God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty by Rice Broocks Page A

Testament books. Claims that the manuscripts were somehow corrupted over the centuries by the hands of the rabbis and priests who copied them were shown to be spurious. If the scribes copying the Scripture in medieval times made even one error in a manuscript, it was destroyed immediately. The integrity and reverence of the Bible transcription is astounding and unparalleled.
    P ROPHETIC
    Another startling dimension of the supernatural nature of the Scripture is the prediction of future events known as prophecy . Naturally, skeptical scholars have attempted to redate the prophetic books to years after the prophecies were fulfilled. However, internal evidence such as the vocabulary and languages used in the books suggest they were each written during the times of the claimed authors.
    Numerous predictions made throughout the Bible were fulfilled in history. For instance, Isaiah predicted a century in advance that King Cyrus of Persia would enable Israel to return to their land and rebuild the temple (Isaiah 44:28). The prophet Ezekiel predicted several details about the falls of Tyre (Ezekiel 26) and Sidon (Ezekiel 28:22–23). Likewise, the prophet Daniel predicted the rise of the next three empires and the general timeframe for the coming of Jesus (Daniel 9:24–27).
    Equally striking, dozens of prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus Christ Himself. The Old Testament authors predicted Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), ministry in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1–2), descent from King David (Isaiah 11:1), and triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9). Such predictions are divine fingerprints throughout Scripture.
    One challenge to prophecy does need to be addressed. As mentioned, many Old Testament scriptures clearly point to Jesus, but some references by New Testament authors are more complex. In particular, gospel writers at times seem to take Old Testament scriptures out of their original context. For instance, Matthew references Jeremiah 31:15 in connection with Herod’s slaughter of male children in Bethlehem while Jeremiah seems to be referring to the Jewish exile. While such tensions mightappear problematic to modern readers, they vanish when the theological framework of the New Testament writers is fully understood. The authors did not simply see a scattering of Old Testament scriptures pointing to Christ. Instead, they saw Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel’s entire history and divine calling. As such they often connected Old Testament scriptures, which related to events in the original author’s timeframe, to Jesus since He in even greater fashion fulfilled their fuller meaning.
    E XTRAORDINARY I MPACT
    The Scripture has powerfully altered the lives of individuals and entire nations. Moral law is given specific clarity through the pages of the Bible. The Ten Commandments stand as the unsurpassed benchmark for civil law. The two great commands of Jesus to love God and love your neighbor are summaries of the Ten Commandments. To love God is to have a specific expression, and to love your neighbor is demonstrated not merely in a feeling or emotion but in our actions. If we love our neighbors, we won’t lie to them or steal from them. As entire communities have embraced the teaching of Scripture, such transformation has spread throughout cities and even to entire nations. Examples of such cultural change are presented in chapter 9 . In terms of personal impact, the Bible’s teaching has empowered its readers to overcome addictions, restore families, experience peace and joy, and even forgive bitter enemies. Specific testimonies of such evidence of divine power are presented in chapter 10 .
    It is extraordinary that the Bible has survived all the attempts to discredit it. The Bible has been banned, burned, and belittled, and yet has outlasted all its detractors. Skeptics often challenge such evidence by saying that many individuals and societieshave embraced the Bible without seeing positive results. A common example is