Bible Inspiration

The Bible is amazing in that it can easily be shown to be inspired by God (to any reasonable person). It was written over a period of around 1,600 years, by between 40 and 50 authors from all walks of life, and yet there is a wonderful continuity of thought running throughout its pages. Take for instance the subject of “righteousness,” a word that is used 291 times in the King James Version. The cross happened because God demanded perfect justice to satisfy His perfect righteousness. Look now at the amazing continuity of Scripture: Psalm 9:8 (written around 800 BC), warned that God will judge the world in righteousness: “And he shall judge the world in righteousness . . . .” The Book of Proverbs 11:4 warns again: “Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers from death.” So, how can guilty sinners become righteous in the sight of a holy God? Hosea 10:12 tells us: “. . . for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” It was the on the Day of Pentecost that righteousness rained down from Heaven. Now God commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? “Because he has appointed a Day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.” As the Apostle Paul was about to die he said, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing" (2 Tim 4:8). In the meanwhile, you and I wait for a new heavens and new earth "within dwells righteousness." So, what should we be doing as Christians while we wait? Daniel 12:3 tells us: “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."