This is a great question! In fact, this is one of the most important questions that a person could ever ask. So how do we know the Bible was written by God? The answer is "because I said so"...No! Thats not the answer at all. In fact, the answer is much bigger and more reliable than that. I came to believe the Bible was written by God when I first became a Christian. But each year since then, God has shown me a little bit more. I'm going to share with you just some of what I've learned. Enjoy what you learn. Get excited. We really do have a book written by God. Then I want you to spend the rest of your life discovering this for yourself. Otherwise, you just believe it because I said so.
1. First you need to know one very important fact. The Bible wasn't written by just one guy. The Bible isn't really just one book. The Bible is a collection of 66 different books (or letters) from God to us. God didn't use just one man, but He used over 40 different men to write these books. Also, God did not just write these books at one time. He wrote them over a 4,000 year period and He did it in 3 different languages. Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Because of this it is truly a miracle that the Bible gives us one consistent message. It's a message without mistakes. That is one way we know the Bible was written by God. It doesn't have any mistakes. Even though it was written by so many people, the Bible tells us one amazingly beautiful story about God and Jesus. That's a miracle. (Read 2 Peter 1:20 - 21 to see who was chosen and how they wrote.)
2. One of the greatest proofs that the Bible is written by God is the fact that it is filled with Predictive Prophecy. This is God telling us the future, and it's another miracle you find in the Bible over and over again. Most of the predictions in the Bible are about Jesus. Some of them include: He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9. On the exact Palm Sunday predicted in Daniel 9). He would be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver (Psalm 41:9 and Zechariah 11:12). His hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22). And that He would die for our sins (Isaiah 53). Of course, these are just a few of the hundreds of prophecies about Jesus. The Bible also proves it was written by God by predicting the future in hundreds of other cases. In Isaiah 45 God tells us exactly how King Cyrus would conquer Babylon. God even names Cyrus, who would not even be born for another 150 years. Then God says, "I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no god besides Me." (Isaiah 45:5). God's point is simple. By predicting the future, He is proving that He is God. And for us, when God predicts the future in the Bible, it should prove to us that the Bible comes from God. There are, of course, many other prophecies in the Bible. Some of them are coming true in our lifetime. If you read Ezekiel 36:22-24 you will see God promising to work a miracle for Israel. He promised to bring the Jewish people back to the land of Israel. He did this miracle after they had been scattered all over the world for nearly 1,900 years. There is, of course, much more. But we need to move on to our third proof that God wrote the Bible.
3.Our third proof that God wrote the Bible is Scientific Foreknowledge. The Bible is not a science book. But from time to time God tells us about something scientific. This can be really exciting when we see God tell us something hundreds, or even thousands, of years before any human in this world knew about it. Isaiah 40:22 says that God "Sits above the circle of the earth." We all know today that the earth is a circle. However, when this was written, almost everyone in the world thought the earth was flat. It took over 2,000 years for scientists to learn that what God told Isaiah was true. The earth is round. Jeremiah 33:22 says, "The stars cannot be numbered." This is amazing because when God shared this with Jeremiah, the scientists of the day actually had a number for the stars. It took the invention of very powerful telescopes thousands of years later to teach the scientists that God and the Bible were right all along. In Leviticus 17:11 God tells us, "The life of the flesh is in the blood." Of course this is true. We get our oxygen and nutrients through our blood. But not only that. Our blood helps us repair ourselves, fight disease and infection, build new bone and tissue, and so much more. Some of the smartest men in the world become doctors. For a long time these very smart men would actually hurt people by taking out their blood when they got sick. They could have avoided this mistake if they would have simply read and believed God's Word. These are just a few of the examples of Scientific Foreknowledge we find in the Bible.
4. A fourth way to know that God wrote the Bible is to look at archeology. The Bible is a book which tells us about real people, real places, and real events. Many of these people, places and events are quite miraculous. For that reason some people say the Bible is a book of fairy tales. That's why it is very exciting when archeology shows us that these fairy tales actually happened. The Bible describes for us an amazing world before the worldwide flood in Genesis 6. It is exciting to see that, from time to time, archeologists will dig up proof of amazing animals that lived in a wonderful world thousands of years ago. While some scientists like to call the flood of the earth a fairy tale, any honest look at archeology will prove the Bible correct again. Sea fossils cover even the highest mountains on the planet. Layer after layer of hardened rock cover the earth. These very same layers contain proof of a worldwide flood within them. Just one example is the discovery of petrified trees standing right side up and upside down through many different layers. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to archeology that proves the Biblical flood actually happened. Archeology also reveals so much more. One of the most exciting discoveries is the discovery of Mount Sinai. This is the mountain that Moses climbed to speak with God and get the Ten Commandments. The Bible says this mountain is in Arabia. Sure enough, there is a mountain in Arabia that is called the Mountain of Moses and Mountain of Laws. The top of the mountain is blackened by fire as the Bible describes. In addition to that, there is evidence of many other events that the Bible says took place there. The most amazing of these is the discovery of a rock in the middle of the desert that is 4 stories high. It is split in two and shows the signs of having had millions of gallons of water poured out of it. This is the Rock at Horeb. Moses struck this rock to provide water for the Jewish people who escaped slavery in Egypt. Archeology also confirms for us the stories of Biblical battles, cities, people, giants, and Jesus. Even the dinosaurs spoken of in the Bible, especially in Job 40 and 41, have been found in archeology thousands of years after God described them in His Word.
One final thought... I could literally write another 200-300 pages of information about the amazing way God used over 40 different authors to write His very own Word to us. There are hundreds more examples of Prophecy, Scientific Foreknowledge and Archeology to share. It will be up to you as a parent or a student to keep learning throughout your lifetime. The information is there and easy to find. And yet the most exciting proof cannot be found on the internet or in a Christian textbook. The Bible says , "The word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12). If you paid close attention to the verse you'll see that God says His Word is Alive. I've found this to be true and the greatest evidence of all that this book, the Bible, truly comes from God. God uses this book to teach me, correct me, instruct me, train me, and encourage me. Whenever I pray and express a willingness to obey what God teaches me in the Bible, the words come to life and He speaks to me and to millions of other Christians throughout the centuries who have done the same. Why not let this become the greatest proof of all for you? Pray that God would speak to you in His Word, and then obey whatever He teaches you. Become "A doer of the Word and not a hearer only." (James 1:22). If you will do this, then you, too, will soon discover that the Bible truly is "Living and Powerful." I give you God's Word on it.
Back to Questions
