The Bible is under attack in many Bible colleges and seminaries today. Many of the OT narratives and miraculous events are explained away as parables, morality tales, or even something called “poetic history,” in which the big picture may be true, but the details are not (e.g., the talking serpent, the forbidden fruit).
Here are some of the OT records that are regarded by many Bible scholars, even conservative Bible scholars, as historically doubtful. However, the Lord Jesus said that they were actual history:
- Noah and the worldwide flood (Matt 24:37-39).
- Jonah and the repentance of the Ninevites (Matt 12:41).
- Adam and Eve and the Creation account (Matt 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-7).
- The destruction of Sodom (Luke 17:28-32).
- The murder of Abel (Luke 11:50-51).
- The miraculous manna in the wilderness (John 6:31-32).
- The uplifted bronze serpent and miraculous healing in Numbers 21 (John 3:14).
- The view that the prophet Isaiah wrote the entire book attributed to him. The Lord Jesus cited Isaiah 6 in John 12:40; Isaiah 40 in John 1:23; Isaiah 53 in John 12:37-41; Isa 61:1-2 in Luke 4:18-19. Yet modern scholarship says that the book of Isaiah was authored by three different men.
Many modern Evangelical Bible scholars consider Jonah to be a parable, Job to be a non-historical morality play, the Creation account to teach that God created but not how He created, that the Noahic Flood was a local flood and not a worldwide flood, that the Exodus possibly never happened, and on and on.
Putting that another way, modern Evangelical Bible scholars set themselves in opposition to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. I realize that they deny this charge. They have sophisticated ways of making their views seem plausible. Their views are not.
God’s Word endures forever (Isa 40:8). May we stand firmly on the clear teachings of God’s Word no matter how many experts tell us that we are naïve and misguided.
Keep grace in focus and God’s Word will remain God’s Word.
