How is the Bible thematically unified?

We officially started our NEW series this past Sunday "40 Days in the Word" with part 1" Is the Bible reliable and trustworthy? You can listen to the podcast at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can download it from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158  

We talked about the Bible being historically accurate. The past two days we talked about the Bible being scientifically accurate and prophetically accurate. Today we are going to look at the 4th reason we can trust the Bible.

The fourth reason the Bible is trustworthy is because it is thematically unified. 

Many people have said over the years that the Bible was conceived by man, manipulated by man and pushed by man to fulfill its own agenda. However, looking at the reality of how thematically unified it is and the astronomical odds that even with all of the time, places and authors, it still fits together perfectly, it strongly points to God’s amazing orchestration and plan.

What do I mean by thematically unified?  It has the theme through the entire book from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation.  It is the same theme of redemption from Genesis to the end.  Jesus is the center and main focus of everything.  It is a thematically unified book.

What’s the big deal about that?  I know a lot of books that carry the same theme from beginning to end.  There is one HUGE reality that cannot be ignored.

This book was written over one thousand six hundred years, from the first book to the last, by forty different authors, on three different continents, in three different languages, and they didn’t know about each other.  How do you think they all got the same story?  It wasn’t even collected in one book until a thousand years later after they’d died, in the Old Testament.  How do you think they knew that? 

It’d be one thing if one person wrote this book.  The Quran was written by one person – Mohammed.  The Analects of Confucius are written by Confucius.  The writings of Buddha are written by Buddha.  You would expect them to be uniform since they come from 1 person.

However, the Bible was written by forty different people, in every age and stage of life, as I said on three different continents, in three different languages, over one thousand six hundred years.  And they got the same story.  This book was written by poets and prophets.  It’s written by princes and kings. It’s written by sailors and soldiers.  This book was written by attorneys and a doctor, an M.D.  It’s written by kings.  It’s written by prisoners.  It’s written by common people. 

All kinds of people wrote the Bible.  And it was written in all kinds of locations.  Some of the Bible was written in a cave.  Some of the Bible was written on ships.  Some of it was written in homes.  Some of it was written in palaces.  Some of it was written in prison.  And they all come up with the same theme.  THAT IS UNBELIEVABLE!  It has the same theme of redemption from cover to cover, over one thousand six hundred years.  You couldn’t get a more diverse group – fishermen and tax collectors and scholars and businessmen, and over a period of almost two thousand years, coming up with the same story.

Let me give you an example of this.  If I were to take fifty pieces of paper right now [there are sixty-six books in the Bible.  But let’s just say I were take fifty pieces of paper] and I were to hand them out to people today and I said to each of you, “I want you to tear this piece of paper anyway you want to, in any shape you want to.  I’m not going to tell you how I’m going to use it.  I just want you to tear it in a shape.”  So you tear it up in a shape.  Then I take the fifty pieces back. 

What would be the odds that all fifty of those pieces of paper would form a perfect map of the United States of America?  You wouldn’t believe it.  You’d say it’s a trick.  The odds are too astronomical to just accept that they all unify and fit together.

But the Bible is more than that.  It was many places, many people and many centuries and yet it all fits together with the same unified theme.

Jesus said in Luke 24 “Beginning with Moses [that’s the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy – the first five books of the Bible written by Moses] and all the Prophets, [that’s the rest of the Old Testament] Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”  

 Did you get that?  Most people think the New Testament is about Jesus and the Old Testament is about Israel.  Wrong!  The New Testament wasn’t even written when Jesus said that.  He’s talking about the Old Testament.  It says he went through all the Scriptures and showed what it said about him.  The story is about Jesus from beginning to end.  The pictures, the metaphors, the analogies, the illusions – everything in Scripture from beginning to end is about God’s plan to redeem people and build a family for eternity.  It all began with him.  The star of the story is Jesus.  You can see him in every book.

John 5:39 Jesus says “You search the Scriptures because you believe they give you eternal life.  But the Scriptures point to me!”  Remember: the New Testament hasn’t been written when he said this.  He’s talking about the Old Testament.  All the Scriptures point to me.

The Bible is extremely trustworthy. The more we investigate the more we realize it takes more faith to reject it then to believe it. I pray that you continue to explore and read with an open mind and allow the Creator of the Universe to speak to you through His Word.

adapted from thoughts from Rick Warren and 40 Days in the Word Campaign