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 (4th cent. AD) selected out of dozens of religious books the ones they wanted to put in the Bible, and in the process, invented Christianity. This is the view presented in the Da Vinci Code book and movie. But despite the fact that the book admits to being fictional, many people have accepted it as a fact. But this is not even close to what actually happened. So what is the truth? 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 (click Read More) to see the video.

Belshazzar and the Writing on the Wall

“He should have seen the writing on the wall.” This expression refers to clear evidence—evidence that was ignored—of a bad or dramatic event about to happen.  This connection between impending doom and writing on a wall traces all the way back to the Bible, to a miraculous event in the life of Daniel the prophet, and to one of the most important turning points in all of history.

This was back at a time when the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon, one of the lowest moments in their history.  The depth of their despair is captured 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 an independent kingdom, the end of their national sovereignty, and the end of their personal freedom.   It looked very much like the final chapter in God’s special relationship with the Jewish people.