“Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”19
In concluding this series on the validity of God’s Word, the continuity of the Bible is further confirmation of its authenticity. Though it was written over a period of fifteen hundred years by thirty-five to forty different writers with sixty-six different books, it has only one major theme—the salvation of lost mankind. This supports the claim that there is only one author—God.
Evidence from science and archaeology. While the Bible isn’t a book of science, scientific facts that have been in its pages for at least thirty-five hundred years have come to light only in recent times. For example, many of the statutes and regulations in the Old Testament were given for health and hygienic purposes—knowledge that was unknown to the ancient world.
In his book, None of These Diseases, Dr. S.I. McMillen wrote, “When God led the Israelites out of afflicted Egypt, he promised them that if they would obey his statutes, he would put ‘none of these diseases’ upon them [diseases from which Egypt and other nations were suffering]. God guaranteed a freedom from disease that modern medicine cannot duplicate.”20
Dr. McMillen continues, “I am confident that the reader will be intrigued to discover that the Bible’s directives can save him from certain infectious diseases, from many lethal cancers, and from a long gauntlet of psychosomatic diseases that are increasing in spite of modern medicine.”21
In the final analysis, however, it is up to each individual as to whether or not he or she chooses to accept the Bible as God’s Word. For those who want to believe it is, there is more than sufficient evidence to support this belief.
Furthermore, all who have accepted the Bible as God’s Word, and have responded to Jesus Christ’s invitation to receive him as Lord and Savior and live according to biblical principles, have a deep assurance that the Bible is God’s Word, that it is true, and that they have been given the gift of eternal life.22
The greatest quest of man over the ages has always been to know: “Where did I come from? Why am I here? And, where am I going?” Only God’s Word, the Bible, can give the authentic answers to these questions.
Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you again for your Word, and that it is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Help me to live according to its divine principles and thereby make my life a light unto those who don’t know you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
Footnotes: 19. Psalm 119:105 (NKJV). 20. McMillen, S.I., None of These Diseases (Westwood, New Jersey; Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963), p. 17. 21. Ibid, p. 18. 22. See John 17:17 and 1 John 5:13.
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