The Stones Cry Out

“I tell you, that if these (disciples) should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40). The Bible is constantly under attack from critics, strangely many of them Bible scholars, who claim that its message is unreliable or even fictional. They simply brush aside the Bible’s own claim to be the inspired word of God, which occurs in many passages, for example:

• Moses: “I (the Lord) will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say” (Exodus 4:12)
• David: “The spirit of the Lord spoke by me and his word was in my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2)
• Jeremiah: “The Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth’” (Jeremiah 1:9)
• Jesus: “As the Father taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:22)
• Paul: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16)
• Peter: “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21)

It is important to realise that the Bible, among many other things, is a historical document – its records are not ‘once upon a time stories’ but are set in specific historical times, for example:

• Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt at the exodus
• King David defeated the people known as the Philistines
• King Hezekiah’s faith delivered the nation from an invasion by the Assyrians
• Jesus conducted his ministry in a province of the Roman Empire.

Many of these accounts have been dismissed as ‘myths and legends’. Yet for over 200 years archaeology in the lands of the Bible has been steadily filling in the historical and political background, and confirming the overall accuracy of God’s book, and the reliability of its text. And the process continues today.

Bro Martin Barasa (Baraton, Kenya)