The Bible is the world’s greatest book. Unchanged, and unchanging, its words will outlast the material universe (Mt 24.35; 1 Pet 1.23-25). Unlike any other volume, as the Word of God it “is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit” (Heb 4.12, NASB1). With divine authority, the Scriptures command men how to live, they give a reliable (albeit selective) account of world history, and they reveal the character of God. Salvation from eternal ruin, the reception of everlasting life, and the impartation of righteousness all result from truly believing the Bible. Unlike all other writings, “the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Ps 19.8). Because of this purity, like water, the Scriptures cleanse believers from defilement (Eph 5.26). They also give Christians sufficient spiritual nourishment: milk for the newborn (1 Pet 2.2), and solid meat for the mature believer (Heb 5.12-14). Reading the Word provides inexpressible joy (Jer 15.16); more valuable than all of this world’s wealth (Ps 19.10).
The Bible divides into two main sections: the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). Following a brief record of creation, the fall of man, the cataclysmic flood, and the scattering of humanity at Babel, the OT narrows its focus to one man (Abraham) and his descendants. And, in so doing, it unfolds God’s plan of redemption. Through seventeen historical, five poetic, and seventeen prophetic books, the OT looks forward to Christ’s coming, His suffering and His glory (Lk 24.25-27). In its five historical books, the NT charts Christ’s coming into this world, His public service, His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, followed by the rapid spread of the life-transforming Gospel message, all the way to Rome. In 21 letters, written to individuals, churches, and groups of churches, the doctrinal implications of the cross are explained, Christ is defended against heresy, and local church practice and godly Christian living are detailed. The NT climaxes with one prophetic book, which rounds up everything, looking beyond Christ’s glorious return to “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev 21.1). In these two articles we will summarise the seven stages of Biblical revelation.
Stage One: Preparing the Writers
Before the first Hebrew word of Genesis chapter one was penned, God knew the 30-plus men who, during a 1,500-year period, would write a permanent record of His self-disclosure. Overseeing their genetic make-up, their upbringing and educational opportunities, their family lives and careers, their life experiences, their spiritual contemporaries, and even the political environment in which they lived, like a master craftsman, God moulded each man and his character, preparing him to write his portion of the Word of God.
Prior to his mother conceiving him, Jeremiah was chosen by Jehovah to be “a prophet unto the nations” (Jer 1.5). Likewise, set apart for the purpose of God “from [his] mother’s womb” (Gal 1.15), the apostle Paul was “brought up in [Jerusalem] at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers” (Acts 22.3). This rigorous education in youth prepared Paul for his future service for God. Moses, too, was primed in childhood. Having been saved as a baby by the brave act of his mother and his sister, Moses was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, and became “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians … mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7.22; cf Ex 2.1-10). Samuel was another man whose infancy had a critical influence on his character. Having been devoted to Jehovah by his godly mother, he was brought up in the home of Eli the priest, where he “ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod” (1 Sam 2.18).
Isaiah the prophet had a happy home life. His wife shared his keen interest in the things of God, being herself a prophetess (Isa 8.3). His sons, who assisted him in his prophetic ministry (see Isa 7.3), bore names which spelled out God’s programme for the nation: invasion (Mahershalalhashbaz, Isa 8.3), followed by restoration (Shearjashub, Isa 7.3). Other writers had less pleasant family lives. As part of his prophetic message, Jeremiah was forbidden to marry (Jer 16.1-4). The unmourned death of Ezekiel’s wife was incorporated into his ministry (Ezek 24.15-27), and Hosea’s adulterous wife symbolised Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness (Hos 1.2).
David’s shepherding experience comes across in his psalms, while Luke’s training as a physician is evident in his sharp eye for historical detail and his use of medical expressions. When Joshua was trained by Moses, when Luke accompanied Paul during his missionary journeys and his imprisonment, and when the apostles spent time with Christ, they were being prepared for their writing task. Stretching for more than 50 years, Isaiah’s prolonged service witnessed national and international upheavals, which were woven into his prophecy.
Stage Two: Breathing the Words
Inspiration is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit on the writers of the Scriptures so that, fully using their own personalities and writing styles, they wrote precisely what God intended them to write and therefore [the Scriptures] are God’s words as well as man’s words.2
When the apostle Peter referred to Psalm 41 as “scripture … which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake” (Acts 1.16), he confirmed this idea of dual authorship (human and divine). In his second letter he expanded the concept, explaining that “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet 1.21). Inspiration applies equally to the Old and New Testaments. Peter saw Paul’s epistles as Scripture (2 Pet 3.16), and Paul placed Luke’s Gospel on a level with Deuteronomy, referring to both as Scripture (1 Tim 5.18). In his second letter to Timothy, Paul asserted that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim 3.16). Multiple internal proofs testify to the divine inspiration of the Bible. The OT frequently uses the phrase “thus saith the Lord” (Ex 4.22), affirming that the words recorded were of God. In quoting Deuteronomy, the Lord Jesus declared that Scripture is the “word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Mt 4.4).
Stage Three: Preserving the Texts
As far as we know, not one original manuscript still exists. All that we have are copies of copies. Therefore, how do we know if what we have in our hands is even close to the original texts? One fundamental principle which attests to its authenticity is the Bible’s own record of God preserving His Word. He shielded it from the fire and from the knife (Jer 36.20-28), and even from neglect by Israel (2 Chr 34.14-19). He said to Jeremiah “I [am watching over] My word to perform it” (Jer 1.12, Newberry Margin). Through Isaiah, Jehovah declared “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa 55.11). In the second century BC, Antiochus Epiphanes was prevented from wiping out the Bible when he burned copies of the Pentateuch, and declared that “anyone found possessing the book of the covenant … was condemned to death by the decree of the king.”3 In the fourth century AD, Emperor Diocletian was unable to eliminate the Scriptures, and every attempt since has failed.
In 1947, the finding of the Dead Sea scrolls added further proof that what we have today is remarkably close to the original manuscripts. It is assumed that these scrolls were hidden away by devout Jewish Essenes, to protect them from the Romans in AD 70. Up until this discovery, the oldest copy of Isaiah dated from AD 900. The Dead Sea manuscripts included an entire scroll of Isaiah, written between 175 and 150 BC. Apart from a few miniscule differences, it was identical to the later copy dated from AD 900; an astonishing testimony to the diligence of the OT copiers. As far as the NT is concerned, the thousands of manuscripts still in existence substantiate the reliability of what we possess. Apart from two or three disputed passages (for example, Mk 16.9-20; Jn 7.53 - 8.11; 1 Jn 5.7), the actual differences between these many manuscripts is tiny. “A T Robertson suggested that the real concern of textual criticism is of a ‘thousandth part of the entire text’.”4
1 New American Standard Bible.
2 C R Swindoll & R B Zuck, Understanding Christian Theology, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003), p 73.
3 1 Maccabees 1.56-57, cited by C R Swindoll & R B Zuck, Understanding Christian Theology, p 45.
4 N L Geisler & W E Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, (Chicago: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986), p 474.
(To be continued …)
