The 7 Wonders of the Word of God

1. The 7 Wonders of the Word of God 2 Peter 1:16-21

2. Students on a Test of Bible Knowledge • Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc • Moses went to the top of Mt Cyanide to get the 10 Commandments • The 7th Commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery • Joshua fought at the battle of Geritol • The followers of Jesus were called the 12 decibals • David killed Galihad, who was one of the Finkelsteins • A Christian should only have 1 wife. This is called monotony

3. Some feel like… • Richard Dawkins ““The Bible should be taught, but emphatically not as reality. It is fiction, myth, poetry, anything but reality. As such it needs to be taught because it underlies so much of our literature and our culture.” • Mark Twain “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” • Is the Bible reliable? Is the text corrupt? Is it like any other book?

4. 2 Peter 1:16-21 • “For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes 17 when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”[a]18 We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. • 19 Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines[b] in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding,[c]21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.”

5. 7 Wonders of the Ancient World • Great Pyramid at Giza • The Hanging Gardens of Babylon • The statue of Zeus at Olympia • The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus • The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus • The Statue of Helios at Rhodes • The Lighthouse at Alexandria

6. Wonder #1 The Bible’s Divine Inspiration • vs 16 ““For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes” • Dawkins says the Bible is full of fables, like Aesop’s tales. It’s just a collection of imaginary stories. • Here Peter emphatically says no to that argument. • Biblos means “scroll” • Hagios means “set apart, distinct, different.” • Many books claim to be the word of God

7. Wonder #1 The Bible’s Divine Inspiration • 2 Timothy 3:16 ““All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.” • Emphasis here is God-breathed • Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” • It’s the only living book in the world

8. The Bible’s Divine Inspiration • Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.” • The Bible not only speaks truth about who God is, but it tells us who we are • Virgil or Homer never said ‘hear the words of the gods.’ • Shakespeare never said his writings came from God. • But the Bible says “thus saith the Lord” over 2600 times

9. Wonder #2 The Bible’s Unique Formation • Peter said “you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Spirit.” • How did this work? • The Bible was written over a period of 1500 years by 40 different people in 3 different languages.

10. The Bible’s Unique Formation • Consider it’s Author’s: • Moses was a prince of Egypt writing in the wilderness • Daniel was a Prime Minister writing from a palace in Iraq • Paul was a prisoner writing behind bars • Amos was a farmer • Peter a fisherman • Solomon a king • Luke a doctor • Matthew worked for the IRS

11. The Bible’s Unique Formation • Consider all of this and yet the storyline for all the books is the same, the Creator of the Universe has made a way for you to know Him personally. • Josh McDowell wrote ““Find ten people from your local area having similar backgrounds, who speak the same language, and are all from basically the same culture. Then separate them an ask them to write their opinion on only one controversial subject, such as they meaning of life. When they have finished, compare the conclusions of these ten writers. Do they agree with each other? Of course not. But the Bible did not consist of merely ten authors, but 40. It was not written in one generation, but over a period of 1,500 years; not by authors with the same education, culture or language, but with vastly different educations, many different cultures, from 3 continents and 3 different languages, and finally not just one subject but hundreds. And yet in the bible there is unity. There is complete harmony, which cannot be explained by coincidence or collusion. The unity of the bible is a strong argument in favor of its divine inspiration.”

12. Wonder #3: The Bible’s Widespread Circulation • The Bible is the most widely distributed book in the world • It was the first book printed on the printing press in 1456. • Since then over 7 billion copies have been distributed • The Gideon’s have given away over 1.9 Billion copies alone! • They give away an average of 113 Bible’s per minute!

13. Wonder #3: The Bible’s Widespread Circulation • According to Ethnalogue, there are over 6000 spoken languages on earth. • Muslims say that in order for the Koran to be understood it must be read in Aramaic. • But the Bible has been translated into over 2200 languages. • What’s the big problem with the rest? • Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations (ethnesin), and then the end will come.”

14. Wonder #4: The Bible’s Honest Confirmation • Luke 1:3-4 “ Since I have carefully investigated everything from the beginning (eyewitness accounts), it seemed good to write out an orderly account for you…so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” • Is the Bible reliable? Has it been corrupted? Is it true?

15. Scientific Proof • Scientists in the past considered the stars to be countable. Ptolemy said there were 1,056 and Kepler said that there were 1,005. But Centuries before the Bible declared that the Universe is expanding, something that Edwin Hubble didn’t figure out until 1929. Less than 100 years ago! • Isaiah 42: 5 ““This is what the Lord says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out.” • Jeremiah 33:22 says “I will make the descendants of David as countless as the stars in the sky.” • For Centuries Science taught that the earth was flat. But Job 26:7 says “He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; He suspends the earth over nothing.” And Isaiah 40:22 says “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth.” • For centuries medical science was unaware of contagious infection. Today, our disease protocols follow what the Bible said thousands of years ago “As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.” • DrPhillip Schaff wrote “There is no conflict between science and the Bible. It’s just that sometimes the theories of science needs time to catch up.”

16. Other to Consider • The blood clotting principles, reaching their peak levels of vitamin K on a male child’s eighth day, which is when they were circumcised (Gen 17:12). • Life saving sanitary practices which were not universally practiced until the late 18th Century (Num 19, Lev 11, 15, Duet 32:10-12). • Washing and bathing for sanitary reasons (Lev 15:13). • Even dietary laws that promoted good health (Lev 11:9-12). • That blood is a necessity for life.  Too bad the old doctors didn’t know this for they killed thousands upon thousands in blood letting in the belief it helped (Lev 17:11). • The orbit of the sun (Psalm 19:4-6). • Upper air currents circulate around the earth as in the many different jet streams (Eccl 1:6). • The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics where things move from order to disorder and are decaying and deteriorating (Isaiah 51:6, Heb 1:10-11). • Deep oceanic springs (Job 38:16). • The hydrological cycle (Amos 9:6, Job 36:27-28).

17. Literary Proof • You never hear that Plato never existed. • Quotes attributed to Plato include ““We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” And “Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods.” • How many manuscripts in history mention Plato? • How man contain information about Jesus and contain His quotes? • How do you determine whether a text is reliable? 2 Primary ways

18. Literary Proof • Homer’s Iliad • 640 supporting manuscripts • Oldest one is over 2200 years after Homer wrote his • Julius Caesar wrote an account of the Gallic Wars, still taught at West Point today • 10 manuscripts, oldest one is over 1000 years after Caesar wrote his account

19. What about the Bible? • New Testament has over 5,500 supporting manuscripts and the oldest one dates back to only 70 years after the crucifixion. • William Albright, a Fulbright Scholar at Johns Hopkins wrote “No other work from Greco-Roman antiquity is so well attested by manuscript tradition as the New Testament.” • What about the Old Testament? • 1947 was a watershed year • Dead Sea Scrolls • This Bible is reliable, it has not been corrupted. Just look at the facts

20. Historical Proof • For centuries skeptics have pointed out supposed historical errors in the Bible as proof it isn’t reliable. • For example, Pontius Pilate is mentioned in the New Testament but there were no historical records ever uncovered that Pilate ever existed. • Then in 1961 during excavations at Caesarea, they dug up a stone saying Pilate dedicated a great theater to Tiberius • Woops, the Bible was right.

21. Historic Proof • The Hittites were once thought to be a biblical legend, until their capital and records were discovered in Turkey. • Walls of Jericho—discovery in 1930s by John Garstang. The walls fell suddenly, and outwardly (unique), so the Israelites could clamber over the ruins into the city (Joshua 6:20). • In 1990, Harvard researchers unearthed a silver-plated bronze calf figurine reminiscent of the huge golden calf mentioned in the book of Exodus. • Josephus in 37 AD “"About this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.  For he was the achiever of extraordinary deeds and was a teacher of those who accept the truth gladly.  He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks.  He was the Messiah.  When he was indicted by the principal men among us and Pilate condemned him to be crucified, those who had come to love him originally did not cease to do so; for he appeared to them on the third day restored to life, as the prophets of the Deity had foretold these and countless other marvelous things about him, and the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day."  (Josephus—The Essential Works, P. L. Maier ed./trans.) • Dr Nelson Glueck wrote “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference.”

22. Conclusion