Have you ever played a really, really good April Fool’s day joke on someone? I found the holiday enjoyable because I could make up a little story to have a little fun. One year I told my mother her friend had an emergency and to call her right away, so my mom called her, it was 6 am. Luckily her friend thought it was funny, phew! After a few years I realized around April 1st, people stopped believing me, so then if I had something serious I had to provide proof of authenticity. Fortunately, God has provided historical details and eyewitness accounts that allow us to believe the validity of Scripture and people don’t doubt like people doubted my stories around April Fool’s Day.
It is important that we see how God used historical events, woven with eyewitness testimony to create the historicity and legitimacy that is needed to prove the Bible true. Peter discusses how it is vital to acknowledge these are not made-up stories, but verifiable accounts (2 Pet. 1:16). If you were alive when the letters and Gospel accounts were written, then you could go and talk to the people that were the witnesses to hear what they saw. The details that Luke gives in his Gospel (Luke 3:1) and in Acts reveal how we can peel back the layers of history to see the timelines and people in charge so we know where to look to find not just the context, but how things actually fit together. Knowing the history behind the stories we love, gives validation and the truth we need to be confident.
Historical accuracy moves our hearts toward Jesus because he wants us to know that he is real, he wants us to trust in the relationship he has with us, and he wants us to be confident in the forgiveness only he can provide us. When the reality of God’s love becomes the perspective we see in Scripture then the history of Scripture helps to fix hearts and give new life to believers. Let me invite you to ask Jesus to help you see how the truth and accuracy of the Bible can help your heart this season. My prayer is that it helps build confidence in the Bible so your faith can grow and impact all those around you.
Pastor Jeremy Johnson
Family Pastor