How can I know that the Bible is true? Is it really God's Word or is it the creation of men? Is it full of errors seeing as how it has been passed down for thousands of years? Are the translations reliable? Is there any way to come to a satisfying answer to any of this? I believe there is. In order to get to the truth about anything, it is important to investigate the evidence. We will start by looking at the transmission of the Bible itself to modern man. How did it get to us?
Does this mean that they have not been transmitted through history accurately? This is the argument of many skeptics. They insist that over time, the copies were corrupted. Fortunately, this is not the case at all. Out of the literally thousands of ancient copies of both the Old and New Testaments, there is nothing less than miraculous agreement. Occasionally, there are minor variations such as the spelling of names and the tenses of verbs, but all in all, they are in absolute agreement.
The big test of this came when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1940s. When these scrolls were found and dated, it was discovered that they were the oldest Hebrew scrolls in existence. They were literally 1,000 years older than the ones we had before their discovery. Here comes the question. How much difference does a thousand years make? How much difference would there be in the copies a thousand years apart? After several years of anticipation, it was finally announced that the old scrolls were an incredible match to the newer ones. There was no question that they had been transmitted accurately and faithfully.
It is true that the Bible has been translated into English. Does this mean that our English Bibles are corrupted? Some say so, but this is a statement that is not backed by evidence. The translation of the Bible into English was a process begun by men in the 1500s. These men were very committed to communicating the text as accurately as possible. After much scholarship had been done and several translations were made, King James decided that it was necessary for there to be a quality English Bible that would be suitable for use in the churches. It was at that time that he commissioned what we know as the King James Bible. This Bible was first published in 1611. The Greek and Hebrew texts that were used for its translation are called the Textus Receptus. Now it is possible to look up each individual word in the King James Bible and find the original Hebrew or Greek word. That word can then be looked up separately to find its meaning. Using this system of reference, it would be impossible to prove any problems in translation in the King James Bible.
Does this mean that the Bible originated with men? Some say it did, but the Bible itself presents a powerful answer to this question. God actually knew that this would be a question that men would ask, so He provided an answer. In the book of Isaiah, God tells us that the way we can know that the Bible is His Word is that He tells us the future before it arrives (see Isaiah 48:3-5). It would be impossible to list all of the times that God has done this in this survey, but a few examples might help. He told Israel that they would go into captivity 900 years beforehand (Deuteronomy 28:41). He called King Josiah and King Cyrus by name before they were born (1 Kings 13:2, Isaiah 45:1-3). The Book of Daniel predicts that the Greeks would take over the empire from the Persians even before Persia came to power (Daniel 8:21). It also predicts that the Greek Empire would be divided into four parts (Daniel 11:4). The division of the Greek Empire is a fact of history that happened long after Daniel's death. How can such specific prophecy of future events be the creation on man?
In light of the evidence, the Bible passes the test. It has been passed down for centuries, but the ancient manuscripts insist that there has been no corruption. It has been translated into English, but the system of checks that is available eliminates any possibility of argument as to the validity of the translation. It was written down by men, but its contents could not have been man made.
Now, we will ask the most important question of all. Since the Bible is God's Word, what are you going to do with it? Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Since all of the other prophecies have been true, we must realize that this one will be true also. What will God find when He judges you? Judgment is coming. The Bible says, "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).