The Bible – Its Unity
Again we read, “The words of Jehovah are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times,” and that “Every word of God is pure” (Psa. 12:66The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. (Psalm 12:6); Prov. 30:55Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. (Proverbs 30:5)). The Bible must be perfect, because, as we hope we have fully proved, it emanates from God.
The Holy Scriptures are infinite, too, in their quality because divinely perfect. Take up another book and you may soon master most of its contents, but the written word who can grasp? If an inspired apostle had to say, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part,” we can surely add, “The little we know we know very imperfectly.” Who can say he has fully learned the divinely-given ministry of any part of Scripture? And why? Because being God’s Word it is infinite in its height, and depth, and length, and breadth. We do well to remember this; and that because we are finite creatures, we can know only in part, and give out to others but in part.
Few things show more the divine perfection stamped upon the Bible than its infallible accuracy as to what has been already fulfilled. Let us look at a few instances. More than four thousand years ago, Jehovah said, “While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:2222While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis 8:22)); and do they not continue to this day?
Again we read, that Abram’s seed (therefore reckoned from Isaac’s birth) should be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, etc., for “four hundred years” – which would be consequently four hundred and thirty years after the promise made to Abram; hence we read, “It came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt” (Gen. 15:1313And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; (Genesis 15:13); Ex. 12:4141And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:41); Acts 7:66And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. (Acts 7:6); Gal. 3:16-1716Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. (Galatians 3:16‑17)).
Again, in the time of Jeroboam’s abominations. a man of God came unto Bethel by the word of Jehovah, and cried, saying, “O, altar, altar, thus saith Jehovah; Behold a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which Jehovah hath spoken; behold the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. And it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand which he put forth against him dried up, so that he could not pull it in again fo him. The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Jehovah. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the face of Jehovah thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought Jehovah, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before” (1 Kings 13:1-61And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. 3And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. 4And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. 5The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before. (1 Kings 13:1‑6)). Now look at the accurate fulfillment of this saying of the man of God about three hundred years after.
We read of King Josiah, “Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchers that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of Jehovah, which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Then he said, What title is that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulcher of the man of God which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel” (2 Kings’ 23: 15-17). Were words ever more solemnly and more accurately fulfilled? How little men think they are refusing God’s Word, and dishonoring His holy name when they speak of their opinions of the Scriptures, instead of bowing implicitly to their authority and instruction!
In reference also to God’s dealings with some of the ancient cities recorded in Scripture, we have the most accurate and solemn fulfillment. Look, for instance, at one of the finest cities the world ever knew, and one which existed very early after the Deluge – Nineveh. We know from the book of Jonah that it was “a very great city.” Historians tell us that it extended in length about eighteen miles, and was surrounded with a wall more than a hundred feet high, wide enough to drive three chariots abreast, and ornamented with fifteen hundred towers. The breadth of the city was about twelve miles. Hence Jonah speaks of it as an exceeding great city of three days’ journey; and if the “six score thousand persons in it, who could not discern between their right hand and their left,” refer to young children, the population of the city must have been very large. The “much cattle” also intimates that there were fields, or parks and palaces, within the enclosure of its high and massive wall; and its ruins show there must have been extensive and magnificent buildings in it.
The modern excavations prove the magnificence of the past and fallen greatness of Nineveh. With all her worldly and royal splendor, Jehovah said, “I will make thy grave, for thou art vile ... . Nineveh is laid waste, who will bemoan her ... . her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains” (Nah. 1 and 3). Another prophet said, He “will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations; both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city, that dwelt carelessly; that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me; how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand” (Zeph. 2:13-1513And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. 14And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. 15This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand. (Zephaniah 2:13‑15)). It is said that the whole surface of the country is now covered with fragments of bricks and pottery. Not only is it “desolate,” but it has long appeared a huge misshapen mound, like a large grave, covered with rank vegetation, and a place for beasts to lie down in; so literally has the prophetic word been fulfilled. It is probable that Nineveh was built soon after the confusion of tongues.
(Continued from page 90).
(To be continued).