Authentication
In a world where software runs most things, there is typically a process that verifies the person doing the work is permitted to do so. If we look at pre-software days, the low tech version of this would have been a house key, or your car keys…yes there was a time where the door actually had a key, and that key was different then the one that started the vehicle.
Many years ago, I was invited to join a discipleship group, and during this experience the first question asked was a simple one: How do you know The Bible is the true Word of God (authentic)? The best I could muster was because, I believe it is true. I came to realize very quickly, that answer was not good enough.
As the days went by, I used different method of studying scripture, and many different scripture based resources. One of the most profound resources I have used, was a set of audio books called, The Bible is 24 hours. This was not a 24 hour power reading session, instead this was a survey of the Bible as a whole that talked about key points, the teacher was a man by name of Chuck Missler. I would highly recommended this resource, regardless of how well you think you know the Bible.
So, what was it that affirmed my belief that the Bible is the true and Authentic Word of God? Patterns! Why do patterns matter? In short, when you provide the same information in different forms, it becomes difficult for an enemy to refute the underlining truth.
The more I study, and the more time I devote to learning the Scriptures, the clearer patterns with the Scripture become. It is like staring at one of those crazy 3D pictures. You see a bunch of patterns, but as you look closer, you see there is a picture embedded within the patterns. Listed Below are just a few patterns, that to me, prove that the Scriptures are Authentic
Early into the discipleship group, I was reading the scripture below:
The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:21-24 NASB1995
The first thing to note, Adam and Eve had clothes that were made by God. God killed a perfect animal and covered Adam and Eve. So we see a symbol of blood atoning for sin, way before the Law was given to Moses.
Immediately after, Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden of Eden, and God takes special care to block the tree of life from being accessible to mortals. God had any means at His disposal, yet he chose a sword to guard the path. If you really want to use a sword to block a path, you have to put the tip of the sword into the ground, and when you do this, you have a cross that is blocking the path to eternal life.
Last but not least for this post, I would challenge you to consider some of the early verses within The Bible:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Genesis 1:1-5 NASB1995
Darkness was first, and then came the light. This is seen, not only with the formation of the earth, but also when you look at when God says a day begins, in His mind it begins when the sun has set, so once again darkness comes first and then the light. Likewise the same is for our lives, we live in darkness until we accept Jesus as our Savior, and upon doing that, we are brought into the light. This particular revelation did not come from reading the scripture, but as part of a book written by Jonathan Cahn, called: The Book of Mysteries
There are many more patterns I would love to outline, but I will save that for another day, and I would challenge you to study the Scriptures diligently, and as you find patterns, record them and share them.