In 1977 Kerry Livgren, the lead singer of the rock group Kansas, wrote a best selling hit titled, “All We Are Is Dust In The Wind.” The basic theme is that we are simply dust in the wind. Life is random. Life is chaotic. Life has no real meaning and no real purpose. Was Kerry Livgren correct? Of course not. We are not simply dust in the wind. God has spoken. God has made himself known. God desires a relationship with us through his son Jesus. God has spoken through the Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God….” The word inspired means “God breathed.” God has revealed himself through the Scriptures. Can we have confidence in the Bible? Can we trust that the Bible is true? We can have absolute confidence in the authority of the Bible for a number of different reasons….

First, the formation of the Bible was clearly supernatural. The formation of the Bible demonstrates unity. The time between the writing of the first book and the writing of the last book was approximately sixteen hundred years. Yet not one verse contradicts another. God used about forty different men to write the Scriptures. There are a total of sixty-six books. Some of these men wrote more than one book. The sixty-six books of the Bible were written by forty different authors over a period of sixteen hundred years. Choose forty different scientists who have written sixty-six books on science over a period of sixteen hundred years. Would there be any real unity in their writings? Would the result be no contradictions? Of course not!

The Bible was written in three different languages. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek. Parts were written in Aramaic. Not only did forty different authors over sixteen hundred years write sixty-six books but it was written in three languages and yet there is perfect harmony. Furthermore, the Bible was written in six different parts of the world. Most of it was written in Israel. Other parts were written in Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Arabia. Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says, “In fact, there are at least eleven different occupations among these forty authors: kings, priests, prophets, soldiers, statesmen, shepherds, fishermen, a tax collector, a doctor, a tentmaker and a farmer.” In contrast, the Koran was written by one man, Mohammed, in a short period of time.

The formation of the Bible provides evidence it is God’s book. It is unique. There is no other book like the Bible.

Second, the preservation of the Bible is clearly supernatural. How do we know we have the Bible as it was originally written? Before the year 1947 the oldest Hebrew manuscript was called the Masoretic text. It dated from the year 1000 AD. Numerous critics questioned how it was possible to believe that the Old Testament remained pure in light of the oldest manuscript being so late. In 1947 a young shepherd boy discovered the Dead Sea scrolls. Later archaeologists discovered additional scrolls that included a section of every Old Testament book except Esther. The scrolls date between the years 100 BC and 100 AD. There is virtually no variation between the Masoretic text and the Dead Sea scrolls even though written one thousand years apart. The biblical text has remained intact.

Third, the indestructibility of the Bible demonstrates its supernatural origin. God has promised to preserve His Word. Diocletian, the Roman emperor, said, “The Christian religion is destroyed and the worship of the gods restored.” Ten years later Constantine made Christianity the state religion. The French philosopher Voltaire stated, “Fifty yeas from now the world will hear no more about the Bible.” Exactly fifty years later the Geneva Bible Society bought the very press that Voltaire used to print his statements. They used it to print Bibles!

Thomas Payne, one of our founding fathers, was a critic of the Scriptures. He wrote, “When I get through there will not be five Bibles in America.” While Thomas Payne did some good writing in defending the American revolution and American independence, he was dead wrong about the Scriptures. In fact, in my own office I have more than five Bibles!

Finally, fulfilled prophecies demonstrate the divine origin of the Scriptures. The place of the Messiah’s birth was predicted over seven centuries before His birth. The time of the Messiah’s coming was forecast six hundred years before He came. Jesus’ virgin birth was predicted seven centuries beforehand. The means of His death was spelled out one thousand years before He died.

Lewis Sperry Chafer wrote, “The Bible is not a book a man could write if he would, nor is the Bible a book man would write if he could.” We can have total confidence in the veracity of the Bible. God has spoken through the Bible.

Kansas guitarist Kerry Livgren wrote his best selling song after reading a book of Native American poetry. The line that caught his attention was, “For All We Are Is Dust In The Wind.” The song is about the true value of material things and success. Livgren was doing very well with Kansas but started thinking about how he would eventually die just like everyone else. It was through the Bible he met the person of Jesus. The path to God lies through the cross. The Bible is the key to discovering God.