• The preeminence of the Bible among all literature.

1. It is preeminent in its circulation. It is read by more people in more countries and languages than any other book, by far. It has been translated completely into 350 languages and portions of it has been translated into more than 2,000 languages.
2. It is preeminent in its influence. No book comes close to influencing human history than the people. Many, many books have been written about the Bible.
3. It is preeminent amongst all religious writings. God only wrote one book. There is a wide gulf between the Bible and all other religious books.

• The preservation of the Bible from attack. The Bible is ever and always under attack. It has been burned and banned more than any other book. It is a miracle that it still exists today. It has failed because it is God’s Word.

1. The attack of man. Voltaire, atheist, French author, humanist, rationalist (1694 – 1778), held up a copy of the Bible in the air and smugly proclaimed, “In 100 years this book will be forgotten and eliminated..”. Shortly after his dead, Voltaire’s private residence became the headquarters of the Geneva Bible Society and became a major distribution hub for the very Bible he assigned to extinction.
2. The attack of time. The Bible is not the only old book. Is this book an accurate copy of what was written so many years ago. There are many manuscripts which were copied by hand. There are 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. There are over 10,000 very old Latin manuscripts of the New Testament. There are another 9,300 other early versions. This is a total of 24,000 manuscripts for the New Testament. The closest ancient literature to it is Homer’s Iliad which has 643 manuscripts. The text of the Bible is consistent and has been faithfully preserved over the centuries. The manuscripts of Shakespeare are missing acts. Whole sections have been filled in. This is only a few centuries ago. The Old Testament has been verified by the find of 40,000 manuscripts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. There was an entire copy of Isaiah. God had preserved his Word. The Dead Sea Scrolls are dated back to before Christianity at around 100 BC.

• Proof from archaeology. During the 19 century, a movement known as “Higher Criticism” or the German Higher Critical School, made up of theologians from various universities in Germany, began attacking the Scriptures mercilessly. When archaeologists began digging up they were forced to retreat. For example. The book of Exodus tells how the Egyptians forced their Israelite slaves to build Pithom and Rameses as two storage cities, yet the critics said it was a fable for children. But archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie discovered the site of these cities and found that the buildings were the only ones in Egypt built with mortar. Interestingly enough, the lowest levels of the building were built with brick and straw, the next levels were built with bricks and stubble, and the upper layers were built with no straw or stubble at all! A perfect parallel to the biblical account. There are many other examples – such as proof of existence of the Hittites. “There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament tradition.” Dr. William F. Albright.

• The amazing agreement – There are 40 writers of the books of the Bible and they agree in what they write over a period of 1500 years from different walks of life. It is amazing that they agree. They are inspired by God. The Bible is not full of contradictions.
• The total consistency of the Bible.

1. The contradiction of message. E.g. “Eye for an eye” (Old Testament) and turn the other cheek. (New Testament). It is not a contradiction but a further development.
2. The contradiction of numbers. E.g. Two blind men healed or one blind man healed. It is not a contradiction! So what if one writer picks up on a more prominent one being healed and another records that another was healed also. It is not a contradiction. It may even have been on two different days.
3. The contradiction of parallel stories. See Genesis 1-2. Genesis 1 gives an overview and then Genesis 2 focuses on the creation of the man and woman. Another apparent contradiction is the death of Judas. Did he hang himself or fall headlong? The place where he hung himself has trees which hang over the valley with a steep drop. It is obvious that Judas hung himself and then the branch broke and he fell onto the rocks on the valley below.
4. The contradiction of history. E.g. There was no place called Jericho or king called David or Exodus from Egypt. Archaeology has confirmed the historical accuracy of the Bible. – The contradiction of science. E.g. The sun stood still for a whole day. If this happened the Earth would explode say the critics. If God can make the sun stand still he can also hold the Earth together!

• The fulfillment of prophecies – No other book has this. There are many prophecies that have been fulfilled about Jesus. They were written at least 400 years before Jesus came. The odds are staggering. There is no possibility that all of the prophecies could be fulfilled other than the Bible is the Word of God.

• The Bible is gripping – The Bible penetrates your heart when your read it. See Hebrews 4:15. It knows what we are thinking.
• The Bible is comforting – When things are tough and we are hurting, the Bible has words of great comfort.
• The Bible is convicting – It will shake you and make you change your life. It will cause you to cry out to God.
• The Bible will set you free – It will set you free from a life of sin and make you clean again.

The Bible is not a book written by man alone. It is a book that is written by God for man.