Scripture Validation |
|
Elder
Phillip N. Conley |
This morning,
the devil works relentlessly to confuse God's children of
the right way to go in this world. We understand from
Scripture that God is not the source of confusion (I
Corinthians 14:33), but confusion seems to be a daily
hindrance due to our adversary and the frailty of the flesh.
The world of today creates a cauldron of confusion by having
a multitude of options. When talking to people at work or in
the community about the Bible and the church, it becomes
clear that many good people do not understand why a certain
Bible "version" or church type is better/worse than another.
After all, we all worship the same God right? Having a
plethora of Bible and church choices today serves to confuse
God's people at the basic root point: the source material of
God's Book and God's House. However, a greater confusion
that some of God's children face is the idea that the Bible
is truly Divine and without error.
Over the last few weeks, I have talked with a man at work
about various theological subjects that are quandaries in
his mind. One of the first conversations we had to have was
to get his mind centered on the point that the Bible is
Divine and without error. He needed "proof" that such was
the case. As I travelled over the ground with him, it dawned
on me that to actually prove the Bible Divine using the
Bible itself was perhaps the most powerful point for its
defense. Surely, we could point to history, textual
criticism, and even manuscript authenticity. However, the
internal proofs that the Bible provides are astounding when
seen for what they really are. Therefore, today we would
like to investigate one of my favorite - and I believe
strongest - internal proofs of the Bible's authenticity.
The portion of our Bible divided as Daniel Chapter 8 gives
Daniel's account of a vision that God gave him. This vision
was not all that different than other things that Daniel was
blessed to expound - such as Nebuchadnezzar's dream in
Daniel 2. However, the level of specific detail sets this
vision in a place to itself. The Lord unfolds hundreds of
years of human history for Daniel through this section. Not
only does it unfold for Daniel, but it is also described to
him. The vision is given in Verses 3-12, and the description
of the vision is declared in Verses 15-25.
Through the vision Daniel sees a form of the Medo-Persian
empire through the image of a ram with two horns. This
empire pushed where others had never gone, and the strongest
part of the empire rose towards the end just as the greater
horn came up in his head last. Afterwards, this ram was
killed by a rough he goat with one notable horn, and this
goat is declared to be Grecia. History records the name of
the great horn in its head: Alexander. Afterwards, this horn
falls off in its prime with 4 other horns coming up in its
stead but none as strong as the one horn. From this rises
another great empire that would stand and make craft to
prosper until it stood against heaven and the Prince of
princes. By this last empire would the holy people have
their daily sacrifice taken away with the desolation of the
holy place and the sanctuary trodden under foot.
What is also needful in this vision is how it begins and
ends. Daniel specifically puts his authorship on this
writing and dates it specifically. This was given to him
while Babylon still reigned supreme under the rule of
Belshazzar. The end of this chapter shows Daniel fainting at
the sight of it with no man (Daniel included) understanding
the fullness of the vision. The reason it is important that
Daniel and the time of his writing be identified will be
discussed later while answering the critic's assertion of
this chapter.
Consider what was just given. Hundreds of years of world
human history laid out in detail with places, names,
sequences, and events before any of it happened. Not only
had it not happened yet, but many of the places that were
mentioned were at that time just mere images of what they
would become as this vision came to fruition. The
declaration at the end of the chapter that no one understood
the vision is not surprising seeing that Media, Persia,
Greece, and ultimately Rome were only shadows of what they
became. How can one look at hundreds of years of history
declared through a vision before the fact without reaching
the conclusion of Divine Inspiration?
The critic of the Bible hates Daniel 8 as it provides a
death knell to his thinking. The best the critic can muster
- or has mustered to this point - is that Daniel 8 was
inserted by an imposter years after the fact. The fact that
Daniel identifies himself twice and the time period shows
the wisdom of the Holy Ghost to inspire it this way. This
chapter has the same writing and linguistic style of the
rest of the book, and the reception of the book in its
entirety by the Jewish nation (who were meticulous in their
record keeping) testifies that the critic's last ditch
attempt to deny the Divine authorship of this portion is a
poor and vain effort.
Now, some might say, "Thanks for the history lesson
preacher, but what's the point for today?" The point
friends, is that the devil is cunning and crafty to get us
to doubt the things of God. He will foster any shadow in our
minds to try to convince us that the Bible is a fake, church
is a farce, and Godly living is for the fool. When I was on
a college campus not that many years ago, I was stunned to
observe that the professing Christians on campus were less
knowledgeable of the Bible than avowed atheists and
agnostics. When the enemy of the Bible knows it better than
the soldier that should be armed with it as his sword, the
battle will go awry for the child of God very quickly.
We need ready armaments at our disposal to answer the
naysayers and the critics. If we are not armed and prepared,
then doubts creep in. Doubts lead to denials, and denials
lead to spiritual coldness, apathy, and eventually
rebellion. Who outside of God could declare centuries of
history in such a way? Who outside of God's infinite
knowledge could describe the next 3 world empires by name
and detail, coupled with the advent and rise of His Son, and
the vision ending ultimately in AD 70 with the destruction
of Jerusalem? The Bible answers its own defense as the
evidence within it screams to us, "God wrote this!" When I
read Daniel 8, I am not only interested in all the wonderful
history contained in it, but I also derive a lot of comfort
knowing that God in heaven breathed, and this Book is the
result. When I hold it in my hands, I am comforted knowing
that it is God's declaration to me of what He has done, is
doing, and will continue to do for His children of which I
feel to have a blessed part. Friends, let us hold our
convictions on the ground that God has provided us ample
evidence that this, our faith is not blind or senseless, but
rather, our faith is the only thing that is truly sensible
and worth holding on to. |