8.21.16~“The Bible Sovereignly and Mysteriously Reveals the Past, the Present, and the Future!”

Audio Recording Available soon..

It is my desire for you be amazed by God’s Word, that is, the revelation of God given to us in the 66 Books of the Bible; the most awesome Book...

Think about it. The words were sovereignly “breathed out,“ originating from and authored by God, who used some 40 different human authors, on three continents (Africa, Asia, Europe), written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), over a period of about 1600 years, and as originally given, is without error. How is that possible?

2Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed...”
2Peter 1:20-21, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
Revelation 22:18-19, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

Today I want to excite you about the Bible, by sharing with you some examples of just how God’s Word speaks to the past, the present and the future.
A Common Flood Story: There is a Sumerian king list from c. 2100 BC that divides itself into two categories: the kings who ruled before a great flood and those who ruled after it. One of the earliest examples of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh (from ancient Mesopotamia, c. 2100 BC, describes a great flood sent as punishment by the gods, with humanity saved only when a great ship is built.

A later Greek story, tells of a couple who survived a great flood sent by Zeus. Taking refuge on the top of a tall mountain, they survived, and supposedly they repopulated the earth by throwing stones behind them that turned into human beings.

A story from China records that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters escaped a great flood and were the only people alive on earth. After the great flood, they repopulated the world.

Hawaiians have a flood story that tells of a time when, long after the death of the first man, the world became a wicked, terrible place. Only one good man was left, and his name was Nu-u. He made a great canoe with a house on it and filled it with animals. The waters came up over the earth and drowned all the people; only Nu-u, his family, and the animals with them were saved.

One of the strongest evidences for the global flood which annihilated all people on Earth except for Noah and his family, has been the ubiquitous presence of flood stories in the folklore of people groups from around the world. The stories have a common theme, except for various details and cultural differences, and they seem to be telling a very similar story.

As the story of the Flood was verbally passed down one generation to the next, over hundreds, thousands of years, some parts of the story would no doubt have been lost or altered in some way (the telephone game).

But did you notice the Hawaiian patriarchal survivor’s name Nu-u, is very similar to Noah.

Hebrews and Bricks: See Exodus 1:11; 5:10-21...
The Bible says when the Hebrews were slaves under pharaoh in Egypt, they built

cities using bricks of clay mixed with straw, then clay and stubble, then clay alone. In 1883, Henri Édouard Naville, on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Society of London, was the first to identify and examine the ruins of Pithom, mentioned in the

Bible, as one of the treasure cities built for the pharaoh by the Hebrews, prior to their Exodus from Egypt.

Neville excavated all three types of brick at this site, just like the Bible said. The Hittites:

In 2Samuel 11:3, David is inquiring about “Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
Genesis 15:18-21, “The LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites...” Numbers 13:29, ...“The Hittites... live in the hill country.”

Joshua 3:10, ...“God will drive out ...the Hittites.”
The Bible frequently mentions the Hittites, but for centuries skeptics of the Bible

pointed to the lack of any evidence of the existence of the Hittites, alleging that, the Bible was in error.

But in 1906, Hugo Winckler excavated Hattusa, the Hittite capital that once rivaled both Egypt and Assyria in its grandeur (See Biblical World, pp. 290ff.) Extensive evidence of the Hittite nation was uncovered, validated, and catalogued. Chariot Wheels in the Red Sea:

Although most secular historians consider the parting of the Red Sea (for the escaping Hebrews) and the drowning of the Egyptian armies (by God, to protect His people), to be a fable or a myth.

Chariot wheels, axles and other artifacts were found in the Gulf of Aqaba in the late 1970’s, the place most Biblical Scholars believe the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea to escape the the Egyptians. The artifacts found here were covered in coral, which made it difficult to see them clearly, but they found numerous wheels - some were still on their axles, and some were off, they also found chariot cabs without the wheels (See Exodus 14:21-28).
Nebuchadnezzar’s Brick’s: Nebuchadnezzar II, also spelled Nebuchadrezzar, was king of Babylonia from about 605 BC to 562 BC; he is mentioned by name about 90 times in the historical and prophetic books of the Bible, but mostly he is referenced in the book of Daniel, as the main character alongside Daniel, in chapters 1–4.

Nebuchadnezzar served as God’s instrument of judgment on Judah for its idolatry and disobedience;in fact God refers to Nebuchadnezzar as “My servant” three times in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10).

Nebuchadnezzar is famous for conquering Judah and destroying Jerusalem about 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuzaradan, his general, completely ransacked and destroyed the temple along with most of Jerusalem, deporting the majority of remaining Jews to Babylon.

Fired clay bricks with Nebuchadnezzar’s name were excavated in the 1800’s, dated 580 BC, now displayed in the London British Museum.
Walls of Jericho: (See Joshua 6:20), “So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.”

Hebrews 11:30, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.”

Several archeological excavations were done in Jericho in the 19th and 20th centuries in which much has been discovered; most amazing, the walls on the hillsides seem to have fallen out, not in, creating a ramp for the Israelites to easily enter the city.

Dead Sea Scrolls: In 1947 a Bedouin herdsman near Qumran, stumbled upon ancient scrolls when he tossed a rock into a cave opening and heard the sound of pottery shattering. This discovery led to the search for more scrolls, and between 1947-1956 some nine hundred manuscripts were discovered in eleven caves around Qumran, along the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Over two hundred scrolls were portions of the Bible itself, dated 250 BC–AD 68, meaning that we now had copies of the Old Testament 1000 years older than current copies, and yet there were not any notable discrepancies when comparing the older with the currently held copies of the Old Testament.

In addition to the people and things recorded in the Bible that I have already mentioned, places such as Haran, Megiddo, Shechem, Shiloh, Gibeah, Beth Shemesh, Beersheba, and many other cites and urban sites have been excavated, not to mention that archeological findings have also validated many of the nations and people groups mentioned in the Bible, e.g., Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Amorites, Philistines, etc., demonstrating that fact, not myth or fable, is what is recorded in the Old Testament historical narratives.

Also, consider the following quotations from prominent archeologists:

"...it may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries." -- Dr. Nelson Glueck (Rivers in the Desert, p. 31) "...archaeology has confirmed countless passages which have been rejected by critics as unhistorical or contradictory to known facts ... Yet archaeological discoveries have shown that these critical charges ... are wrong and that the Bible is trustworthy ... We do not know of any cases where the Bible has been proved wrong." -- Dr. Joseph P. Free (Archaeology and Bible History, pp. 1,2,134)

Consider Science?
Job 26:7, "[God] stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on

nothing.”
Isaiah 40:22, “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”

Both Job and Isaiah wrote long before scientists or explorers firmly proved the earth was round.

Today we have pictures from space to show the earth's circular shape, and yet Job (4000 years ago), and Isaiah (3000 years ago) knew the earth was round, long before technology confirmed what God said through them.

Throughout history men have professed many beliefs about the heavens and the earth, but God revealed His truth through His prophets, in His Word.
Psalm 8:3-9, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”

Men didn’t know of any “paths in the sea,” until Matthew Maury read this verse and determined to find them, discovering the ocean currents, he became known
as the Father of Oceanography, writing the first textbook on modern oceanography, in 1855 (Impact, 9/91, pp. 3-4).
Ecclesiastes 1:7, “All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.”

Today we understand he three major processes of the water cycle, i.e., evaporation, condensation, precipitation, to which I will add accumulation and circulation of water. The cycle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation happens over and over. How did Solomon know this long before hydrologists studied and verified these cycles? God’s wisdom was given to him, just as it was to Job, Isaiah and David, among many other prophets of God!

What is written in the Bible has never contradicted any proven scientific fact; and yet it has miraculously stated many scientific truths centuries before men knew, let alone could validate such proven scientific evidence.

While the Bible has been repeatedly proved accurate, those who criticize the Bible have never been able to disprove it. This fact alone ought to strengthen our faith to accept and believe the Bible.

Consider Prophecy?

Isaiah 42:8-9, ”I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."

God predicted future events. It takes a Supreme All-knowing Being to foretell the future accurately. If the God of the Bible can do this, then He must exist and must be the true God.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22, “The prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak... that prophet shall die.
...When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come true, the LORD has not spoken.”

If a man attempts to predict the future and fails, that man is not speaking for God or by God’s power, and so, when the Bible writers correctly predicted the future, this indicated that God was working through them.

The Bible foretells the coming of God’s Son (Luke 24:25-27, 44-48). The Old Testament Scriptures spoke about Him, and He fulfilled all they said about Him.

The Apostles often quoted Old Testament prophecies declaring Jesus to be the Messiah, both Lord and Savior [see Acts 2:25-36; 3:18- 26; 13:27-39].
A few of the Prophecies about and fulfilled by Jesus:

His Place of birth: Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-6).
To be a Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25).
Entry into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-9). Crucifixion (Psalm 22:16-18; 34:20; John 19:18-37).
None of His bones to be broken (Exodus 12:24; Psalm 34:20; John 19:33, 36) Died for the sins of hers (Isaiah 53:4-12; 1Peter 2:21-25)
Buried in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60).
Resurrection (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:24-32).
For a man to a fulfill just one or two of these prophecies would be amazing, but

to fulfill all eight of them would be astronomical (if one of ten tickets is marked and placed in a hat, you have a 1 in 10 chance of blindly reaching in and getting the marked ticket. For one man to fulfill all eight of the above prophecies would be expressed as a 1 in 1017 chance (100,000,000,000,000,000), verbalized as a one in one hundred quadrillion or one in one hundred thousand billion chance.

Mere men, writing by their own human wisdom, could never have perfectly revealed the past, present and future like this, but the Bible writers did so time and time again, about people, places, things, events, science.

The witness of Scripture testifies that God exists and that He spoke through these men, and Jesus is the Lord and Savior God sent into the world, the Living Word, and all the people in this world will be judged by how they respond to God’s One and Only Son, Who, by the set plan, purpose and power of God fulfilled all that was written about His birth, life, death and resurrection.

You can completely trust that everything the Bible says is absolutely true and will come to fulfillment in and through Jesus Christ: crucified, resurrected, and coming again to bring eternal condemnation in hell to all those who have rejected Him, and eternal exaltation in heaven to all those who have received Him.

Acts 10:43, All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him

receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”