The Bible Presents Testimonial Evidence
by Terry Wane Benton
The Bible is actually a divinely legal set of 66 pieces of testimony, making the case for Jesus of Nazareth in a most remarkable and amazing way. The first 39 pieces of written testimony lay out the plan for the first arrival of Jesus and what He would accomplish when He would come, and the last 27 books are eyewitness testimony of what He did when He was here and what He accomplished for us all. The first 39 books testify God’s use of the Israelite nation and His covenant with them as they prepared for their coming Messiah. We call it the Old Testament.
The last 27 books were written after Jesus the Messiah to give testimony of Him and His new covenant. We refer to these books as the New Testament of Jesus Christ. Both testaments bear amazing testimony to God. Both testaments testify of Jesus being “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23).
The Bible affirms an invisible, all-powerful, Creator God while also denouncing all mythical and man-created gods or idols. It chides the ludicrous idea of the idolatrous cultures that surrounded Israel, showing how absurd the making of idols by human craftsmanship (Isaiah 40:18-26,28). The true, invisible God gives testimony of His creative actions at the beginning of our universe (Genesis 1-2; Exodus 20) and testifies that His handiwork is quite enough to speak for itself (Psalms 19:1ff; Romans 1:20), while no other explanation actually explains the origin of life, intelligence, and moral conscience.
God is also seen in the marvels of the human body-spirit-soul entity, and “that my soul knows very well” (Psalms 139:13-17). The eye, the ear, the cell structure, the DNA code, the circulatory system, and the respiratory system all reflect a higher wisdom that implies that the testimony offered as coming from God is in fact the only legitimate explanation of origins.
God is seen in the marvels of nature, the rain and the sunshine, the times and seasons, the plants, the food cycle, the symbiosis of plants and insects and animals working together in amazing harmony (Acts 14:14-18) show design, and design implies a Designer.
While the culture of the writers of the Bible was from an idolatrous surrounding, the Bible writers rebuked the culture. They said it was all ignorance no matter how appealing and sincere (Acts 17) the worshippers of the false gods. The God they needed to know was nothing formed by man’s hands or imagination. In fact, the true God commands all men everywhere to repent of all these foolish human inventions (Acts 17:30-31), and the proof of a coming judgment before the true God is clearly seen in the evidence of Jesus and His resurrection.
The testimony of Jesus as being God come in the flesh to reveal God in powerful display of miracles and resurrection over death is the declaration that has stood the tests of credible eyewitness testimony and cross-examination. Jesus suffered intense criticism and analysis but prevailed because the testimony and evidence were overpowering. You can see the proposition of John saying that Jesus was God revealed (John 1:1-14; 20:30-31) and all the other witnesses standing firm in Jerusalem where the crucifixion should have stopped Jesus and His influence for good, yet the testimony of His resurrection is a fact so undeniable that that testimony flourished in Jerusalem and into every nation of the world. A dead body would have stopped the testimony. They tried to guard it but couldn’t stop the power of God from bringing Jesus forth from the tomb and appearing to many witnesses. The Book of Acts shows how unstoppable that message of Jesus was in all the world and how full of hope and conviction were the eyewitnesses.
The Old Testament foretold it in many prophecies, types, and shadows, and the New Testament forth-told its amazing reality. Together, the 66 books testify of Jesus in a collective and united voice. All nature cries out, and the written testimony speaks in absolute certainty. Jesus is the child that would be born who would indeed be called “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6f) and of the increase of His government and peace there would be no end. And that is why the truth of that testimony continues to march on even after 2000 years! No one countered the testimony of Jesus with better evidence that showed he was a fraud. His testimony continues to bring people to “marvelous light” (I Peter 2:8-9). Every thought should be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ!
The testimony is powerful! Have you given it a fair hearing?
