Chester Estes
The Bible is either a divine book or it is not. It can have only one of four sources. It came from God, good men, bad men, or the devil. Bad men and the devil are condemned throughout the Bible. It is not reasonable to suppose that the devil or bad men would write a book condemning himself or themselves at every turn. The purpose of the Bible is to thwart the schemes of the devil and bad men. Good men do not falsify. They claim not to have written the Bible, but attribute its authorship to God. Hence, even the devil, good men and bad men testify to the fact that God is the Author of the Bible.
The greatest need in the world, as it has been in every age, is a greater faith in the Bible as the word of God. Such faith would solve difficult problems and cure the human ills. If men believed the Bible to be the word of God, they would act very differently and deal more fairly with their fellow men. They would allow it to regulate them in their dealings with each other. The Bible—admitted even by those who do not believe it to be the word of God—is the best code of morals the world has ever known.
The reason that some do not believe the Bible, or that they are weak in faith, is not lack of evidence to produce faith, but because they are densely ignorant of the teachings of the Bible. No one who is capable of weighing and accepting evidence can say the evidence as to the divinity of the Bible is lacking. John said, “These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). No one can study the evidence concerning the Son of God and conclude that He is no more than a man, but, being true to his own ability to reason, must conclude, as Nicodemus, “We know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:2 ASV). No one can believe that Jesus is divine, or that He came from God, without believing His words. Anyone who believes His words must, of necessity, believe that He came from God. Hence, there is no such thing as separating belief in Christ from belief in His words.
Then, if one believes His words, he must believe in the inspiration of the Bible, for He not only endorsed the Old Testament, but gave us the New Testament. Hear Him:
How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not? Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope. For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me (John 5:44-46 ASV).
To believe Moses meant also to believe in Christ, for Moses wrote of Christ, and they could not believe Moses when they did not believe his words. Then He adds, “But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:47). Since to believe Moses was to believe his writings, so to believe in Christ means to take Him at His word. Hence, to believe in Christ means to accept both the Old and New Testaments as of divine origin.
Only One Divine Book
“Of making many books there is no end,” but there is only one divine book—the Bible. Every man made book that contains a spark of divinity gets it from the One Book. The fact that there is only one Bible is significant. If it is a human book, why have others of like character not been produced?
Too, it is significant that the Bible is the oldest book in the world. Others like it have not been produced, not for a lack of time, but the Bible is the oldest book giving ample time to man, if able, to produce another. The fact that man has not produced another is positive proof that he cannot.
The Bible has not only survived every effort on the part of man to destroy it because he did not like it, but has also survived every effort of man to imitate it. God has allowed the greatest forces to operate against it, and the mightiest minds of men to try to produce another, so that, after all, it might come to us as more precious than gold, separated from all the dross of men, as having been purified in a furnace of fire. How do you account for the Bible surviving all of this? The answer: It is gold; God is with it; it is divine. “Notwithstanding it has been exploded, demolished and made ready for the grave countless numbers of times, it goes on its triumphant way, giving light, hope, and salvation to unnumbered millions in many lands and in many tongues. It is translated into more languages than any other book.” Such can be said of only one book—the Bible. There is only one divine book.
More than a thousand books have been written against the Bible. Has any other book had so many enemies? Why has the Bible so many enemies? Answer: Because it condemns the devil and the sinful practices of men. Men want to put it out of their lives by destroying it. As long as it is in existence, knowing what they know about it, they know the Bible will not just be put in the background. Could any book, except a divine book, have withstood so much destructive criticism? The answer is, “No!” Since only one book has withstood such a flood of destructive efforts, there is only one divine book. Men are still writing books against the Bible, but they will go to the grave like all the rest.
