Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

For the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

• Hebrews 4:12

“You may have already experienced the miraculous nature of God’s Book in terms of its internal witness, within your own heart: … (Hebrews 4:12)
“The Bible’s external witness as a Miracle Book is demonstrated by its journey from God to the human race.  Anyone who studies this history objectively has to conclude that the Bible is truly a Miracle Book. I can hardly hold the Bible in my hand or see it on my desk, opened to any page, without a feeling of awe and assurance that this is truly God’s voice to me.”

• Irving L. Jensen, Journey of the Bible

Dr. Jensen’s short book covers how the Bible came into existence, from divinely inspired writing to canonization and translation.  It is fascinating.  Anyone concerned about the authenticity of the Bible should get this book.

The paragraphs above are simply the introduction that lays the ground work for a variety of questions.  As he states, the Bible is a Miracle Book, not due to the miracles that are told in the text, but in the fact that the Bible has survived millennia, carefully copied over a variety of mediums.  It is a Miracle Book before that in that God inspired writers to write the books.  Some words were written by God’s own hand on Mount Sinai, some words were dictated, and in some cases the author was inspired by God to write down what God had impressed upon the author’s heart.  All these different methods of inspiration combine with the use of papyrus or parchment, pen and ink, and eventually codices.

And yet, the accuracy of the copies continues to be verified by older and even older texts that are discovered.

But while fragments of history verify the Scripture from an external sense, we know that the Bible speaks to us.  God changes our life.  God enters our heart and provides an internal witness to God’s Word.  God’s Word is not just the Holy Bible, but it is God indwelling each believer.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.