Some people who doubt that the Bible is the Word of God may not be able to argue with the previously mentioned proof, but they may argue that the Bible we have today is not necessarily the same as the original Bible. It is true that there is not one single copy of the Bible’s original manuscripts left today. But there are manuscripts, documents, and letters from ancient times that tell us that the Bible we have today is accurate.
There are over 2,300 manuscripts of the Bible. Manuscripts are ancient copies of the Bible. None of them are complete. There are three main ancient manuscripts.
The Codex Vaticanus, or the Vatican Manuscript, is stored in the Vatican Library, Vatican City, Italy. The Vatican is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church where the Pope resides. The Roman Catholic Church has possessed this manuscript for over five hundred years. This manuscript was copied during the mid fourth century A.D. It is very large in size, about one square foot and 759 pages. Although it is missing some pages, it is the most complete manuscript.
The Codex Sinaiticus, or Sinaitic Manuscript, was copied on over one hundred sheep skins, probably in the fourth century. It was discovered accidentally by Dr. Tischendorf of Germany in 1844 in a monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. It had been placed among waste paper and was just about to be burned. He rescued it, and it was later stored in the National Library in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was sold to England in 1934 for five hundred thousand dollars, and it is now kept in the London Museum.
The Codex Alexandrinicus, or Alexandrian Manuscript, is kept in the National Library of the British Museum. This manuscript has four volumes. There are some missing pages. It is believed to have been copied by a martyr named Thekla during the fifth century. It was presented to the Patriarch of Alexandria in 1078.
It is good that we have so many different manuscripts, so that scholars can compare them and produce the most accurate and complete set of the books of the Bible. When we read the Bible, we can be sure that it is correct.
Today’s Bible is the same as it was in the first few centuries.
The apostle Paul’s co-worker Clement (Phil. 4:3) wrote a letter to the church in Corinth. In his letter, he referenced the words of Peter, James, John and Luke. He also quoted from Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Thessalonians, Titus, James, Peter, and Hebrews. Similar letters have been discovered that quoted verses from the New Testament.
One believer during the end of the second century quoted over 2,500 verses from the New Testament in his books. Another believer wrote several books at the beginning of the third century. His books quoted two thirds of the New Testament. Other books from the first centuries include hundreds of quotes from the New Testament.
By comparing the ancient manuscripts, the letters, and the books of the ancient believers, we can see that today’s Bible is the same as the ancient Bible. How we praise the Lord that He has preserved the Bible for us until now.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947. They were stored in eleven caves northwest of the Dead Sea, fifteen miles from Jerusalem. They were copied on sheep skins. It is estimated that the Dead Sea Scrolls were copied in 100 B.C. They did not contain the complete Bible. Isaiah was complete, but other books were only partially complete. These scrolls serve the purpose of confirming that the Old Testament we have is authentic.
According to history, there were believers who had moved to those caves to escape the sinfulness of the cities. They most likely stored the scrolls in the caves when they fled from a war in that area. How sovereign of God to arrange such an event to preserve this valuable proof!
Seventeen thousand clay tablets, dated from 2300 to 2500 B.C., were discovered in the northern part of Syria. These clay tablets recorded human history as far back as 2900 B.C. They tell about Abraham’s sixth great-grandfather Heber, Noah’s ark during the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Jerusalem. These clay tablets prove to us that what was recorded in the Bible is not fictitious.
The Bible talks about a city called Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. It was a sinful city. Jonah was sent to preach the gospel there. He refused to go and was swallowed by a great fish. After he repented, the fish spit him out. He then went to Nineveh and brought the city to repentance (Jonah).
Nineveh was destroyed during a war. It was buried under sand for thousands of years and eventually discovered last century. The archaeologists found writings concerning many things recorded in the Bible that had not yet been recorded in history books.
In the writing, canonization, and preservation of the Bible, we can definitely see the sovereign hand of God. For example, when the Codex Sinaiticus was about to be burned, a scholar “just happened” to be passing by who could recognize its value and rescue it. Because of this, we now have three manuscripts that can be compared so that we can know with assurance that the Bible we have today is accurate. The preservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls was sovereignly arranged by God for us. If it weren’t for the war, the believers living in caves near Jerusalem would not have hidden them in the caves. The manuscripts would have become worn out from much use and we would not have them today. As it was, these precious manuscripts were stored so well that they could be preserved until their discovery almost two thousand years later.
We praise the Lord for giving us such a great gift—the Bible. The proof in these two lessons increases our faith in and appreciation for the Bible. The Lord and His lovers suffered much to preserve the Bible for thousands of years so that we, the lovers of the Lord, may have this great gift. We need to treasure the Bible and study it as the most precious thing we have.