2 Pt 1:16. “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Peter knew the difference between stories and reality when he spoke about Jesus. The Bible is not a story-book, but a historical account of spiritual events.
Luke 1:1-4 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled[a] among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Luke was a physician. His account in the book of Acts (which he also wrote) is well-regarded as a history of that period. The Greek used in this first passage of Luke is also widely admired for its eloquent beauty, reflecting the education of its author. Why am I saying all this? To show that Luke is an intelligent, thinking man whose writing about Jesus can be trusted.
“Eyewitnesses,” “carefully investigated,” “orderly account,” and “certainly” all reflect the fact that Jesus Christ’s life is not a legend or an exagerrated fairy tale. He is a fact of history: Either Jesus’ story is TRUE or FALSE. Jesus’ life was set in a historical setting. The TIME: King Herod’s reign. The PLACE: Judea. The PEOPLE: Zechariah & Elizabeth (even their genealogies are given!).
Luke 2:1-7 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
The birth of Christ: again, a historical setting. The TIME: Caesar Augustus’ reign, time of world-wide census. Quirinius is governor of Syria. The PLACE: Nazareth, Galilee, Bethlehem (all these towns still exist today).
Luke 3:1-2 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
The beginning of John’s preaching is tied to local politicians! It is not a legend. All the local rulers were mentioned—this could only have been written by someone who knew the details, not someone constructing or embellishing a legend, decades after the fact.
The Bible is a historical book. We’ll never be able to prove the events it speaks about, but there have been many details discovered by archaeology that prove the Bible is not a legend or a lie. In general, if someone is a liar, they’ll lie about many things. And so if we uncover historical lies or inaccuracies in the Bible, it undermines the credibility of the miracle stories. Conversely, if the historical and other details turn out to be accurate, the veracity of the miracle accounts should not be doubted! Below is an exciting list of archaeological discoveries (mostly from the last 200 years). Many of these can be found in the archaeology supplement to
the Thompson Chain Reference Bible. Others are documented in books like The Stones Cry Out, by Randall Price, 1997. Biblical Archaeology Review is a skeptical, popular archaeology journal that also documents many discoveries. The British Library on Euston Road contains a copy of two of the three oldest complete New Testaments, Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus (Vaticanus, the 3rd, is in Rome). The British Museum in Russell Square also has a section on the West Wing of Biblical Archaeology of the Near East, including many famous discoveries described below. New archaeological discoveries are occurring every year, further strengthening our faith in Christ.
1. The approximately Tell-el Amarna tablets of the foreign office of Pharaohs Amenhotep III-IV of 1413-1358 BC were written in Babylonian cuneiform, though they were found in Egypt and originated in many countries. This shows there was a common way of communicating in all these lands, and so people like Abraham (circa 2000-1800 BC) and Moses (circa 1500-1300 BC) could communicate with different people as they traveled. These tablets mention the “Habiru” people in letters written to the Pharoah from Canaanite cities like Gezer.
2. Philistine cities like Ashkelon, referred to in the Bible, have been found.
3. In Athens, Mars hill and the Areopagus (Ac 17), where Paul preached, have been found. No remains of an altar inscription “to an unknown God” were found in Athens, but an identical inscription was found in Pergamum!
4. Cities like Bethany (Mary & Martha’s town), Bethsaida (Philip, Andrew and Peter’s original home town), and Capernaum have been found. The synagogue where Jesus preached in Luke 4 was uncovered there. Also in Capernaum they found an early octagonal church, built over a still earlier structure with 2nd and 3rd-century Christian graffiti on the walls. The Christians around the 4th century (320 AD) started building octagonal churches over geographic sites that were significant in the New Testament. It is likely that the structure under the church was the extended 1st century house of Peter’s family in Capernaum!
5. Near Bethlehem can be found Rachel’s tomb, on the road.
6. In Beth Shemesh (a Levitical Old Testament city), a jar handle was found that was inscribed, “belonging to Eliakim, servant of Jehoiachin.”
7. At Calah, near the Tigris river, a black obelisk set up by Shalmaneser III of Assyria was found, where he spoke of his conquests and said, “At that time I received the tribute of the inhabitants of Tyre, Sidean, and of Jehu, son of Omri…The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden goblets, pictures of gold, bars of lead, staffs for the hand of the king and javelins, I received.” In this obelisk Jehu is shown kneeling in front of Shalmaneser.
8. At Corinth a limestone block was found saying “Erastus, the commissioner of the city, had paved this plaza at this own expense.” Paul referred to him in Ro 16:23.
9. In Damascus, a temple has been found, likely to be the temple of Rimmon referred to in 2 Ki 5:17-18, and the one Ahaz saw in 2 Kings 6:10-13.
10. In 1947 at Qumran, north of the Dead Sea, in Israel, caves were explored in which 1000s of fragments of old scrolls were found. These scrolls had been hidden there, probably by a Jewish Essene community, around 67 A.D. They included every Old Testament book except for Esther, as well as many other documents. What is significant about these documents is that they were composed between the third and 1st century B.C., and their text is almost identical to the earliest Masoretic Hebrew texts, dating to the 10th century A.D. For a long time scholars had questioned whether Christians had altered the Hebrew Bible, so that the prophecies appeared to predict Christ. Yet these Dead Sea Scrolls, from before the time of Jesus, clearly show Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, and other prophecies were written well before Jesus came.
11. At Dibon, once the capital of Mesha, king of Moab, the Moabite stone was found. This stone tells of his rebellion against the
land of Israel (2 Kings 3 speaks of Mesha and the Moabite rebellion, and even contains miracles).
12. At Ebla, which in ancient times was between Egypt and Assyria, over 20,000 tablets were found, the administrative library of a great civilisation dating to around 2000 B.C. These tablets mention business dealings with the cities of the plain of Gen 14:2 in order: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela=Zoar. So even the story of Sodom and Gomorrah has historically provable roots!
13. In Ephesus they have found the temple of Artemis of the Ephesians, and a theatre that could seat 24,000 people, where the riot in Acts 19:23-41 must have occurred!
14. Tombs were found outside Jerusalem with the remains of the early Christian community. A coin was found in the tomb, minted by King Agrippa in 41 A.D. In this family burial cave one Matthias was interred, with the inscription [to] “Jesus, the Lord.” Another had the inscription, [to] “Jesus…ascended.” Both of these ossuaries had crosses on them. Another one was found with a cross and the name Bar-saba. Of course, in Acts 1:21-22, Acts 15:22 we read of the Barsabbas family.
15. At Gibeon they’ve found a rock-cut pool, and jar handles stamped “Gibeon,” with biblical names, including “Hananiah.” In Jeremiah 28:1 we read of Hananiah from Gibeon, and opponent of Jeremiah. This pool is likely to be the one referred to in 2 Samuel 2 where Abner and Joab’s men fought and died.
16. Jacob’s well (the same one where Jesus met the Samaritan woman) is still operating, located south of Sychar on the road from Jerusalem.
17. The ancient city of Jericho has been excavated, and walls that fell around Joshua’s time have been discovered.
18. In Jerusalem, the stone signet of Haggai son of Shebaniah was found (Haggai 2:23). Also found in Jerusalem was Hezekiah’s water tunnel (2 Kings 20:20), connecting the spring of Gihon to the pool of Siloam. Further excavations have discovered a stone entitled “to the trumpeting place” which was from the temple at the time of Jesus.
19. Khorsabad was the capital of Sargon, king of Assyria, referred to in Isaiah 20:1. This king had been thought to be mythical until his palace there was excavated (British Museum).
20. Lachish is a city that was mentioned in Isaiah 36:2, when Sennacherib, king of Assyria went from there to besiege Jerusalem. There is ample archaeological evidence of Sennacherib’s campaign against Judah. An Assyrian prism recording his conquests lists dozens of conquered cities, including Lachish, but not including Jerusalem (which according to Isaiah 36-37 was miraculously spared from destruction). The ruins of Lachish have been found, including an Assyrian siege ramp, arrowheads and stone balls used in the attack, and many other artifacts of the final battle there. In Nineveh, the ancient palace of Sennacherib was discovered, where huge wall reliefs depicted the entire siege against Lachish. What is remarkable is that with all of his power, he was unable to conquer Jerusalem, just as the Scripture says.
21. At Nuzi, in modern Iraq, 20,000 tablets from the 15th-14th centuries B.C. have been discovered. These were the records of leading families there for 4-5 generations. Their content parallels many practises described in Genesis:
• Exchange of property—transactions concerning property were recorded and finalised at the city gate (Gen 23:10-18).
• Marriage contracts—a handmaid could be presented to the new bride (Gen 29:24,29).
• Marriage contracts—a childless wife could give her handmaid to her husband to bear him children (Gen 16:3 tells of Hagar being given to Abraham, and Gen 30:3-6 tells of Bilhah given to Jacob).
• Adoption—childless couples could adopt an heir, like Abraham did with Eliezer of Damascus (Gen 15:2).
• Inheritance—property and leadership could pass to the daughters husband, provided he had the family’s household gods (Gen 31:30-35, we see Rachel stealing Laban’s household gods).
22. In Samaria, several thousand pieces of ivory that had decorated palace walls and furniture have been uncovered. 1 Ki 22:39 speaks of Ahab’s ivory palace in Samaria, and Am 3:15 and 6:1,4 speak of Israel’s ivory homes and furniture.
23. Thessalonica—in Ac 17:6,8 the magistrates were called “politarchs” by Luke. Scholars hadn’t seen this term in 1st-century Greek literature, so they assumed Luke was wrong (or written much later). Yet they found a gate from 1st century Thessalonica that lists the term “politarchs” and even gives their names! This was probably the same gate Luke and Paul saw when they were there.
24. In Galilee, under the mud of the sea of Galilee a 1st-century boat was recently dug up, noticed when the water was at low tide. This boat was probably sunk during the Roman attacks on Galilee around 70 A.D., and is similar to the vessels Jesus and Peter must have used.
25. Quirinius is listed as the governor of Syria in Luke 2:2. A coin has been found dating from 11-4 B.C., placing him as the proconsul of Syria.
26. At Caesarea, a stone has been found with Pilate’s name on it: “Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea.” 27. Ezion Geber was a long-lost port city mentioned in the Bible (1 Ki 9:26, 10:22). Eminent archaeologist used the Scriptures to try and pinpoint the city, and he found it during the 1950s! 28. An inscription has been found at Tel Dan, written by Hazael of Aram, saying, “I killed Jehoram son of Ahab, king of Israel, and I killed Ahaziahu son of Jehoram, king of the House of David” (2 Ki 8:7-15, 9:6-10).
29. Many seals used by the scribes and servants of kings have been found. A 7th-century B.C. seal is inscribed, “belonging to Baruch, son of Neriah the scribe.” This seal even has an ancient fingerprint on it! Of course, Baruch, scribe of Jeremiah, is mentioned at least 32 times in the Bible (Jer 36:4). Another seal belonged to “Gmaryuhu son of Shaphan,” likely referring to Gemariah son of Shaphan (Jer 36:10). Yet another seal said, “to Jerahmeel [the] king’s son,” who is mentioned in Jer 36:26. Finally, another was found inscribed “Seraiah son [of] Neriah,” mentioned in Jer 51:59-61.
30. At Deir Allah, an 8th-century B.C. inscription mentioning Balaam (Nu 22) was discovered in red & black ink on plaster.
31. In a Hinnom Valley tomb a silver scroll fragment was found with the priestly blessing of Nu 6:24-26 inscribed on it, dating to the 6th-century B.C. This is the oldest surviving portion of Scripture.
32. The Stele of Merneptah—from 1230 B.C.—the Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah talks about raids into Canaan, and mentions Israel! This list of archaeological discoveries is by no means exhaustive, but it gives an idea of the kind of evidence supporting the historicity of the Bible, and the accuracy of the Scriptures.
What are the consequences of the bible being true and from God?
Hebrews 4: 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
We must give an account for our lives!