When reading the Bible from cover to cover, what should become evident is it's one Book being preserved through history; one that keeps growing as God assigns people to add to it.
God says to Isaiah in Isaiah 30:8, [8] Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Daniel 9: [2] In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
"Daniel's studying his Bible and he's discovered in the Book of Jeremiah that God says, 'I'm going to send you into Babylonian captivity and it's going to last 70 years,' " explains Preacher Richard Jordan. "Dan says, 'Okay, Babylon's over, Persia's here, it's been 70 years; we're in the next phase.' He says, 'I'm going to go do what God tells me to do in Leviticus,' and he prays.
"Daniel 9:11 [11] Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
"He's got a copy of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 29. He says, 'What Moses wrote, I've got a copy of it right here and what's happening to us is what Moses wrote.'
"The Book's lasted. Verse 13: [13] As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
"You see, the Book's been written, collated together, preserved and distributed.
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"Now, this is one of the wildest verses--I read this and I just go, 'Woah! This is crazy.'
"Jeremiah was a prophet warning Israel of the coming Babylonian captivity. They didn't believe him, Nebuchadnezzar came and took Daniel away and so forth, and they left Jerry in the land; they left him in Israel.
"Jeremiah 40: [1] The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.
"God's going to send word to Jeremiah after this Babylonian officer has let him go. Watch what this Babylonian Gentile military officer says in verse 2: [2] And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.
"He's quoting Leviticus 26 to Jeremiah! How did that dumb Gentile over there know what God said?! He had a Book that's been distributed. You see that? I say 'Wow!'
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"Go to Esther, set in Persia after where Daniel's at. You remember Haman who's going to try and destroy the Jews? Haman says, 'There's a bunch of people in the land; these crazy Jews and they've got all these laws that are just so different than ours.' Everybody knew what the Jews' Book said. It was widely distributed; it wasn't under a blanket somewhere.
"Go to Ezra 3:2, when they come back out of Babylonian captivity: [2] Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
"What did they do? They builded an altar of the God of Israel. My point is they've still got the Book. In Nehemiah 8, the great preaching chapter, verse 1 says, [1] And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.
"It's, 'Bring the Book, teach us the Book.' Verse 5: [5] And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:
"Verse 8: [8] So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
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"In Matthew, when you get into the time of Christ, the Book's still there and it's still the issue. Jesus says in Matthew 22:31, [31] But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
"This is the verse that kept me from being a modernist back in my college days. The greatest definition you'll ever find in any theology book or any preacher on inspiration is that Book right here.
"Inspiration is God breathed. The Bible is that which is spoken to you by God. He took those words and wrote them down and you can read them. That's good because you didn't hear them. Two thousand years ago, you weren't there. If you're going to know what was said, God had to write it down and preserve it. The writing it down is the preserving.
"Jesus quotes Exodus 3:6 in the next verse and He says, 'You've got a copy in your hands of what Moses wrote in Exodus 3.' Verse 6: [6] Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
"The Book's still here and and Jesus thought the copy of the Book He had was what God said. Jesus thought God had preserved the inspired Word all through history and He had it in His hands. Now that's a strong statement of not just the writing, but the preserving of God's Word."
(new article tomorrow)
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