The way the Bible was completed proves that the Bible is the Word of God. The Bible was not written by God in heaven and sent down to man, nor was it written by one man. The Bible took nearly 1,600 years to complete, and it was written by over forty people.
The many writers of the Bible had diverse backgrounds. David and Solomon were kings. Daniel was a governor. Ezra was a priest. Moses was a general, architect, and ruler turned shepherd. Paul was a lawyer. Matthew was a tax collector. Peter and John were fishermen.
The writers’ professions, knowledge, personalities, perspectives, cultures, and habits were all different. They wrote in the wilderness of Sinai, on the hill of the good land, in the temple of Jerusalem, in jail in Rome, in a school in Bethlehem, by the river of Babylon, on the Island of Patmos, in the palace of Persia, and in many other places.
How can more than forty people, in various places, with different backgrounds, take 1,600 years to write one book without it being disjointed and inconclusive? Is there another book written like this? Webster’s dictionary took thirty-six years. That may be the second-longest time required to complete a book. It must be the Spirit of God who led these forty writers to write one book in 1,600 years that has a central thought, a beginning, a development, and a conclusion. This has to be the book of God.
Imagine asking forty doctors from different countries to take 1,600 years to write a book on medicine. The later writers would discard the former parts. It would be difficult to find a cohesive theme or to derive some practical benefit. What about a computer book?
The number seven in the Bible is frequently used to signify completion in God’s move; e.g., seven Spirits, seven churches. Ivinpanin, a famous mathematician in Russia, knew that every character in Hebrew represents a number. He added up the numbers of every word in the Old Testament and discovered that the sum of every word is divisible by seven. Consider the probability of this; it is beyond the likelihood of occurrence and humanly impossible. Only God could have caused the Bible to be written in such a way.
The truthfulness of the Bible also proves that the Bible is the Word of God. The Bible contains a record of human history, especially of the children of Israel. If the Bible was written by man, they would never have recorded the sinful acts of their forefathers (Judg. 19:1-30; Matt. 1:6). People may talk about the sinful acts of others but not of their own forefathers.
The perfectness of the law also proves that the Bible is the Word of God. There is no country throughout human history that has ever had a set of laws as good as the set given in the Bible. Which country has a law against coveting (Exo. 20:17; Rom. 7:7)? Whose law states that people should not collect interest when they lend money to others (Lev. 25:37; Luke 6:34-35)? It is also said in the law of the Bible that people should not pick up what is left in the field from the harvest, but that they should leave it so that the poor will have food to eat (Deut. 24:19). Biblical law establishes every fiftieth year as the year of Jubilee, when slaves are freed and purchased land is returned to the original owner (Lev. 25:8-17). Only the law in the Bible is given out of a loving heart and is fair to all the people. The laws of most countries are not impartial to class, so the poor usually suffer. Today, most western countries have used biblical law as a base to develop their own set of laws. Because their heart is not like God’s, their law is much inferior. The perfectness of the law of God proves that the Bible was written by God.
The Bible is not written by man. The Bible is the breathing out of God (2 Tim. 3:16). It is the speaking from God through men borne by the Holy Spirit. It does not convey to us human concepts; rather, it reveals to us the loving and righteous God. It exposes our shortcomings and unveils our Savior Jesus Christ. What a marvelous book!