The first recorded question in the Scriptures is an infidel one. It fell from the lips of Satan. Listened to by our first mother, it became the parent doubt of all doubts. Satan hissed his wicked suggestion into Eve's ear, "Yea, hath God said...?"
And from that day to this Satan has been casting doubt upon God's Word. The more exalted and learned the man, the more the devil delights in enlisting him on the side of doubt.
Satan is cunning beyond all doubt, transforming himself into "an angel of light," and his ministers into the "ministers of righteousness"; so it is not a matter of surprise if we find falsehood entrenched in high places, having as its exponents men who occupy prominent positions in the religious world.
A young man was about to leave one town and go to another. He waited upon his minister to say good-by. On leaving, he presented him with the covers of a Bible, inside of which were a few mutilated leaves.
"What do you mean by this?" asked the minister.
The young man replied in words somewhat like these: "I sat under your ministry for three years. When you told us a certain passage or book in the Bible was not inspired, I cut that portion out when I returned home. This is all that remains to me at the end of three years; and now that I am leaving your church, I wish to present you with the remnant that is left. It is of no use to me."
And so the young man went out from the study of that minister without a Bible—to fight the battle of life; and unless the grace of God intervened, to enter eternity unilluminated by the only light that God had given, and which had been snatched out of his hands by the destructive ministry of one who had taken the place of a preacher of the gospel.
There is no safe middle ground to be taken in regard to the vital question of the inspiration of the original Scriptures. Either the whole Book is God-inspired or it is not. Who is to tell us which part is inspired and which is not? If doubt is cast upon one portion, how do I know that the passage that brought me the knowledge of salvation is inspired? All is uncertainty.
If I did not believe the Bible from cover to cover, I would throw it in the fire, for it professes to come from God. If it does not, it is worthy of the flames. People may admire its classical English, the majestic language of Isaiah, the poetic imagery of the Psalms, its commanding influence over the minds, the laws, the language of the civilized world; but if it is not what it professes to be, all this only makes it the more dangerous.
But, thank God, it is the Word of God to me. It has discovered my need, revealed the secrets of my innermost being, brought me to the knowledge of the One who knows me thoroughly, even God—aye, the knowledge of Himself as love and light in the gift of His blessed Son to die for me, thus relieving my conscience and satisfying my heart with Himself, and giving me a place in His own presence-and not to me only, but to untold thousands of different ages and races, of different temperaments an d environments. All this is a miracle beyond cavil, and makes the maunderings of infidelity like the waves that break threateningly upon the Bass Rock, only to fall back from whence they came. The rock of Holy Scripture is impregnable.
The external evidences of inspiration may be useful and irrefutable, but the internal evidences are the most powerful and convincing. Only the converted man, as taught by the Holy Spirit, can appreciate or understand the internal evidences. This is a principle of the last importance to recognize.
For instance, the infidel can only see in the book of Leviticus a lot of minute and dry instructions as to the Jewish ritual. The Christian reads in them the most wonderful types of Christ, His people, the character and ways of God, in what is but dry minutia to the infidel, food and refreshment to his soul. And he finds too that the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews is animated by the same Spirit as the writer of the book of Leviticus. One part of Scripture confirms another. All is one harmonious whole.
Therefore it must not distress the young Christian if he fails to impress the mind of the unconverted with the beauties of Scripture. The Scriptures need no apology, but stand forth in all their native simplicity and grandeur as God's revelation.
The Bible is unique, alone, incomparable. It is God-given, God-breathed, speaking with authority. The best and grandest of other books is manmade, imperfect and human, speaking with no more authority than its author is capable of. But with the Bible everything is different. Moses may have been the scribe, but GOD is the Author of the Pentateuch. Human instruments may have been used as intelligent pens, but God Himself is the Penman, and the result is—THE BIBLE.
And when objections are looked into, you will always find they only prove that the objectors have neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear, nor hearts to understand God's revelation.