Where does the Bible come from?

Can we trust the Bible? Why should we believe that it’s true? These are questions that are often put to Christians, and for which Christians should have a ready answer.

One of the ideas out there today is that a group of church officials at the Council of Nicea (AD 325) arbitrarily chose the books they wanted to put in the Bible, and in the process invented the religion of Christianity. This is the view presented in the Da Vinci Code book and movie. But despite the fact that this book admits to being fictional, many people have accepted it as a fact. So is this what really happened?  Not even close. So what did happen? Where do we get our Bibles from?

The Book of Joel and the Valley of Jehoshaphat

Here’s a video of a recent sermon on the Book of Joel.  Continue below to see the video.

Belshazzar and the Writing on the Wall (Dan. 5)

“He should have seen the writing on the wall!” This expression means there was clear evidence—evidence that was ignored—of a bad or dramatic event about to happen.  The connection with writing on a wall traces all the way back to the Bible. It refers to a miraculous event in the life of Daniel the prophet, an event that preceded one of the most dramatic moments in all of history:  the night the Babylonian Empire was destroyed. This event is recorded not only in the Bible, but in other ancient writings as well.  By putting all these sources together, we get unparalleled insight into one of the greatest turning points in history.  

To understand how important and dramatic this moment was, we need to set the stage with a bit of background.  This took place when the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon, one of the lowest moments in their history.  As it says in the opening verse of Psalm 137:  “By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion” (Psa. 137:1).  Their exile meant the end of Israel’s existence as a kingdom, the end of their national sovereignty.   It looked very much like the final chapter in God’s special relationship with the Jewish people.

Jacob in Haran and Back Again (Gen. 29-32)

Recently, we began to talk about Jacob and his trip to Haran.  We talked about the dream he had at Bethel—the dream of the ladder—and the promise he made to God there.  We also talked about how he fulfilled that promise many years later when he got back to the Land of Israel.

Today we’re going to talk about the rest of Jacob’s adventure:  his time in Haran and how God used that time to shape him into the man of God he later became.  Because if there’s one thing we know for sure about Jacob, it’s that when he started off in life, he was trouble.  Oh yes, he was a good boy, a mama’s boy (Gen. 25:27,28).  But he was also a liar and a cheater; a deceiver.

Jacob’s Vision of the Ladder (Gen. 28)

Bethel:  site of Jacob's Vision

Jacob’s vision of the ladder has inspired many through the centuries.  Maybe you’ve heard the song “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” (new tab: audio).  It’s a famous African American spiritual that understands Jacob’s ladder as a symbol of the believer’s spiritual ascent into heaven.  The ascent is slow and agonizing, but the result is glory.

The slaves who sang this song weren’t the first to find spiritual meaning in Jacob’s vision.  The early Church understood it in a similar way.  Origen in the 3rd cent. AD understood the ladder to be a picture of the soul’s ascent to God after death.  He also saw it as a picture of increasing virtue in the life of the believer.  This understanding was closely linked to the monastic ideal of asceticism: the idea of denying the world and denying worldliness in order to follow Jesus.

One of the most famous expressions of this idea was the book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent (new tab: pdf) (7th cent. AD). Here again, the ladder is understood to be one that we must travel on to reach God in heaven.  But the original vision of Jacob was quite different. Instead, God used the ladder to come down to meet with Jacob on earth. He came to prepare him for the dangers of his trip to the distant city of Haran. And in the process, he also prepared us for the coming of the divine messenger of God, a messenger who is himself God: God’s Son who would appear in human form as Jesus.

Images of Prayer in the Worship of Israel

Acts 3:1:  "But Peter and John were going up into the Temple for the hour of prayer, the ninth hour." 

So often through the years, Christianity has been presented as a total break with Judaism, a completely different religion that has nothing in common with the ancient religion of the Jewish people.  Instead Christianity has been presented as a philosophical faith that has more in common with Greek philosophy than with the Bible.  But if that's true, why were Peter and John coming here, to the Temple, to pray, after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus?  (Jesus ascended to heaven in Acts chapter 1, this is chapter 3.)

Scripture Garden II

Well and Watering Troughs

Last week we talked a little about the Scripture Garden where my wife and I used to work.  We covered about half of the items in the garden, and this week we’ll take a quick look at the other half.