Before the Lord was crucified, He prophesied in Matthew 24:2 that not one stone of the temple would be left upon another. This indicated that the temple would be destroyed and the people would be scattered again. This prophecy was fulfilled in A.D. 70 when a Roman prince, called Titus, came and destroyed the city and the temple. When the people crucified the Lord, they said, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matt. 27:25). Since then they have been suffering from evil treatment, the edge of the sword, famine, and pestilence. They have been consumed from generation to generation.
The Roman army, in A.D. 70, killed approximately two million people. Over half of the remaining ones died of starvation. The rest were sold off to be slaves. Fifty years later, another fifty thousand were killed because they rebelled against the Roman Empire. Every one was scattered throughout the earth to suffer for centuries. Before the second world war, tens of thousands were killed in Russia. They were driven to an open area and massacred by machine guns and grenades. During the second world war, six million people were killed by the German army. Various devious means were used to execute them. They were like sheep led to the slaughterhouse (Psa. 44:22; Jer. 12:3).
Numbers 23:9 says, “Lo, it is a people that dwelleth alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” They were not like any other people. The culture, food, and living habits of all other people were dirty. Only the Jewish people were clean. Therefore, to them, the other people were considered to be swine and dogs. They would not live and eat with other people, so they dwelt by themselves. They were without a country for 2,500 years, but they were preserved as a nation. It usually takes about five hundred years for a people to lose their identity after their country is destroyed. However, because of God’s prophecies in the Bible concerning Israel, He kept them separated from the different nations among whom they dwelt, so that they would remain a distinct people.
The Lord kept them as a people so that, after 2,500 years, they could restore their nation. According to the Bible, the nation of Israel had to be restored before the end of the world could come (Rom. 11:26-27). The restoration of the nation of Israel took place in 1948. According to human concepts and experience, this is impossible. With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Luke 18:27). The Bible also prophesied that “Jerusalem will be trampled by the nations until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). Jerusalem was returned to God’s people in 1967. This fact also confirms the Lord’s word that His second coming is near (Matt. 24:33-34).
Because the Bible and the people of God are tied together, their history and existence today proves to us that the Bible is truly the Word of God.
During the course of human history, there has not been a book that has been attacked as much as the Bible. Every attack has failed; the Bible has never been destroyed. People can easily destroy a car or a building. Almost everything that exists can be destroyed. However, the Bible, the Word of the eternal God, is indestructible. It is indestructible because the Author is eternal and needs a book to speak for Him eternally. The people who attack the Bible wither away, but the Bible has remained from the beginning until now. Finite people existing in time can never destroy something that is infinite and eternal. Conversely, the more people try to destroy the Bible, the more people read it.
Around A.D. 300, Caesar Diocletian of the Roman Empire used many cruel methods to try to do away with the Bible. He almost destroyed every copy of the Bible that existed at that time. He also killed tens of thousands of believers. He erected a monument with an inscription that claimed that the Christian faith had been exterminated (Extincto Naminechristionorum). Twenty years later, the Bible reappeared in public again.
There was a high official in England called Engersol. He vigorously opposed the Bible. He sought out every copy of the Bible and burned it. But after he died, his residence was bought by the Bible Society for printing Bibles. Engersol died, but the Bible lived on. No one can outlast the Bible. No one can destroy the Bible.