7 Amazing Bible Facts

Here are seven amazing Bible facts that should encourage you greatly.

Sixty-Six Books, Sixteen Hundred Years

One of the most amazing facts of the Bible is that it was written over a 1,600 year period and had 40 different authors, yet they all testify of Jesus Christ, hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born.  Only God can look into the future and cause to come to pass what He has decreed.  It is beyond human elements to control what even happens tomorrow (Prov 27:1; James 4:13), not to mention hundreds or thousands of years later.  The  Bible has been banned, burned, and banished from many places on the earth but the Word of God will remain forever (Psalm 119:89; Isaiah 40:8; 1st Pet 1:25).

More Accurate than History Books

The Bible is so amazing because it has historical support that matches what the Bible says.  Not only historical accounts have supported what the Bible says, so too have archaeological finds that mention names, dates, and places that the Bible has recorded.  Luke the Evangelist could also be called “Luke the Historian” because of his great detail to time, people, places, and events as recorded in the Word of God.  Born a Gentile, Luke was well educated in the Greek culture and was a physician by profession, meaning that he was acquainted with detailed, specific accounts.  Being well educated, he knew and named the places, the years, and sometimes the time of something specific like the census and year of a certain ruler’s reign.

The Bible Precedes Scientific Knowledge

Most unbelievers that criticize the Bible is because they don’t believe in taking it literally and they see it as an antiquated book but the truth is, the health laws and preventative measures that were in God’s laws were thousands of years ahead of medical science and it’s not that the Bible is behind science; science is (eons) behind the Bible (Lev 3:17; 7:23-27) like with sanitary waste disposal (Deut 23:9-14) would could have saved multiple millions of lives in the Dark Ages.   If there is any thing that troubles me about knowledge, it’s that we can be blinded by science because what is thought to be a “proven” fact one day is later found to be false.  Can you see why science text books are updated so often?  It’s because the scientists were wrong!

The Longest Book

If you were writing a book, the biggest chapter would probably be the most important.  It might even be the last.  If God mentions something several times then He wants to show us how important it is to Him.  You don’t write a short letter to someone about something you feel passionate about; rather you would write a very long letter and God did just that in Psalm 119 which has 176 verses!  Nothing even compares to the length of this chapter, but what’s the primary focus on?  It’s the Law of God.  No, not the Mosaic Law of the rituals, washings, and sacrifices.  Jesus nailed those ordinances and laws to the cross, but never did He nail His Holy Law to the cross as found in the Ten Commandments.    These were written in stone (signifying their permanence) by the very finger of God (signifying the Author and Authority).  Can someone explain to me how “Thou shall not murder” (Ex 20:13) is no longer relevant in today’s (or any) society?  What about lying and stealing?  Will those ever be acceptable?  How would you like everyone you know to lie to you?  How would that feel?  Could you ever trust anyone again?  So why keep taking down the Ten Commandments.   Sarcastically we could say to those who want to kick God out of everything and tear down the Ten Commandments, “Oh good, we wouldn’t want someone to obey the law to not murder someone.  That might be a bad influence for everyone.”  The point is, the longest book of the Bible shows how important God’s Law is to Him and it should be to us too.   You cannot separate the God of the Word from the Word of God.  Even though we can never be saved by the Law (not that we ever could!), Jesus kept it perfectly and we can receive the very same righteousness through Him (2nd Cor 5:21) and Him alone (Acts 4:12).

Superior Wisdom

The Apostle Paul shows that there is no comparison between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God as he wrote “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” (1st Cor 3:18-19) “and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile” (1st Cor 3:20). Solomon’s wisdom, given by God Himself, is not from the earth but from above and so His ways are supremely higher than our ways.  God speaking through Isaiah, said “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Even though God’s thoughts are unfathomable, at least partly of God’s thoughts can be found in His written Word. 

Isaiah and the Bible

The Book of Isaiah was a favorite of Jesus and He quoted it often because it was all about Him, and an interesting thing about the Book of Isaiah is that there are 66 chapters in it; just like the Bible.  There are 39 chapters about the Law and there are 39 chapters in the Old Testament and there are 27 chapters about grace and there are 27 books in the New Testament.  The Law came before Christ but Christ is the fulfillment of grace.  The Law revealed our separation from God (Isaiah 59:2; Rom 7:7-25) but Jesus revealed “grace and truth” (John 1:14).  Even the chapters of Isaiah are divided.  First is God’s judgment (1-39), and coming last, grace (40-66).  This is in direct proportion to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  That’s pretty amazing to me. 

The Jews

I think this may be one of the most amazing things about the Bible, and when I say “the Bible,” of course I mean our Awesome God, for it is Him speaking through His Word to us (1st Tim 3:16).  Don’t believe someone who criticizes the Bible because this love letter from God, written in Christ’s most precious blood, was not written to them.   This book was also written to the Jews, in the hopes that some might be saved and today, there is a remnant of Jews who do believe in Jesus Christ.  Not only as the Messiah but as Lord and God and Savior!  God has promised in His unbreakable Word that the Jews will never be removed from the earth.  As many nations that have tried, none have ever been able to extinguish the Jews.  No one can go against the promise of God.  God has said through Ezekiel the Prophet, “Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries” (Ezk 6:8).   The Jews have a lot in common with God’s Word because it’s a lot about them in the Old Testament.  The Apostle Paul asked, “has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin” as if he is living proof of God’s promise (which he is!) (Rom 11:1).  Paul says with confidence that “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?  “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”  But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”  So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace” (Rom 11:1-5).

Conclusion

I don’t know who said it but the Bible comforts the afflicted but afflicts the comfortable, and I found that to be true.  God’s Word cuts down to the bone and into the deepest secrets and thoughts of the human heart and there’s no hiding from it (Heb 4:12-13) but it cuts in order to heal and when it is preached, it cuts both ways, to the hearer and to the one speaking.  These facts about the Bible should surprise us considering Who the Author was and the Author is the Awesome, Amazing, Magnificent, Almighty, Supreme, God Who we worship.  We only stand by His amazing grace (John 3:16; Eph 2:8-9), and it is exactly as King Solomon wrote, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end” (Lam 3:22).

Article by Pastor Jack Wellman