02.02. What is your authority?

What is your authority? In seeking answers to life’s most important questions, we must have some authority. The choice narrows down to two possibilities. It is either man’s opinion or the Word of God. It’s what people suppose or it’s what God says. In matters of vital and enduring significance, it must be an infallible authority. There must be no room for error. Human opinion certainly doesn’t qualify here. Just as people’s faces differ, so do their opinions.

Only the Bible, the Word of God, is infallible. It is truth (John 17:17). But how do we know?

·We know it by its fulfilled prophecies. There are over 60 prophecies concerning Christ alone that came true when He was on earth. In addition, there are hundreds of prophecies concerning Israel and the Gentile nations that have come to pass. The probability of all this happening by chance is too small to consider.

·At least 40 men in different countries, at different times, in three different languages, over a period of 1600 years penned the Sacred Word. They had no way of collaborating, yet the Bible has a unified theme. It tells one consistent story. What other book can boast of such intelligent design?

·The Scriptures are unique in their power to transform the lives of people from sin and shame to decency and integrity.

·The words of the Bible are applicable to all times; they are as current as the hourly news broadcast.

·They have universal appeal; they speak to people of every race, tongue, tribe, and nation.

·They are inexhaustible, providing material for endless study, comfort, and guidance.

·Think of all the literature God’s Word has prompted – Bible dictionaries, commentaries, concordances, poetry, and sermons. It has inspired great movements such as the abolition of slavery, civil rights, social justice; institutions such as hospitals, schools, orphanages, homes for the poor and aged; and world agencies to alleviate poverty and hunger. It has exerted a positive influence on human society wherever it has traveled.

·It is pure, exposing sin and warning against it. It does not stoop to popular culture but seeks to elevate it.

·It is a living book. Some people actually fear it, while others would die for it.

·The Bible claims to be inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16). That means that the words are God’s words. If they are not, then it is a fraud. But even its enemies do not accuse it of being a hoax.

·The Holy Bible has endured centuries of efforts to burn and banish it. Yet it has survived. When governments forbid it, smugglers risk imprisonment and death to defy such edicts.

·No other book can compare with God’s Word in the number of languages in which it speaks and the number of people who have read it.

·This amazing book records the life of a perfect Person. A mere man cannot write such an account. The French skeptic, Renan, said that it would take a Christ to invent a Christ. In the literature of the ages, the Bible stands unparalleled and unique. Those who have experienced its transforming power in their lives are not likely to deny that it is the Word of the living God. Or, as someone has said, he who has felt the force of it is not likely to deny the source of it.

There is no risk in accepting the Bible as our final authority.