Is the Bible True?
Is the Bible a trustworthy, supernatural book? Or is it an antiquated collection of folk tales and superstitions?

Many people reject the Bible, dismissing it as full of errors and therefore unreliable. So they ignore its message and say it has no relevance for them.

Is there any evidence to back up the claims that the Scriptures are true? Suppose you were in a court of law where the Bible was on trial. Could a defense attorney bring forth any evidence to support the view that the Bible is reliable? Actually, there are a number of pieces of evidence that can be examined. Here are several.

Evidence from Prophecy

No book other than the Bible has ever given precise predictions of future events (prophecies) hundreds of years in advance, predictions that were fulfilled exactly. Far from vague generalities or general guesses like those given by fortunetellers, the prophecies in Scripture contain explicit details which no human could possibly devise on his own. Imagine trying to come up with the name, ancestry, birthplace, and kind of death for a person who would be born in AD 2800. That would be humanly impossible! Only God could make such predictions and see them carried out perfectly. But that is exactly what we have in the Bible. Jesus’ identity, name, birthplace, triumphal entry, betrayal, suffering, death, and burial—all were foretold in the Old Testament seven hundred years before He was born.

If only 48 prophecies about a person were fulfilled, the odds would be 1 in 10¹⁵⁷. That’s a one followed by 157 zeros! And Jesus fulfilled more than 300 prophecies!

God’s prophets also predicted the downfall of many nations—Ammon, Edom, Moab, Philistia—and cities such as Babylon and Nineveh.

About 150 years before Cyrus, king of Persia, was born, Isaiah predicted his birth, gave his name, and told that he would release the Jews from captivity (Isaiah 44:28). And Josiah, one of Judah’s kings, was named 300 years before he was born (1 Kings 13:2). Only God could have revealed these facts, a clear indication of the supernatural nature of the Bible.

Prophecy, then, stands up in court as a strong witness that the Bible is true!

Evidence from Archaeology

Critics have questioned many of the Bible’s historical statements. Yet archaeological discoveries in recent decades have turned up evidence that proves them wrong.

For example, the Bible refers to the Hittite people 36 times. Since no record outside the Bible had affirmed their existence, objectors said the Bible couldn’t be trusted. However, excavations in Turkey have now shown that the Hittite Empire was extensive.

The Ebla tablets, discovered in Syria in the 1960s, include the names of Ur, Sodom, and Gomorrah, cities that Bible opponents said did not exist. These tablets also dispel the notion that since writing was not practiced in the 1400s B.C., Moses could not have written the first five books of the Bible. Yet these tablets were written about a thousand years before Moses! The Bible’s references to the many Assyrian kings are accurate. Archaeologists have uncovered Assyrian artifacts that record the names of all these kings. Certain customs recorded in Genesis are also noted in the Nuzi tablets found in present-day Iraq.

So again and again archaeology gives strong court evidence that disproves the claims of the plaintiffs of the Bible.

Evidence from Impact

Read the Muslim Koran, the scriptures of Hinduism, or the writings of Buddhism, and you will find no satisfactory answers to the questions: Where did the universe come from? How did the human race originate? What is wrong with the world? Why is there suffering in the world? What is the answer to people’s sense of guilt? How can people live upright lives? What will happen to the world? Only the Bible answers these questions. Only the Bible gives an answer to people’s grief, loneliness, sadness, bitterness, and hatred. Only the Bible tells what is wrong with the human heart and gives a solution. Unlike any book written by a mere human, the Bible can transform people’s lives, make people good inside, and give them peace, forgive- ness, and purpose.

Countless numbers of people through the centuries have been rescued from despair, despondence, and distress by the message of the Bible. This book has given hope to the spiritually hopeless, life to the spiritually dead, deliverance to the spiritually enslaved. No other book in the world can make such a claim.

Evidence from Science

Does the Bible have scientific errors? Many people think so. But the Bible is accurate when it addresses various aspects of science. Take water, for example. It evaporates from the ocean, collects in clouds, and falls on the earth as rain or snow. This cycle accords with what the Bible says in Job 26:8; 36:27-28; and Ecclesiastes 1:7. But for centuries scientists did not understand this phenomenon.

Up until only a few centuries ago people believed the earth was flat, but several hundred years before Christ Isaiah wrote of the circular shape of the earth (Isaiah 40:22). And centuries before that, Job had said that the earth is suspended on nothing (Job 26:7). In 1628 William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood in the body. Yet long before that, the Bible recorded the fact that the life of living beings is sustained by their blood (Leviticus 17:11).

Here stands yet more evidence for the defense of the Bible.

The Defense Rests Its Case

Prophecy, archaeology, impact, and science—this huge body of evidence gives testimony that the Bible is God’s reliable truth. If the Bible has mistakes in history, science, or geography, we might wonder if it is reliable when it discusses spiritual subjects. But because it is trustworthy in physical matters, it is also dependable in religious issues.

The Bible’s central message focuses on the problem of sin—and God’s answer. Jesus died on the cross to deal with sin. In fact, He carried our sins on the cross so that we may have salvation by trusting in Him as our Savior. Because the Bible is trustworthy, Jesus Christ can be trusted. He said, “I am the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6). That is, He is the way to God, He is trustworthy and true, and He offers us spiritual life. By trusting in Him, you, like millions of others throughout history, can find salvation and peace in Christ.

Here’s how to become a Christian:

1. Acknowledge that you are a sinner.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

2. Believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and was resurrected.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “Christ died for our sins...he was buried...[and] was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

3. Turn in faith to Jesus Christ by praying a prayer like this:

“Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am sinful and I need your forgiveness. I believe that You died and rose again to pay the penalty for my sin. I now receive You as my Savior. Please forgive me and give me eternal life. Amen.

” Roy B. Zuck

Bible references: NIV • Cover design by Identity Design Illustration by Eddie Eddings