Believe It or Not

 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, 

“Surely this man was the Son of God!”

  – Mark 15:39

Can we really believe what's in the Bible? And is all that stuff true about Jesus being God-in-the-flesh and rising from the dead? 

Those are lofty questions with eternal implications. But who really knows for sure? After all, many people say the Bible is no greater than the scriptures of other religions, and that Jesus was just a good man or a wise teacher.

The truth is, however, that the Bible and Christ are both unique and extraordinary. 

First, the Bible claims to be God's word — and then backs it up with hundreds of prophesies (predictions) about events that happened decades or centuries later. For example, the Old Testament records God's plan for saving mankind through a Messiah. The prophet Micah wrote that the Savior would be born in — of all places — an obscure backwater of the Roman empire called Bethlehem. And as we read in the New Testament, Jesus fulfilled these prophesies to the letter through his birth, ministry, death, and resurrection!

Historically and scientifically accurate, the Bible is also the most studied and critiqued book in history. Try as many have, no one has been able to disprove its claims. Luke, the physician who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, also wanted the real scoop. So, he interviewed the people who knew Jesus best and could attest to his words and deeds. Let’s consider the opening passage of Luke's first book:

"Many people have tried to tell the story of what God has done among us. They wrote what we had been told by the ones who were there in the beginning and saw what happened. So I made a careful study of everything and then decided to write and tell you exactly what took place. ... I have done this to let you know the truth about what you have heard."

The apostle Peter — someone who knew Jesus personally — also gave us his own testimony recorded in the New Testament’s book of 2 Peter:

"When we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not telling just clever stories that someone invented, but we saw the greatness of Jesus with our own eyes."

With all of this in mind, IS the stuff in the Bible about Jesus really true? That’s the ultimate question. So, let’s consider this answer from the apostle John, one of Jesus’ closest friends, through 1 John 4:14:

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

It’s up to you and me to believe it or not.