If the Bible is God’s Word, we would expect to find divine fingerprints on its pages. Regardless of your view of how the Bible came to its final form, if it is inspired by God, it would bear the marks of its ultimate creator. How we come to know the Bible is God’s word and how we show that to be the case can be difficult to put into words. Additionally, one piece of evidence alone cannot bear the full weight of the case. Nonetheless, the more the Bible is read and studied, the more we see how it is true, divine, and leads to salvation in Jesus. I want to give three random examples (and there are literally hundreds) of divine fingerprints.
The Meaning Of Jesus’ Name
The Hebrew name for Jesus is Yeshua, which is a combination of two words meaning “God” and “salvation” (or rescue). So Jesus’ name literally means that God saves. Now why is this significant? Well, the entire Old Testament is leading up to a saving figure who would be God’s man, the messiah of Israel. Jesus led a life unmatched by anyone in history, spoke amazing words like no other, was raised from the dead, and now has over 2 billion followers around the world. The fact that his parents gave him a name that means “God saves” is one happy coincidence if it was not inspired by God. Now to be fair, Jesus was the 6th most common name during that time, but even so, if you give it a modest statistical value of 1/10, it still merits attention since there is no doubt this name was given from birth. Such a name perfectly describes his life mission and work, both in Jesus’ own estimation and the teaching of his followers.
The Twelve Disciples
We have all read the Gospels so many times that we often neglect the details and how they relate to the rest of the Bible. One such detail is the number of “official” disciples called by Jesus, twelve. When God called Israel as a nation to be his people, to bear his name, and to be a light to the surrounding nations, he established twelve tribes. It is these twelve tribes that he rescued from Egypt and established a covenant. Jesus, coming to fulfill the mission that Israel failed to do, established twelve disciples to initiate the promised new covenant through. Both Jesus and his disciples were aware of this mission. Jesus was aware of his mission before his death and his disciples were aware of this significance as seen in their replacement of Judas in the book of Acts. Once again, this must be more than a happy coincidence. The fact that the disciples weren’t convinced of this new covenant until after the resurrection shows that Jesus was intentionally fulfilling the Old Testament during his earthly life. Two major covenants, both marked by a rescue event, both followed by covenant writings, both with twelve “tribes.”
The Day Of His Crucifixion
The final piece of divine evidence I want to share is that Jesus was crucified on the eve of Passover, the exact same time all the passover lambs were being slaughtered. Now why is this significant. First, it was completely out of Jesus’ control when he would actually be crucified. Second, he was crucified on the exact same day as the most important day in the Jewish year. Passover marked the most important day of Jewish history when God’s judgement came and he saved them by the blood of a spotless lamb. Additionally, this salvation event marked the start of a new covenant with Israel which was followed by covenant documents and law. Jesus’ death and resurrection on Passover marked a new covenant that came with subsequent writings for instruction in living in this new era. Jesus spoke of his life and death as an atonement, as did his apostles. The date of his death is another divine coincidence.
Conclusion
How likely is it (humanly speaking) that a people who claimed to be spoken to by God would have numerous prophecies of a new covenant and a messiah to come? This messiah was to be a savior, king, and prophet. Additionally, these scriptures gave several prophecies that raised messianic expectations to an all-time high right at the time a boy was born and named “God saves” by his parents. This man called twelve disciples (like the twelve tribes), taught like no one in history, lived like no one in history, and died on the very day of the most holy festival of the Jews. This same man, proclaimed to be raised from the dead in one of the most well-attested event of history, now has over two billion followers around the world who claim him as Savior, God, and Lord. These are just three coincidences among hundreds that display the divine beauty and truth of the Bible.
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