You Can Believe It

How do we know the Bible is true? Well, how do we know that any ancient book is true? The veracity of all historical books is based on how many ancient manuscripts are available to corroborate the accuracy of the text. The New Testament has around 5000 manuscripts, many of them dating within less than 200 years of the originals. Works by Virgil, Aristotle, and Sophocles have very few manuscripts and are dated hundreds of years after the authors’ deaths.

The Bible was written in three languages by more than 40 authors over a period of 1500 years. Its authors include kings, shepherds, farmers, fishermen, apostles, prophets, a tax collector, a physician, and others. Most remarkable is the way the 66 books fit together, consistently portraying the theme of humanity’s sinfulness and God’s love to save us. The 39 books of the Old Testament underscore our lost condition and point to a coming savior. The 27 books of the New Testament introduce the Savior and the salvation he brings.

The whole book fits together like a puzzle. For example, the prophet Isaiah predicted 700 years before Christ where he would be born and that he would be born of a virgin.

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Matthew points out the fulfillment:

Matthew 1:22-23 “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us.’"

The Prophet Micah predicted that he would be born in Bethlehem:

Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

Matthew points out the fulfillment in Matthew 2:1-6:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the            prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

These are only two of the many prophecies that have been fulfilled in the life of Christ, thus underscoring the truthfulness of the Bible.

You Are Mine

Leonard Sweet, from his book Strong in the Broken Places, shares a story called the Whisper Test.  

We all know that the world can be a cruel place, but it can be brutal to people who suffer from congenital disabilities. Mary Ann Bird was one of those people who suffered the vicious attacks of other children in school. Mary Ann had plenty of things for children to make fun of her: she was deaf in one ear, had a cleft palate, and a disfigured face. The physical impairments paled compared to the emotional damage she endured. When asked by mocking voices, “What happened to your lip?” Mary Ann would reply, “I cut it.”

What Mary Ann dreaded more than anything at school was the annual hearing test. Each student went to the teacher’s desk where the child would cover one ear and then the other. The teacher would whisper a line like, “the sky is blue” or “what lovely shoes you have.” If the teacher’s phrase was heard and repeated, the child passed the test. 

The only way Mary Ann could pass the test was to cheat and thus avoid the humiliation of failing the whisper test. She would cup her hand over her good ear so that she could still hear what the teacher said. One year Mary Ann had Miss Leonard as her teacher, a teacher that students dearly loved. On the day of the hearing test, when Mary Ann was called to the teacher’s desk, she was full of anxiety.

Mary Ann cupped her hand over her good ear and waited for the teacher’s sentence. “I waited for those words,” Mary Ann later wrote, “which God must have put into her mouth, those seven words which changed my life.”  Miss Leonard did not say, “The sky is blue” or “You have new shoes.” What she whispered was, “I wish you were my little girl.”  Mary Ann went on to become a teacher herself, a person of inner beauty and great kindness.

When God sent his son as a babe to be born in Bethlehem, God was whispering to each of us, “You are mine!” You may not know it, but God wants you to know that you are his and he sent Jesus to be one of us—to give us that message. Nothing changes our lives as much as knowing we are loved and that we belong. Christmas says to the world, “You are mine, and you belong to me.”