John Bevere - How Accurate Is the Bible
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People spend more time on social media today than they do on the scriptures. People spend more time reading blogs than they do on the scripture. So can we talk about the scripture for a few minutes? There are 66 books of the Bible written over a 1,500-year time span. Do you understand how long 1,500 years is? If I go back 1,500 years from right now, we land at 515 AD; there hasn’t even been a British Empire yet. That’s a long time ago, okay? 1,500 years, 66 books written by over 40 writers from three different continents in three different languages.
We have kings, prisoners, soldiers, military men, shepherds, farmers, a physician, and a tax collector who’s a mafia guy. You put all these authors' books together over 1,500 years; many of them lived in different generations and didn’t know what the others wrote. You put them all together, and you get a perfectly harmonized book. Do you know what that’s like? That’s like looking at 40 different writers over the last 1,500 years and saying, «Write a chapter of a novel,» putting the whole thing together after 1,500 years, and having it make any sense. But not only that, it gets even better. If you look at the Old Testament, it consists of 39 books written over 1,100 years, and the last book of the Old Testament was written 400 years before Jesus was even born.
I mean, go back 400 years from right now—there are no Atlanta Braves, you didn’t even have the Falcons yet, and you don’t have the United States. I mean, the pilgrims just got on the boat! That’s a long time ago. The last book was written 400 years before Jesus was born. Now you have these 39 books written by all these different authors over 1,100 years, many of them living in different generations, not knowing what the others wrote. And you know what these guys did? They made predictions about the Messiah: things like he’d ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, he’d be betrayed by a friend, he’d be born in Bethlehem, he’d be called out of Egypt, he would be sold for 30 pieces of silver, and he would be crucified. They made over 300 predictions, with the last one being made 400 years before Jesus was born. And do you know Jesus fulfilled all 300 of those predictions?
There’s a scientist named Dr. Peter Stoner, who has since gone to heaven, but he was an expert in probability. Do you know what probability is? If I have a five-gallon paint bucket, nine white tennis balls, and one yellow tennis ball, and I shake them all up, then blindfold someone and say, «Reach in and grab one ball,» the chance of picking out that one yellow tennis ball is one in ten. Well, he’s an expert in this. So Dr. Stoner wanted to know what the probability is that anyone could fulfill these prophecies. He didn’t do the work himself; he employed 600 science students from 12 different classes, and they spent months on research. The National American Scientific Council reviewed their work and said not only was their work accurate, but it was also conservative.
So what I’m about to share with you is conservative; please remember that. They asked, «What are the chances that any human being in the world from the time of the birth of Christ until the end of the second millennium—2,000 years—could fulfill just eight of the prophecies?» Here are the eight prophecies they chose: Christ to be born in Bethlehem (that was written by Micah), Christ to be preceded by a messenger (Isaiah and Malachi, in different generations, wrote that), Christ to enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah, in a totally different generation, wrote that), and Christ to be betrayed by a friend (the psalmist, in a completely different generation, wrote that).
They took those eight prophecies and asked, «What’s the chance any human being over 2,000 years could fulfill those eight prophecies?» You know what the chances are, after all their calculations? One in ten to the 17th power. Now, what in the world is that? Ten to the 17th is a one with 17 zeros behind it. I don’t even know how to say that number, and I have an engineering degree! It’s not kazillion billion; I’ve got news for you. But I can illustrate that number. If I had that many silver dollars, I wouldn’t have anywhere on Earth to store them. I’d have to spread them out all over the ground. If I do that, I will cover the entire state of Texas two feet deep with those silver dollars.
Now gather them all in, mark one of the silver dollars, shuffle them all up, and redistribute them all over Texas. Blindfold a guy in Oklahoma, put him in a helicopter, and start flying over Texas. Remember, it takes two days to drive through Texas. At any point, he can say, «Let down!» Then he gets out of the helicopter, still blindfolded. The chances of him picking up that one silver dollar is one in ten to the 17th power, which means that is the chance that any human being could have fulfilled eight of those prophecies. Yet Jesus fulfilled all eight.
So Dr. Stoner said, «What about 16 prophecies?» They did all these hours of calculations, and he and the 600 science students concluded that the chances any human being could have fulfilled 16 prophecies is one in ten to the 45th power—a one with 45 zeros behind it. Don’t even ask me to write that number down! Now, if I have that many silver dollars, I can’t store them on the Earth; it’s too many. I’ve got to make a big ball of silver dollars, a sphere. You know how big this sphere would be? The diameter of that sphere would be 60 times the distance from the Earth to the sun. If you want mileage, it’s 5.5 billion miles! Now mark one of those silver dollars, shuffle them all up, blindfold a guy, and put him in a jet plane. It will take 400 years of nonstop flight just to fly around the ball. At any point, he can say, «Let down!»
Now remember, he might have to dig 2.75 billion miles into the center because the marked one might be in the center. But the chance of him picking up that one silver dollar is one in ten to the 45th power! That is the chance that any human being could have fulfilled 16 of the prophecies. Yet Jesus fulfilled all 16! So can I blow your mind one more time? Dr. Stoner asked, «What about 48 prophecies? What are the chances anybody could fulfill 48 prophecies?»
So they did hours and hours of calculations, and you know what they found out? It’s one in ten to the 157th power. Now, how big is that number? I can’t use silver dollars; it’s too big. I’ve got to go to a smaller item: an electron. Do you know how small an electron is? Let me just tell you: if you have a one-inch line of electrons in a straight line, and I start counting tonight and don’t go to sleep, if I count 250 per minute, it will take me 19 million years to count that one inch of electrons.
Now, if I have that many electrons—one in ten to the 157 power—I’ve got to make a sphere of electrons. You know how big the sphere would be? It would be as far as man has ever seen into space: 13 billion light years. Now mark one of those electrons, blindfold a guy, put him in a space shuttle, send him into space, and at any point he can say, «Stop!» The chances of picking out that one marked electron is the chance that any human being could have fulfilled 48 of those prophecies. Yet Jesus fulfilled all 48! So can we review here? We have 39 books written over 1,100 years by all these authors; many of them don’t even live in the same generation. They make these predictions about the Messiah, with the last one being 400 years before he was even born. And Jesus fulfills all 300. You tell me the Bible doesn’t apply to today—you’re mistaken!