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There are more miracles recorded in Mark than in the other Gospels, despite its being shorter. (Matthew’s Gospel seems longer only because he includes the discourses – probably verbatim, having the skill to take them down in shorthand required of a customs official. Removing the discourses, it is shorter than Mark’s.)
The action moves right along: It takes only 20 short verses in Chapter 1 to describe the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism, His temptation in the wilderness, and the call of the disciples.
The Gospel for Romans: Mark’s purpose was to write down the Gospel, as Peter had presented it, to Romans (so say the Fathers, at least, and internal evidence supports them). That the Gospel was for Gentiles can be seen:
1) From the translation of the Aramaic expressions as Boanerges (Mark 3:17), Talitha cumi (Mark 5:41), Corban (Mark 7:11), Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46), Abba (Mark 14:36) and Golgotha (Mark 15:22);
2) In the explanation of Jewish customs (Mark 14:12; 15:42);
3) From the fact that the Law is not mentioned and the Old Testament is only once quoted in Mark’s own narrative;
4) The Gentile sections, especially in Mark Chapters 6 through 8.
That it was for Romans specifically is seen in:
1) The explanation of a Greek term by a Latin in Mark 12:42;
2) The preponderance of works of power, the emphasis on authority (Mark 2:10), patience and heroic endurance (Mark 10:17 ff);
3) Highlighting the forbidding of a practice that was not Jewish but Roman (Mark 10:12).
Those who believe it was written at Rome find further hints in the mention of Rufus and the resemblance between Mark 7:1-23 and Romans 14. (However, the common presumption that “Babylon” is Peter’s code name for Rome is disputed by some authorities. Peter was the apostle to the Jews, and Babylon was a major Jewish center – the Babylonian Talmud later emerged from there.)
The Roman centurion’s remark, “Truly this man was the Son of God,” (Mark 15:39) is also the style of the author, and bears the same relation to Mark’s purpose as does John 20:31 to John’s.
Its cadence is found in the speeches of Abraham Lincoln and the lyrics of Paul Simon. Renowned narrator Alexander Scourby and country music legend Johnny Cash have recorded spoken versions of the text. It’s estimated that 1 billion copies have been printed since the first volume rolled off the press in 1611.
The King James Version of the Bible, also known as the “Authorized Version,” marks its 400th anniversary in 2011, and by any measure, it has had a lasting impact on the world and on the language into which it was sent. The “authorized” moniker comes from a title-page declaration that this Bible was “authorized to be read in churches.”
“The sheer poetry of the King James Version, not to mention its almost half-millennium of absolute authority, militates against its slipping into obscurity any time soon,” declared Phyllis Tickle, longtime religion editor at Publishers Weekly magazine.
Even noted atheist Richard Dawkins has praise for the volume: “You can’t appreciate English literature unless you are to some extent steeped in the King James Bible. There are phrases that come from it — people don’t realize they come from it — proverbial phrases, phrases that make echoes in people’s minds,” he said in a video released by the King James Bible Trust, the British organization that is one promoter of the 400th-anniversary celebrations due next year.
“Not to know the King James Bible is to be, in some small way, barbarian,” Mr. Dawkins added.
Indeed, many of its phrases have entered everyday use, among them: “my brother’s keeper,” “salt of the earth,” “give up the ghost,” “scapegoats,” “an eye for an eye,” “casting your pearls before swine,” “scarlet woman,” “writing on the wall” and “the blind leading the blind.”
“A house divided against itself,” Lincoln’s signature sentiment, was translated that way 250 years before Lincoln was elected president.
Geof Morin, communications director for the American Bible Society, whose New York headquarters will host a King James Bible exhibit next year, called the King James “still relevant” in the age of Twitter and Facebook.
“It was the Bible staring Thomas Jefferson in the face,” Mr. Morin said. Its words, he added, were “in the speeches of Abraham Lincoln. It’s the language we still use today. It’s part of the American psyche, of how we see ourselves as a nation.”
But before the KJV — as the version is known by many readers and scholars — came into America’s consciousness, it had to arrive on the scene at all. That happened following a contentious 1604 meeting at Hampton Court palace, when a young James VI of Scotland, newly crowned as James I of England, was trying to iron out differences between the Church of England and a dissident sect known as the Puritans.
Putting the Scriptures into English could be a dangerous practice: 16th-century translator William Tyndale was executed. After Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church, and established the Church of England under the monarch, there were some efforts to approve a complete English-language Bible.
Henry authorized production of what came to be known as the “Great Bible,” while the 1583 “Bishop’s Bible” followed during the reign of Elizabeth I. In Geneva, English-speaking exiles who opposed Mary I’s moves to reconcile with Rome produced the “Geneva Bible,” whose translation and margin notes took a decidedly anti-monarchist and anti-clerical stance.
The Hampton Court Conference was drifting into sectarian arguments, historians note, when Puritan leader John Rainolds (also spelled Reynolds), took the bold step of addressing James and asking for a new translation of the Bible, since the previous Bibles “were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the original.”
By almost all accounts, James was delighted: He didn’t like the Geneva Bible, and the earlier versions weren’t fully up to his standards of scholarship. As a boy, James had immersed himself in Greek and Latin, among other intellectual pursuits. He hardly had known his parents and was installed on the Scottish throne while just a year old with a regent in charge.
It took seven years to create the volume known as the KJV. And while the title page stated it was “newly translated out of the original tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised,” the actual work drew more on an earlier English version, said Larry Stone, a former vice president at Thomas Nelson Publishers and author of “The Story of the Bible,” a new history of the Scriptures published to coincide with the anniversary.
The translators “were told to follow the ‘Great Bible,’” Mr. Stone said in a telephone interview, “and they would compare the translation of the ‘Great Bible’ with the Greek and the Hebrew. If they wanted to change [the wording], it would change for several reasons; either the ‘Great Bible’ translation was not accurate, or they could say the words better.”
And because the ‘Great Bible’ drew on Tyndale’s translations, the 16th-century “thee” and “thou” entered into the King James Version, even though they were long departed from common usage.
Would James I, the only English monarch to ascend the throne as a published author, be happy his eponymous Bible has survived this long?
“I actually think he would be somewhat pleased, because of its longevity,” said David Teems, author of “Majestie: The King Behind the King James Bible,” a 2010 biography of the monarch and his most famous book.
A strong believer in the “divine right of kings,” Mr. Teems explained, James was determined “his Bible would reflect his reign, unite realms of Scotland and England. His desire was to unify, and to unify all of Christendom.”
While that didn’t happen, the impact of the KJV is without question: It quickly displaced the Geneva Bible as the Protestant standard in the English-speaking world, and was often the primary “reader” for generations.
Evangelists from Charles Finney to Billy Graham preached from it; Paul Simon derived the phrase “workman’s wages” in his song “The Boxer,” from reading I Timothy, he once told Rolling Stone magazine.
Author Joe Kovacs, whose 2009 “Shocked by the Bible” explored the lesser-known stories and facts of the Bible text, said he chose the King James to quote in his book because “it’s the most well-known and frequently quoted translation.”
Beginning in November, Thomas Nelson Publishers, which sold 329,000 printed copies of the King James Bible between July 2009 and July 2010, has mounted a major campaign to promote the text, with a website, www.kjv400celebration.com, and national marketing campaigns.
The firm also is working with the History Channel to promote the anniversary.
“To me, the 400th anniversary, is not just about KJV, but about the Bible. The fact that it is a historic milestone gives us the opportunity to go beyond and look at the impact of Scripture. It’s not a translation story; it really is a Bible story,” said Carla Ballerini, Nelson’s bible group marketing vice president.
Despite the language changes and continued research of the past four centuries, the King James Version retains a great deal of authority, said Alister McGrath, head of the Center for Theology, Mission and Culture at King’s College in London.
“The KJV is a surprisingly reliable translation, even though some minor translation changes are necessary on account of advances in our understanding of the manuscript tradition over the last 400 years,” said Mr. McGrath, whose 2001 “In the Beginning” was a history of the KJV’s development.
However, “the day of a single dominant biblical translation is past,” he added. “In many ways, the KJV held a monopoly in English from about 1700 to 1950, as no other translation was seen as being significant over that period. Nowadays, there are multiple [English language] translations.”
That may be the case, but there may be life in the older text yet: Compare its “Give us this day our daily bread,” found in Matthew 6:11, to the rendering in “The Message,” a popular modern version: “Keep us alive with three square meals.”
The first thing to notice about the Gospels is that they are skillfully designed; each one is tailored to suit its specific perspective. Matthew was a Jew, a Levite; he presents Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel”the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This first book of the New Testament plunges right in to establish Jesus as the Meshiach Nagid, the Messiah the King.
After first establishing the royal genealogy, Matthew then proceeds to focus on the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies: Matthew uses the term fulfilled 82 times! (Again, his interest was to present Jesus as the Messiah of Israel; Jesus credentials are that He fulfilled prophecy.)
The first miracle described in Matthew is also very Jewish; the leper was cleansed, and leprosy was, to Jews, a sign of sin. Matthew also ended his Gospel in a very Jewish way; with the Resurrection. [Matthew left out the Ascension, but remember that it is not a milestone in respect to Jesus Messianic mission (His return, however, will be).]
Stenographic Skill
Matthew emphasized what Jesus said. He evidently recorded the discourses verbatim. As a customs official, he was a tachygrapher, or shorthand writer. (The reason Matthews Gospel is so much longer than Mark’s is that he includes Jesus’ extensive discourses, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the Olivet Discourse; without these discourses, Mark’s Gospel is longer!)
Early Origin Many scholars now believe that the Gospels were written before Paul’s first imprisonment in AD 57-60, and that virtually all of the New Testament books were written before Jerusalem’s destruction. (See Risto Santala’s The Messiah in the New Testament.)
There is no hint in the New Testament of Nero’s persecutions after AD 64, nor of the execution of James, the Lords brother, in AD 62. There is not the slightest mention of the Jewish revolt against the Romans, which began in AD 66, nor of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. These historic events would have been irresistible in making many of the arguments in the New Testament documents.
Textual evidence suggests that the Gospels were originally written in Hebrew. In hundreds of places the Greek sentence structure betrays a Semitic influence and implies a translation from the Hebrew. It appears that within five years after the death and resurrection of Christ, most of His words and deeds had been committed to a simple written Hebrew form and Matthew is, of course, assumed to be part of this compilation.
Within a decade, this corpus would have been translated into a Greek version for church requirements. This corpus, or its variations, is often called the Q-document (for German, quelle, source).
Around the year AD 50 the original material was developed into written Greek form and the synoptic Gospels were composed, probably since the persecutions were imminent. The key point is that eyewitnesses were still around to verify the details.
Papyrus Discovery
In 1994, an ancient segment of the Greek text of Matthews Gospel was analyzed and it appears to be dated before AD 66. Known as the Magdalen Papyrus, P64, it contains segments of Matthew 26:23 and 26:31 on both sides of three fragments. Using a scanning laser microscope, it has provided physical evidence that the Gospel according to Matthew is an eyewitness account written by contemporaries of Christ.
At this time of year, we look at the bright stars in the sky and wonder which one the wise men followed to find the house where the Christ child lived. We remember that they knelt and worshiped him who was born King of the Jews and gave him the famous gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew records these things, and it is important to recognize that he could have spoken to people in the area who were alive when the maji came. He himself could have spoken to Joseph’s family to obtain Joseph’s lineage as a descendant of King David. Those who claim that the gospels were written centuries after the fact dismiss the evidence easily. There are plenty of internal and external indicators that point to the reality of Matthew’s having written his gospel within the lifetimes of those found within its pages.
The second book of the Torah, or Pentateuch, is one of the basic “seed-plots” of the Bible. It is basic, dramatic, and provides an essential background for all that follows.
It centers on the call of Moses, one of the most pivotal men of all history and a participant at the Transfiguration (Matt 17:3). We also suspect that he will reappear as one of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11.
The family of Jacob (“Israel”), who had migrated to Egypt in the Book of Genesis, now emerges as a nation, earning its title as God’s “Firstborn.” (It is this designation that is deliberately contrasted with the subsequent death of Egypt’s firstborn when Moses is called out of Midian (Exodus 4:22-23).)
A Non-Egyptian Pharaoh?
Much has been speculated about the specific Pharaoh in this book. Stephen gives us a clue when he notes that, “Another king arose who knew not Joseph,”(Acts 7:18). The Greek term used was heteros, another of a different kind, not allos, another of the same kind. This Pharaoh was of a different race and dynasty. (Josephus also makes mention of this fact, who describes “the crown being come to another family,” (Antiquities ii, 9). It seems that he was the Assyrian of Isaiah 52:4.
No wonder he became uncomfortable with the continuing growth of a non-Egyptian constituency in Goshen!
The plight of Israel under the taskmasters leads to the famed Passover and the deliverance of God’s chosen people. The celebration of the Passover continues as one of their principal observances to this day. In fact, the instruction to the nation was to make that month (Nisan) “the beginning of months.” Thus, Israel has two calendars; one, their civil calendar, begins in the fall (Tishri, about September/October on our calendar); the other, their religious calendar, begins in the spring (Nisan, about April/May on our calendar).
It is interesting that John the Baptist’s first public introduction of Jesus declared, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” This was an allusion to the Passover Lamb. Paul reminds us that all these things were also “a shadow of things to come,” (Colossians 2:17).
It is also astonishing to discover that the “new beginning” of the Planet Earth after the flood of Noah occurred on the anniversary – in advance – of our “new beginning” in Christ, on the 17th of Nisan, the 7th month of the old calendar.
The House of Blood
When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, he not only carried the famed Ten Commandments; he also brought with him the detailed specifications of a portable sanctuary that would accompany the nation until replaced by Solomon’s Temple. A careful study of this “Tabernacle” reveals amazing mystical discoveries, each pointing to the Messiah. (A detailed study of this mysterious structure is essential for every serious student of the Bible.)
The Book of Exodus is an adventure of discovery, since the dramatic narrative is laced with numerous hidden messages in the form of microcodes and macrocodes, each anticipating the New Testament climax.
In addition to Moses himself and the hidden symbolism of the Burning Bush, the Tabernacle structure, and its observances, we also encounter the strange manna, the role of the two rocks, the numerous elements of the priesthood, et al.
The Book of Exodus is the bedrock of God’s plan of redemption and is one of the most rewarding studies in the Old Testament. For further study, see the links below.
CHAPTER 1
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Those who read David’s psalms, especially those towards the latter end, would be tempted to think that religion is all rapture and consists in nothing but the ecstasies and transports of devotion; and doubtless there is a time for them, and if there be a heaven upon earth it is in them: but, while we are on earth, we cannot be wholly taken up with them; we have a life to live in the flesh, must have a conversation in the world, and into that we must now be taught to carry our religion, which is a rational thing, and very serviceable to the government of human life, and tends as much to make us discreet as to make us devout, to make the face shine before men, in a prudent, honest, useful conversation, as to make the heart burn towards God in holy and pious affections. In this chapter we have,
I. The title of the book, showing the general scope and design of it, ver. 1-6.
II. The first principle of it recommended to our serious consideration, ver. 7-9.
III. A necessary caution against bad company, ver. 10-19. IV. A faithful and lively representation of wisdom’s reasonings with the children of men, and the certain ruin of those who turn a deaf ear to those reasonings, ver. 20-33.
The Design of the Proverbs.
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1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
We have here an introduction to this book, which some think was prefixed by the collector and publisher, as Ezra; but it is rather supposed to have been penned by Solomon himself, who, in the beginning of his book, proposes his end in writing it, that he might keep to his business, and closely pursue that end. We are here told,
I. Who wrote these wise sayings, v. 1. They are the proverbs of Solomon.
1. His name signifies peaceable, and the character both of his spirit and of his reign answered to it; both were peaceable. David, whose life was full of troubles, wrote a book of devotion; for is any afflicted? let him pray. Solomon, who lived quietly, wrote a book of instruction; for when the churches had rest they were edified. In times of peace we should learn ourselves, and teach others, that which in troublous times both they and we must practise.
2. He was the son of David; it was his honour to stand related to that good man, and he reckoned it so with good reason, for he fared the better for it, 1 Kings 11:12. He had been blessed with a good education, and many a good prayer had been put up for him (Ps. 72:1), the effect of both which appeared in his wisdom and usefulness. The generation of the upright are sometimes thus blessed, that they are made blessings, eminent blessings, in their day. Christ is often called the Son of David, and Solomon was a type of him in this, as in other things, that he opened his mouth in parables or proverbs.
3. He was king of Israel–a king, and yet it was no disparagement to him to be an instructor of the ignorant, and a teacher of babes–king of Israel, that people among whom God was known and his name was great; among them he learned wisdom, and to them he communicated it. All the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which excelled all men’s (1 Kings 4:30; 1 Kings 10:24); it was an honour to Israel that their king was such a dictator, such an oracle. Solomon was famous for apophthegms; every word he said had weight in it, and something that was surprising and edifying. His servants who attended him, and heard his wisdom, had, among them, collected 3000 proverbs of his which they wrote in their day-books; but these were of his own writing, and do not amount to nearly a thousand. In these he was divinely inspired. Some think that out of those other proverbs of his, which were not so inspired, the apocryphal books of Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon were compiled, in which are many excellent sayings, and of great use; but, take altogether, they are far short of this book. The Roman emperors had each of them his symbol or motto, as many now have with their coat of arms. But Solomon had many weighty sayings, not as theirs, borrowed from others, but all the product of that extraordinary wisdom which God had endued him with.
II. For what end they were written (v. 2-4), not to gain a reputation to the author, or strengthen his interest among his subjects, but for the use and benefit of all that in every age and place will govern themselves by these dictates and study them closely. This book will help us,
1. To form right notions of things, and to possess our minds with clear and distinct ideas of them, that we may know wisdom and instruction, that wisdom which is got by instruction, by divine revelation, may know both how to speak and act wisely ourselves and to give instruction to others.
2. To distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil–to perceive the words of understanding, to apprehend them, to judge of them, to guard against mistakes, and to accommodate what we are taught to ourselves and our own use, that we may discern things that differ and not be imposed upon, and may approve things that are excellent and not lose the benefit of them, as the apostle prays, Phil. i. 10.
3. To order our conversation aright in every things, v. 3. This book will give, that we may receive, the instruction of wisdom, that knowledge which will guide our practice in justice, judgment, and equity (v. 3), which will dispose us to render to all their due, to God the things that are God’s, in all the exercises of religion, and to all men what is due to them, according to the obligations which by relation, office, contract, or upon any other account, we lie under to them. Note, Those are truly wise, and none but those, who are universally conscientious; and the design of the scripture is to teach us that wisdom, justice in the duties of the first table, judgment in those of the second table, and equity (that is sincerity) in both; so some distinguish them.
III. For whose use they were written, v. 4. They are of use to all, but are designed especially,
1. For the simple, to give subtlety to them. The instructions here given are plain and easy, and level to the meanest capacity, the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein; and those are likely to receive benefit by them who are sensible of their own ignorance and their need to be taught, and are therefore desirous to receive instruction; and those who receive these instructions in their light and power, though they be simple, will hereby be made subtle, graciously crafty to know the sin they should avoid and the duty they should do, and to escape the tempter’s wiles. He that is harmless as the dove by observing Solomon’s rules may become wise as the serpent; and he that has been sinfully foolish when he begins to govern himself by the word of God becomes graciously wise.
2. For young people, to give them knowledge and discretion. Youth is the learning age, catches at instructions, receives impressions, and retains what is then received; it is therefore of great consequence that the mind be then seasoned well, nor can it receive a better tincture than from Solomon’s proverbs. Youth is rash, and heady, and inconsiderate; man is born like the wild ass’s colt, and therefore needs to be broken by the restraints and managed by the rules we find here. And, if young people will but take heed to their ways according to Solomon’s proverbs, they will soon gain the knowledge and discretion of the ancients. Solomon had an eye to posterity in writing this book, hoping by it to season the minds of the rising generation with the generous principles of wisdom and virtue.
IV. What good use may be made of them, v. 5,
6. Those who are young and simple may by them be made wise, and are not excluded from Solomon’s school, as they were from Plato’s. But is it only for such? No; here is not only milk for babes, but strong meat for strong men. This book will not only make the foolish and bad wise and good, but the wise and good wiser and better; and though the simple and the young man may perhaps slight those instructions, and not be the better for them, yet the wise man will hear. Wisdom will be justified by her own children, though not by the children sitting in the market-place. Note, Even wise men must hear, and not think themselves too wise to learn. A wise man is sensible of his own defects (Plurima ignoro, sed ignorantiam meam non ignoro–I am ignorant of many things, but not of my own ignorance), and therefore is still pressing forward, that he may increase in learning, may know more and know it better, more clearly and distinctly, and may know better how to make use of it. As long as we live we should strive to increase in all useful learning. It was a saying of one of the greatest of the rabbin, Qui non auget scientiam, amittit de ea–If our stock of knowledge by not increasing, it is wasting; and those that would increase in learning must study the scriptures; these perfect the man of God. A wise man, by increasing in learning, is not only profitable to himself, but to others also,
1. As a counsellor. A man of understanding in these precepts of wisdom, by comparing them with one another and with his own observations, shall by degrees attain unto wise counsels; he stands fair for preferment, and will be consulted as an oracle, and entrusted with the management of public affairs; he shall come to sit at the helm, so the word signifies.
Note, Industry is the way to honour; and those whom God has blessed with wisdom must study to do good with it, according as their sphere is. It is more dignity indeed to be counsellor to the prince, but it is more charity to be counsellor to the poor, as Job was with his wisdom. Job 29:15, I was eyes to the blind.
2. As an interpreter (v. 6) –to understand a proverb. Solomon was himself famous for expounding riddles and resolving hard questions, which was of old the celebrated entertainment of the eastern princes, witness the solutions he gave to the enquiries with which the queen of Sheba thought to puzzle him. Now here he undertakes to furnish his readers with that talent, as far as would be serviceable to the best purposes. “They shall understand a proverb, even the interpretation, without which the proverb is a nut uncracked; when they hear a wise saying, though it be figurative, they shall take the sense of it, and know how to make use of it.” The words of the wise are sometimes dark sayings. In St. Paul’s epistles there is that which is hard to be understood; but to those who, being well-versed in the scriptures, know how to compare spiritual things with spiritual, they will be easy and safe; so that, if you ask them, Have you understood all these things? they may answer, Yea, Lord. Note, It is a credit to religion when men of honesty are men of sense; all good people therefore should aim to be intelligent, and run to and fro, take pains in the use of means, that their knowledge may be increased.
- Matthew Henry Commentary
4Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall [a]live by his faith and in his faithfulness.(B) – Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11
Footnotes:
Habakkuk 2:4 There is a curious passage in the Talmud [the body of Jewish civil and religious law] which says that Moses gave six hundred injunctions to the Israelites. As these commands might prove too numerous to commit to memory, David brought them down to eleven in Psalm 15. Isaiah reduced these eleven to six in [his] chapter 33:15. Micah (6:8) further reduced them to three; and Isaiah (56:1) once more brought them down to two. These two Amos (5:4) reduced to one. However, lest it might be supposed from this that God could be found only in the fulfillment of the law, Habakkuk (2:4 KJV) said, “The just shall live by his faith” (William H. Saulez, The Romance of the Hebrew Language). – Amplified Bible Page 1052
EVIDENCE OF FLOOD? FOSSIL FOREST FOUND IN ILLINOIS
Thousands of flood accounts exist around the globe. A significant number of these accounts describe the destruction of all living things except one righteous family and the animals they took with them on a boat. Some accounts, from Lithuania to East Africa to North America Indian tribes, also include the sign of a rainbow as evidence of God’s mercy. Most accounts say that the deluge was a world-wide event.
Water Water Everywhere
While secular geologists poo-poo the idea of a global flood, they do recognize that water has covered most parts of the earth at some point or another. Clamshells and oysters can be found in the cow fields of Wyoming, leftovers from what the geologists call the Western Interior Seaway. Millions of trilobites – sea-floor dwelling arthropods – can be found buried in Ohio and New York. In fact, trilobites are common enough to be considered an index fossil, with trilobite beds found in Germany, China, the Canadian Rockies, the United Kingdom, Russia and Morocco’s Atlas Mountains.
A Water-Buried Rain Forest
Recently, a US-UK team published an article in the journal Geology describing a 40 square mile fossil forest buried in Illinois. An earthquake is credited for sinking the rainforest quickly below sea level, where it was buried under muddy water. Observers can trek through the coal mine where the fossil forest was discovered and gaze at acres of fern fronds and trees on the mine ceiling. The huge leaves and mosses were preserved with amazing detail.
“It was an amazing experience. We drove down the mine in an armored vehicle, until we were a hundred meters below the surface,” said paleobotanist Howard Falcon-Lang from the U.K.’s University of Bristol. “The fossil forest was rooted on top of the coal seam, so where the coal had been mined away the fossilized forest was visible in the ceiling of the mine.”
Paleobotanists are excited about the prospect of studying these extinct plants as part of an entire ecosystem, and not simply as single plant fossils.
Another Catastrophe
Catastrophe has to be responsible for a major fossil find like this. If bugs or bacteria have a chance to attack the dead plants, they would quickly decompose. The incredible preservation of this fossil forest was only possible because of the quickness of the forest’s burial in mud.
“We’re looking at one instance in time over a large area. It’s literally a snapshot in time of a multiple square mile area,” said study team member Scott Elrick of the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS). “Some of these tree stumps have been covered geologically speaking in a flash.”
Other burial sites around the world show identical “flash” preservation. In Morocco, trilobites have been found petrified in the very process of rolling up into a protective ball. In Wyoming, raindrop marks and delicate bird footprints have been found preserved in petrified ancient mud.
Perhaps the geologists are correct, and this fossilized forest was buried in an earthquake unrelated to the Great Flood. We have not studied all of th evidence regarding this specific site in Illinois. It is remarkable, however, how consistently the fossil record offers evidence of a major catastrophe – catastrophe involving “a lot of water.”
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights… And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that [were] under the whole heaven, were covered.
- Genesis 7:11-12, 19
Related Links:
• Fossilized Rainforest Found In Coal Mine – MSNBC
• Giant Fossil Rainforest Unearthed – BBC
• Flood Legends From Around The World – NCN
• Some Notable Trilobite Localities – TNC
• Are Fossils The Result of Noah’s Flood? – ICR
• Study Resources: Creation and Evolution – Koinonia House
THE SUPERNATURAL ORIGIN OF BIBLICAL TEXTS
Why do we believe the Bible is accurate? Is it more than just a history book? What makes it different from all other religious books? Over the years we have been asked many questions concerning the accuracy of the Bible. Unfortunately many Christians do not know how to answer these commonly asked questions. So today we are going to examine how God authenticates His message.
In the 20th century we have witnessed one of the most remarkable discoveries in recorded history: the discovery that the universe is finite. The implications of this discovery are indeed staggering. Beginning with Albert Einstein in 1903, twentieth-century physicists have demonstrated that space-time and matter had a finite, simultaneous beginning.
Prior to this discovery, atheistic scientists and philosophers rested comfortably on the notion that the universe was eternal. Consequently, a universe without a beginning needed no cause, it just existed. However, a universe that has a beginning either created itself (a logical and scientific absurdity) or it was caused to exist by a Being who preceded it. By definition, that means a transcendent Creator, One who exists outside time and space.
A transcendent Creator presents some interesting possibilities. Because a transcendent Creator possesses the sufficient means to act in our space-time domain, He also has the capability to get a message to us. The Bible claims to be that message. The Bible authenticates that its text is an extraterrestrial, supernatural message system from a transcendent Creator in several ways. Not the least of which is its scientific accuracy.
The Bible declares that God is omniscient (all-knowing). He possesses a perfect understanding of the physical universe. Consequently, we would expect any book claiming to be the word of God to be without error or contradiction when it speaks on scientific issues. Well, not only is the Bible 100 percent accurate regarding scientific phenomenon, it revealed many scientific facts thousands of years before they were discovered by scientists (i.e. that time, space, and matter are finite, the universe is expanding, the spherical nature of the earth, the laws of thermodynamics, the oceanic currents, etc.)
Throughout the Bible’s text there are highly specific and accurate statements regarding the laws of physics, the nature of our solar system, the planet earth, and its life forms that were penned centuries before this scientific knowledge was discovered by the scientific community. This phenomenon, called scientific foreknowledge, is present throughout the text of the Bible and is a powerful hint of supernatural authorship.
Throughout the Bible we find the fingerprints of a supernatural message system. Numerous design features in the Biblical text defy coincidence and demonstrate that the Bible, which consists of sixty-six books, penned by forty authors over thousands of years, is an integrated message system. Because God exists outside our space-time domain, He is able to see, in effect, the beginning and the end of our time domain simultaneously. Consequently, the Bible authenticates that its message is of extra-dimensional origin through predictive prophecy (i.e. by writing history in advance).
Astonishing evidence has gradually accumulated in the fields of archaeology, astronomy, physics, and biology which confirm the scientific and historical accuracy of the Bible, the supernatural origin of its text and the fact that it has been preserved virtually unchanged for over two thousand years. No other holy book on planet earth authenticates its message in these ways. For more information on the accuracy of the Bible, and for more examples supporting these claims, check out Chuck Missler’s verse-by-verse commentary on the book of Genesis.
Related Links:
• Genesis – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
• Genesis – DVD – Koinonia House
• How We Got Our Bible – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
- From Koinonia House News Letter
EXAMINING THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
The first thing to notice about the Gospels is that they are skillfully designed; each one is tailored to suit its specific perspective. Matthew was a Jew, a Levite; he presents Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel – the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This first book of the New Testament plunges right in to establish Jesus as the Meshiach Nagid, the Messiah the King. After first establishing the royal genealogy, Matthew then proceeds to focus on the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies: Matthew uses the term “fulfilled” 82 times!
Matthew emphasized what Jesus said. He evidently recorded the discourses verbatim. As a customs official, he was a tachygrapher, or shorthand writer. The reason Matthew’s Gospel is so much longer than Mark’s is that he includes Jesus’ extensive discourses, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the Olivet Discourse; without these discourses, Mark’s Gospel would be longer.
Early Origin
Many scholars now believe that the Gospels were written before Paul’s first imprisonment in 57-60 AD, and that virtually all of the New Testament books were written before Jerusalem’s destruction.
There is no hint in the New Testament of Nero’s persecutions after 64 AD, nor of the execution of James, the Lord’s brother, in 62 AD. There is not the slightest mention of the Jewish revolt against the Romans, which began in 66 AD, nor of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. These historic events would have been irresistible in making many of the arguments in the New Testament documents.
Textual evidence suggests that the Gospels were originally written in Hebrew. In hundreds of places the Greek sentence structure betrays a Semitic influence and implies a translation from the Hebrew. It appears that within five years after the death and resurrection of Christ, most of His words and deeds had been committed to a simple written Hebrew form and Matthew is, of course, assumed to be part of this compilation.
In 1994, an ancient segment of the Greek text of Matthew’s Gospel was analyzed and it appears to be dated before 66 AD. Known as the Magdalen Papyrus, it contains segments of Matthew 26:23 and 26:31 on both sides of three fragments. Using a scanning laser microscope, it has provided physical evidence that the Gospel according to Matthew is an eyewitness account written by contemporaries of Christ.
Your Challenge
Matthew’s thoroughness and precision lends many special insights as one delves into his detailed presentations. His rendering of the Seven Kingdom Parables in Chapter 13 is remarkably parallel to the Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, etc. His presentation of Jesus’ confidential briefing to His disciples about His Second Coming in Chapter 24 is an essential foundation in any eschatological (end-time) study. So, clearly, this very basic book of the Bible is, of course, a most rewarding study to both novice and experienced Bible students who are willing to diligently dig in. Our prayers are that you will be blessed as you embark on this fascinating study!
Related Links:
• Matthew – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
• Matthew – DVD – Koinonia House
HOW MANY ISAIAHS?
My early zeal for studying the Scripture was dampened many years ago as I encountered what is often called “textual criticism.” I was surprised to learn that it was naive and unlearned to regard the Book of Isaiah as actually written by the prophet Isaiah, as was commonly thought.
With its 66 chapters, Isaiah is the longest prophetic book of the Old Testament. Most scholars agree that the book falls naturally into two major sections, Chapters 1-39 and Chapters 40-66.
The first section has a distinctive style which changes noticeably in the final section. It is easy to remember since it parallels the Bible itself, with 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. (But don’t make too much of this; the chapter divisions, as we know them, were added in the 13th century.)
The Deutero-Isaiah Theory
The “textual critics” have insisted that the Book of Isaiah is a compilation of two different writers, each calling himself Isaiah but writing at different times. This “Deutero-Isaiah” theory is surprisingly prevalent in many modern (“liberal”) commentaries. (There are some that even advocate a three-Isaiah theory.)
The first section of the book deals with God’s approaching judgment on the nation of Judah. In some of the most striking passages in all the Bible, the prophet announces that God will punish His people because of their sin, rebellion, and worship of false gods. While this section includes many references to the coming Messiah, including His virgin birth and his rule on the throne of David, the style of this section is distinctive and certainly fits the subject matter.
The last section, in contrast to the first, is noticeably different. It emphasizes the Messianic expectation and an ultimate comfort for God’s people. (Most of Handel’s Messiah was drawn from this section of the Book of Isaiah.) The heart of his stunning prophecy occurs in Chapter 53, as Isaiah presents the role of the coming Messiah in its highest point. Some call this passage the “Holy of Holies” of the Old Testament. The Servant’s suffering and death and the redemptive nature of His mission are clearly foretold. Although mankind deserved God’s judgment because “we have turned, every one, to his own way,” God sent His Servant to take away our sins. According to Isaiah, it is through His suffering that we are reconciled with God, since “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
It is principally on the basis of the stylistic changes between the two sections that critics have developed the Deutero-Isaiah theory. Those who assign Chapters 40-66 to a “Second Isaiah” point out that the two major sections of the book seem to be set in different times. Chapters 1-39 clearly belong to the eighth century b.c., a turbulent period in the history of Judah.
But Isaiah 40-66, according to these scholars, seems to be addressed to the citizens of Judah who were being held as captives in Babylon about two centuries after Isaiah lived and prophesied. These scholars also point to the differences in tone, language, and style between the two major sections as proof that the book was written by two different authors.
The Traditional View
There are, however, conservative scholars who insist the entire book was written by the famous prophet Isaiah who ministered in the southern kingdom of Judah for 40 years, from about 740-700 b.c. They point out that the two sections of the book have many similarities, although they are dramatically different in tone and theme. Many phrases and ideas that are peculiar to Isaiah appear in both sections of the book.
A good example of this is Isaiah’s unique reference to God as “the Holy One of Israel.” The appearance of these words and phrases can be used to argue just as convincingly that the book was written by a single author.
In the second section of his book, Isaiah looked into the future and predicted the years of the Captivity and the return of the Covenant People to their homeland after the Captivity ended. If the prophet could predict the coming of the Messiah over 700 years before that happened, he could certainly foresee this major event in the future of the nation of Judah.
The style of each section deliberately matches its subject matter.
The Valley of Doubt
Doubts about the authorship and authenticity of any book in the Bible can have tragic consequences for those who are attempting to take the Bible seriously. As I look back on my own spiritual journey, I recall the many years that these views introduced a subtle doubt in my mind and hampered my real growth in the Word.
Is there a way to resolve this without getting drawn into the distressing debates and arrogant displays among erudite scholars and “textual critics”? Indeed, there is. I only wish I had discovered it earlier in my own travels through God’s wondrous Word.
The Discovery in John 12
What a precious chapter! It has many marvelous insights, but among the dearest to me personally are verses 37-41:
37] But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
38] That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
39] Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again,
40] He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
41] These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
In this passage we first encounter a quote, in verse 38, familiar to many of you, that begins the famous chapter of Isaiah 53. This would be in the section attributed to the “Second Isaiah.”
In verse 40 we have a quote from Isaiah Chapter 6 (v. 10), as verse 41 also highlights what occurs when Isaiah beholds the throne of God. This is, of course, in the first section of Isaiah.
Oh, how I am grateful for verse 39! Notice that John tells us that “that Isaiah said again” when he links the two passages and, thus, the two sections and attributes them both to “that” (same) Isaiah! If you take John seriously, and recognize the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then you need not doubt the authorship of Isaiah – both “sections.”
It is fascinating to me to notice that there is no heresy – or controversy – that hasn’t been anticipated by the Holy Spirit within the Scripture itself. If we recognize the reality that we have 66 books penned by 40 authors over thousands of years that are an integrated whole, and that every detail has been the result of careful and skillful engineering, then there is no need to stumble over the erudite skepticism and arrogance by scholarship falsely so called.
Isn’t God wonderful? If we would just learn to take Him at His Word.
Related Links:
• Isaiah – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
• John – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
• How to Study the Bible – MP3 Download – Koinonia House
– From Koinonia House News Letter
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