Proving The God Of The Bible Is

The True God

Presented By Eric Douma

Evidence For The God Of The Bible

How do we know the biblical claims are
true?
• Miracles
• Predictive Prophecy
• Perfection of God’s Word
• Historical and Archaeological evidence
• Predicated on: The reliability of the biblical
manuscripts

Old Testament Miracles Supported

By Archaeology
 The Conquest of Jericho
Joshua 6:20 So the people shouted and the priests blew the
trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet,
the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down
flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight
ahead, and they took the city.

• John Garstang 1930-1936: "As to the main fact, then, there

remains no doubt: the walls fell outwards so completely that the
attackers would be able to clamber up and over their ruins into
the city. Why so unusual? Because the walls of cities do not fall
outwards, they fall inwards.”

1
 Old Testament Miracles Supported By Archaeology
• Kathleen Kenyon 1952-1958
The city had been sieged. The city was strongly fortified as was
Jericho in the biblical account (Joshua 2:5, 7, 15; 6:5, 20). The
attack had occurred just after the harvest time (Joshua 2:5, 7,
15). The siege was short as was evidenced by the abundance
of food within the city (Joshua 6:1). The walls of the city had
been leveled in such a way as to allow invaders to literally walk
up into the city (Joshua 6:20). The city was not plundered
(Joshua 6:17-18). The city was burned (Joshua 6:24).
• Kenyon, however, dated the attack to 1550 B.C. solely on the
lack of a certain type of imported pottery common in that era.
• Bryant Wood 1990 states that the pottery Kenyon was referring
to was found by Garstang and himself. Kenyon missed the
evidence because she excavated in such a small area.
• Wood published the results of carbon 14 dating of charcoal
found at the site that dated to 1410 B.C. plus or minus 40
years. (Wood, Bryant, "Jericho," Biblical Archaeology Review.
March/April 1990.)

Sennacherib’s Prism
 Sennacherib 705 B.C. -681 B.C

2nd Kings 18:28-30 Then Rabshakeh stood and

cried… “Hear the word of the great king, ‘Do not let
Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to
deliver you from my hand; nor let Hezekiah make
you trust in the LORD.’”
2nd Kings 19:6 (Isaiah) Thus says the LORD, “Do not
be afraid because of the words that you have heard,
with which the servants of the king of Assyria have
blasphemed Me.
2nd Kings 19:35 Then it happened that night that the angel
of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of
the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning,
behold, all of them were dead.

Sennacherib’s Prism
 Taylor’s prism discovered in Nineveh in 1830 by
British Colonel R.Taylor.
 Prism: It contains the recounting of 8 different
enemies that Sennacherib laid siege to. There are no
mentions of any defeats in any Assyrian writings.
Interestingly, the prism ends with the shutting up of
King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, but goes no further!
 Herodotus: "...that night a multitude of field mice
swarmed over the Assyrian camp and devoured
their quivers and their bows and the handles of their
shields likewise, insomuch that they fled the next
day unarmed and many fell." Book II. 141.
 Egyptian sources make mention of Sennacherib’s defeat in
the conflict with Judah as well, but give the credit for the
victory to an Egyptian god.

2
 Defeating Circular Reasoning
About The Resurrection

Corroborating
Evidence

The Bible Says Jesus Says

Jesus Is True Bible Is True

Realize: We have
proven the Bible to be
the Word of God!

Proof For The Resurrection

1. Motive: Why would so many Jews follow a crucified
man?
2. Corroborating evidence of gospel accounts: If all
other historical facts prove to be true, why not the
resurrection?
3. The empty tomb: Even the greatest antagonists to
the resurrection of Jesus affirm His tomb was empty!

1. Motive The Resurrection of Jesus

 1st Corinthians 15:3-8 For I delivered to you as of first
importance what I also received, that Christ died for your sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that
He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and
that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He
appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most
of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then
He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all,
as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

 James: Jesus’ brother who did not initially believe in Him as

Messiah (John 7:5). Josephus records that James, the brother
of Jesus, was put to death by Annas and the Sanhedrin during
the reign of Nero (62 AD). What accounts for the change?
(Antiquities, book 20, chapter 9)

3
 1. Motive Saul Became Paul
 Six Areas That Separated The Jews:
1. Sabbath
2. Circumcision
3. Sacrifices
4. Dietary Laws
5. Messiah of Glory (non-suffering Messiah)
6. Monotheism
 Colossians 2:16-17 So let no one judge you in food or in
drink, or regarding a feast day or a new moon or sabbaths,
which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of
Christ.
 Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through
love.
 1st Corinthians 1:23 …but we preach Christ crucified….

1. Motive Saul Became Paul

 Philippians 3:4b-7 If anyone else has a mind to put confidence
in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to
the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal a persecutor of the church; as
to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But
whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted
as loss for the sake of Christ.
 What accounts for the change?

2. Corroborating
Secular Sources
 Tacitus senator and historian of Rome (56-117 AD)
• Annals
• Histories
“Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite
tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called
Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name
had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of
Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius
Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked
for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first
source of the evil, but even in Rome…” (Tacitus, Annals,
15.44).
1. Christ existed 4. During reign of Tiberius
2. Christ was crucified 5. Pontius Pilate Existed
3. Christians followed Him 6. Resurrection mentioned

4
2. Corroborating Josephus Attests to Jesus’
Resurrection
 Titus Flavius Josephus (Joseph son of Matthias)
About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one
ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought
surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the
truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks.
He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by
men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to
be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him
did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he
appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had
prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about
him. And the tribe of Christians, so called after him, has still to
this day not disappeared (Josephus, The Antiquities, 18.63-64).

2. Corroborating Pliny the Younger

 Pliny the Younger: Governor of Bithynia 111 AD

I have asked them if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I
repeat the question a second and a third time, with a warning
of the punishment awaiting them…They also declared that
the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than
this: they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to
chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honor of
Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath, not
for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery,
and adultery…(Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96).
1. Christians existed
2. They believed Jesus was God
3. Their beliefs made them abstain from immorality

2. Corroborating Phlegon
 Luke 23:44-45a It was now about the sixth hour and darkness
fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun
was obscured…
 Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all
the land until the ninth hour…
 Matthew 27:54 Now the centurion, and those who were with
him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the
earthquake…
 Phlegon wrote Olympiads which chronicles the Greek games
from 776 B.C. to 137 A.D. in 16 books.
This phenomenon, evidently, was visible in Rome, Athens, and
other Mediterranean cities. According to Tertullian…it was a
“cosmic” or “world event.” Phlegon, a Greek author from Caria
writing a chronology soon after 137 A.D. reported that in the
fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., 33 A.D.) there was “the
greatest eclipse of the sun” and that “it became night in the
sixth hour of the day (noon) so that stars even appeared in the
heavens. There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many
things were overturned in Nicaea” (Paul Maier, Pontius Pilate,
101).

5
 Summary Slide of Secular Corroboration
 What can we say about Jesus from Josephus, Phlegon, Pliny
the Younger, and Tacitus?
Secular Bible
 Jesus existed New Testament
 Jesus was crucified Matthew 27:35-56
 Jesus crucified during reign of Tiberius Luke 3:1
 Jesus crucified under Pontius Pilate Matthew 27:2
 Three hours of darkness during crucifixion Matthew 27:45
 Earthquake during crucifixion Matthew 27:54
 Jesus crucified in 33 A.D. Daniel 9:24-26
 Belief in Jesus’ resurrection 1st Corinthians 15
 Christians believed Jesus was God Titus 2:13
10. Christians abstained from immoral acts Ephesians 5:3

3. Empty Tomb Justin Martyr

 Justin Martyr 165 AD cites a letter circulated by Jews in
Jerusalem that were antagonistic to Jesus.

A godless and lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a

Galilean deceiver, whom we crucified, but his disciples stole
him by night from the tomb, where he was laid when
unfastened from the cross, and now deceive men by asserting
that he has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven.
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue With Trypho, Chapter 108 –Apologetic
Press)
 Matthew 28:13 (Chief priests to the soldiers) “You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were
asleep.’”

 Jewish unbelievers unwittingly admit Jesus was not in the tomb!

3. Empty Tomb Toledoth Yeshua

 Toledoth Yeshua written 600 A.D.?
Diligent search was made and he (Jesus) was not found in
the grave where he had been buried. A gardener had taken
him from the grave and had brought him into his garden and
buried him in the sand over which the waters flowed into the
garden. (Apologetic Press.org)
 Antagonists again admit Jesus was not in the tomb!

Possibilities For Empty Tomb

1. Disciples stole body?
2. Dog stole the body?
3. Women went to wrong tomb?
4. Gardner stole body?
5. Jesus didn’t really die?
Why no arrests?
Not in the graves they used!
Jews didn’t produce the body!
Jews initially claim disciples!
What about that spear?

6
 The Testimony of The Empty Tomb!
 Acts 2:23-31 (Peter preaching Christ) …this Man, delivered
over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you
nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to
death. But God raised Him up again…For David says…You
will not abandon my soul to hades, nor allow your holy one
to undergo decay…Brethren, I may confidently say to you
regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried,
and his tomb is with us to this day. And so because he was a
prophet…he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of
Christ…
 Why didn’t the Jewish leaders produce the body?
 Why didn’t they arrest the disciples for grave robbing?

Conclusion: Because Jesus was raised from the dead!