I. The need for Authority.

There is an absolute need for order and form. Without this the natural world would cease to exist. There is order and form all around us in the natural world. The 'laws' of science are the structures of authority that govern the activity of chemicals, compounds, and physical action and reaction. For example, gravity is an authority in the natural world, and everything in the natural world responds and plays off of it.

A. What would happen if there were no traffic laws?
There would be anarchy on our roads. Driving at the least would become extremely dangerous, at the most impossible.

B. Would you and I be safe in our homes if there were no civil law?

C. What would an army be like if there were no one in authority like a general or captain?
It would be like a mob with no order or direction. The army would become ineffective or even destructive, it would cease being an army.

D. Do you and I need a final authority concerning moral and spiritual issues?
Yes, without such authority each man would become a law unto themselves. What one person considered acceptable, another would consider a crime, society wouldn't last long.

E. People and writings that have claimed to have final authority.

1. The Book of Mormon. 2. The Koran. 3. Shakespearean Writings.

4. Confucian. 5. Buddha. 6. The Bible.

Note: Who's writing or scripture do you think has been the best seller of the ages, thus being the most printed item in the World?

II. What to expect if the Bible was this final authority.

There are some standards that one would expect of a document that claimed to be the final authority in moral issues and in the behavior of man. Here we will look as some of those standards.

A. The oldest of any writings kept.

B. It would have complete continuity and unity.

C. It would be written over a span of continents.

D. It would be composed in more than one language.

E. This final authority would include hundreds of controversial subjects, which would create opposing opinions with different authors in a secular book, but not in itself.

The Bible fulfills this by being in complete harmony with itself even in the hottest of issues. Two examples are homosexuality and abortion. You can't find ten authors over the span of a decade to be in harmony, much less forty authors over sixteen hundred years!

III. External evidence for the authenticity of the Bible.

If the Bible is God's revelation to man, and His authority in matters of faith and human behavior you would expect outside sources to confirm it.

A. The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in 1947, have confirmed the reliability and accuracy of our modern translations.

B. The Garstang excavation of Jericho (1930-1936) revealed something so startling that a statement of what they found was prepared and signed by himself and two other members of the team. Garstang states ". . . the walls fell outwards so completely that the attackers would be able to clamber up and over their ruins into the city." Why is this so unusual? Walls of cities don't fall outward, they fall inward.
In Joshua 6:20 we read ". . . the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city." The walls were forced to fall outward!

C. Luke writes in Acts 19:23 and following that a riot took place in Ephesus, representing a civic assembly in a theater. The theater when excavated bore out the fact that this meeting took place by an inscription that speaks of silver statues of Diana to be placed in the theater during a full session. The theater proved to hold 25,000 people.

D. The place called 'The Pavement' in John 19:13 has had no outside record of existence for years. Many said it was a myth, thus the Bible is not historical. William F. Albright shows that this court was the court of the Tower of Antonia, which was the Roman military headquarters in Jerusalem. It was left buried when the city was rebuilt in the time of Hadrian and not discovered until recently.

IV. Internal evidence for the authenticity of the Bible.

A. Robert Wilson points out of the Old Testament and of the kings recorded in it; "There are about forty of these kings living from 2000 BC to 400 BC. Each appears in chronological order . . . with references to the kings of the same country and with respect to the kings of other countries . . . no stronger evidence for the substantial accuracy of the Old Testament records could possibly be imagined than this collection of kings. Mathematically, it is one chance in 7.5 to 10 to the 23rd power or 750,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 that this accuracy is mere circumstance.

B. More than 3000 times the Bible claims to be inspired by God.

V. Side notes.

A. The Bible has been indestructible through time, persecution, and criticism.

B. The French atheist Voltaire said "In 100 years this book will be forgotten." Voltaire is forgotten, and exactly 100 years after his boast his house was being used for the headquarters of the Geneva Bible Society.