Who Wrote The Bible?

Who Wrote The Bible?
WHO WROTE THE BIBLE?
BY. G. DALLAS SMITH.

Some one has said, "I know that no man made the rose or painted the heavens, for no man can do such a thing." So we know that no man, nor set of men, unaided by a higher power, wrote the Bible, for men cannot write such a book. Mr. Bryan has challenged the scoffers and infidels who say the Bible was written by men to produce such a book as proof that men could write a Bible. But the chal­lenge has never been accepted. Mr. Bryan insists that if men two thousand or three thousand years ago could write the Bible, surely men of today, whose advantages are far greater, ought to be able to produce a Bible. Still they make no attempt to do it, and thus they stand self-con­demned. The writers of the Bible are strictly in a class to themselves, writing as no other men ever have written. These men were able to look into the future and to write about things hundreds, and even thousands of years before they came to pass. No other set of men have been able to do such a thing. Hence, I repeat they are, as writers, in a class to themselves.

Other men have been able to guess as to what the future would bring, but their guesses have been wild and wide of the mark. The great world war has served to show how mere men guess as to future events. It has proven a many a man to be a false profit. For instance, before the war, it was freely predicted that there would never be any more wars —none of any consequence, at least. We were led to believe that culture and refinement had driven war far from us, and we could but be amazed at the stupidity of the ancients, and even at our forefathers, for settling their troubles at the point of the sword. But our eyes have been opened —our dream has ended; for from the very hot-bed of education, culture and refinement came the outburst of the awful war. Men who predicted there would never be any more war just did not know. They were guessing, that is all. And after the war had begun, it was confidently predicted that it would not last more than a year; that prob­ably six months would see the end of it. But somehow it was drawn out over a period of four long years and more, thus proving these men to he only false prophets. And while the Germans were continually harassing and insult­ing this government, sinking ships and murdering Americans it was everywhere predicted that Germany was seeking to get us into the war that she might throw up her hands and declare she could not fight the whole world. And while this sounded plausible, the events that followed our entrance into the war proved this prediction to be without foun­dation in fact. These men were just wildly guessing, they did not know. Even when the first drafted boys were being sent to the training camps, it was freely predicted that they would never get into the fight. I heard quite a learned judge, in a very eloquent address to some boys who were enroute to the training camps, assure them that they would never reach, the firing line. It is useless to say that this prophecy, like many others, was proven false as some two hundred thousand dead and wounded boys loudly proclaim. But these would-be prophets are not limited to war times. Men have guessed all along throughout the ages. And their guesses have been just as wild and speculative. Voltaire, the French infidel, was a great man, a ripe scholar and an intel­lectual giant, but he could not look into the future and tell what would come to pass. He confidently predicted that in one hundred years Christianity would be swept from the earth, but his prediction did not come true. Had he predicted that in a few years Christianity would spread over practically all the earth, he would have been much nearer the truth. Thomas Jefferson was a great man, a great statesmen and a practical thinker, but like all other mere men, he was blind to the future. He predicted that in fifty years there would not be a Bible in the United States, unless, perhaps, in some old curiosity shop. But time proved this prophecy to be false, too. Had Mr. Jeffer­son said in fifty years there will be a copy of the Bible in every home in the United States he would have been much nearer the truth. But he just did not know. The future was dark to him and he was only guessing. The subject of the second coming of Christ has always been a fruitful theme for would-be prophets, notwithstand­ing Jesus declares that no man knows the day nor the hour. About a thousand years ago, men began to predict that Jesus would come again in the year 1000. All Europe be­came excited, and many pilgrimages were made to Jerusalem and the Holy Land from all parts of the country. These pilgrimages finally led to the Crusades—"the war of the cross," which was an effort to rescue Jerusalem and the Hob' Land from the infidel Moslems. But the year 1000 came and passed away, and almost another thousand years have passed since then, and still Jesus has not made his second advent. Hence all these men have been proven to be only false prophets, having missed the date almost a thousand years. But men still continued to guess. About the year 1831, William Miller, the founder of Second Adventism, began to predict that the Lord would come in the year 1843. He had carefully figured it all out, and was quite sure of it, since figures do not lie. Well, the year 1843 rolled around and was about to pass without seeing the coming of the Lord, and something had to be done to save the reputation of the prophet. So Mr. Miller hurriedly revised his figures and discovered that he had made a mistake of one year; whereupon he announced that Jesus would come the next year, in the year 1844, and his deluded followers believed1 it, of course. But that year passed away too, and some seventy-five more years have passed, and still Jesus has not made his second advent. And the strange thing about it all is that the doctrine of Second Adventism still lives — that men still continue to guess about when Christ will make his second advent to this earth. A score of years ago, or more, Charles T. Russell of Milennial Dawn fame, announced that in the year 1914 the Millennium would be ushered in, with all its attendant blessings —including an opportunity for all who had not had at least a fair chance, to be saved. According to Mr. Russell Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with other Old Testament wor­thies, were to come back to this earth and live here among the newly resurrected peoples as models for all to follow. The dead were to begin to rise, the last to die to be raised first, and this was to continue until all the dead were brought back to earth. Every man was to live at least one hundred years, and if he showed proper signs of improvement, he might live throughout this one thousand years. And re­member, all this was to begin in 1914. Well, what happened in 1914? Was there anything to suggest that the Millenium was dawning? Did the dead begin to rise? Did Abraham Isaac, Jacob and others come back to this old earth to serve as models for mankind? Has there been any indi­cation that men from then on would live a hundred years, and possibly some a thousand years? Have any of these things come to pass? Has there been anything to suggest that the time of the Millenium is here —a time when the whole earth is to be filled with the glory of the Lord, and peace, like a river, should flow on forever? Has there been anything like this for the past four years? All this was to begin, according to Mr. Russell, in 1914. But what happened in 1914? Well, as everybody knows, in the very year Mr. Russell designated as the beginning of this glorious Millennium —even in the year 1914 the greatest war that has ever cursed this old earth was ushered in. And for four long years the world was subjected to such horrors as were never witnessed before. Instead of the dead rising, it began to look as though the nation were going to be buried, millions of people dying of disease, starvation and the ravages of war. And in the face of all this, it is strange that the followers of Russell are still Russellites. But such is man. And now in striking contrast to these would-be prophets and their wild guesses, let me invite your attention to some real prophets and to some predictions that were true, and which have come to pass. While time has proven the afore mentioned men to be false prophets, time has proven the prophets of the Bible to be inspired and worthy of our con­fidence. The apostle Peter, referring to Bible prophecies says, "No prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men spake from God. being moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:21). And the following examples which we now introduce, attest the truthfulness of this declaration. After the city of Jericho had been taken by the Israelites in the long ago, Joshua uttered a prophecy respecting the rebuilding of the city. He said: "Cursed be the man before Jehovah that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; with the loss of his first-born shall he lay the foundation thereof, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." (Joshua 6:26). For many years the city of Jericho lay in ruins. It was some five hundred years before any one undertook to rebuild it, but finally a man by the name of Hiel rose up to rebuild it and the Record says, "He laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his first born, and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub, ac­cording to the word of Jehovah which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun. (1 Kings 16:34). But how did Joshua know this hundreds of years before it happened? The answer is found in the language of Peter, "No prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." As a mere man, the fu­ture was as dark to Joshua as it was to Voltaire, Jefferson. Miller or Russell. But the Spirit of the Lord enlightened him —he spake as the Spirit moved him. Joshua is one of the men who wrote the Bible; hence it is worthy of our ac­ceptance. Again, just before the death of Joshua, he. called together the elders and' chief men of Israel, and delivered unto them his farewell address, in which he uttered a con­ditional prophecy. He assured them that if they would be faithful and true to Jehovah, he would continue to drive out the nations that still remained in Canaan, and that they should possess the land, and that God would be their God and they should be his people. But he warned them, on the other hand, saying, "If ye do at all go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you; know for a certainty that Jehovah your God will no more drive these nations out from your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap unto you. and a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which Jehovah your God hath given you." (Joshua 23:11 — 14) Every student of the Bible knows what happened. After the death of Joshua, these Israelites made marriages with the people about them and bowed down and worshipped their gods doing the very thing Joshua warned them not to do. And what was the result? About seven hundred years after this, ten of the twelve tribes were captured and carried away to Assyria, from whence they never returned. About one hundred years later, the other two tribes were carried away to Baby­lon, and the few Israelites who were left in this land, killed their governor, Gedaliah, and fled to Egypt. Thus they all perished from off this good land —all because they did the very thing Joshua warned them not to do. But how did Joshua know hundreds of years before it occurred, what would happen to them if they pursued this course? How did Joshua know? It is the same answer; he "spake from God being moved by the Holy Spirit." To the good king Hezekiah, Isaiah the prophet said, "Be­hold the days come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the Lord." (2 Kings 20:16-18) Nearly fifty years after this Nebuch- adnezzer brought his armies against the Kingdom of Judah and beseiged Jerusalem for two years- The city was taken and utterly destroyed, and the people, with all the wealth which Hezekiah's fathers had laid up, were carried away to Babylon, according to the word of Isaiah. But how did Isaiah know before hand that this was going to befall the Jews? Again the answer is found in the language of Peter, "No prophecy —Bible prophecy —ever came by the will of man, but holy men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." Isaiah is another writer of the Bible, and so it is worthy of our acceptation. Just a few years before the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, Jeremiah predicted that Ne- buchadnezzer would come against Jerusalem and that the people would be carried away, because of their sins; that the sound of mirth should be taken away, and that the land, because of its desolation, should become an astonish­ment; and that the Jews should be servants of the Baby­lonians for seventy years. (Jeremiah 25:11-14) But how did Jeremiah know before it happened that the Jews would be carried to Babylon and their land become desolate, and that these Jews would serve the Babylonians just seventy years? How did Jeremiah know all this? Well, anyway, it is a matter of history that just seventy years from the time these Jews became subjects of Babylon they began their return to the "Promised Land." And it was just seventy years from the time Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple until Zerubbabel and others rebuilt it. But how did Jeremiah know this in advance? Well, he was another man who "spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." And he is another writer of the Bible. So I repeat, the Bible is worthy of our acceptation. And it happened about the time the "seventy years" of Jeremiah's prophecy was fulfilled that Cyrus the Great, who evidently knew little or nothing of the God of the Jews, came to the throne of Babylon. And the Lord having stirred up his heart, he made a decree allow­ing the Jews to return just in time to fulfill Jeremiah's prophecy. Now, a very interesting question arises here, namely, how did Jehovah stir up the heart of this wicked and heathen king? We do not know, to be sure, just how it was done; but there is a strong probability that it was ac­complished through the fulfillment of prophecy. About two hundred years before Cyrus came to the throne of Baby­lon, Isaiah had uttered quite a strange prophecy in which Cyrus is referred to by name as the Lord's "shepherd," as his "anointed." Isaiah said Cyrus should fulfill all the Lord's pleasure, and that Jerusalem should be rebuilt, sug­gesting that Cyrus should have a hand in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Isaiah further stated that Cyrus' name was there used that he might know that Jehovah is God. (Isaiah 44:24 to Isaiah 45:6.) Now when Cyrus came to the throne Daniel was the foremost man in the kingdom, and he knew by the prophecies that it was time for the Jews to return —that the seventy years had been fulfilled. So the most natural thing at all would be for him to present Cyrus with a copy of the prophecy, which was then two hundred years old, where his name was used in connection with the rebuilding, of Jerusalem, and where he had been called the Lord's "shepherd" and his "anointed." This would, no doubt, have stirred Cyrus' heart thoroughly, and this is the way it may have been done. We do not know. But how did Isaiah know more than one hundred and fifty years before he was born that there would ever be such a man as Cyrus?

How did he know that he would in any sense he (aid's shepherd to care for his people? And how did he know he would he the Lord's anointed to rebuild Jerusalem? There is but one answer, lie "Spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." Such men as Isaiah wrote the Bible, and it is thus proven to be inspired. When the kingdom of Israel divided and Jereboam set up his golden calf and his altar of incense at Bethel, the Lord sent a messenger out of Judea unto Bethel that he might speak against Jereboam's altar. This man of God, for his name is not given, said, among other things, as he stood before Jereboam's altar, "a child shall be born in the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall burn the priest's bones on this altar." (1 Kings 13; 1 Kings 1, 2. Well, some three hundred years after this there was a child born in the house of David —in the lineage of David, and they called him Josiah- This child became king when he was only eight years old, and when he was hardly grown he began his reformations in Jerusalem and Judea. And after this he proceeded with his servants to Bethel and standing be­fore Jereboam's old altar he asked, "Whose are these sepul­chers?" Being told that they contained the bones of the priests who burned incense on the altar, he sent his servants to bring the bones of the priests, and they burned them on that altar, according to the words of the Man of God. who had predicted it more than three hundred years before. But how did this man of God know it more than three hundred years before it happened? How did he know that there would be a child born of the lineage of David who should be named Josiah? And how did he know that Josiah would burn these priests' bones on that altar? Evidently this man, also, spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." And, I repeat, this is the kind of men who wrote the Bible. Hence they are in a class to themselves, and the Bible is, therefore, in a class to itself.

Many years ago there sat four lepers at the gate of an ancient city. The city had been under siege for many days by the Syrian army until famine conditions prevailed; and women reduced to starvation, were cooking and eating their own children. Elisha, the man of God, lived in that city and he uttered a wonderful prophecy. He predicted that in twenty-four hours the famine would be over and food plentiful in the city. It was so unreasonable that the cap­tain of the king's host declared that if Jehovah should open the windows of heaven to give them food, that it could not become plentiful in twenty-four hours. Elisha then repeated his prediction, and said furthermore that this captain should see it, but because he had doubted he should not be allowed to partake of the plenty. The four lepers who sat at the gate of that city began to reason as to what should be their end. They reasoned thus: "If we sit here we will die; if we go into the city the famine is there and we shall perish; let us turn unto the Syrians, and if they save us alive we shall live, but if they kill us we shall but die." So they turned their faces toward the camp of the Syrian army, perhaps with many doubts and fears and with many mis­givings as to what the outcome should be- But to their delightful surprise when they reached the Syrian camp they found it intact, but deserted. The Lord had caused these Syrians to hear the sound of a mighty army coming upon them, and they had fled, leaving great quantities- of provi­sions. These lepers feasted themselves, and then returned to the city and reported their find. So the people of Sa­maria went out to this deserted camp and brought in pro­visions in great abundance, and the famine was over. And the captain of the king's host was standing at the gate when the people returned, bringing in great stores of food, and in some way he was knocked down and the people trod upon him and he died. So Elisha's prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. The famine was ended in the twenty-four hours according to his words, and the captain who doubted his words was permitted to see the great plenty, but was not allowed to eat of it. (See 2 Kings 6, 7.) But how did Elisha know the day before what was going to happen? Well, this was the Lord's message —not Elisha's. So with the many messages in the Old Book. The whole Bible is a message from God —not from men. The writers of the Bible "Spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit."

Great men have their histories written after they are dead and gone; hut Jesus' life work was written in marvelous detail long before he was born. Let us notice a few things which were said about him before he came into this world- Isaiah, some eight hundred years before his birth, predicted one of the most unreasonable and absurd things about him imaginable; and no doubt, the scoffers ridiculed him for predicting such a thing. Isaiah boldly declared that the Messiah should be born of a virgin, a thing never heard of before. But in due course of time the seemingly impossible was accomplished when the virgin Mary became the mother of Jesus. Some seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Micah declared he should be born in the little, insignificant village of Bethlehem. But even after Mary- had been designated as the favored woman, still there seemed little probability that the child would be born in Bethlehem, since Joseph and Mary lived at Nazareth, some­thing like one hundred miles north of Bethlehem'. But in due time there went out a decree from Augustus Caesar which brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, where the child of destiny was born, in fulfillment of Micah's words. Isaiah some eight hundred years before Jesus came into the world, very graphically describes some things connected with his trials and crucifixion. He describes him as being "like a lamb dumb before his shearers, that he opened not his mouth." This was fulfilled in his conduct before Pilate when, in answer to his questions, he answered him never a word. Isaiah said he would be "rejected and afflicted," all of which was literally fulfilled by the Jews rejecting him and1 allowing him to be afflicted in many ways. Isaiah said further that "his judgment should be taken away." This was fulfilled in that, while Pilate said over and over "I find no fault in him," still they over-ride this judgment and kill him as though he had been guilty. Again, Isaiah said he should be "numbered with transgressors." This was ful­filled when he hung on the cross between two transgressors, as a third transgressor- On the cross he cried, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" in fulfillment of David's words uttered a thousand years before. And down at the foot of the cross are the soldiers dividing his clothes among themselves and gambling for his coat that was made without a seam from top to bottom—all in fulfillment of the prophecy which says, "They parted my garments and cast lots for my vesture." When the soldiers who had been sent to break the legs of the three reached Jesus, he was already dead, and they brake none of his bones, in fulfill­ment of an old prophecy which said not a bone of his body should be broken. But these soldiers, for some reasons, thrust a spear into his side in fulfillment of the prophecy which says, "They shall look on him whom they, pierced." Joseph of Arima?thea was a rich man. He and Nicodemus came in boldly unto Pilate and asked for and obtained the body of Jesus, and they buried it in Joseph's own new tomb, and thus was fulfilled the prophecy that he "shall make his grave with the rich." Jesus, on the third day after his cru­cifixion, rose from the dead in fulfillment of David's proph­ecy that "His soul should not be left' in Hades, neither should his body see corruption." And probably the Psalm­ist refers to his glorious ascension when he breaks forth exultantly, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in." Now, how did these men know so many things about the story of Jesus so many years before he lived? We answer once more in the language of the apostle Peter, "No prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." And while these are only a few of the many prophecies which have been fulfilled, these will serve to show, as stated in the beginning, that the writers of the Bible are strictly in a class to themselves. Those who have taken the pains to count them say there are some five hundred prophecies in the Old Testament which have been fulfilled in the earthly career of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. And these prophecies cover a period of fifteen hundred years, from Moses to Malachi. Now, how were these men able to tell in such minute detail the life story of Jesus so long before he came into this world? We answer once more that the secret of it is revealed in the language of the apostle Peter, "No prophecy ever came by the will of man. but holy men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." Five men stand here, each with ten arrows in his quiver- They desire to shoot these arrows at a target, but they do not know just where the target is. nor how far away it is. The first man stands fifteen hundred yards away, as he afterwards learns, arid shoots his ten arrows out into the darkness of the night. The second man stands one thousand yards away, and sends his ten arrows out into the midnight darkness. The third man stands eight hundred yards away, and shoots his ten arrows away into the inky blackness. The fourth man stands six hundred yards away, and the fifth man stands four hundred yards away —all of them shooting into the darkness. They call for a light and find every one of those fifty arrows in the bull's-eye —in the center of the target. This would be wonderful, indeed. But no more so than the fulfillment of the many prophecies relating to Christ. For instance, Moses stands fifteen hun­dred years away from Christ and sends forth his prophetic arrows; David stands one thousand years away from Christ and sends out many striking prophetic arrows; Isaiah stands eight hundred years away from Christ and sends forth a number of prophetic arrows; Daniel stands six hundred years away from Christ and sends forth his prophetic ar­rows, and Malachi stands four hundred years away from Christ and sends out his prophetic arrows. None of these men knew just how far away they were, and just where the target was. But when the light of New Testament revela­tion is turned on we find all these prophetic arrows centered in the life story of Jesus. But how did these men know so many things about Jesus, and so long before he came to this earth? Well, these men "spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." Hence I repeat, the writers of the Bible are in a class to themselves, and this places the Bible in a class to itself.

Some one says, "We are so accustomed to the sight of the Bible that it ceases to be a miracle to us- It is printed just like other books, and so we forget that it is not just like other books; but there is nothing in the world like it or comparable to it. The sun in the firmament is nothing compared to the Bible, if it be in reality what it assumes to be, an actual, direct communication from God to man. Take up your Bible with this idea, and look at it, and wonder at it. It is a treasure of unspeakable value to you, for it contains a special message of love and tender mercy from God to your soul. Read it in the secret of God's presence, and receive it as from his lips, and feed upon it, and it will be to you, as it was to the prophets of old, the joy and the rejoicing of your heart."