“Of making many books there is no end, and much study is weariness of the flesh” (Ecclesiastes 12:12).
Solomon here makes two important observations: 1. The writing of books is a continual process, and 2. Diligent study requires effort. I recently read that over 129 million different books have been published. Indeed, “of making many books there is no end.” Of these 129 million books, why study the Bible? Why invest the time and effort that are required to study and understand the Bible? Why is knowing the Bible more important than knowing any of the other millions of books that have been written?
While many books are profitable to study, no other study is as important and potentially rewarding as Bible study. A shop manual can help you service an automobile, a do-it-yourself book can help you tile your kitchen floor, but the Bible contains information and instructions that can save your soul and lead you to Heaven. Most importantly, the Bible claims to be from God. No other book can rightly make this claim. The Bible supersedes all other books because of its divine authorship. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The phrase “inspiration of God” is from a Greek compound word meaning God-breathed. This passage affirms the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. No other book is “inspired of God.”
The apostle Peter explained the mechanics of Bible inspiration when he wrote, “For no prophecy of the Scripture was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). Though penned by mere men, the Bible’s words were conceived by no mere man, but by the mind of omniscient God. God made use of the peculiar skill sets, experiences and vocabularies of the Bible writers, but their words were selected by the Holy Spirit.
Scripture Confirmation
God does not expect men to accept the Bible’s claims without proof or evidence. Its claims are confirmed by the hundreds of fulfilled prophecies that it contains, and by the testimony of those who witnessed the miracles that were performed for its confirmation.
Fulfilled prophecy provides compelling evidence of the Bible’s divine origin. Jesus said, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, so that when it has come to pass, you might believe” (John 14:29). It should be observed that these prophecies were not the vague, scatter-gun type of predictions made by people like Nostradamus. Bible prophecies foretold of specific places, people and events hundreds of years prior to their fulfillment. One thousand years before the crucifixion, Psalm 22 provided vivid details of the events of the cross. Isaiah 53, the prophecy of “the suffering servant,” was written 700 years before Christ. Written in past tense, this chapter discusses various aspects of Christ’s life, earthly ministry and atoning sacrifice. Over a hundred years prior to Cyrus’ birth, Isaiah foretold of his rise to Persian power, even calling him by name (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1). Micah prophesied the specific city where the Messiah would be born (Micah 5:2). Daniel foretold of the “Grecian” empire long before it existed (Daniel 8:21). So compelling is this prophecy that Bible critics work very hard to change the date of the book of Daniel in an effort to avoid its implications. Zechariah foretold that the Savior would be betrayed for “30 pieces of silver” (Zechariah 11:12), and several hundred years later this is precisely the amount that Judas was paid for his information regarding the location and identity of Jesus (Matthew 27:9-10). The Bible must have been authored by God, for no human could have known in such detail of so many future events and transactions.
Tim Haile