History and the Bible

             There is a story about Benjamin Franklin which goes like this: Benjamin Franklin was approached by a woman as he left the Constitutional convention after our founding fathers had just finished writing our Constitution. She asked, “What have you given us?”

Franklin is said to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin said shortly thereafter, “When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic.” Well, Benjamin Franklin was not inspired of God, and his words are not Scripture, but they were very insightful.

George Santianna said this: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” To be honest, if you know much about George Santianna, you realize that he was a philosopher and not a historian, but the truth of this statement has been repeated for generations.

Let us go where there is another more reliable source for a statement about history.

In Romans 15:4 God says, “For whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning.” Is God saying that the things written in the Bible are for us so that we could learn about history?  No, the next words in this text explain, “…that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope.” Hope comes from history according to the Scriptures.

There is the hope of prophecy, but there is also the hope that comes from the history as it is recorded in the Bible. So, we should study about the historical value of the Bible. There is an incredible amount of material that verifies the historicity of the Bible. There are known facts that verify every aspect of the Bible.

The first thing to consider is the fact that the Bible interprets history. It has been aptly said that the Bible is truly “His story.”

The public high school which I attended had an approach to history in the curriculum in which almost all references to God and religion were left out. I was always intrigued with history, yet I did not do very well, academically, because I wanted to know what happened in history and why. In history we would learn the names, dates, and places of things that happened, but we learned few reasons. I was not really interested in the names of the places or of the names of the principals involved. I wanted to know what happened in this or that war. I wanted to picture this battle as it took place, but as I did this they left out any reference to anything in the Bible. Consequently, I found history to be somewhat senseless. The events were simply isolated actions about which we were reading, but I wanted to know why these things took place. What was behind all of that? I could not learn any lessons from history, because they had left out the very reasons for such things, thus leaving out the very thing that interprets history. The teaching of history must teach you why men did what they did, and what the consequences were if we are going to learn how to avoid making the same mistakes. We must consider what the solutions to these problems are, if we are to benefit from history. Religion has played a major part in almost every conflict in history.  The Word of God teaches us about the nature of man, the fallacy of man’s religion, and gives us the solution to the problems posed in history.

As one example, consider why the crusades took place. I am sure that that question would be a no-brainer to most. It was a religious war, but when I was in school, I was not taught that. I was never told that it was a religious conflict.

What was Charlemagne’s motivation? It was religious. What was the Spanish Inquisition all about? It was the attempt of the Roman Catholic Church to eradicate Jews and non-Catholic Christians. It was a religious thing. The writers of those history books had left those things out. What about trial by fire? They wrote that it was simply the way they judged people back then, but why did they do those atrocious things, and to whom did they do them? What were the victims doing that was considered so bad? Why would they take these innocent people and put them through such straights? The history books left the reason for those things out. So I did not understand history. I did not know what was going on.

Almost every one of the wars had a religious motivation and background of some kind. I am not saying that Christians or God was behind them by any means whatever in the world, but when you leave out religion, you leave out God’s working, God’s planning, and God’s sovereignty. Without God’s revelation you have no clue what was going on in history. It becomes something from which you cannot learn; therefore, because it is taught that history does not repeat itself, you will fail to see the patterns of history.  As soon as you start including the principles that God has told us about concerning the evils of religion and the depraved nature of man, you begin to see repeatable patterns both in the historical Biblical accounts and secular history since the time of Christ. With this understanding you can avoid repeating those mistakes. So one of the main things about the historical value of the Bible is it interprets history.

One of the first things we need to learn is stated in Genesis 1:1. The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Through the creation we understand about God’s eternal power and Godhead according to Romans 1:20[1] so that unbelievers are without excuse.

One of the most loved external manuscripts that verifies the creation is our own Declaration of Independence. The wisest most educated men of their time signed an agreement for which they would pledge their fortunes, their sacred honor, and their very lives. That document begins: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.[2]” This document was the basis for forming the founding of our nation. What are the foundational truths upon which our nation was based? If we get away from these foundational truths, if we do not hold to these truths, learn these truths, and teach these truths; we are bound to repeat the mistakes and suffer the same judgments that came from the lack of knowledge of these things in previous governments and generations.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created…” Our nation was based upon a self evident truth that all men are created by God. Therefore, God’s laws and instructions are vital for societal harmony.

“And are endowed by their Creator…” If we get away from that foundational truth, then we have gotten away from one of the very basic external evidences believed to be true by our founding fathers. The assumption is that blessing and cursing are an extension of our obedience to and relationship with God, or lack thereof. Make no mistake about it. These were highly intelligent, well educated, and greatly respected men. This Declaration was written 1800 years after the last book of the Bible was written, but if you are going to accept our Declaration of Independence and agree with that, then you are going to have to accept creation.

If you reject creation, and the belief in God in this nation, you must also reject the bill of rights. The first amendment to our Constitution protects our right to have religion in government[3], yet almost 100 years after the writing of the Declaration of Independence around 1875, there was suggested the idea contrary to our first amendment of a separation of church and state. Since the insertion of this idea the moral condition of our nation has deteriorated considerably. The idea of separation of church and state was neither in any of the founding documents nor in our bill of rights. It is not even implied.

Just as our Declaration of Independence teaches that all men are created, so does the Bible. In Genesis God teaches that all things were created by God including the human race[4]. Then God gave mankind the job of bearing fruit[5]. In Genesis chapter three Adam and Eve sinned. This added another dimension to the prime directive of bearing fruit in Genesis chapter one. Now men became responsible, not just to bear  fruit, but to raise their children, or fruit, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4[6]).

After Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis chapter three, sin passed upon all mankind, individually, and by the time Noah came along in Genesis chapter 6, mankind had become a failure as a whole human race.

“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose” (Genesis 6:1-2).

Believers, or “sons of God” as God calls believers (I John 3:1-2[7]), did not lead their children to the Lord, and, eventually, their children began to marry unbelievers. The results were devastating. Their children began to have an earned reputation as being completely evil.

“When the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:4-5).

Consequently, God, ultimately, by a universal flood destroyed mankind and the things God had created for mankind to help him accomplish his purpose of bearing fruit.

“And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them” (Genesis 6:6-7).

As a sidelight, this passage records the first of many passages throughout the Old Testament that refers to there being giants prior to failure of believers to bear spiritual fruit by leading their children to the Lord.

“There were giants in the earth in those days” (Genesis 6:4).

The presence of giants prior to man’s failure to lead their children to  the Lord and the consequential judgment upon mankind, would seem insignificant and pointless, except for historical archaeological evidence which God has preserved in the sedimentary rocks after the universal flood.

There is archeological proof of dinosaur footprints in the rock strata. There have been detailed photographs of these footprints that prove their authenticity.

Now, to be honest, there are some other articles that deny these facts, with evidences to demonstrate their accuracy, too. The difference is: most of the photographs of the footprints of men, giants, and dinosaurs are not retouched, while the photographs of those denying that men, giants, and dinosaurs lived at the same time are photographs of drawings and illustrations. Which do you find more credible to prove a point – Photographs or drawn pictures?

One of the things talked about that proves the authenticity of the footprints is what could be called up-push. Up-push is the crown the weight of your foot causes when it is pushed into mud. That is one reason some now say that some of these are hoaxes. There was not any up-push. Some of those footprints had been chiseled into the rocks and were in fact hoaxes, while others had had the up-push worn away, but those that still had the up-push showed that they could not have been chiseled into the rock. Many of those with up-push had close-up pictures of the up-push.

Some have said that the reason the prints look like human footprints is because they are dinosaur footprints in the mud that collapsed into the cavity where the footprint had been. Now, that is a possibility, but there are no pictures to verify that theory except drawn pictures. Now, let me just say, “Be careful of ‘drawn’ pictures.”

Speaking of drawn pictures, as an example, have you ever seen the pictures of the evolution of the horse? If they showed photographs of the area around the fossils where they found the skeleton of the Eohippus, do you know what we would see? You would see the skeleton of the eohippus and just a few feet away in the same rock strata you would find a fully developed modern horse called the Nevadensis and another one called the Occidentalis[8]. Why evolve a horse from the Eohippus when we already have a fully developed and full size modern day horse? But they do not want us to look at that picture, because, if they put that picture there, it would be confusing to their philosophy and their  science falsely so called. So they draw pictures. It is possible that the photographs are no longer accurate, because the sandstone in which the footprints are is very easily eroded once it has been unearthed, and become exposed. After they dig them up the footprints wash away after a relatively short period of time once exposed to the elements. They were made in sedimentary rock, which erodes more quickly than most igneous rock such as granite. Since they wear away, they may not be there anymore, but there are many clear detailed photographs which verify archaeologically that the flood did take place.

Some of those pictures showed that the footprints, actually, clearly had toes. Some even had pock marks in the rock that were made by rain drops in the mud, and then preserved by the deep sediment that rapidly settle into the footprints, thus preserving them. There were also some human giant footprints along with the dinosaur and normal sized human footprints. Where did they come from? Wait! It says right there in Genesis, “There were giants in the land.[9]”

There is something else that is very important about history and the Bible. The Bible also helps us understand current events. What is the most important thing that faces us in future elections? Three things are very very important. They are the relationship of our leaders to God and the Bible, Homosexuality, and abortion. Those are the three main things that we need to be concerned about that will either make or break our relationship with God and will either turn God against us as a nation and bring a curse, or gain God’s approval and bring His blessing.

Abraham Lincoln once said, when asked whether he thought God was on his side during the War Between the States, “It matters not if God is on my side, but whether I’m on His.” That is exactly what we are facing in everything in which we have a part. Are we going to stand on the side of right, which is on the side of God, or are we going to stand where we are going to cause or hasten the judgment of God. These things are vitally important to the future of our nation. Consequently, we need to interpret current events by the Bible.

Not only are domestic issues clarified by our understanding of the Bible, but foreign policy should be subject to our knowledge of the Bible, prophecy, and its relation to current policy. In particular, our relationship to Israel and our relationship to the Arab countries are better understood in light of Scripture.

In view of the sensitivity, supposed need for secrecy, and the covert nature of foreign policy, I am not sure if we as the populace can or should know much about the specifics of the wisdom of much foreign policy. I am not sure we can know who is right or wrong or left or right in foreign policy. But understanding the Bible can help us understand about foreign policy. If you can see God’s working, if you can see God’s purposes, and if you can see fulfilled Scripture and some future events in our current events, they will help you understand how the way things will play out, prophetically. Any election is probably inconsequential, as far as we go, but a working knowledge of the nature of man, evil, and prophecy helps us understand what is going on in the world, today. So the Bible has great historical value in current events.

When we realize the importance of God’s plan and principles in history and current events, we find a travesty in almost all public schools today and that is the purging of religion from history. They do not want Moslems to look bad, so they purge  out any unsavory reference to Islam . They do not want Catholics to look bad, so they purge out anything that offend Catholics. They do not want fundamental Bible believing Christians to look good, so they purge out any evidence or benefit of the Bible. If you have a teaching of history devoid of what the Bible has to say and the history that is in the Bible, then you have a severe deficiency in education of history. If you do not know what the Bible teaches about history when you graduate, you graduate without knowing history or historical literature. If you are going to get a complete education you need to get a Bible education.

Probably the greatest historical value of the Bible is how it affects history. We need to understand that God is behind history.

In II Corinthians 10:4 God says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” We must understand that we hold the high ground. Our Arsenal is mighty to the pulling down of the strongholds of the skeptic, the atheist, the agnostic, and the existentialist. What are we supposed to do? Verse 5 tells us: “Casting down imaginations.” What do we try to stimulate in our young people? Imagination! If you look up the word “imagination” in your concordance you will find out that imagination is usually only evil.

“Casting down imaginations and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Our point is this: We hold the high ground. We are on the assault. We have the weapons. The world does not. That is the reason that Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church. In a battle, the people that are behind the gates are the ones who are on the defensive. Those defending refer to those who are bound for hell. We are on the assault and the gates are not going to keep us out of their strongholds.

What are their strongholds? Their strongholds are their imaginations. The strongholds are in their minds, and in their thoughts; but we have the tools to conquer evil imaginations.

The problem is we are ill equipped. Why? We will not pick up our own weapons-in particular our sword, the Word of God[10]. We do not use our weapon, because we do not know how. We do not know how to find the answers we need in it, so we might get in the battle and be defeated, because we do not know how to use the Bible, or we do not really have a great deal of confidence in it. Someone may ask a question, and the best we can come up with is something like, “You just have to take it by faith.”

What does God say? “Come now let us reason together.” He says that His teachings are reasonable.

So the Bible has had great effect on history and on current events, but we also see that it is 100% historically accurate. One of the reasons that the Bible is so historically accurate should be very obvious. It is historically accurate, because of its age. It was written during the time when the events it records took place. Most of the Bible was written as it happened. Therefore, it is historically accurate. It would be illogical to believe that it is not accurate.

When we read the writings of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, we seem to fail to realize that the writings that are supposed to be quoting them were written hundreds of years after Christ, but those men lived hundreds of years before Christ. Yet people do not question the historicity of those writings. We assume they are accurate records of what they had to say.

Except for prophecy which was written before the events took place, the Bible was written at the time the events it records took place, yet people constantly attack the accuracy of the Bible thousands of years later, thinking that we know history better now than those who were alive when the events were taking place. Is that logical? No, it is not the least bit logical.

How do we know that those things were written when they claimed to be written?

One way is through external evidence. Were there any writings from that particular time that verify the existence of the writings in the Bible?

Josephus was a Jew who was born shortly after the death of Christ. He became a historian for the Romans recording, as an eye witness, the happenings at the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70 and Masada shortly thereafter[11]. Some of his writings were written as early as A. D. 75. He, also, records the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ[12].

Polycarp, a disciple of John who lived from A. D. 69 to 155, quotes from fifteen books of the New Testament.[13]

Justin Martyr[14], lived from AD 110 to 165. He quotes from twelve books of the New Testament. Pliny and Trajan[15], Roman rulers, wrote back and forth about the Christians in A. D. 112. They were discussing, “What are we going to do about these Christians?” Christianity already had a foothold by that time, so they were writing about the fact that Caesar had ordered the persecution of the Christians and they were collaborating about what do about it.

They included another Roman named Suetonius, in their running dialogue about Christianity and how it was affecting the Roman Empire. Suetonius had written about this problem many years earlier before the New Testament had been completed. The Bible was not finished until around A. D. 96, but Seutonius is said to have written about the Christians as early as A. D. 55, so he verifies the existence of Christianity while Paul was still alive. Paul was not martyred until 10 years after Suetonius first wrote.

Some years later between A. D. 75 and A. D 150 Tacitus[16] wrote about the Christians.

I read an article on the computer that claimed Paul did his writings a hundred and fifty years after Christ was born. That is very interesting in view of the fact that Nero had Paul killed, and Nero died in A.D. 68. So how could Paul have written anything in A. D. 150?

All these things of the Bible have been verified by external writings. Yet somebody came along centuries later and just does not want to believe that the Bible was written when it claimed to be written, so they just fabricate an erroneous, and consequently, unverifiable cunningly devised fable out of the blue. Then they put it on the internet, and people believe it.

We need to realize that the Bible was written when it claims to have been written, and the external writings prove that.

Joseph P. Free’s book Archaeology and Bible History has pictures of the walls of  Jericho[17]  showing  that  they  fell  down exactly the way God said they did in Joshua 6:20-24[18], and the city was burned exactly the way God said. It also verifies about the existence and destruction of Ai[19], and Abraham having come from Ur of the Chaldees.

Immanuel Velikovsky wrote a book titled Worlds in Collision. In this book he sites many ancient manuscripts that verify many of the miracles in the Old Testament.  Immanuel Velikovsky did not necessarily believe that the events in the Old Testament were miraculous. In fact he was apparently an unbeliever who was trying to explain away the miraculous aspect of the Bible by giving a natural interpretation of the events which took place. Nevertheless, he went to great lengths to verify that all of the events of the Old Testament, actually, did take place just as the Bible accurately recorded them, and he uses, as proof, many ancient manuscripts from ancient civilizations all over the world that record the same events. He did his studies in Moscow, Berlin, Zurich, and Vienna.

One example of which he wrote was the fact that the Himalayas had been under the sea. He recorded that proof had been found that the Himalayas had been underwater. Then he cited ancient manuscripts from all around the world that also recorded the fact of a universal flood.

We also have proof that the mountains in the United States were under water as well. Having been a missionary to the mountains of North Carolina, I have, actually, dug up sea shells while gardening, thus showing that the Appalachian Mountains had been under water at one time.

Velikovsky’s conclusions are dubious at best, but his research is impeccable. The facts he uncovers are verification of the facts that are also recorded in the Bible, but his interpretations are quite dubious.

The Bible indicates that the earth’s axis reversed. The North Pole became the South Pole and vice versa.  Velikovsky proves this through archaeological discoveries of ancient charts of the stars and constellations around the world. He discovered that at a particular time in history the charts reversed. The southern sky which is not visible in the northern hemisphere was nevertheless found in the charts in the northern hemisphere from that time backward to the earliest charts, and the same was true of the same period in the southern hemisphere[20].

This apparently happened at the same time as Joshua’s long day when the earth stopped its rotation[21] as recorded in Joshua 10:12-14. Velikovsky’s interpretation of these events was that he believed a comet crossed the path of the earth and, actually, grazed the earth. The earth, eventually, went through the tail of the comet. It circled around and possibly went through it again on the other circuit, before it went away for a while. However, he believed that it was pulled out of its orbit far enough so that a few years later it came back during a later period. At that time it was pulled out of its elliptical orbit completely, and pulled into a circular orbit like the earth and other planets’ orbit’s around the sun, and it became the planet of Venus. Much about this theory is preposterous, but it is very important that we realize what can be learned from the facts he used to come up with his theory. In the research for evidence for what he was writing, he records many facts that verify that the miracles of the Old Testament, actually, took place. The proof was in numerous ancient writings of peoples all over the world. They record the same miracles that are recorded in the books of Exodus and Joshua such as hail mixed with fire, darkness that could be felt, the water turning to blood, the earth being turned upside down on its axis, the sores, etc.

This man was not a believer who was trying to verify the Bible. Yet his work verifies the miracles of the Old Testament.

Velikovsky believed the plagues were caused by the earth passing through the tail of a comet. He verifies that water appeared to turn to blood and became poisonous to the frogs. Boils broke out on the people, and cattle died. He could not verify the cause, but he verified in writings from all over the world that these things took place. These are historical writings, not prophetical writings. They are records that were written when they took place all over the world.  Every society experienced the same thing at the same time showing that the plagues in Egypt did take place the way the Bible recorded that they took place. To deny these facts is to deny every shred of evidence that we have in history as well as the Word of God. The problem is: only God could command these things to take place.  Nobody else could do that, and He told Moses they were going to take place before they happened. So they took place just like He told Moses they would. Whatever He used to do these things is irrelevant. The fact is they did take place exactly the way the Bible says. If you do not believe that you are going against every bit of evidence that is set forth. However, a person must be willing to believe that there is a God who is able to do these things if a person is going to believe the historical records.

There is also another unbeliever named Dr. Sconfield who wrote the Passover Plot. He did not believe in the resurrection, so he set out to disprove it, but, in doing so, he refers to many historical evidences, thus showing their acceptance as to their accuracy.  He refers to the Dead Sea Scrolls[22] and the accuracy thereof.  He  also  refers  to Josephus Flavius and the accuracy of his writings. Here is an unbeliever agreeing with Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

What can we learn from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Josephus[23]?

Every book of the Old Testament except the book of Esther[24] has been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls[25], and Esther is found in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament, which was translated over 150 years before that. We know that the Dead Sea Scrolls were copied from earlier manuscripts written over 300 years before Christ[26]. Therefore, we can be sure that every single book of the Old Testament had been written and accepted as Scripture over 400 years before Christ. There is no reason to believe that any of the books of the Old Testament was not written when they claimed to be written.

What about Josephus? Josephus Flavius was a contemporary of Jesus Christ. To our knowledge he was not a Christian, but his writings almost sound like he was. He verifies and he records the whole Old Testament showing that the whole Old Testament was accepted as Scripture[27].

Concerning the historical accuracy of the New Testament, Josephus verifies the rule of Herod the great[28]. Josephus records that Cyrenius[29] ruled at the time of Jesus’ birth.

He verifies that Archalaeus ruled after Herod the Great. Jesus and His parents, Joseph and Mary, came out of Egypt and settled in Nazareth of Galilee, because Archaelius[30] ruled in the room of his father, Herod the Great. Joseph was afraid to settle there and was warned of God in a dream not to settle there, so they went to Nazareth.

Josephus records about Archaelius ruling that area. He also records about Philip’s rule[31].  We read about those things in Luke 3:1[32]. He, also, records that Pilate ruled at the time of Christ’s crucifixion[33].

In John 18:38 Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” when Jesus appeared before Pilate.

What was Jesus’ answer? Jesus answered in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh on the Father but by me.” And how do we find out about Jesus Christ? Jesus said, “Sanctify them by Thy Word. Thy word is truth,” In John 17:17.

What did Josephus record about Jesus?

“Now, there was about as time Jesus, a wise man if it be lawful to call  him  a  man.  For  he  was  a  doer  of wonderful works…“ (We call Him Wonderful counselor.) “…a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure, He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was Christ. And Pilate at the suggestion of the principle men amongst us had condemned Him to the cross. Those that loved him at first did not forsake Him. He appeared to them alive again the third day.” He appeared to them alive again the third day!

In external historical writings we find that Josephus records the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

What does God say? In Acts 1:3 we read about the resurrection of Jesus Christ where God says, “Who showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs.” He says that God raised up Jesus, and that they all were witnesses of this.

In I Corinthians 15:4-8[34] God says that Jesus was seen to be alive after His death by over 500 brethren at one time, plus all the apostles one at a time or another individually saw Him. So they were eyewitnesses of the things which they recorded.

The only contemporary historian in the area to verify or deny the Scriptures verifies the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is verified by the only outside source that we have apart from the hundreds of eyewitnesses of the resurrection. Any writings that deny the resurrection were written hundreds of years later, but those people that were living at the time record the resurrection as a fact, either as eyewitnesses or as those who were recording for the eyewitnesses to verify that the eyewitnesses affirm the resurrection.

These documents demonstrate that we do not have a faith based upon nothing. Our faith is based upon the best evidence available, and we can reason together in view of that. What can we learn from this? Remember, these Scriptures were written for our admonition according to I Corinthians 10:11. They are written for our learning according to Romans 14:4.

It boils down to this. Are you going to believe the evidence, or are you going to trust your own preconceived ideas? All of the evidence points to the fact that the testimony of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the truth. If we look into the truth of the Word of God we find the truth of Jesus Christ.

In Genesis 15:6[35] God says that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. How can man get back into a right relationship with God after the fall of man of which we wrote at the beginning of this writing? We simply believe it. We believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the complete provision for the payment for our sins.

In Romans 4:1-5 God puts it this way when referring to the same verse in Genesis 15:6:  “What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God and it (his belief) was counted unto Him for righteousness. Now, to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. But to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

Can a person have the righteousness of God which is required to get us to heaven without doing any works at all either before or after he believes? If a person believes in Jesus Christ, and he does not do any works whatever, does he have the righteousness it takes to get to heaven? God says that he does in Romans 4:5: “But to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

What is the future for those who believe?

In the book of Job, the oldest book of the Bible having been written about 3,500 years ago and has been verified by external evidences, tells us this: “I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin, worms destroy this body…” This speaks of our death and the corruption that follows our death. “After my skin the worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall I see God.” There is only one way you can see God in your flesh after the worms have destroyed your body after death, and that is by a bodily resurrection. We are talking about our resurrection. It is not talking about Jesus Christ’s resurrection. If we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, if we understand that He died for our failure, and we trust His death payment for our sins, then we can know that we are going to heaven. You see, we have all done things wrong[36]. That is called sin. To get to heaven we cannot have any sin, because if we should go to heaven with even one sin, then there would be sickness, sorrow, and death in heaven, and heaven would come to an end. But Jesus paid for our sin so that we can have the righteousness it takes to get to heaven. All we have to do to get that righteousness is to believe it[37]. God says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16).

If you believe that, then you can know that you are going to heaven. God says in I John 5:13: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” In I Corinthians 10:11 God puts it this way: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

 

 

 

[1] Romans 1:20 “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”

[2] The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America, p. 1

[3] Ibid p. 31

[4] Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

[5] Genesis1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

[6] Ephesians 6:4 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

[7] I John 3:1-2 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

[8] Stanford, A. Ray, Handbook of Personal Evangelism,  p.126.

[9] Genesis 6: 4 “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

[10] Hebrews 4:12 “The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.”

[11]Visalli, Gayla, After Jesus,  p.74.

[12] Whiston, Williams, Josephus, p.638

[13]Miller, H.S. Gerneral Biblical Introduction,  pp.264-265.

[14] Ibid. pp. 265-267.

[15] Whiston, Williams, Josephus, pp. 657-658

[16] Huber, Robert V. The Bible Through the Ages, p. 183

[17] Free, Joseph P. Archaeology and Bible History p.111.

[18] Joshua 6:20-24 “So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. And the young men that were spies went in, and brought Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.”

[19] Ibid. Archaeology and Bible History pp. 133-135.

[20]Velikovshy, Immanuel, Worlds in Collision, pp120-121.

[21] Ibid. pp. 118-119

[22] Schonfield, Hugh J. The Passover Plot, p.86.

[23] Ibid. p.155.

[24] Packer, J. I., M. C. Tenney, Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible, p. 349

[25] Huber, Robert V., The Bible Through the Ages, pp. 127-129, 362-363.

[26] Ibid. p. 183

[27] Whiston, William, Josephus Complete Works, pp. 22-622.

[28] Ibid. p.373

[29] Ibid. p.376.

[30] Ibid. p.377.

[31] Ibid. p. 373.

[32] Luke 3:1 “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene.”

[33] Whiston, William, Josephus Complete Works, p.379.

[34] I Corinthians 15:4-8 “He was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”

[35] Genesis 15:6 “He believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness.”

[36] Romans 3:23 “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

[37] Philippians 3:9 “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”