The Bible is God’s inspired revelation of the origin and destiny of all things. It is the power of God unto eternal salvation and is the source of present help for body, soul, and spirit. It is God’s will and testament to men of all ages, revealing the plan of God for man here and now and in the next life. It is the record of God’s dealings with man; past, present, and future. It contains God’s message of eternal salvation to all those who believe in Christ, and eternal damnation to those who rebel against the Gospel.
It is the book that contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts binding. Here Heaven is opened and the gates of Hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It is given to you in this life, will be opened at the judgment, and will last forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the least to the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.
The Bible was given to man through the audible voice of God (Matt 3:16-17), through angels (Heb 2:2), through the prophets (Acts 3:21), through Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1-3), and the apostles (Acts 1:2). It came through visions (Isa 6:1-5), dreams (Matt 1:20-21), revelation (Gal 1:15- 16), and inspiration (2 Tim 3:15-17).
The Bible contains wonderful unity throughout its writings. Over forty different authors wrote the sixty-six books of the Bible during a period of over 1,800 years; and they all had one theme, the creation and redemption of the human race by God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. These books of the Bible were written by men from all walks of life such as kings, priests, judges, lawyers, princes, shepherds, soldiers, musicians, singers, poets, preachers, prophets, fishermen, farmers, tent makers, publicans, physicians, rich men and poor men. They were written in various lands of three continents – Europe, Asia, Africa. They were written in different ages and by many men, some who never saw each other, or knew what the others wrote on the same subjects, yet when their writings became one book, there was not one contradiction among them.
Man could not have written the Bible by himself, nor would he have written it if he could. We know that good men must have written the Bible. The writers claim to be inspired by God and were either inspired or simply liars. If they were liars, then bad men must have written it, and such is contrary to every known human trait. The Bible condemns all sin, and this no evil man would do. Some of the Bible writers recorded their own sins, which brought them into disgrace. No man would so expose himself unless divine power moved him to do so that others might profit. Only a good man would submit to such a revelation of his own life. If good men wrote the Bible and said they were inspired by God then it is an inspired book.
All of man’s needs are met by the Bible. This has been true of all ages. Every promise in God’s Word has been fulfilled in the lives of men who have met the conditions, and so it must be from God who supplies these needs and fulfills his promises.
The Heavenly character of its contents proves the Bible to be a revelation from God. The Bible is full of Heavenly truths that could never have been known except by revelation. Even the response of the soul to the Bible proves its source. The author of the Bible and the creator of the soul are the same person.
Miracles also prove divine revelation of the Bible. Hundreds of miracles are recorded in Scripture, which only God could have brought about. Millions of men have been healed of disease and saved from sin through the centuries by obedience to the word of God. This cannot be said of any other book.
The Bible itself claims to be the word of God. Over 3,800 times expressions such as, “Thus saith the Lord”, “The Lord spake”, “The Word of the Lord came unto me”, etc. are found. These writers lied this many times and more if they did not tell the truth.
The doctrines of the Bible are both strange and contrary to man’s teachings and philosophies. The Bible says that if we want life, we must be willing to lose it first; if we want to be exalted, we must humble ourselves first; if we want to make Heaven, we cannot work good works to reach it, but must through faith, receive its entrance by grace. If we want to be great, we must become as servant to all; if a man thinks he is somebody, he is nothing from the standpoint of the Bible. If we are dead in our trespasses, we must be born again, and so it continues with basically all principles and ways of life according to the Bible.
This is why a man, to be saved and remain saved, must learn the Bible through and through and practice all of its commandments. To accomplish this great task, God has given men apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to both preach and teach the Word of God. The Bible says that many perish for their lack of knowledge of its holy contents, and that many miss entering the narrow gate for their ignorance of the whole of God’s Word.
Taken from Finis Jennings Dake’s Annotated Bible
Bible Truths Made Easy 