It is the only absolute truth you will see in this life.
2 comments:
Amen. This love and belief in the inerrancy of the Bible is what led me home to the Catholic Church under the protection and care of Christ's appointed shepherd (Pope Benedict XVI currently). The Church gave us the Scriptures and has protected them from tampering (e.g.- Martin Luther's removal of St James, part of Hebrews and seven other books as well as adding the word "alone" to his "translation").
May God bless you.
Yvonne
Good thoughts, Yvonne. Very interesting take on Martin Luther. I will not defend him, but I don't want to vilify him too much either. I believe he changed the world and the RCC church for the better in many ways. To vilify him, though, is to throw the baby out with the bath water. Martin Luther was reacting to some glaring problems in the RCC church. I wish that the church at that time would have been healthy enough to take his criticism and reform, but it was not. From everything I've read, Luther did not want the church to be split, he just wanted reform. In their unhealthy state, they were defensive and would not consider it. Since Luther was passionate, his faith seemed to swing to the opposite extreme as a reaction to the church. This is where the word "alone" comes from IMO. He contended that this was a dynamic equivalence of the text - meaning that this is what the text truly meant. I am not so sure I agree with him, but again, I think his intentions were in the right place, he may have been just a little too reactionary. Then again, if he was not as reactionary as he was, he would not have accomplished the good things that he did (nor the bad).
As far as the books you spoke of, Luther did not remove them, he moved them and called them "Apocrypha: These Books Are Not Held Equal to the Scriptures, but Are Useful and Good to Read." This is a common misconception. These books were actually in the KJV originally as well. It has been suggested that they were removed later to be more cost efficient (much like only printing new testaments as some do today) and later, protestants came to believe that they were not part of the canon at all more likely b/c they were not in THEIR Bible.
Luther actually seemed to have less of a problem with the deuterocanonical books than he did with some others - two of those begin James and Hebrews, as you mentioned. In fact, I believe that his aversion to these books should be more suspect to protestants than the fact that he moved the deuterocanonical books (again, he did not omit them).
In the end, he wanted everyone to be able to read the Bible. I believe this is a noble gesture, and in theory, should have made the world a better place. So why didn't it? On one side, you had people reading their own Bibles saying that the RCC church is wrong and we should kill them. On the other side, you had the RCC claiming they were the only way, and we should kill the others. Where do you find Jesus on either side? Jesus was willing to die for all, but after the protestant reformation, we see a lot of "Christians" not willing to die for others, but seeking to kill others!
Today, we are under the false impression that we are better and more refined in our theological quarrels. Unfortunately, we still draw up our battle lines and try to defend our positions. Never be fooled into thinking that defending a position is truly seeking God. God does not need to be defended, and human "positions" are just that - human.
In the end, Yvonne, I want to leave you with this encouragement. I don't know where you've been, but you mention that you have been "led home". I praise God for that. I have been reading "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light". I am so inspired by her relationship with Jesus! If you haven't read it, I recommend it. I wish for you a relationship with Jesus that is like hers - deep and meaningful. God bless you.
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