The Arrow that Flies Forward
Have you ever wished to see the future… to describe people before they are born and events before they happen? The power to predict perfectly would be like shooting an arrow forward, far into the future. It would hit its target every time. Keep this idea in mind as you follow the Bible’s story.
The 1500 Year Miracle
The Bible is like no other book in the world. It has been criticized more, hated more, studied more, and loved more than any other book. Actually, the Bible is a great library of books from 40 writers. Did all of these different writers have a great meeting to decide what to write? Did they discuss their work, so that from beginning to end there is one continuing story? No such meeting took place. It could not, for the Bible writers were scattered over a period of some 1500 years. The earlier ones wrote the Old Testament. The later ones wrote the New Testament.
The first writer of the Old Testament was Moses. He wrote 500 years before David, the first writer who was a king. David wrote his famous Psalms (songs and prayers) 300 years before Isaiah, the famous prophet. Isaiah wrote 300 years before Malachi, one of the final writers of the Old Testament. Malachi did his work about 400 years before New Testament writers such as Peter, John and Paul. How then did all these writers make such a united and complete history? The Bible answers that its real author is the God who created the universe. Only this God could have planned and produced a book that took 1500 years to complete. The Bible is well worth your time to explore.
The Bible has a special advantage in its unique time-span. Earlier writers looked forward and foretold what would happen in the future. That is to say, they shot their arrows forward. Later writers saw those things coming true. They watched and reported as each target was hit.
Did New Testament writers change the Old Testament to make it fit what they saw? Critics might like such a theory, but it has a history-sized hole. The Old Testament was completed, translated and widely used long before New Testament times.