The Bible stands above all other books in the world. It is a unique book. The sixteenth President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, once said that “the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.” It is the world’s most widely read book and has been translated into over one thousand languages, more than any other book in the world. Countless people have turned to the Bible for comfort, hope, and guidance during times of trouble and uncertainty. The word Bible comes from the Greek word biblos, which means “the book.” This means that the Bible stands as the unique book among all other books in the world. It is the highest among all the classical writings in the West and in the East. The famous French writer Victor Hugo once said, “England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England.”
In this booklet we will explain to you the reason that the Bible is so unique. We will give four reasons for its uniqueness.
The first fact is that the Bible stands alone among all books in its record of authenticity. Many canons of other religions are filled with myths and legends. But within the pages of the Bible we find countless references to actual events, people, and places. The science of archaeology, along with secular historical records, confirms the precision of the references in the various biblical books. The attention to minute detail observed by the biblical writers is unparalleled in any other ancient literature.
The Bible tells of an all-powerful, eternal Creator who created the universe, including the heavens, the earth, and all created things, from nothing. The Genesis account of creation, while not a scientific narrative in itself, is completely harmonious with scientific evidence. According to ancient Greek mythology, the heavens were held up by a giant called Atlas, and the ancient Indian writings tell of the earth being a square and held up by four fish. But twenty-seven hundred years ago, before man discovered that the earth was round, the Bible said that the earth is a circle (Isa. 40:22) and that it hangs upon nothing (Job 26:7).
The Bible also records the origin of man. It tells us that man was made by God in His image (Gen. 1:26-27). Modern science on genetic structure, as well as the discovery of the wonders of the human body, have convincingly proven that, since man is such a complex being, there must be an intelligent Being behind man’s creation. A computer cannot evolve from a mesh of wires, nor can a spacecraft be formed by a series of accidents and coincidences. Every intelligent object must come from a more intelligent creator. The Bible gives the origin of man in a simple and meaningful way: man is created in the image of God.
One of the amazing features of the Bible is the faithfulness with which it records human history. The Old Testament is an account of the history of mankind in the ancient world, especially of the history of the Jews, and the New Testament is an account of the history of the early church. All of the details recorded in both Testaments can be confirmed by modern-day archaeology.
In addition to being a record of the history of mankind in the past, the Bible contains prophecies concerning mankind in the future. Daniel, one of the writers of the Old Testament, wrote at the time of the Babylonian Empire about a dream that the Babylonian king had. In that dream the king saw an image with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, an abdomen and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet partly of iron and partly of clay. While the king was watching, a stone cut out without hands struck the image at its feet, and the entire image was crushed and was carried away by the wind like chaff from the summer threshing floors, so that no trace of it was found. The stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Dan. 2:1-45). This image was a picture of the succeeding human empires that appeared in human history. The head of gold signifies the Babylonian Empire, which lasted from 605 B.C. to 539 B.C. The breast and the arms of silver signify the Medo-Persian Empire, which under King Cyrus destroyed the Babylonian Empire and lasted from 539 B.C. to 330 B.C. The abdomen and thighs of bronze signify the Grecian Empire, which under Alexander the Great defeated the Medo-Persian Empire and became the world power from 336 B.C. The legs of iron and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay signify the Roman Empire, which took over the land of the Grecian Empire. Its reign began in 30 B.C. and lasted for over four centuries, after which it was divided into the eastern part and the western part, signified by the two legs. All these correspond accurately with the historical records. The world today is a continuation of the Roman Empire and is part of the legs and feet of the image. The Bible predicts that at the end of this age “a stone cut out without hands” will destroy all human governments and will set up its own government over the entire earth. This “stone” is Jesus Christ, who will set up His kingdom on earth (Rev. 11:15). The image is a picture of human history that spans over twenty-six hundred years. Most of this prophecy has been fulfilled, and some of it will be fulfilled in the future. This is an example that shows us the marvelous facts recorded in the Bible pertaining to human history.
The most amazing prophecies in the Old Testament concern the coming of the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ. The Old Testament contains at least three hundred direct references to Christ; it tells of the place He was to be born, the way He would grow up, and the way and the place He would die. All these prophecies were fulfilled.
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