Lots Of Religions
There are a lot of religions in the world, why is Christianity so special?
They all claim to be the truth and the others to be false or incorrect, so how can you make any sense of them?
Just Have Faith!
Christianity, through the Bible makes the claim that it is indeed a direct revelation from God.
But is that claim sufficient, should people just accept the Bible based on a claim?
Don’t all the other religions make the same claim?
Is it just a case of exercising blind faith?
A Question Of Authors
Did God inspire the Bible, or was it just men that wrote some books and then stuck them together into a compendium that we now call the Bible.
That is the central question.
If God did inspire the Bible, then we would expect it to contain things that only God can know, that only God can reveal.
And it would do it in such a way as to leave no doubt, to an open and honest mind who seeks truth.
Historical Accuracy:
The Bible is incredibly historically accurate and down through the ages, scholars who are opposed to Christianity have mocked some of it’s claims, especially archeological claims.
Only to later be humbled when information from the Bible has led to some of the most astounding archaeological discoveries in the middle east.
The Hittites
Like the discovery of the Hittite capital which was claimed to be a piece of complete fiction, how could such a large civilisation exist without any evidence, archeologists in the 19th century mocked the Bible’s accounts of this very powerful civilisation.
When it was found, it once again proved the veracity of the historical accuracy of the bible.
Translational Accuracy
It was often argued that the bible had been changed over centuries, and still is in some quarters, by monks who copied the bible and introduced errors.
This charge was finally laid to rest, when the dead sea scrolls were discovered that dated to the time of Christ and contained copies of old testament scriptures that when translated showed that the Bible had maintained incredible accuracy for over 1900 years that could only be possible if they were guided by a divine hand.
Literary Evidence
Most ancient writings, have very few original copies that date to within 500 years of the events, yet they are accepted as scholarly and never questioned, like the accounts of Alexander the Great.
The Bible has more original documentation and copies that date within 30 to 100 years of the death of Christ, than any other known historical writings. In other words, we have copies of the New Testament letters and books that were actually written in the living memory of those that witnessed the events.
Some refuse to accept the Biblical accounts as they get treated differently to all other historical documents and are downgraded by default it seems.
But we also have third party writings that attest to the events that happened from that period.
One example is Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, written around 93–94 AD, includes two references to the biblical Jesus Christ in Books 18 and 20.
In terms of history, this is like having a reporter and photographer at the scene telling us exactly what happened.
Are They Good Enough?
These are great evidences.
But they only really show that we have some accurate documents, that have been maintained well and have historical accuracy.
We could explain all this away by attributing that to human effort.
God’s Thumbprint
But God foresaw all of this and placed His thumbprint in the pages of scripture.
He did this through revealing the future in a way that no other document has matched, in a way that no other religious texts have been able to duplicate.
He stated this quite plainly in Isaiah 42 verse 9 "Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."
And that is because fundamentally, only God, who is outside of time and the Creator of time itself, is not bound by time and can exist in all of time and reveal the future accurately.
Accuracy The Test
So if God inspired the prophecy in the Bible, how accurate is it exactly, how accurate would we expect it to be?
Is it vague like the prophecies of Nostradamus, which appear like gibberish and can be interpreted to mean just about anything?
Is it broad like the horoscopes you get in the newspapers where it is revealed that this week you will meet someone who is wearing red…
If it is, then it is no evidence at all.
But If It Is Accurate?
But if it is accurate, accurate in a way that only God could provide, if the future was laid out in a manner that was so accurate that only God, who is outside of time and not bound by time, could reveal it, even the most hardened sceptic would struggle to explain away, then it points to God, it has God's thumbprint.
The Prophecies Of Christ
Over a period of time stretching from approximately 1500 years to 500 years before the birth of Christ, prophecies were recorded about Christ.
They detailed His place of birth, his life and most importantly the events of His crucifixion.
They described in exact detail all the tiny minutia around the events of his trial and crucifixion, even to the point of the soldiers playing dice to decide who could claim his robe as he hung on the cross dying.
The Time Prophecies Of Daniel
But it does not stop there, when we study the time prophecies recorded in the prophecies of Daniel, we start to get some very specific dates of events!.
When we also combine that with the sanctuary service, a complex prophetic service that Israel where given by God on mount Sinai, something amazing is revealed.
Jesus’ Death
Using these pieces of information alone (there are many many more), we can predict the very year of Jesus’ death.
Not only the year, but the month also.
Not only the month, but the day also.
Not only the day, but the very minute of his death.
And these prophecies were recorded 1500 years, to 500 years before the events happened.
Only God could reveal that.
And that is just a tiny fraction, when you start realising that the Bible is a prophetic book, that it is littered with thousands of prophecies that are completely accurate and can be seen to have been fulfilled, you begin to realise that this is indeed a direct revelation from God.
It is this prophetic thumbprint, that confirms the Bible as God’s revelation to man and by default invalidates all other writings that make counter claims, as they lack this evidence.
The End Of Days
We are living in another prophetic period, a great period of turmoil just before the Second Coming of Christ.
There are many things yet to come, some good, some bad and we know they will happen because the Bible always gets it right.
As we live through these last days, we can take comfort in the fact, that God has shown us what is coming, how to prepare and that we can trust Him to carry us through the great events unfolding around us right now.
Why Christianity?
Because it is unique, in that it is the only ‘revelation’ that proves itself to be authored by someone outside of time.
It is the only ‘worldview’ that has God’s thumbprint on it.
And most importantly of all, it has proven itself to be true, over and over again.