Things just don’t last! Most items we purchase today are simply disposable, and usually we dispose of them more quickly than we hoped. From children’s toys to automobiles, things do not last and endure. However, one of the great evidences that the Bible is from God is the lasting nature of it. God’s Word has gone face to face with numerous obstacles, and yet the Word of God remains! The Bible is truly the enduring Word. Consider the following.
The Bible has endured time. The apostle Peter referred to the Bible as “the living and abiding Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). God’s wonderful Book has endured century after century without fail. The original writings of Scripture were penned upon parchments, papyrus and other very fragile materials. While those materials were transient, the message was not! The Scriptures that we lovingly hold today were meticulously hand copied by Scribes for generation after generation, and yet these sacred writings remain without flaw or error. Early man was somewhat limited in his resources, but in spite of those limitations, the power of God shines through as His Word has remained intact. Of all the writings of antiquity, no other book has as much textual evidence as does the Bible. Only a few copies of Julius Caesar’s works remain, but thousands of manuscripts of the Scriptures endure. Mankind has only one or two copies of Aristotle, Plato, Tacitus and other ancient authors, and yet the Bible is extensively documented and remains a complete whole. Interestingly, we have more reliable ancient texts of God’s Word than we do of the works of Shakespeare! “Compared to other ancient books (and modern books too) the text of the New Testament has incredible attestation” (Burleson 66). While time has depleted and destroyed the works of man, God’s Masterpiece—the Bible—has endured!
The Bible has endured torture. The nature of mankind does not change. Throughout the centuries, mankind has attempted to torture the Word of God so vehemently that it would cease to exist. Jehoiakim, king of Judah, used his penknife to cut the scroll of God’s Word and burned it in the fire (Jeremiah 36:20-26). However, Jeremiah was guided to rewrite the prophecy. Amazingly, the king is dead and buried and yet the Word of God remains (Jeremiah 22:18-19)! In the 3rd century after Christ walked this earth, Diocletian, the Roman emperor, persecuted the church and claimed to have eradicated the name of Jesus. Some 30 years later, another emperor was printing the Word of God and distributing it throughout the Roman empire, while, amazingly, using Roman funds to do so! Voltaire, a French philosopher, boasted a prediction that within 100 years of his lifetime, the Bible would be forgotten. Within just a few years of Voltaire’s death, the Geneva Bible society used Voltaire’s printing press and his house to print the Word of God. Where is Voltaire today? Today, the Bible fills our world! Communism tried to distinguish God’s Word and failed as well. While the Bible has been tortured on numerous fronts, the truth still remains as the Psalmist of old predicted, “Forever, oh Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).
The Bible has endured tests. The Bible has been scrutinized and analyzed in many futile attempts to disprove it. Some dishonest folks will ignorantly label the Bible as unreliable and undependable without evidence to prove those accusations. In fact, some have claimed that Moses could not have written the Pentateuch because there was no written alphabet at that time. Yet, through the shovel of archaeologists, it has been discovered that such alphabets did exist. Others have tried to discredit the Bible because of some historical truths it mentions, which were not known outside of Inspiration’s pages. Such examples would include the Hittite nation, the kingship of David and the governorship of Pontius Pilate. However, as the years passed, these truths have been found during archaeological excavations, and once again God’s Word has been proved to be true. It can stand under any test given by mortal man!
We can rely upon the trustworthiness of the Sacred Text. Things come and go, and they just do not last. However, God’s Word endures and remains! “…The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever” (1 Peter 1:24b-25a).
Works Cited
Burleson, Doug. Once Delivered, Forever Established. Vienna: Warren Christian Apologetics Center, 2017.
