evidence that the bible is true

Evidence is presented here that the Bible is true and a reliable document and therefore Christianity is true. Evidence can be collected from observations in Science History and Experience. The most important area is History because the Bible claims that God has revealed Himself in History in the Person of Jesus.

The Gospel accounts do not stand alone. They receive heavy support from both the writers of the New Testament letters and from the Old Testament prophets, who wrote about the life of Jesus while his coming was still in the future.

Only letters or gospels from apostles [who were eyewitnesses of the ministry and resurrection of Jesus] were accepted or from those closely associated with them.

We have not depended on made up stories in making known to you the mighty coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. With our own eyes we saw his greatness. 2 peter 1.16

So then, our brothers, stand firm and hold onto those truths which we taught you, both in our preaching and in our letter... With my own hand I write this: GREETINGS FROM PAUL. This is the way I sign every letter; this is how I write. 2 Thessalonians 2.15 and 3.17

Jesus promised that all the apostles’ teaching would be directed by the Holy Spirit.

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you. John 14.26

Paul’s letters appeared first. They can be accurately dated by comparing the details in them with the accounts of Paul’s travels in Acts and by references to Paul’s letters in the writings of the apostles’ immediate successors. Some had been written by 60AD [Paul’s first imprisonment at Rome] and the rest by 65AD [Paul’s second imprisonment and death]. Written while many still lived who could remember what Jesus said and did, they give an outline of the Gospel which agrees with the accounts given in the Gospels. Also in agreement is the Gospel outline found in Acts and in the other New Testament letters written by Peter, James, John, Jude and the writer to the Hebrews.

I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures [the writings of the Old Testament Prophets]; that he was buried and that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the Scriptures; that he appeared to Peter and then to all twelve apostles. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive, although some have died. Then he appeared to James, and afterwards to all the apostles. Last of all he appeared also to me [Paul]. 1 Corinthians 15.3-8

The Gospels themselves appeared from about 60AD onwards. Mark, who is mentioned in Acts and in the letters, wrote down Peter’s preaching. We also have two of Peter’s letters. Matthew wrote a list of Jesus’ sayings which he later expanded with further material and with material from Mark. Luke who was Paul’s companion, did careful research collecting material into which he inserted Matthew’s sayings and Mark’s account. He also wrote Acts and is mentioned in the letters. John wrote last to provide additional information. We also have his three letters and the revelation given to him. We get a considerable knowledge of Jesus from the selections given, which Jesus said the Holy Spirit would make sure to happen. The Gospels were immediately accepted as accurate accounts of the apostles’ teaching at a time when many people could still remember Jesus.

Many people have done their best to write a report of the things that have taken place among us. They wrote what we have been told by those who saw these things from the beginning and who proclaimed the message. And so, your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you. I do this so that you will know the full truth about everything which you have been taught. Luke 1.1-4

The writings were copied and circulated. The New Testament writers read each others’ writings and the letters were read in several places. By 100AD two collections of the books had appeared, the Gospel and the Apostle [Gospels and Acts-letters].

The Scripture says, A worker should be given his pay. 1 Timothy 5.18 quoting Luke 10.7

As you wait for that Day [the return of Jesus], do your best to be pure and faultless in God’s sight and to be at peace with him. Look on our Lord’s patience [his delay in coming] as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved, just as our dear brother Paul wrote to you, using the wisdom that God gave him. This is what he says in all his letters when he writes on the subject. 2 Peter 3.14-16 referring to Paul’s letters.

After you have read this letter, make sure that it is read also in the church at Laodicea. Colossians 4.16

Write down what you see, and send the book to the churches in these seven cities; Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Revelation 1.11

The Early Church Fathers [immediate successors to the apostles] writing from 100AD onwards quote extensively from the New Testament with comments about contacts with the apostles and about the authors of the Gospels. We have copies of many of their writings. There are also scanty references in Roman and Jewish writings of this time from which a brief outline of Jesus can be gathered.

Then we have early manuscripts [handwritten copies] of the New testament. They can be dated by the form of the handwriting and by the material written upon. We have fragments from as early as 150AD e.g. the John Rylands fragment of John’s Gospel. We have the Chester Beattie and Bodmer manuscripts written between 200 and 300AD containing most of the New Testament. There are the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus from 350AD containing most of the whole Bible, and several others from the following century. We also have portions from 400AD onwards of the Syriac and Latin translations that were made from the Greek around 150AD. By comparing these and many others we are able to ascertain the original New Testament text extremely exactly.

Archaeology gives further confirmation. The Gospels and Acts show a very exact knowledge of details about people and places of the first century AD which strongly proves that they were based on eyewitness accounts.

The New Testament is written in the form of Greek spoken in the first century. Also in many places the Greek of the Gospels, including Jesus’ words and the apostles’ speeches in Acts, is a word for word translation from Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his disciples.

The Old Testament books were written by prophets-people who gave a message from God.

Men were under the control of the Holy Spirit as they spoke the message that came from God. 2 Peter 1.21

The true prophet spoke about obeying God and accurately foretold the future. Thus identified, the books of the prophets were added to the previous books, building up the Old Testament until the last prophet Malachi in 400BC.

I was studying the sacred books and thinking about...what the Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah. Daniel 9.2

We can date the writing of Bible books by their references to current events, persons and places and by references to the books by later writers, e.g. in later Bible books. From this we can see the amazingly accurate fulfilment of the Bible’s many detailed prophecies of the future. Those about the coming of Jesus were all fulfilled in his lifetime. Many of those about Israel and the surrounding nations have been fulfilled exactly, often many centuries after they were written. Others still await fulfilment as do those about the return of Jesus. No book except the Bible foretells the future with consistent accuracy.

I alone am God and there is no one else like me. From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. Isaiah 46.9-10

All the prophets spoke about Jesus, saying that everyone who believes in him will have his sins forgiven through the power of his name. Acts 10.43

Archaeology has shown the extreme accuracy of historical and geographical references all the way through the Old Testament. Very many references to current events, persons, towns, nations, customs and words then in use have been confirmed by archaeological finds, which strongly proves that the events described in the Old Testament have been accurately recorded.

The Old Testament’s claim to be the Word of God is endorsed by Jesus himself:

Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true. Matthew 5.17

From the time of Ezra in the Bible [450BC] the Old Testament has been very carefully copied by the Jews. We have Jewish manuscripts of the Old Testament from 900-1000AD which agree extremely closely with the Dead Sea Scrolls [Jewish manuscripts from the first century BC] and with Samaritan manuscripts from about 1000AD whose text has been handed down separately by the Samaritans from 400BC. There is also the Greek translation made around 250BC handed down by Jews and then by Christians, of which we possess manuscripts from 350AD, which also agrees with the Jewish text. The great similarity found on comparing these manuscripts proves that our present text is a high quality copy of the original.

The above evidence is adequate to show that the Bible gives us an accurate picture of Jesus.

Maybe you believe that Science contradicts the Bible. Then consider this: The Bible contains over 100 scientific statements, most of them in the fields of Astronomy, Biology, Geology, Physical Geography and Public Health. The accuracy of all these statements has been demonstrated.

Of the vast number of historical statements in the Bible, many have been verified by archaeological finds, and not one has been proved wrong. Some things are disputed and we await further clarification of events such as the Exodus and Conquest of Palestine.

There are many detailed prophecies in the Bible including those about towns and countries all over the Middle East as well as predictions made by Jesus. Many have been fulfilled exactly, often many centuries after they were written. Others still await fulfilment. Not once has the Bible been wrong. No book except the Bible foretells the future with consistent accuracy.

The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies about the coming of the Messiah [God’s chosen One]. They speak of a Person who is divine, a Person who is to suffer for the sins of others, and a Person who is to rule the world and turn the whole world to God. The predictions are of a Messiah personally distinct from God and yet also the Saviour of men, the Lord and Ruler of all, the Judge of the nations. Almighty, Everlasting-One whom prophecy designates as God. No other book in the world foretells a Person like this.

The witness of the Old Testament is of the greatest value because it has been transmitted by the Jews who were hostile to Christianity. They did not understand how their Messiah could both suffer and rule, so failed to realise that their Messiah was Jesus, the Son of God, who is to come twice-once to suffer and a second time to rule. Thus there is no possibility of the Old Testament text being changed to make it back up Christianity.

We can check the accuracy with which the Jews transmitted the Old Testament text. We know the history of how it was passed down from the time of Ezra the scribe [copyist] in 450BC.We have Jewish manuscripts [hand written copies] from 100BC [The Dead Sea Scrolls] and from 900-1000AD to compare with our present text. We can get another check on the text because a Greek translation was made in 200BC and passed down first by Jews and then by Christians. Also the Samaritans passed down part of the Old Testament [the first five books] independently from the Jews from 400BC.

We don’t have any manuscripts for the period before 450BC, but we have some idea of how the Old Testament was written down and collected together from references within it to the writing of parts of it. We are also able to say that the books were written at or soon after the events or prophecies contained in them because the references to historical events, geographical features, customs and current issues are very accurate and correspond with the stated time and place of writing of the book. Also the old words used in the books are the ones expected from the date given. Books of Old Testament Introduction look at these things and the Old Testament books pass their exams with ease!

We can be sure that the New Testament has come down to us as it was originally written because we have many manuscripts going back to 150-200AD with fragments from before then, such as a fragment of John’s Gospel dated around 130AD,whose value is to show that the New Testament was written in the first century. We even have non-biblical Greek papyri from which we can show that the New Testament was written in first century Greek. We also have copies of the writings of early Christians from 100AD onwards containing quotations from the New Testament. Practically all the New Testament can be recovered from their writings as quotations. We also have a very valuable check on the text as it was in 150-175AD in the form of translations made at that time, which have survived as later copies. Sir Frederick Kenyon, a leading authority on the reliability of ancient manuscripts, wrote: Any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the New testament may be regarded as finally established.

We have more assurance from Archaeology [inscriptions on stones] and written history [copies of ancient writings]. The writings of Luke, his Gospel and the Book of Acts, are full of detail about persons and places. Archaeology has shown an accuracy only possible for an eyewitness or first century writer. Archaeologists consider Luke to be a historian of the first class.

From the Roman historians who wrote on the first century AD we have references to the crucifixion and the early spread of Christianity to Asia Minor and Rome. Although Josephus the Jew wrote a history of the Jews when he was living in Rome at the end of the first century, and which contains references to Jesus and His brother James as well as useful background material on many New Testament events, we won’t count his evidence as his writings were transmitted by Christians.

The Jews collected comments on Old Testament laws and passed them down orally from the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD and committed them to writing in 200AD. Of great value because they were transmitted independently of the Christians by hostile witnesses are the remarks about Jesus with references to his unusual birth, his disciples, his miracles, his crucifixion, his claims to de divine, and his promise to return at the end of the age. Incidentally various Jewish writings serve to illuminate words and actions of Jesus in the Gospels by indicating current attitudes and beliefs which Jesus took into account in His answers and actions.

We have the many writings of early Christians from 100AD onwards in which they eagerly discuss all about Christianity as they sought to find out all they could. It is of remarkable significance that the authority of the Gospels is never questioned nor is the fact of the Resurrection disputed, so certain were those things to these writers.

We even have some old manuscripts from 140AD written by a strange sect called the Gnostics which quote from the New Testament books and regard them as authoritative sources on Christianity.

We can also study the Gospels and New Testament in the way lawyers study documents to prove they are authentic.

Jesus is unique in all history. No one else has had the perfectly balanced behaviour he had. No one else has taught all the good things and no nonsense, not only morally perfect teaching but also relevant to daily life. Jesus taught all the things that really matter-about what God is like, about relating to God, and about how to live. No one else has claimed to be divine, to be the Saviour and Judge of all, and that the proof of it was to be his rising again from the dead. The religious, history and wisdom books of the world [apart from the Bible] know of no one like this. Christianity is based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus-God’s self revelation.

Accuracy in collecting the New Testament data is shown by complete agreement everywhere between the multitude of checkable details in the incidents described and what we have been able to find out from other sources. All the historical, geographical and cultural [customs and behaviour] details are correctly represented. Also, the accounts behave like those of really observed events by being full of detail, not easy to exactly harmonise with each other, and yet containing many hidden agreements that are not obvious on first reading them.

We have further confirmation in that the new Testament writers in several places say that either they were eyewitnesses or that they included only the statements of eyewitnesses in their accounts. Their accounts were written down mostly between 50 and 75AD and were the summaries of what they had preached continuously since 30AD. Some of the people who had seen Jesus in 30AD would still be alive in 60AD and many they told would live to 100AD. Living memory is reliable for 50years at least. The time is too short for much change to occur in the memory of the life and teaching of so famous a founder as Jesus. Also his sayings are recorded in a poetic style which would improve memory retention. We have six main authors each contributing his own account and two others contributing a small portion of the New Testament. A remark here on Jesus’ miracles may be of interest. Although they are better attested than legendary miracles [done publicly and recorded by people who can be shown to be reliable] miracles are not used as proof of Jesus’ deity-they are just as would be expected of God. The proof of Jesus’ deity is the Resurrection.

We can check the honesty of the New Testament writers. There is no motive possible for inventing a story about a man who had been crucified rising from death and thus being shown to be divine, then going on to preach that along with demands to live a life of complete honesty in word and deed.

The Apostles started preaching in Jerusalem-the last place on Earth to begin unless the story was true-within a mile of where the Easter events took place. No one was able to disprove the Apostles’ claim that Jesus’ tomb was empty because he had been raised from the dead and had appeared to them. Their preaching met with great success because everyone in Jerusalem knew that the tomb had been found empty and no-one knew why. The Jews or the Romans did not move the body, they would have spoken out if they had. The disciples did not move the body. We know this because they stood up to the severest persecution possible-torture and execution-to take their story all the way from Jerusalem to Rome, so much did they believe it. We know that no one else moved the body [they would have told if they had] because not only were the empty grave clothes left behind forming a body shape with no body inside [also the guard], but He was seen again alive by His followers in ways that allowed of no doubt-He could be seen, touched, heard and could even eat to prove He actually had a body, yet He was also different, he could disappear and was not immediately recognised-in other words He had a new “spiritual” body into which His dead human body had been transformed at the moment of the Resurrection. [As for Jesus not being really dead on the cross, well, four Roman executioners, a spear thrust through His side, the observations of friends who buried Him, the tightly would grave wrappings and the one and a half ton stone closing the tomb I think puts paid to any idea of His reviving in the tomb and emerging two days later full of life!]. What convinced Paul when Jesus appeared to him was that suddenly he understood why the tomb was empty-that Jesus really had risen from the dead and therefore His claim to be the divine Son of God and the Messiah was true.

During the early years of preaching the presence of hostile witnesses guaranteed that any significant departure from the facts of Jesus’ life and ministry would be immediately detected. By the time we get to the writing of the new Testament documents not only were there people around who saw Jesus and heard the early preaching, but the writings themselves bear the marks of amazing self control and soberness-full of honest admissions of failures, and lacking spectacular descriptions of things like the Resurrection itself or the world beyond death, and containing true to life events like two women being the first [after the guard!] to discover the resurrection. Furthermore, the first century was a time of great activity in travel, communication by letter and writing of books, with many intelligent, enquiring people in Jerusalem, Rome and all over the Eastern Mediterranean. It was the worst time in history to pass off as true public events which did not really happen.

We have circumstantial evidence in the shape of Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the change in the day of rest from Saturday [the Jewish Sabbath] to Sunday [The Lord’s Day-Easter Morning] and the existence of the first century Church. It is impossible to invent these things and then get people to believe that their predecessors a generation or more before did or knew these things-they can only result from an event that causes them and whose story is then passed on. The Church says it all started from Jesus rising from the dead. We can also believe that all the Pauline letters are genuine [they are the earliest New Testament documents dated from 50AD to Paul’s death in about 65AD] because forgeries would be detected during the lifetime of Paul and his associates, while later, say in 100AD,the Church would question the sudden appearance of a new letter. All the Pauline letters were accepted by the early Christian writers. Incidentally, Paul signed his letters, sent them by the hand of a reliable messenger, and had them read out in the church to which they were sent.

We have looked at evidence that the New Testament writers were truthful, had personally witnessed what they were writing about and that what they wrote has come down to us practically unchanged.

The New Testament says: The Good News was promised long ago by God through his prophets, as written in the Holy Scriptures. It is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: as to his humanity, he was born a descendant of David; as to his divine holiness, he was shown with great power to be the Son of God by being raised from death. Through him God gave me the privilege of being an apostle for the sake of Christ, in order to lead people of all nations to believe and obey-Romans 1.2-5

Jews could not disprove the disciples' claim that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Chief argument that Jesus was Messiah and Son of God was the Resurrection-"We saw Him" also 1 Corinthians 15.

If all we have is a document, comparing its parts with each other and with other facts is decisive.

Multiplicity of details is offered, just like a truthful witness not attempting to deceive. Honest, telling everything, no attempt to explain away-just like true documents are.

Many living who saw the Risen Lord, also those who saw Jesus' ministry or who were healed by Him. Jews' vital evidence [independent, hostile]-nothing regarding falsity of Gospel records.

Other agreements from later history showing that certain events like sweating blood do occasionally occur. Also the human reactions are well documented.

The Resurrection accounts-Differences add together to correlate together in a plausible way to give a picture while agreement occurs on the main points. The four authors do not include everything in their own account.

Steady growth of the Church from Jerusalem along to Rome. No trace of controversy as to whether tomb really were empty.

Caused one of the biggest event explosions in history, only accountable by a spectacular event.

Several sources in NT for Gospel story not just one as in many other ancient historical events. [The Gospels, Acts, Paul and Peter].

Reaction of persecution-Knew tomb was empty, could only say disciples stole body.

Incidentally resurrection can only mean the body rising again. The Jews considered nothing else=resurrection.

Early Jewish writings. Josephus agrees with the Gospel in outline. His books were available to the early opponents of Christianity. They would have known if the text had been changed. Does not deny that tomb was empty. Later writings continue to say disciples stole the body. Justyn Martyr records this. Fifth century compilation [frankly rubbish] about finding the body and dragging it through the streets of Jerusalem [Toledoth Jesu]. The Talmud. The historian Josippon.

Roman remains. Nazareth inscription forbidding removal of corpses from tombs is suggestive. Style of lettering suggests first century.

No attempt by authorities to say that the body of Jesus was still in the tomb-everyone knew it was not.

Canons of historical research-justifiable to conclude tomb empty on Easter Morning. No written, inscriptional or archaeological evidence ever found to deny this.

Also the evidence of the change in the disciples and Paul and James. Withstood persecution to the death, never wavering in their belief in the Resurrection. No trace of dispute about this central fact. They were completely convinced. Myths do not make martyrs.

Change in the Sabbath. The Sacraments. Expansion of early Church across Mediterranean world. Celebration of Easter.

Resurrection the one miracle that authenticates Christianity over all other claims.

Witnesses agree on main points while differing in details as eyewitnesses do.

Plenty of witnesses-the Twelve disciples, the women, the 500, Peter and James and on several occasions. Many points to check what they were seeing e.g. He ate, could be touched.

Good character, not telling lies-Highest moral standards advocated by Gospel writers. Held leadership positions in the Church.. No one ever in the first century proved them to be frauds. No trace has ever reached us in Jewish or Pagan writings. resisted but never refuted. Were persecuted-to death.

Not deceived-did not believe at first, also Paul and James were unbelievers.

Crucifixion and Resurrection were public in middle of a cultured, educated city, and recorded by highly intelligent men [Paul and Luke for example and people like Gamaliel]. Also the disciples lived with Him for three and a half years. Also other miracle doers do not claim to be God, then predict and accomplish their resurrection.

Each NT writer says Jesus was crucified around 30AD under Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. He was confirmed to be dead and buried and yet 3 days later the tomb was empty. Furthermore Jesus appeared to many groups of people on many occasions over the next month or so. He proved His reality to them so convincingly that these sceptical men boldly preached the Resurrection a little over a month later in the same city, whereupon thousands of Jews converted to Christianity.

Ancient history is based on documents and witnesses. As a historical document the NT is of superior quality. There are more manuscript copies of better quality and an earlier date than of many other books from antiquity. Here too the miracles and resurrection of Jesus have more honest and capable witnesses than any other events of the ancient world.

Paul's testimony. He includes the appearance to the 500, many of whom were still alive when he wrote. He refers to the Resurrection all through his letters and says this was the message of the other apostles too.

This is confirmed by the three synoptic Gospel writers with independent sources and John's Gospel. It is the very heart of Peter's sermon in Acts, repeated in his letter 1 Peter.

Paul's testimony already was a tradition when it was passed on to him by Ananias or by Peter and James at his visit to Jerusalem in 35AD. By 60AD many eyewitnesses were still alive and many that they had spoken to.

NON CHRISTIAN ATTEMPTS to explain away the Resurrection include: Body stolen by disciples-Jesus did not really die-Wrong grave visited-Jews removed body-Disciples saw things-Invention.

Number of witnesses. Quality of the ethical teaching which they gave to the world and which, even on the testimony of their enemies, they lived out in their lives; no one admitted even under torture that the story was made up. The absurdity of suggesting that a crowd of demoralised men would change into a company of witnesses no one could silence to spread a lie they made up about an executed man being God, preached to the most rigidly monotheistic people on Earth, unless the Resurrection were true!

Records too early. Resurrection story traceable to within 10 years of the event. Pointless to talk about legends when the stories were spread while the authors were still alive to correct them. Also they don't have the exaggerations of legends e.g. no description of the Resurrection, the first appearance being to Mary Magdalene, the restrained sober descriptions of the appearances, and the lack of appearances to the Romans or the Sanhedrin.

Failure of other explanations to take into account both the empty tomb and the appearances. Critics make a clear cut distinction between the records of the empty tomb on the one hand, and of the Resurrection on the other. First the empty tomb is explained away by a number of ingenious hypotheses; and then the Resurrection appearances are dismissed as some form of hallucination or psychological experience which convinces the disciples but had no objective reality.

Imagine the disciples raiding the tomb by night, stealing the body, burying it furtively in some other place, and the proceeding to foist this miserable fraud upon the world. This would run totally counter to all we know of them: their ethical teaching, the quality of their lives, their steadfastness in suffering and persecution. Nor would it begin to explain their dramatic transformation from dejected and dispirited escapists into witnesses whom no opposition could muzzle.

In seven weeks apostles were proclaiming the Resurrection all over Jerusalem accusing the chief priests of killing the Holy and Righteous One. Why did they not say they moved the body, call as witnesses those who carried it, or even point to a tomb or produce a body? Because they did not know where the body was. The Romans would have been disturbed by a proclamation that a criminal executed because he claimed to be a king had risen from the dead, and would have announced it if they had moved the body.

Fantastic to suppose that he would not have told the apostles, also he had to have helpers who would have known.

Disciples checked it on hearing the women’s story. Also the body would have been there for any other person to check the tomb e.g. Joseph of Arimathea.

No point in taking and leaving graveclothes. Also tomb robbers would want the valuable spices, and not leave the clothes. Also they would need helpers and it is unlikely that no one would not somehow tell.

Well, a spear thrust through the heart, four Roman executioners to certify death, a stone weighing a ton and a half blocking the entrance to the tomb, and then appearing strong and well?

So the empty tomb stands a veritable rock, as an essential part in the evidence for the Resurrection. To suggest that it was in fact not empty at all, as some have done, seems to me ridiculous. It is a matter of history that the apostles from the very start made many converts in Jerusalem, hostile as it was, proclaiming the glad news that Jesus had risen from the dead-and they did it within a short walk from the grave. Their message could not have been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned. How could they succeed if the body were still in the tomb? How would the converted priests and Pharisees be impressed with just talk of spiritual survival? References to the empty tomb in the Gospels are for Christians who wanted to know the details. But in the earliest preaching the tomb is not mentioned because everyone knew it. The only point was why it was empty.

Also, the Jews never said such a thing. They could only say the disciples stole the body. [Early Jewish polemic-Matthew 28].

The empty grave clothes-the body took itself out of the tomb! By passing through the clothes leaving a body shape behind in the empty graveclothes!

The total lack of any pilgrimages to the tomb. Even if the Christian community believed the tomb to be empty and ignored it, what about the people who heard Jesus preach and saw Him heal-they must have been convinced as well that His body was not there.

All the apocryphal literature agrees that the disciples were accused of stealing the body-no one ever doubted that the body had gone. This accusation was the best thing that the Jews could do.

Accounts for the women’s' visit to the tomb not being used in the early preaching-the guards had already preached the vacancy of the tomb! The guards must have found the stone in place when they were set there. Then the stone moved and the guards fled into Jerusalem.

The vacancy of the tomb was common knowledge so that no argument was needed, none is ever hinted at in everything extant of literature.

Certain types of person-all types saw Jesus. Recipients not schizophrenic or epileptic.

Not just a spirit-could be touched, and even could eat. Yet different in that He could disappear, pass through grave clothes, and be not immediately recognised.

Again there are things that would not be invented because they cast doubt e.g. difficulty in recognition. Also the seven weeks delay, a thing that is pointless to invent.

I am convinced that Jesus' deathless spirit returned to His mutilated human body and that this was transformed into what Paul calls a spiritual body. The empty tomb proves the reality of the appearances, that He really rose, and showed Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs.

Also the Church, traced back to early in the first century. Its documents of association state it owes its inception to the resurrection of its Founder from the dead. Formed for no other reason but to bear witness to the Resurrection.

The one really distinct thing that the Church stood for was their declaration that Jesus had been raised from the dead according to God's design, and the consequent estimation of Him as in a unique sense the Son of God and Representative of Man, and the resulting conception of the way to reconciliation.

The Resurrection and its consequences were the Gospel or Good News which the Christians brought; what we call the Gospels, the narratives of our Lord's life and death, were composed for the benefit of those who already had accepted the Gospel. They were in no sense the basis of Christianity: they were written for the converted. The miracle of the Resurrection comes first [C.S. Lewis-Miracles].

Sunday-traceable to the same date and place. The first Christians were Jews. It must have taken an event of supreme importance to change their Sabbath to another day. The same is said for the festival of Easter and the Sacraments that celebrate His atoning death.

What changed the apostles? Peter? James-to speak of his brother as the Lord of glory?

Jesus staked His credibility on the Resurrection and quoted the Old Testament prophecies of it including Isaiah 53.

Discrepancies are explained as being due to eyewitness accounts. Discrepancies are expected from genuine eyewitnesses.

The stories complement each other but are not exactly in agreement on the details.

Suggested order of appearances-Jerusalem [Passover], then Galilee, then Jerusalem again [Pentecost].

Disciples pointed to the Resurrection and to fulfilled prophecy in their preaching.

Evidence for the Resurrection and Jesus The Witness of History. J.N.D. Anderson.

See also books of NEW TESTAMENT Introduction e.g. Introduction to the New Testament. Robert H. Gundry, Introduction to the New Testament. D. Edmond Hiebert.

See Web Sites Below, for Trial of Jesus and Testimony of the Four Evangelists.

He was born a helpless baby; He grew in wisdom and stature; and He experienced hunger, thirst, weariness, pain and death. He could be both angry and deeply grieved; He could be moved with compassion; He asked questions because He wanted to know the answers, and on occasion frankly admitted that there were limits to His knowledge; and He could feel a natural affinity with particular individuals. It is true that we never hear of Him as laughing, and that the picture we get is of one so deeply conscious of the sins and sorrows of humanity, and so absorbed in doing His Father's will, that He had little time for the lighter side of life. Yet He loved children; He was the friend of publicans and sinners; He prayed that His disciples might share the joy He knew; and it seems unescapable to me that some of the statements He is recorded as having made must have been accompanied by a smile and a flash of humour. And while the title by which He most frequently, as it seems, referred to Himself-Son of Man-may have a Messianic content, I feel sure He intended it also to emphasize His identification with those whose nature He shared.

Miracles so connected with the teaching of Jesus that it is impossible to say that much of Jesus is not supernatural. Miracles of certain types only-compassion or to help people be sure Who Jesus was. Refused for amusement. No destructive miracles or silly ones. Miracles as expected from One who really was divine. [The works that I do show that the Father has sent Me]. He claims the power to be His as well as God's.

Followers with whom He lived claim it [1 Peter 2.22 and 1 John 3.5]. He challenged His enemies [John 8.46]. He told His friends [John 14.30] Never expressed any consciousness of being wrong while telling everyone else to ask forgiveness because they were sinners. He told His disciples to pray to be forgiven when they prayed. From time to time He would say He was holy and meek. No self deprecation which is normally seen in those who want to live well. Even His anger was not accompanied with feelings of having overdone it as it is with us. Failure of enemies to bring any moral accusation even at His trial. Consider case of Syro-phoenician woman [Mark 7.25]. He really did have sympathy for the Gentiles-Good Samaritan [Luke10.29]; Centurion's servant [Matthew 8.5]; Many will come from East and West [Matthew 8.11]; Other sheep [John 10.16] and Go to every creature [Mark 16.15]. His actual words to her were "little dogs, household pets". I think He made the remark about the children’s bread and the little dogs with a smile-His intention was to draw out the woman's faith which He then commended and rewarded. Also the cleansing of the Temple. Compare His patience when insulted. The Temple cleansing was similar to His denunciation of other hypocrites. Whip not used on people, nor were the bird cages overturned. Also cursing of the fig tree. Tree ought to have had the pre-figs that come out with the leaves. It was a demonstration of Israel's show of religion without the good deeds to go with it. Jesus came to serve and to give His life to redeem many. The Father loved Him because He was willing to give up His life, in order that He might receive it back again. Jesus was sinless because He was selfless. Unselfishness is love. God is love.

Jesus believed that God loved people but hated sin. Was light. Utter moral purity as well as love. Willing to go to incredible lengths to save people from their sin but Who was the righteous Judge Who could not ignore evil. He was concerned about His disciples being salt and light of secular society. Endorsed the OT prophets' demand for social justice. Helped the poor and weak and social outcasts. Came not to be served but to serve with a basic mission to all who were "lost". He was primarily concerned to change man as man rather than the political regime under which they lived, to transform their attitudes rather than their circumstances, to treat the sickness of their hearts rather than the problem of their environment. His perfect balance of traits or temperament tendencies. He had a perfect balance-a sympathy which is never weak, a strength which is never insensitive, a benevolence which is never indulgent and a drive which is never ruthless. He appeals equally to men and women of every race. They all find Him all they would like to be. Example from Prof. Moule: Jesus' attitude and behaviour towards women. It is difficult enough for anyone, even a consummate master of imaginative writing to create a picture of a deeply pure, good person moving about in an impure environment, without making him a prig or a prude or a sort of "plaster saint". How comes it that, through all the Gospel traditions without exception, there comes a remarkably firmly drawn portrait of an attractive young man moving freely about women of all sorts, including the decidedly disreputable, without a trace of sentimentality, unnaturalness, or prudery, and yet, at every point, maintaining a simple integrity of character? Is this because the environments in which the traditions were preserved and through which they were transmitted were particularly favourable to such a portrait? On the contrary, it seems that they were rather hostile to it.

His teaching. The authority [certainty] of the way He spoke about God, man, heaven and Earth. "I say". No saying has become outdated. His daring-He denounced hypocrites and pitied the weak and erring. He demanded high standards in thought and desire as well as in word and act. He ignored the traditions of others [the elders with their ceremonial rather than moral emphasis]. He made Himself the centre- He who loves anyone more than Me, He who loses his life for Me, He who comes to Me [Matthew 10.37 and 11.28] and taught that their eternal destiny depended on their attitude to Him. I am the light of the world [John 8.12]. I am the bread of life [John 6.35]. I am the Way [John 14.6]. Heaven and Earth would pass away but His words would remain [Mark 13.31]. Yet His actions were perfect-the meekness and humility of Christ [2 Corinthians 10.1].

He said, God was His Father. Only He knew God [Matthew 11.27]. His use of Abba when addressing God. The only Son [John 3]. My Father works, and I work [John 5.17]. He who sees Me sees God [John 14.8]. I am One with God [John10.30]. Claimed to have existed before Abraham [John8.52]. It won't do to say these sayings were made up by the disciples. The whole tradition is full of this basic attitude on the part of Jesus, that He had a unique relationship with God. How else do we explain the rage of the Jews, the accusation of blasphemy and attempts to stone Him? Even the Talmud says Jesus claimed to be God.

He claimed what belongs to God-to give life, to accept worship, to forgive sin and to judge the world. I am the Resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will never die [John 11.25]. Just as the Father is Himself the source of life, in the same way He has made His Son to be the Source of Life [John5.26]. Eternal life means knowing You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You sent [John 17.1]. Accepted worship [Matthew 4.10, Matthew 28.9, John 20.28 and Matthew 21.15]. Direct statement in Mark 12 regarding Psalm 110. Persistent use of I AM [the Name of God given to Moses] culminating at His trial where He is condemned for blasphemy-claiming to be equal with God [Mark14.61]. Lord of the Sabbath [Mark 2.28].Confession of Peter and of the disciples [Matthew 16.16 and Matthew 14.33]. Right to forgive sins [Mark 2.2, Mark 9.2, Luke 5.20 and Luke 7.48]. He claimed He would judge the world [Mark 8.38, Luke 12.8 and Matthew 7.22]. Nor does the Father judge anyone. He has given His Son the full right to judge [John 5.22]. For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will repay everyone according to his deeds [Matthew 16.27].

C.S. Lewis in Miracles: The historical difficulty of giving for the life, sayings and influence of Jesus any explanation that is not harder than the Christian explanation, is very great. The discrepancy between the depth and sanity and let me add shrewdness of His moral teaching and the rampant megalomania which must lie behind His theological teaching unless He is indeed God, has never been satisfactorily got over. Hence the non Christian hypotheses succeed one another with the restless fertility of bewilderment.

Only Jesus has convinced people that He was God. There is no one else in history like Jesus. His qualities. Calmness and self possession.. His wonderful mind. If God became man we would expect: unusual entrance, sinlessness, do miracles, know He was different, speak greatest words, have lasting influence, satisfy spiritual hunger, have power over death, finest moral teachings. No other has produced all the good things and no rubbish. Authority-dealt with the big issues-relation to God. No new ethical ideas. Instead Jesus calls for repentance, trust and love. Unusual relevance and attractiveness. Teaching about our need for God. Forgiveness, friendship, encouragement. All based on devotion to Himself. He demands and gets it.

Written within living memory-used earlier sources. Acts written at time of Paul's 2 year detention in Rome [to 62 AD]. Paul's letters dated by comparing with Acts. Pastorals presumed to date to a second imprisonment followed by execution.

Oral stage of making little summaries just like other Jewish and Gentile teaching. This stereotyping [like court and newspaper stories] preserves essential accuracy with only loss of variety.

Mark is filled with incidents from Jesus' life of the kind that would be used in preaching e.g. by Peter in Acts. The pronouns used with the stories about Peter suggest Peter's own memories. Also references to Mark-the naked man and Mark's house. Also the Greek preserves the original Aramaic idiom quite clearly.

Matthew wrote his Logia in Aramaic and everybody translated them as best he could. This probably was an earlier version of the Gospel. The sayings show in translation to Aramaic a poetic style like the Old Testament e.g. parallel statements and regular rhythms, making for easy memorising. Likely to be the original words of Jesus. Probably meant for Jewish Christians in the Jerusalem Church.

Luke from Antioch knew the Antioch leaders [Acts 11.19]. May have met Peter [Galatians 2.11]. Knew the Herod family [Manaen was foster brother of Herod Antipas. He was teacher in the Antioch Church Acts 13.1]. He knew Paul who knew Peter [Galatians 1.18-the fortnight in Jerusalem]. He would be in Palestine during Paul's detention in Caesarea [Acts 24-27]. He met James the brother of Jesus. He would also meet Philip in Caesarea [Acts 21.8]. Eusebius says Papias wrote that Philip's four daughters were authorities on the history of the earliest days. He went to Rome with Paul. He was with Paul along with Mark in 60AD [Colossians 4.10 and Philemon 24]. Luke says he followed everything from the beginning by consulting all the above and then arranging his material as a historian would. Luke's arrival in Rome with Paul appealing to Caesar for a fair hearing concerning the character and claims of Christianity was a fitting time to prepare a defence for the official and cultured classes.

Synoptic Gospels were completed not later than 50 years after the Resurrection, using earlier material collected from various sources. The written sources are not later than 60AD and they go back to oral sources going back to Jesus Himself.

The earliest preachers knew the value of eye witness testimony and they appealed to it again and again-"We are witnesses of these things".

It is very difficult to invent sayings and actions of Jesus when so many still lived who could remember Jesus. Also the early Christians distinguished their own words from the words of Jesus [e.g. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7]. Also the presence of hostile witnesses prevent any significant inaccuracies since they would quickly point this out. In fact the disciples say, We are witnesses of these things as you yourselves well know [Acts 2.22].

John's words are too great to invent. Claims to be written by an eyewitness [John 21.24]. The disciple whom Jesus loved is mentioned in John 21, at the Last Supper [John 13.3], at the Crucifixion [John 19.26] and as an eyewitness of the empty tomb [John 20.2]. From Mark 14.7 we know that the Lord was accompanied by the Twelve disciples at the Last Supper, and no one else was stated to be present. Therefore the beloved is one of the Twelve. Three were more close to Jesus, Peter James and John. They kept watch with Him in Gethsemane. The beloved must be one of these. He is distinguished from Peter in John 8.24, John 20.2 and John 21.20, which leaves James and John who were among the seven in John 21, but James was martyred in 44AD [Acts 12.2] so he could not give rise to a saying that he would not die, leaving John. Also the author does not distinguish John the Baptist from John the Apostle even though he must have known of both while he distinguishes Judas Iscariot from Judas not Iscariot. An author is likely to be careless in distinguishing himself from a character of the same name. John's is the only Gospel claiming to be the direct report of an eyewitness. The lively stories are full of circumstantial material e.g. the narrative of Lazarus' raising and the narrative of the empty tomb in John 20-full of life and lacking any detail to which the sceptic might take justifiable exception.

The author evidently a Palestinian because of his accurate knowledge of places and distances in Palestine, including of places in Jerusalem, showing knowledge of pre 70AD Jerusalem. He was a Jew because he knew Jewish customs well: their purification rites [John2.6] and their manner of burial [John 19.40] and their feasts [Passover, Tabernacles, Dedication-held in winter-and an unnamed feast probably New Year in John 5.1]. He knows the OT passages which the Palestine Jewish Lectionary prescribes at feasts and in the synagogues. He knows the Jewish law of evidence [John 8.17] and is familiar with the contempt felt by the trained Rabbis for the untrained people [These people who know not the Law are cursed-John 7.49] which even the liberal Rabbi Hillel felt [No ignorant person is pious]. When referring to Caiaphas as High Priest that year he meant the year of Jesus' death, not that the priest held office for only one year. He is also familiar with Jewish methods of argument.

The words of Jesus and other speakers have an Aramaic style as would be expected.

For events and times the Fourth Gospel agrees with and supplements the synoptics. Although John places most of Jesus' activity in Judaea and Jerusalem, he knows of the Galilean ministry [John7.1] and the synoptics show the existence of the Jerusalem ministry. According to them He is known by the owner of an ass in a village near Jerusalem [Mark11.3]. He is expected for the Passover by the proprietor of a room in Jerusalem. He says, "How often would I have gathered your children together" [Matthew 23.37 and Luke 13.34]. John possibly knew the other Gospels and for the most part he does not overlap them but supplements them.

The Galilean ministry in the synoptics lasted one year but John goes back further to an earlier southern ministry of Christ before the imprisonment of John the Baptist. It fits between John 5 and John 7.2 [Feast of Tabernacles]. This explains the call of Peter Andrew James and John when we understand from John 1.37 that they had met Jesus before in the company of John the Baptist. The dispute about baptizing is illuminated by discovering that the Qumran sect people also baptised. For the events following the Galilean ministry, comparing John with the other three Gospels [especially Luke] makes the synoptic narrative more intelligible if we follow John in believing that the Galilean ministry ended 29AD. Jesus then went to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles, stayed there until the Feast of Dedication in December [John 10.24], that He then spent some months in retirement in the Jordan valley [John 10.40] returning to Jerusalem about a week before the Passover of 30AD [John 12.1].

John's Gospel with its festivals provides a chronology framework for the synoptics which are lacking in chronology indications from Jesus' baptism to the last visit to Jerusalem. Mark mentions green grass [Mark 6.34] which accords with the statement of John 6.4 that this occurred shortly before Passover [17 April 29AD]. The difference between John and the synoptics for Passion Week would be solved if we assume Jesus and His disciples used a different calendar from the Temple. This would mean that when the Temple priests ate the Passover on Friday evening Jesus was already dead. He and His disciples had eaten it earlier in the week.

Style. Although the Gospel has a distinct style that colours the words of Jesus, John the Baptist and the author's own thoughts it is also true that the sayings of Jesus and of John the Baptist are translated from Aramaic and it is also possible that John was influenced by the style of Jesus. In the synoptics Jesus is speaking to the country people, in John to the Jewish leaders or to His disciples. The poetic pattern in the synoptic discourses also occurs in the Johannine discourses. Also in the synoptics occur some Johannine sentences e.g. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and any to whom the Son is willing to reveal Him [Matthew 11.27 and Luke 10.22].

The phraseology opposing light to darkness, truth to error occurs in the Qumran writings along with certain forms of Messianic expectation showing that these things found in John were current in Jewish thought.

John's portrait of Jesus is the same as the synoptists'. With them he views Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God [John 20.31] . His purpose in writing was that his readers might believe that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God [John 20.31]. Mark writes similarly [Mark1.1].

John views Jesus as preexistent Word of God, the Eternal Father's agent in creation, revelation and redemption but does not emphasise His deity at the expense of His humanity. Jesus gets tired [John 4.6], weeps [John 11.29], thirsts [John 19.28] and takes pains to refute a current fancy that our Lord's humanity was only apparent and not real. "The Word made flesh" [John 1.4] and eyewitness to Jesus' death [John 19.30].

In the synoptics Jesus is realised to be the Messiah at the end of the Galilean ministry, and the disciples were told to remain silent about it, then He speaks of His forthcoming death. In John He is recognised early as the Messiah and this is acknowledged by Himself and He hints early about His death. John had learned to see even the earliest references. Jesus may have had to keep quiet in revolutionary Galilee [John 6.15] but could be more open in Jerusalem, although even there they complained He kept them in suspense [John 10.24].

John does not take the story out of its Jewish context and preserves the original preaching so that readers of the Fourth Gospel see no discrepancy between Jesus as portrayed there and as portrayed in the synoptics.

John shows the mind of Christ as the synoptics show the words. There is the self authenticating testimony which characterises eternal truth. "We know that His witness is true".

The Gospels are compiled from oral tradition and memory. The oral stage is little summaries, in poetic style for sayings. The Gospels were accepted as authoritative from the start. Everyone knew they agreed with the preaching.

We get a considerable knowledge of Jesus from the selections given, which Jesus said the Holy Spirit would make happen.

Paul's letters all before 67AD.Well within living memory. Addressed to Christians who already knew the Gospel story. Many references to the life, teachings and death of Jesus. All accepted at once as authoritative. Signed, sent by a reliable hand, read publicly in churches and then copied.

The writings were copied and circulated. The NT writers read each others' writings and the letters were read in several places. By 100AD two collections of the books had appeared, the Gospel and the Apostle [Gospels and Acts-Letters].

The scripture says .A worker should be given his pay. 1 Timothy 5.18 quoting Luke 10.7

As you wait for that day [the return of Jesus], do your best to be pure and faultless in God's sight and to be at peace with Him. Look on our Lord's patience [His delay in coming] as the opportunity He is giving you to be saved, just as our dear brother Paul wrote to you, using the wisdom that God gave him. This is what he says in all his letters when he writes on the subject.2 Peter 3.14-16 referring to Paul's letters.

After you have read this letter, make sure that it is read also in the church at Laodicea.. Colossians 4.16

Write down what you see, and send the book to the churches in these seven cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. Revelation 1.11

Fathers from 95AD. E.g. Clement[95AD], Ignatius[115AD], Polycarp [120AD-To the Philippians]. They quote from many NT books. Also the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas and Shepherd of Hermas. Some of these are found in Codex Vaticanus [letters of Clement] and Codex Sinaiticus [Epistle of Barnabas, Shepherd]. This shows that the early Fathers were transmitted as Scripture was transmitted.

From 175 Old Syriac and Old Latin Versions [They tap the NT text at that point in time].

Even 100AD is good-only 2 generations [one passing on]. Also soon enough for books written in first generation to still exist. Paul's letters said to be preserved at certain churches.

Gospels, like Resurrection never disputed. Fathers are good evidence because they wanted to know the truth just like us.

Canon lists.Marcion[140AD]. Muratorian Fragment[200 AD] lists many NT books and mentions the rejection of letters falsely attributed to Paul.

Fathers suggest 2 collections by 100AD,Gospel and Apostle [Paul's letters, Acts and the others]. 2 Peter 3.15 mentions a collection of Paul's letters.

Ignatius[115AD] mentions the "Gospel". Polycarp[120AD] knew Paul's writings. Justyn Martyr[150AD] mentions the reading of the Memoirs of the Apostles and the Prophets in churches [Apol 1.67]

Later Fathers Origen[185-254AD] and Eusebius[265-340AD] mention most of NT as accepted by all. In 367AD Athanasius listed all our NT books.

Compare NT with the Fathers and the Apocryphal NT [compiled by M. James] to see that Fathers and early Christians made the right choice.

John. Ignatius mentions[115AD]. Polycarp quotes from 1 John. The Gnostic Basilides around 130AD quotes John 1.9.Justyn Martyr around 150AD quoted from the Nicodemus story in John 3. His disciple Tatian around 170AD included the Fourth Gospel in his Diatesseron. At that time Melito Bishop of Sardis shows dependence on this Gospel in his Easter Homily.

Ireneus [of Asia Minor and Gaul] says John, the disciple of the Lord, the same who reclined on His breast, himself also published his Gospel, when he was living in Ephesus in Asia. In his letter to Florinus he reminds them of their early days when they had sat at the feet of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna [who was martyred in 156AD when he had been a Christian for 86 years]. Polycarp in his turn had been a disciple of John, and Ireneus and Florinus had often heard him speak of what John and other eyewitnesses told him about Christ. Also at that time, Clement of Alexandria, Theophilus of Antioch, Tertullion of Carthage and the Gnostic heretic Heracleon in Italy held belief that the author was John. The Muratorian Fragment says John, one of the disciples composed the Fourth Gospel along with associates including Andrew. The Anti-Marcionite Prologue says that Papias wrote in his book that John published and gave his Gospel to the churches. Papias also wrote that John opposed Marcion.

From 95AD onwards there are abundant references in the Fathers to the Gospels and the Epistles, how they were written, with many quotes from them-the whole NT less 11 verses! Also heretics agreed [their manuscripts have been found]. Also the Jews did not deny [Talmud]. Also scattered references in heathen writers and the Jewish writer Josephus.

NT mentions tradition of the Elders which the Pharisees started to write down after 70AD. Yohanan and Rabbi Aquiba [killed 135AD]. Work reused by his pupil Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Juda rearranged it all around 200AD as the Mishna. Commentaries were added in 300AD [Jerusalem] and 500AD [Babylonian].

Contains hostile references to Jesus, saying He was a transgressor, who practised magic, scorned the words of the wise, led the people astray, and said He had not come to destroy the Law [of Moses] but to add to it. He was hanged on Passover eve for heresy and misleading the people. His disciples of whom five are named, healed the sick in His name.

This proves the historicity of Jesus, since hostile witnesses admit these things. The early Rabbis made insulting puns on the word Gospel [probably Matthew's]. In the NT many priests believed so probably some contact with the Pharisees [Acts 15.5 and 21.20]. This contact would have lasted to 70AD or later [Alas, after the fall of Jerusalem all contact with Gentile Christians was lost and Jewish Christianity died out].

Josephus in his 2 books of Jewish history[93AD] mentions emperors, Herods, procurators, priests, John the Baptist, James and Jesus.

Tacitus born 52-54AD wrote in 112-114AD and refers to Nero's persecution. Also refers to the charge of "atheism" against Pomponia Graecina.

Suetonius mentions persecution of Christians, the expulsion of Jews from Rome [Acts 18.1 and the famine [Acts 11.28]. He also mentions Flavius Clemens [Domition's time].

Sulpicus Severus refers to Christianity at the time of the burning of the Jerusalem Temple in 70AD.

They looked for a Messiah who would throw off the Roman yoke, not a suffering Servant. A human Messiah, descendant of David, but not a divine One although this is taught in the OT. They tended to stress the remoteness and transcendence of God. Their writings have the dualism style of writing seen in John's Gospel [light vs darkness statements], which indicates that this style seen in John was familiar to Jews of the time.

Gospel sources: Statements of authorship are less important that fact of Gospels being accepted without question as authentic from the earliest writings [Clement in 95AD onwards]. Thus Fathers+ Manuscripts [hand written copies of NT books] +Versions [early translations] adequately authenticates the Gospels.

Gospels attributed to obscure persons. Enquiry led to concurrence on which books to accept, no controversy.

Gospels and Acts quoted by a series of Christian writers beginning with those contemporary with the Apostles or those who immediately followed them and proceeding in close and regular succession from then to the present.

Even Marcion [Gnostic heretic] only refutes 3 of the letters. Ebionites rejected them because they were Paul's!

"No one even questions the Paulines"-Eusebius. Authenticity is checked by looking at the testimony of those near to the Apostles.

Copiously quoted [unlike apocryphal and forged writings]. Received from the beginning with greatest respect. read, translated, commentaries made. [compare total lack of references to forged letters in the early centuries AD].

The Gospels, Acts, the 13 Paulines, 1 Peter and 1 John accepted by all, even by those who doubted the other books of the NT. The fact that some books were doubted shows that the Christians did examine and discuss all the books.

Attacked by early opponents of Christianity as containing the account of the religion's founding.

Biblical Archaeology Review did an article counting 80 references in the New Testament to events and people recorded in Roman History.

Syriac and Latin translations 175AD give a check on the text at that time [from later surviving copies].

Quotations in Church Fathers from 95AD.The whole NT less 11 verses can be recovered from the Church Fathers as quotations.

Revisions Jerome's revision of earlier texts-many writers were able to access documents not available to us.

There are abundant examples in Luke's Gospel and Acts. There is agreement with all the extant historical and archaeological material.

Luke names Augustus, Tiberius and Claudius. Nero is just "Caesar" to whom Paul appealed.

Jesus' birth fixed in Augustus' time, when Herod the Great was king of Judaea and during a census.

John Baptist's ministry with which the Kerygma begins is dated by synchronisms like the Greeks do.

Great familiarity with proper titles of all the officials. Also the titles could change at short notice e.g. senator [proconsul] becomes legate [emperor ruled]. Examples follow-

Achaia senatorial from 27BC-15AD and from 44AD.Luke called countries by their own name and not by a Roman name except when giving a title [Proconsul of Achaia]. Thus he shows local knowledge.

Ephesus-Proconsuls [note plural] says town clerk. Roman history-Just before the riot the Proconsul of Asia [Silanus] was murdered by Helius and Celer at the instigation of Agrippa the mother of Nero who became emperor then.[54AD]. His successor had not yet arrived.

Asiarchs were reps for the emperor cult who were attending the Diana festival.

Ephesus called the temple warden of Artemis-an inscription saying this has been found. No silver images but clay ones found.

Philippi [Roman colony-Duumvirs]. Praetors attended by lictors because they preferred to be called Praetors like the magistrates at another Roman colony Capua.

Athens' Areopagus was a court to hear and licence public lecturers, meeting in the Royal Colonnade at the Market Place.

Malta-First Man of the Island found on inscriptions. Is name for Roman Governor of Malta.

Rome-Paul given to Stratopedarch-Commander of the imperial couriers of whom centurion Julius seems to have been one.

Antipas had courtesy title of king but unlike his father Herod the Great or his nephew Agrippa 1 he had to be content with the lesser title tetrarch. Luke calls him tetrarch.

Birth of Jesus. Now admitted that Quirinius who became imperial legate of Syria in 6AD [Time of Judas of Galilee Acts 5],probably was in Syria before, and that there was probably an empire wide census in the time of Herod the Great involving the return of families to the family home. [Inscription shows Quirinius had been imperial legate before, but where is not known].

Egypt-Papyri for enrolment about 11-8BC also a papyrus of 104AD saying that whole households must return home for enrolment.

Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene in 15th year of Tiberias[27-28AD]. Inscription recording dedication of a temple for the salvation of the Lords Imperial and their whole household by Nymphaeus a freedmen of Lysanius the Tetrarch. Must be 14-29AD since title Lords Imperial given to Tiberias and his mother Livia, the widow of Augustus.

Coins. New coin in Nero's fifth year [59AD] probably coincided with Festus replacing Felix.

Accurate also for local colour. Jerusalem with intolerant excitable crowds. Syrian Antioch where different creeds and nationalities are tolerant to the point of Jews and Gentiles in the same church. Philippi with its pride in being Roman. Athens with its philosophical arguments. Ephesus with its temple and its reputation for magic.

The last voyage [voyage to Rome]-extreme accuracy noted. Able to fix exact spot on Malta where shipwreck occurred.

The historical atmosphere of Acts is not that of the 95-135AD era since the Jews are the persecutors [the Romans were not hostile to Christianity at first, the Jews were].

Commonly spoken Greek on papyrus scraps or bits of pottery from Egypt shows that NT is written in first century Greek, not second century Greek.

This material from the NT Documents, Are they Reliable? by F.F. Bruce [available on line] shows that the authors were familiar with events of the mid first century. The archaeology plus the history reveals this.

No Jew, brought up in rigid Monotheism, would quickly believe that a man he had known was God. Disciples "slow to believe".

There is no point in inventing a story about a man being God and then exhorting people to the highest morality and self sacrifice. All the inventors could expect is persecution from both Jews and Romans, and ridicule from the Greeks. If the followers of Jesus had wanted to invent anything, they would have presented Jesus as Son of God in a kingly sense-the Messiah. But the crucifixion killed that idea off stone dead. It literally killed their hopes in their Messiah in the sense of a king.

There is no denial in Jewish or pagan literature of the basic facts of Jesus' ministry and death or of His claims to divinity.

The Apostles started preaching in Jerusalem, within 10 minutes' walk of where the Easter events took place and where part of Jesus' ministry took place. The worst place on Earth to start false claims about His ministry, death and resurrection.

The accounts are amazingly sober, describing the details of Jesus' ministry with minimal comment, and lacking sensational descriptions of the Resurrection or of the afterlife and lacking any bitterness or vilification of Pilate or the Jewish leaders. There is also the honest inclusion of failures on behalf of the disciples at several places and also details about Jesus that would seem unfavourable to include e.g. His inability to do many miracles in Nazareth, His apparent uncertainty about His mission during His 40 days in the desert, the accusations about being insane, His admitted ignorance of the future regarding the timing of His return and His moments of depression and anguish.

The accounts also behave like real ones by being full of incidental colour and asides, the characters are absolutely true to real life, and there are multitudes of checkable details in the references to places, people and customs that a reader could verify. The accounts lack exact harmony which is just like real newspaper or court stories from actual witnesses yet abound in undesigned coincidences which only show up on careful comparison of passage with passage. Only real accounts have this hidden harmony. Examples: The characters of people, put together from the various references scattered through the NT all emerge as real. The movements of people traced from their mentions all through the NT are correctly described-their movements all agree as to time and place with each other. The narratives of Jesus' death and resurrection can be harmonised [see Who Moved the Stone and Easter Enigma]. The letters as well as containing distant agreements chapters, even whole Epistles apart [e.g. the movements of people] also have features like personal reminiscences pointless to invent [as do the Gospels], obscure references to things the readers are expected to know and references to letters they are expected to have read, reference to public reading [people will remember this occurring], and often contain subject matter of no interest to an inventor.

The story stood up to severe persecution. First they were demoralised, then utterly bold. No one ever denied his belief in the Resurrection even when faced with death. Highest moral standards advocated by the Gospel writers. Held leadership positions in the Church. No one ever in the first century proved them to be frauds. No trace has ever reached us in Jewish or pagan writings. Resisted but never refuted. Were persecuted to death.

An impossible story to invent-compare the NT story with all other history. A unique story. A unique character. Unique words. The perfect character is portrayed. Unheard of in history poetry or sacred books. His teachings are exalted and morally perfect yet plain and relevant to everyday life. His personality, gathered piece by piece from all the details shows a consistent portrait of one incredibly pure, balanced benign Person and whose teaching forms a coherent theme. Jesus did not behave like the Messiah expected. An imposter would have done so, or an enthusiast e.g. to deliver Israel from the Romans. The morality of the NT is too good for a human effort. The early Church did not invent this-look at their writings. Nor did the Jews-look at the Talmud.

NT in the form of Greek spoken in the first century. Also in many places the Greek of the Gospels, including Jesus' words and the Apostles' speeches in Acts, is a word for word translation from Aramaic, the language of Jesus and His disciples. The poetic style of the sayings [like the Rabbinic method of memorising] and the parables [not used before or since] indicate that we are going back to an original source of teaching.

NT published within living memory. Many still lived who saw Jesus' ministry or who were healed by Him, and those who saw Him after He rose again. Also His enemies.

NT stated to be by eyewitnesses or their immediate followers. Only their accounts were included.

Details of geography, persons, etc of Jews and Gentiles correct-shows that author knew his subject well.

A lot of Gospel material is about the concerns of people in AD 30 rather than those of AD 60 as is seen in some of the letters-the Gospel writers took care to preserve the memory of the events around AD 30.

Also in the letters Paul takes care to distinguish between his own words and what he had been taught about the words of Jesus.

The Gospel authors are ascribed to minor characters. Although knowing the author is not as important as knowing how the book was received by his readers, it is unlikely that authorship would be ascribed to minor characters without factual reason.

Accepted as accurate from the start everywhere. From 95AD [within living memory of the Gospel authors], abundant references in the Fathers to the Gospels and Epistles and how they were written, with many quotes from the whole NT [whole NT less 11 verses can be recovered from the Fathers]. Even accepted by the heretics and used to support their heresies. Their manuscripts have been found [Gnostic papyri]. Fathers gave details about some of the heretics e.g. Valentius and Marcion.

No trace of denial that Jesus claimed deity in any contemporary literature. Jews would have said plenty if it were so. Jews did not deny [Talmud]. Also scattered references to Jesus in Roman writers and the Jewish writer Josephus.

The first century was a time of travel, letter writing, orators, poets and intellectuals all over the Eastern Mediterranean. Jerusalem was a centre of culture and intellect. The worst place on Earth to be selected for a fictitious story with so many contemporary authors to scrutinise the account.

It is impossible to invent a public life and public events and get people of the time to believe they saw them when they did not, and it is impossible if the events led to the setting up of rituals or anniversaries to get people to believe that their ancestors did these things or saw them when they did not ,since the rituals or anniversaries would not exist among them at the time the invented account was produced. The Gospel led to the Church, Baptism, Communion and Easter, and the change of the day of rest from Saturday [the Sabbath] to Sunday [the Lord's Day].

There was never any dispute about the accuracy of the Gospels or the truth of the Resurrection in any of the Fathers. They searched for truth just like us, with quotes, comments on the authors of the writings and contacts with them. Discourses, controversies, apologies [defences of the Faith], and letters are among their writings. There was a tunnel period from 70-95AD with no writings that have reached us other than those of the NT authors, then some writings for the period 95-140AD,then an abundance of writings, by which time the NT books have been abundantly studied. Also the NT books were regarded as Scripture, so were copied with care.

The original would be sent to one church and copies sent to churches around. Many would want Paul's letters or the Gospels having already heard of the authors.

Paul sent his letters with reputable men who were named in the letter. Also he signed them [ 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians and Thessalonians].

Tertullion says-Letters of apostles are at the churches to which they were addressed ? the autographs of Paul. After all we have manuscripts that are 1800 years old.

Canonical authority-Catalogues-Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, Cyril, Epiphanius, Gregory Nazianzen, Philastrus, Jerome, Rufin, Augustine, Dionysius the Areopagite, Councils of Laodicea and Carthage. All these had studied well.

Paul's letters were addressed to the people at large. They could in no way be so conveniently communicated to those to whom they were sent, as by the public reading of them when the church assembled on the first day of the week.

Cyprian Lyonisius-Some of the companions of the Apostles were read, not as scripture, but as good reading-the Shepherd and the letter of Clement.

NT books quoted as of decisive authority by the Christian writers living in all parts of the world.

Eusebius reminds us that the Fathers never quoted apocryphal books as Scripture and carefully noted whether or not a book was accepted by all.

Historical testimony is reliable because there are good people in every generation who will tell the truth or research and pass on honestly what they are given. Impossible to invent public lives and major public events and get people of the time to believe they took place or to get people of later times to believe that they occurred in the past when they did not. Especially if the stories involve setting up commemorative events-Sunday, Communion and the existence of the Church. Hence we can rely on historical testimony since we can be sure that the truth is what has been passed on, lack of dispute being very compelling-never any dispute about the Resurrection or the accuracy of the Gospels. This cumulative historical testimony to the NT is overwhelming. Nothing has ever been found to disagree with the NT's accuracy and reputation.

Jews yearned for the promised deliverer of the house of David who would free them from the yoke of the hated foreign usurper, would put an end to the impious Roman rule, and would establish his own reign of peace and justice in its place.

The disciples shared this view and could not see Jesus as being correct when He spoke of death. they thought He was being pessimistic.

The Gospels reflect this current view, as expected in a first century document.

The resulting total demoralisation was expected as the disciples thought that Jesus could not be the Messiah. Then came the Resurrection-with its many proofs, after which they went out to suffer and to die for Jesus.

Paul persecuted Christianity because Jesus made the Law unnecessary for salvation.

He did not proclaim the Gospel from choice but from compulsion due to the overwhelming evidence of the Damascus road. It was totally unexpected.

It resulted in a drastic character change-from proud and intolerant to patient and self-sacrificing.

It changed his message to proclaim Jesus as the Way, the Messiah, the Son of God.

Paul's preaching was explaining and giving evidence that the Christ [Messiah] had to suffer and rise again from the dead. "This Jesus Whom I am proclaiming is the Christ" Acts 17.3.

Paul had passionately denied that a crucified man could be the Messiah, and came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and thus rethought all his Messianic ideas.

It changed his attitude to Gentiles from hater to missionary. Paul saw Jesus as the Saviour for all people.

Such a change caused people to be amazed and to say, "Is not this the one who killed the Christians in Jerusalem and who came here to arrest more?"

Jesus fulfilled OT prophecies which neither the Jews nor the disciples understood.

Hints of plurality in the Godhead e.g. Angel of the Lord not clearly distinguished from the Lord Himself. Personification of wisdom in Proverbs.

More than a conquering King and suffering Servant. His sway was to be universal, endless, utterly righteous and even divine; it would secure judgement, salvation, deliverance and redemption for His subjects, while the needy, the afflicted and the friendless would be His special concern .He is described by the Psalmist as my Lord, Who sits as Eternal Priest at God's right hand. Even kings would come and worship Him. He would bear the sins of others and His death would be the condition of His victory. Micah speaks of His eternal preexistence; Jeremiah describes Him as the Lord our Righteousness; and Isaiah as the Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts Who is also the Everlasting Father and the Mighty God. All the more remarkable in the light of the rigid Monotheism which characterises the OT revelation of God. These predictions are of a Messiah personally distinct from Jehovah, yet also the Saviour of men, the Lord and Ruler of all, the Judge of the nations, Almighty, Everlasting-One Whom prophecy designates as God. See Psalm 2, Jeremiah 23, Isaiah 11, Psalm 45, Psalm 72, Psalm 110, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 53, Micah 5, Isaiah 44, Isaiah 9.

The Jewish leaders totally failed to understand these prophecies as did the disciples, so that Jesus had to open the disciples' eyes and interpret all the Scriptures concerning Himself.

The Resurrection proves Jesus to be God because not only did He predict it, but He claimed to be God. He frequently made claims that would have sounded blasphemous and outrageous to Jewish ears even from the lips of the greatest prophets. He said that He was in existence before Abraham and that He was the Lord of the Sabbath; He claimed to forgive sins; He continually identified Himself, in His work, His Person and His glory with the One He termed His heavenly Father. He accepted men's worship; and He said that He was to be the Judge of men at the last Day, and that their eternal destiny would depend on their attitude to Him. And God vindicated that by raising Him from death!

It also vindicates His claim to be the ransom for our sins, which was along with His claim to divinity. "Raised for our justification" means proof of His death being the way for our sins to be forgiven, and the way by which sinners are accepted as righteous by God. Otherwise the Crucifixion would have looked like the denial of all His claims-under God's curse.

It is nonsense to suggest that the Apostles somehow came to realise the divine meaning of the Crucifixion and that gradually belief in the Resurrection developed, helped maybe by a few "visions". No Jew would accept a mere vision without an empty tomb as a resurrection. They were demoralised and despairing at the Crucifixion...then the empty tomb, the appearances, the growth of the Church.

The Virgin Birth is not offered as evidence that Christianity is true. The Resurrection is. There is no attempt in the Bible to prove the Virgin Birth. The Bible indicates that following the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus Mary and Joseph had sons and daughters in the usual way, whose names are given in the Gospels. That His birth was unusual was known to the Jews [Mark 6.3 and john 8.41]. The reason for the need for a virginal conception is explained in Luke 1.35.

Not offered as the major proof of Christianity, the Resurrection is. The miracles are simply as would be expected if Jesus were God. They were public, witnessed by enemies and over a lengthy period of time. The type of miracles-out of compassion, no silly miracles. Compare Apocryphal Gospels, those attributed to Mohammed, the legends produced by the Church in the Middle Ages. Finally no one ever contradicted the testimony to the miracles. No Roman or Jewish writer tried to deny them [Celsus, Porphyry, Hierocles, Julian, Josephus, Talmud]. Apostles said that their audience knew as well as them that the miracles occurred. Also the early apologists [Quadratus] say they are events that opponents to Christianity cannot deny. Miracles attributed to sorcery, so many and so well attested. Because of this the Church Fathers relied more on OT prophecy when preaching.

Story of Apolonius of Tyana written by Philostratus on request of wife of Septimus Severus. Not supported by any documents of credit. Throughout sound like a compete invention, an extravagant fiction. Is said to imitate the miracles and resurrection of Jesus. Note the difference between fictions and a real Resurrection and the difference in the followers created! To be believable miracles have to be real, and examined by people who are impartial. Testimony has to go back to the time [e.g. false miracles attributed to Apolonius, Mohammed and Ignatius Loyola] and the place [e.g. false miracles attributed to Francis Xavier by people in Britain].

Talmudist translation and comments in Talmud about Canon and copyists[100AD-400AD].

Dead Sea Scrolls. Show great accuracy of later manuscripts. Very careful copying. Methods known to us.

Great fidelity of OT. It is a microcosm of ancient Near East. Archaeology shows that Patriarchal narratives fit with customs and political conditions of 2nd millennium BC. References to kings in ancient Near East from 2000BC onwards correct. Towns mentioned are in existence at the times given in early OT. Forms of covenant in Pentateuch and ancient songs of conquest are like those of the ancient Near East of that time.

Word of God always made relevant to its first readers, the people living at the time. Early Genesis in style of current documents of ancient Near East possibly to displace them and give a commentary on the current world view.

One problem area-the Conquest. Archaeology points to some burned cities and the culture change. Also settlement of new cities in the hill country of Judaea. Hard to say who to link with what. Israelites in 13th century BC and Philistines in 12th century BC are suggested. Some difficulties e.g. lack of 13th century BC strata at Jericho [erosion?] and Ai [wrong site? Also Ai means "ruin"-unoccupied site, so no remains?]. At Sinai there is no archaeological evidence of the Israelites but the site is not certain. Other sites have been suggested but no excavations have been done. There will be exciting finds in the future as new digs in Israel throw more light on this early period up to the time of David and Solomon. Recently artifacts illustrating the rule of David have been found. There are many unexcavated sites particularly around Jerusalem. It is still possible that the Exodus occurred in the 15th Century BC and not the 13th as most archaeologists currently think. A recent Egyptian inscription suggests Israel was in their land earlier than currently thought.

Prof Kenneth Kitchen and Prof Alan Millard [School of Archaeology, The University of Liverpool] very kindly between them provided me with a convincing argument as to why archaeological remains of the Israelites' sojourn in Sinai would be hard to find. As well as uncertainty about the site of Mount Sinai, the Israelites used tents of skins; they did not have coins in those days; they would have preferred to use bottles of skins rather than clumsy pottery and if even the pyramids have been extensively weathered how much more the mere remains of camp sites.

References to sources in the books of Kings and Chronicles makes accuracy likely. Confirmed by large numbers of inscriptions from both Assyria and from Israel and its neighbours, and Babylonian inscriptions. Also the books of the prophets contain many historical references that tie in with inscriptions.

Books of the prophets were kept because they came true. Nonsense to say that Daniel was a 2nd century BC forgery when it is mentioned in the OT Apocrypha as being the work of an ancient prophet. Surely the Jews knew their own history!

The post exilic books receive confirmations from Persian inscriptions, and even some papyri.

Regarding the idea that the Pentateuch was put together from several variant documents at a late date-No other ancient writers did this. Duplicate narratives occurred in other ancient narratives as the style of the time. Jews made no reference to this merging of documents either in the OT or in later writings e.g. the Apocrypha.

Some archaeologists are unreasonably skeptical of the Bible when archeological evidence is not available...e.g the Patriarchs and the Exodus... the patriarchs being nomads cannot leave archeological remains but their stories agree with all that is known of the customs and political situations of their period 2000 to 1500. The Exodus is massively referred to in the Bible, Egypt did not record its defeats, the Israelites were nomads in the desert and it is accepted that nomads are archaeologically invisible. What is known of Egypt's history from inscriptions and documents shows their enslavement in Egypt to be very plausible.

My reading of books on Biblical Archaeology has shown me that it is an inexact science, that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence! Very good correlation with Bible from time of David and Solomon onwards but more sketchy for earlier periods.

#1 Written with aim to displace the polytheistic world view of the Mesopotamians and of the Egyptians. We would have liked more for our time in the 21st Century but God's priority was the people who were the first recipients of His revelation, the Israelites. When you see the trouble He had with them in the centuries following over the worship of the idols of tje surrounding nations after they came to the promised land you can see the wisdom of the wording of Genesis 1-11 to displace the world view of these nations. So we have to make do without statements about evolution and the expanding universe. However I will point out that the science that is in the Bible is of very good quality with no silly errors, all good common sense stuff. Genesis 1-11 is also ready for the later Greek philosophers with their various atheistic scenerios. Its statements about one God Who is a Person not an impersonal force and Who created everything including us and Who desires to interact with us give a firm foundation for human life and purpose.

#2 Genesis 1 is topical , a series of topics, rather than a straight line account of creation. Genesis 2-3 lists a series of fundamental ideas that are carried on through the whole Bible. [See below]

Eden with its 4 rivers whereas 2 are now dry beds as the area dried out after 3000BC, I suggest a long hunter gatherer period is passed over and Genesis 4-11 covers the Neolithic [ New stone age] period from 8000 to 2000 BC during which the earliest civilisations came into being. Genesis 10 is an impressive map of the nations of the Middle Easy by 2000BC.

Early Christians discussed whether the Garden of Eden story was intended to be an allegory Tree of Life= trusting and obeying God tree of knowledge of good and evil= disobeying God, trying to be independent of God, trying to be gods of our own instead of servants of God. Interestingly in Revelation 22 there is restoration and the tree of life reappears in heaven.

Flood mentioned in Mesopotamian King lists. By the way the long lives attributed to ancient people in the King lists, Egyptian King lists and Genesis 5 of real people. The figures must be symbolic of the person's importance. Extent of the Flood.. ? Mesopotamia [eres , earth meaning the land rather than tebal, the whole earth ]. Sons of God= rulers of the small early cities who claimed the divine right to enslave the people physically and sexually incurring God's extreme displeasure resulting in the judgment of the Flood. Before 3000 BC

Appearance of new languages around southern Mesopotamia after the time of the Tower of Babel story ? before 3000BC.

Writing came into widespread use after about 3000BC so there is uncertainly for archaeological evidence about very early events.

Finally in Genesis 11 we arrive at Abraham in around 2000BC where the Bible's story takes off from the runway of Gen 1-11

One God Who created the Heavens and the Earth, referred to as We, hinting at a plural Person

We are created in the image of God, unique anywhere in religious documents. Our aggression and co-operation are not left overs from the animal , we can use them for good or evil, the choice is ours.

Institution of marriage, Eve described as Adam's helper. The word ezer is also attributed to God as Isael's helper. So we have here an equal partnership between a man and his wife!

Genesis 3.15 the promise of a deliverer to come the seed of the woman Who would crush the devil's head while incurring a wound, to His heel.. the Bible's first prophecy of the Messiah Jesus

Reality of the evil spiritual world with the devil and his evil angels. It is fashionable today to deny this unpleasant thing but the Bible is clear about this.

The Morality of God shown in the 2 stories, Flood [ about the abuse of people by the Sons of God, the early kings] and the Tower of Babel [about pride and independence from God. We were created to be dependent upon God but we blew it when we defied Him at the instgatio0n of the Serpent in the Garden].

We have already by Genesis 11 seen the Character of God, His justice [ Moral goodness] and His Love or Mercy even though we have failed.

This impressive book combines the archeological with the documentary evidence for each of the Gospel events to make a must read! Get it! One thing of interest Mr Kennedy thinks the Stat of Bethlehem was a supernatural occurance. However some reseaerchers propose astronomical explanations, one Davud W Hughes ( Nature) proposes a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC that would have carried meaning for the Magi in Baylonia.

Some people say the OT books were written long after the events. They say the Pentateuch was put together from four different accounts after the Exile in Babylon, and that the prophetic books were written after the events e.g. Daniel and Isaiah 40-66. Since there is not a shred of evidence for this we should listen to what the books themselves say about their origin. Start with the document-benefit of doubt to the document, not to the modern critic as author had access to sources not now available to us. Also interpret archaeology against the document, not the other way round.

If later than Moses Jews would have known. In fact Bible books were kept during the Exile-Daniel quotes Jeremiah and the other prophets. Ezra quotes the Law of Moses [Pentateuch]. The book of Joshua is mentioned as being kept with the Law beside the Ark of the Covenant [?lost in Manassah's time]. References in later books to Moses. Ridiculous to assert that Moses trained in Egypt could not write. Internal evidence of books helps to confirm-references to historical events, issues current, geography, flora and fauna, customs and beliefs current, philology [old words used], and undesigned coincidences. Also statements about source of material- e.g. whether eyewitness or just a report from somewhere else. Some more points-Jews would not have invented such a burdensome Law. Not praised at all, but heavily criticised. Moses, rejection of riches, yet not praised, failures detailed. Moses' sons of no account, allocating best jobs to other tribes. Pentateuch viewed from outside the land of Israel, living in tents, futurity of the religious threat from the Canaanites, structure of the Tabernacle for standing on sand, divided kingdom not mentioned. Also the impossibility of inventing stories that have anniversaries e.g. Passover and getting people to believe they happened when they did not.

Differences in style do not prove different author [compare modern writings e.g. those of the Christian writer C.S. Lewis as a test]. Predictions of named people occur in other books [compare Cyrus with Josiah]. Flora and fauna of 40-66 is Palestinian. Dead Sea Scrolls show Isaiah as one book. Jesus regarded the later chapters as Isaiah when quoting Isaiah 61.

History of Daniel is very accurate-too accurate for a later writer. Fragments among the Dead Sea Scrolls from 120BC, yet Daniel prophesies of times beyond that-Roman empire, Messiah's death and destruction of the Temple. Maccabees differs from Daniel in Antiochus' death. They would not have venerated Daniel if it had been a recent forgery. They would have known, and would have entered the details into it. [In fact the details in Daniel probably refer to a figure like Antiochus to come in the End Times]. Daniel is in the Septuagint 250BC. Jews considered Daniel authentic while rejecting all 2nd century BC and later books. Daniel was accepted because many of his prophecies had come true by that time. Daniel became the model for a large amount of Apocryphal literature. We know something about the leaders of the 2nd century BC so surely they would know the history of the 5th and 6th century BC and of its prophets.

Post Malachi. Not accepted by Jews at time of Jesus-not quoted in Josephus or Philo. Not in Talmud. Not quoted in NT. Not accepted by Church Fathers. The OT Apocryphal books do not claim inspiration except one-Wisdom of Solomon.

Prophecies about towns and nations in the Near and Middle East and North Africa.

There are many detailed prophecies about towns and nations in the Israel region including prophecies made by Jesus. Many of these have been fulfilled with astonishing accuracy. Others await fulfilment. Not once has the Bible been wrong. No book apart from the Bible can tell the future with consistent accuracy. An excellent section in Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell details the most impressive examples, so I will only give a few examples here.

Babylon's desolation: The nobles moved to 2 new cities nearby. Babylon was made the hunting ground for a king. The cellars filled with tigers, lions, hyenas and wolves-shepherds cannot come near. Scorpions and snakes prevent camping-Bedouin cannot approach. Euphrates changed course and flooded part of Babylon-Pools of water full of Bitterns. Stones not taken for building-even though there is very little stone in Iraq, only the mud bricks are salvaged. Many more things including those fulfilled in OT times.

Edom's desolation: Exactly fulfilled including the startling statement-I will make it desolate from Teman. Today Maan in Jordan is the last inhabited part of Edom. From there south it is totally desolate.

Jerusalem: For your sakes Zion shall be ploughed like a field [Micah 3]. The only part of Jerusalem that has ever reverted to agriculture is the part called Zion, in the 1500s. Prophecy of enlargement of Jerusalem [Jeremiah 31] describes nine places that will be built on in the future and gives the order. This has been exactly fulfilled during the 20th century.

There are many more large parts of which have been fulfilled long after the completion of the OT-long into NT times.

The OT contains hundreds of prophecies about the coming of the Messiah [God's chosen One]. They speak of a Person Who is divine, a Person Who is to suffer for the sins of others, and a Person Who is to rule the world and turn the whole world to God. The prophecies are of a Messiah personally distinct from God and yet the Saviour of men, the Lord and Ruler of all ,the Judge of the nations, Almighty, Everlasting-One Whom prophecy designates as God. No other book in the world foretells a Person like this. The witness of the OT is if the greatest value because it has been transmitted by the Jews who were hostile to Christianity. They did not understand how their Messiah could both suffer and rule, so failed to realise that their Messiah was Jesus, the Son of God, Who is to come twice-once to suffer and a second time to rule. Thus there is no possibility of the OT text being changed to make it back up Christianity. Here is an outline list:

1 Intimations of the coming of a remarkable Person. Even the surrounding nations knew of the Jewish expectation.

2 Time-before the sceptre [rule] departs from Israel [Judah] at the end of 70 prophetic weeks [490 years] from the command to rebuild Jerusalem, and while the second temple was still standing.

4 Apparently contradictory material. A King and Conqueror Whose dominion would cover the whole Earth and Who would flourish in righteousness and peace forever; and One despised and rejected, a Man of sorrow and grief, as wounded and bruised, as cut off out of the land of the living and as pouring out His soul unto death. This led to Jews to wonder if two Messiahs were predicted, but Jesus fulfills both roles.

His clothes being gambled for, His being given vinegar to drink, and His words of agony.

Many passages tell of the Day of the Lord, and of the Return of Jesus to rule and about the glorious time of righteousness and justice and peace.

See Joel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah 12-14 [long sections] and references in Jeremiah and elsewhere [shorter references].

Daniel and Revelation contain hard to interpret material which possibly refers to the course of history up to the End, although there are varying interpretations as to what means what.

The prophecies of Jesus about the End in three of the Gospels and His post Resurrection prophecies in Revelation describe the same events.

It is very interesting for me to point out that I think the prophecies of Jesus in the Gospels describe two disasters in the one passage, namely the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD and the third world war in the Near and Middle East. This style is just like the style used by the prophets in the OT [double or near and remote fulfilments].

Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum [Matthew 11]. Judgement pronounced against them. All three are now deserted, yet all the surrounding towns have survived or been rebuilt.

Seven Churches of Revelation. Philadelphia survives. Smyrna had 10 years of persecution in Diocletian's time. Ephesus was extinguished in 1312AD. Of Laodicea, nothing remains.

Destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. Account is vague, unlike invented predictions. Unlikely that prediction to depart when surrounded by armies would be put in if it had not really been made since people would have known if such a prophecy had really been made or not. In fact Titus surrounded Jerusalem and then temporarily withdrew, allowing the Church to act on this prophecy and flee to Pella in Trans-Jordan.

It seems to me reasonable to let the many passages that suggest this view interpret and qualify the few that don't [e.g. Peter's remarks], and place them in time after the Millennial reign in Revelation, where fire came down from Heaven on the rebels and then the end of the world came.

Jesus' prophecies seem obscure because they refer to two invasions of Israel, one in 70AD and the other at the end of the age at the time of Jesus' return.

Revelation. A vision far all ages-Roman, Medieval, Modern. Hence vague, more than one possible meaning. All four traditional methods of interpreting Revelation are correct, I think. Revelation is directed to persecuted or soon to be persecuted Christians so is intended to encourage them to persevere and endure in all ages.

9 Muslim invasions of North Africa and Byzantine Empire culminating in fall of Constantinople in 1453

10 There will be no more delay.. Start of Christian Missions from Europe from 1500 AD

11-13 Rule of Islam over Israel from 688AD to 1948AD, including the short lived Crusader and British rules.

Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Josh McDowell. This Amazon e book includes both Messianic and non Messianic prophecies

Check Bing or Google 100 Prophecies about Jesus and 300 Prophecies about Jesus. There are quite a few sites.

It was concerning this salvation that the prophets made careful search and investigation, and they prophesied about this gift that God would give you. They tried to find out when the time would be and how it would come. This was the time to which Christ's Spirit in them was pointing, in predicting the sufferings that Christ would have to endure and the glory that would follow. God revealed to these prophets that their work was not for their own benefit, but for yours, as they spoke about those things which you have now heard from the messengers who announced the Good News by the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.1 Peter 1.10-12.

A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, "Wonderful Counsellor," "Mighty God," "Eternal Father," "Prince of Peace." His royal power will continue to grow; his kingdom will always be at peace. He will rule as King David's successor, basing his power on right and justice, from now until the end of time. The Lord Almighty is determined to do this. Isaiah 9.6-7

The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid ,Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God .The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, and he will be king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!"Mary said to the angel, "I am a virgin. How, then can this be? "The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God. Luke 1.30-35

The Lord says, "Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times...When he comes, he will rule his people with the strength that comes from the Lord and with the majesty of the Lord God himself. Micah 5.2 and 4.

At that time the Emperor Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Roman Empire. When this first census took place, Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Everyone, then, went to register himself, each to his own town. Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to the town of Bethlehem in Judaea, the birthplace of King David. He went there because he was a descendant of David. He went to register with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him. She was pregnant, and while they were at Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby. She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger-there was no room for them to stay in the inn. There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, but the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day in David's town your Saviour was born-Christ the Lord! And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger." Luke 2.1-12.

Seven times seventy years is the time God has set for freeing your people and your holy city from sin and evil. Sin will be forgiven and eternal justice established, so that the vision and the prophecy will come true, and the holy temple will be rededicated. Note this and understand it: From the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem [around 450BC] until God's chosen leader comes, seven times seven years shall pass [Rebuilding of Jerusalem 49 years]. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defences, and will stand for seven times sixty two years, but this will be a time of troubles [Struggle with Greeks and Romans 434 years]. And at the end of that time God's chosen leader will be killed unjustly. The city and the Temple will be destroyed by the invading army of a powerful ruler. The end will come like a flood, bringing the war and destruction which God has prepared [The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70AD]. Daniel 9.24-26.

It was the will of the Lord that his servant should grow like a plant taking root in dry ground. He had no dignity or beauty to make us take notice of him. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing that would draw us to him. Isaiah 53.1-2

When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place and went back to his home town. He taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed, "Where did he get such wisdom?" they asked. "And what about his miracles? Isn't he the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon and Judas his brothers? Aren't all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this? And so they rejected him. Jesus said the them, "A prophet is respected everywhere except in his home town and by his own family." Matthew 13-53-57

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, proclaiming the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know of the great event that took place throughout the land of Israel, beginning in Galilee after John preached his message of baptism. You know about Jesus of Nazareth and how God poured out on him the Holy Spirit and power. He went everywhere, doing good and healing all who were under the power of the Devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of everything that he did in the land of Israel and in Jerusalem. Acts 10.36-39

A voice cries out, "Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord! Clear the way in the desert for our God! Fill every valley; level every mountain.. The hills will become a plain, and the rough country will be made smooth. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind will see it. The Lord himself has promised this. "Jerusalem, go up on a high mountain and proclaim the good news! Call out with a loud voice, Zion; announce the good news! Speak out and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah that their God is coming! Isaiah 40.3-5 and 9

The Lord Almighty answers, "I will send my messenger to proclaim the way for me. Then the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger you long to see will come and proclaim my covenant." Malachi 3.1

It was the fifteenth year of the rule of the Emperor Tiberius; Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip was ruler of the territory of Iturea and Trachonitis; Lysanias was ruler of Abilene, and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests. At that time the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. So John went throughout the whole territory of the river Jordan, preaching, "Turn away from your sins and be baptized, and God will forgive your sins." Luke 3.1-3

People's hopes began to rise, and they began to wonder whether John perhaps might be the Messiah. So John said to all of them, "I baptize you with water, but someone is coming who is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. In many different ways John preached the Good News to the people and urged them to change their ways. Luke 3.15-18

The Lord says, Here is my servant, whom I strengthen-the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased. I have filled him with my spirit, and he will bring justice to every nation. Isaiah 42

A new king will arise from among David's descendants. The spirit of the Lord will give him wisdom, and the knowledge and skill to rule his people. He will know the Lord's will and honour him, and find pleasure in obeying him. Isaiah 11

At that time Jesus arrived from Galilee and came to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. But John tried to make him change his mind. "I ought to be baptized by you," John said, "and yet you have come to me!" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so for now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires." So John agreed. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Then heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and alighting on him. Then a voice said from heaven, "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased." Matthew 3.13-17

Then Jesus returned to Galilee, and the power of the Holy Spirit was with him. The news about him spread throughout all that territory. He taught in the synagogues and was praised by everyone. Then Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath he went as usual to the synagogue. He stood up to read the Scriptures and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people. "Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All the people in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on him, as he said to them, "This passage of scripture has come true today, as you heard it being read." Luke 4.14-21

He will not shout or raise his voice or make loud speeches in the streets. He will not break off a bent reed or put out a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all. He will not lose hope or courage; he will establish justice in the earth. Distant lands eagerly wait for his teaching."..."I, the Lord, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples; through you I will bring light to the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons. Isaiah 42.2-4,6-7.

After John had been put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee and preached the Good News from God. "the right time has come," he said, "and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!" Mark 1.14-15

Jesus went round visiting all the towns and villages. He taught in the synagogues, preached the Good News about the kingdom, and healed people with every kind of disease and sickness. As he saw the crowds, his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were worried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.. So he said to his disciples, "The harvest is large, but there are few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest." Matthew 9.35-38

As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd was following. Two blind men who were sitting by the road heard that Jesus was passing by, so they began to shout, "Son of David! Take pity on us!" The crowd scolded them and told them to be quiet. But they shouted even more loudly, "Son of David! Take pity on us!" Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked them. "Sir," they answered, "we want you to give us our sight!" Jesus had pity on them and touched their eyes; at once they were able to see, and they followed him. Matthew 20.29-34

At daybreak Jesus left the town and went off to a lonely place. The people started looking for him, and when they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving. But he said to them, "I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns also, because that is what God sent me to do." So he preached in the synagogues throughout the country. Luke 4.42-44

Then they put him to death by nailing him to a cross. But God raised him from death three days later and caused him to appear, not to everyone, but only to the witnesses that God had already chosen, that is, to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from death. Acts 10.39-41

He is rejected by Israel. The Jews did not understand that their Messiah had to come as the Suffering Servant before He could return as Conquering King, and failed to recognise His Deity.

We despised him and rejected him; he endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him-we ignored him as if he were nothing. Isaiah 53.3

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live." This started an angry argument among them. "How can this man give up his flesh to eat?" they asked...Many of his followers heard this and said, "This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?"...Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him any more. So he asked the twelve disciples, "And you-would you also like to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God." John 6.51-69

Then the man left and told the Jewish authorities that it was Jesus who had healed him. So they began to persecute Jesus, because he had done this healing on a Sabbath. Jesus answered them, "My Father is always working, and I too must work." This saying made the Jewish authorities all the more determined to kill him; not only had he broken the Sabbath law, but he had said that God was his own Father and in this way had made himself equal with God. John 5.15-18

Even though he had performed all these miracles in their presence, they did not believe in him, so that what the prophet Isaiah had said might come true: "Lord, who believed the message we told? To whom did the Lord reveal his power?" John 12.37-38

Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, "Listen. We are going up to Jerusalem where everything the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will come true. He will be handed over to the Gentiles, who will mock him, insult him, and spit on him. They will whip him and kill him, but three days later he will rise to life." But the disciples did not understand any of these things; the meaning of the words was hidden from them, and they did not know what Jesus was talking about. Luke 18.31-34

"Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion! Shout for joy you people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you! He comes triumphant and victorious, but humble and riding on a donkey-on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Your king will make peace among the nations; he will rule from sea to sea, from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth." Zechariah 9.9-10

As he came near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead with these instructions: "Go to the village there ahead of you; as you go in, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If someone asks you why you are untying it, tell him that the Master needs it." They went on their way and found everything just as Jesus had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying it?" "The Master needs it," they answered, and they took the colt to Jesus. Then they threw their cloaks over the animal and helped Jesus get on. As he rode on, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near Jerusalem, at the place where the road went down the Mount of Olives, the large crowd of his disciples began to thank God and praise him in loud voices for all the great things that they had seen: "God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!" Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus, "Teacher," they said, "command your disciples to be quiet!" Jesus answered, "I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting." Luke 19.29-40

He came closer to the city, and when he saw it, he wept over it, saying, "If you only knew today what is needed for peace" But now you cannot see it! The time will come when your enemies will surround you with barricades, blockade you, and close in on you from every side. They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave in its place, because you did not recognise the time when God came to save you!" Luke 19.41-44

I said to them, "If you are willing, give me my wages. But if not, keep them." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver as my wages. The lord said to me, "Put them in the temple treasury." So I took the thirty pieces of silver-the magnificent sum they thought I was worth-and put them in the temple treasury. Zechariah 11.12-13

The Lord Almighty says, "Wake up, sword, and attack the shepherd who works for me! Kill him, and the sheep will be scattered! Zechariah 13.7

Then one of the twelve disciples-the one named Judas Iscariot-went to the chief priests and asked, "What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?" They counted out thirty silver coins and gave them to him. From then on Judas was looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them. Matthew 26.14-16

Then Jesus said to them, "This very night all of you will run away and leave me, for the scripture says, 'God will kill the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I am raised to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you." Matthew 26.31-32

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Grief and anguish came over him, and he said to them, "The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch with me." He went a little farther on, threw himself face downwards on the ground, and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me! Yet not what I want, but what you want!" Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep; and he said to Peter, "How is it that you three were not able to keep watch with me even for one hour? Keep watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. "Once more Jesus went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cup of suffering cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done." He returned once more and found the disciples asleep; they could not keep their eyes open. Again Jesus left them, went away, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then he returned to the disciples and said, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look! The hour has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to the power of sinful men. Get up, let us go. Look, here is the man who is betraying me! Matthew 26.36-46

Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests and the elders...Then they came up, arrested Jesus, and held him tight. One of those who were with Jesus drew his sword and struck at the high priest's slave, cutting off his ear. "Put you sword back in its place," Jesus said to him." All who take the sword will die by the sword. Don't you know that I could call on my Father for help, and at once he would send me more than twelve armies of angels? But in that case, how could the Scriptures come true which say that this is what must happen? Then Jesus spoke to the crowd, "Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? Every day I sat down and taught in the Temple, and you did not arrest me. But all this has happened in order to make what the prophets wrote in the Scriptures come true." Then all the disciples left him and ran away. Matthew 26.47-56

He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a word. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheared, he never said a word. He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about his fate. Isaiah 53.7-8

I bared my back to those who beat me. I did not stop them when they insulted me, when they pulled out the hairs of my beard and spat in my face. but their insults cannot hurt me because the Sovereign Lord gives me help. I brace myself to endure them. I know that I will not be disgraced, for God is near, and he will prove me innocent. Isaiah 50.6-8

Then Jesus was taken to the high priest's house, where all the chief priests, the elders, and the teachers of the Law were gathering. Peter followed from a distance and went into the courtyard of the high priest's house. There he sat down with the guards, keeping himself warm by the fire. The chief priests and the whole council tried to find some evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they could not find any. Many witnesses told lies against Jesus, but their stories did not agree. Then some men stood up and told this lie against Jesus: "We heard him say, 'I will tear down this Temple which men have made, and after three days I will build one that is not made by men.' Not even they, however, could make their stories agree. The High Priest stood up in front of them all and questioned Jesus, "Have you no answer to the accusation they bring against you?" But Jesus kept quiet and would not say a word. Again the High Priest questioned him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?" "I am, "answered Jesus, "and you will all see the Son of Man seated on the right of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven!" The High Priest tore his robes and said, "We don't need any more witnesses! You heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?" They all voted against him: he was guilty and should be put to death. Mark 14.53-64

Early in the morning the chief priests met hurriedly with the elders, the teachers of the Law, and the whole Council, and made their plans. They put Jesus in chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Mark 15.1

Early in the morning Jesus was taken from Caiaphas' house to the governor's palace. The Jewish authorities did not go inside the palace, for they wanted to keep themselves ritually clean, in order to be able to eat the Passover meal. So Pilate went outside to them and asked, "What do you accuse this man of?" Their answer was, "We would not have brought him to you if he had not committed a crime." Pilate said to them, "Then you yourselves take him and try him according to your own law." They replied, "We are not allowed to put anyone to death." [This happened in order to make the words of Jesus come true, the words he used when he indicated the kind of death he would die.] John 18.28-32

they began to accuse him: "We caught this man misleading our people, telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah, a king. Luke 23.2

Pilate went back into the Palace and called Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" he asked him. Jesus answered, "Does this question come from you or have others told you about me?" Pilate replied, "Do you think I am a Jew? It was your own people and the chief priests who handed you over to me. What have you done? "Jesus said, "My kingdom does not belong to this world; if my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. No, my kingdom does not belong here!" So Pilate asked him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me." John 18.33-37

But he said nothing in response to the accusations of the chief priests and elders. So Pilate said to him, "Don't you hear all these things they accuse you of?" But Jesus refused to answer a single word, with the result that the Governor was greatly surprised. Matthew 27.12-14

At every Passover festival Pilate was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the people asked for. At that time a man named Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the riot. When the crowd gathered and began to ask Pilate for the usual favour, he asked them, "Do you want me to set free for you the King of the Jews?" He knew very well that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask, instead, for Pilate to set free Barabbas for them. Pilate spoke again to the crowd, "What, then, do you want me to do with the one whom you call the king of the Jews?" Mark 15.6-12

When the chief priests and the temple guards saw him, they shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, You take him, then, and crucify him. I find no reason to condemn him. "The crowd answered back," We have a law that says he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God." When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. He went back into the palace and asked Jesus, "Where do you come from?" But Jesus did not answer. Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Remember, I have the authority to set you free and also to have you crucified." Jesus answered, "You have authority over me only because it was given to you by God. So the man who handed me over to you is guilty of a worse sin." When Pilate heard this, he tried to find a way to set Jesus free. But the crowd shouted back, "If you set this man free, that means you are not the Emperor's friend! Anyone who claims to be a king is a rebel against the Emperor!" John 19.6-12

Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers took Jesus inside to the courtyard of the governor's palace and called together the rest of the company. They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown out of thorny branches, and put it on his head. Then they began to salute him: "Long live the King of the Jews!" They beat him over the head with a stick, spat on him, fell on their knees, and bowed down to him. When they had finished mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. Mark 15.15-20

The Lord says, "My servant will succeed in his task; he will be highly honoured. Many people were shocked when they saw him; he was so disfigured that he hardly looked human. But now many nations will marvel at him, and kings will be speechless with amazement. They will see and understand something they had never known." Isaiah 52.13-15

But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God. Isaiah 53.4

A gang of evil men is round me; like a pack of dogs they close in on me; they tear at my hands and feet. All my bones can be seen. My enemies look at me and stare. Psalm 22.16-17

So they took charge of Jesus. He went out, carrying his cross, and came to "The place of the Skull," as it was called. [In Hebrew it is called "Golgotha."] There they crucified him; and they also crucified two other men, one on each side ,with Jesus between them. John 19.17-18

But I am no longer a man; I am a worm, despised and scorned by everyone! All who see me jeer at me; they stick out their tongues and shake their heads. "You relied on the Lord," they say. "Why doesn't he save you? If the Lord likes you, why doesn't he help you?" Psalm 22.6-8

People passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus: "You who were going to tear down the Temple and build it up again in three days! Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come on down from the cross!" In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and the elders jeered at him: "He saved others, but he cannot save himself! Isn't he the king of Israel? If he comes down off the cross now, we will believe in him! He trusts in God and claims to be God's Son. Well, then, let us see if God wants to save him now!" Matthew 27.39-43

After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took the robe, which was made of one piece of woven cloth without any seams in it. The soldiers said to one another, "Let's not tear it; let's throw dice to see who will get it." This happened in order to make the scripture come true: They divided my clothes among themselves and gambled for my robe." And this is what the soldiers did. John 19.23-24

He was placed in a grave with evil men, he was buried with the rich, even though he had never committed a crime or ever told a lie"...And so I will give him a place of honour, a place among great and powerful men. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. Isaiah 53.9 and11

Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. when they came to the place called "The Skull," they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, "Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing." Luke 23.32-34

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? I have cried desperately for help, but still it does not come. Psalm 22.1

At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours. At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?" Mark 15.33-34

But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received. All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the Lord made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved...He was put to death for the sins of our people. Isaiah 53.5-6 and8

The Lord says, "It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed. After a life of suffering, he will again have joy; he will know that he did not suffer in vain. My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for his sake I will forgive them. Isaiah 53.10-11

like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people." Matthew 20.28

Jesus knew that by now everything had been completed; and in order to make the scripture come true, he said, "I am thirsty." A bowl was there, full of cheap wine; so a sponge was soaked in the wine, put on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted up to his lips. Jesus drank the wine and said, "It is finished!" Then he bowed his head and died. John 19.28-30

Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father! In your hands I place my spirit!" He said this and died. Luke 23.46

The curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The army officer who was standing there in front of the cross saw how Jesus had died. "This man was really the Son of God!" he said. Mark 15.38-39

He was placed in a grave with evil men, he was buried with the rich, even though he had never committed a crime or ever told a lie. Isaiah 53.9

When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea arrived; his name was Joseph, and he also was a disciple of Jesus. He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Matthew 27.57-58

Nicodemus, who at first had gone to see Jesus at night, went with Joseph, taking with him about thirty kilograms of spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes. John 19.39

Pilate gave orders for the body to be given to Joseph. So Joseph took it, wrapped it in a new linen sheet, and placed it in his own tomb, which he had just recently dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there, facing the tomb. Matthew 27.58-61

I will tell my people what you have done; I will praise you in their assembly: "Praise him, you servants of the Lord "Honour him, you descendants of Jacob! Worship him, you people of Israel! He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering; he does not turn away from them, but answers when they call for help." In the full assembly I will praise you for what you have done; in the presence of those who worship you I will offer the sacrifices I promised. The poor will eat as much as they want; those who come to the Lord will praise him. May they prosper for ever! All nations will remember the Lord. From every part of the world they will turn to him; all races will worship him. The Lord is king, and he rules the nations. All proud men will bow down to him; all mortal men will bow down before him. Future generations will serve him; men will speak of the Lord to the coming generation. People not yet born will be told: "The Lord saved his people." Psalm 22.22-24,27-28,and 30-31

Jesus answered, "Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again." "Are you going to build it again in three days?" they asked him, "It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple!" But the temple Jesus was speaking about was his body. So when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what Jesus had said. John 2.19-22

Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up. "Teacher," they said, "we want to see you perform a miracle." "How evil and godless are the people of this day!" Jesus exclaimed. "You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of the prophet Jonah. In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth. Matthew 12.38-40

Jesus and his disciples were now on the road going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was going ahead of the disciples, who were filled with alarm; the people who followed behind were afraid. Once again Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and spoke of the things that were going to happen to him. "Listen," he told them, "we are going up to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him, spit on him, whip him, and kill him; but three days later he will rise to life." Mark 10.32-34

Then he said to them, "These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the Psalms had to come true." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, and in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the Power from above comes down upon you." Luke 24.44-49

And he commanded us to preach the gospel to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God has appointed judge of the living and the dead. Acts 10.42

The Lord said to my Lord, the king, "Sit here at my right until I put your enemies under your feet." Psalm 110.1

In days to come the mountain where the Temple stands will be the highest one of all, towering above all the hills. Many nations will come streaming to it, and their people will say, "Let us go up to the hill of the Lord, to the Temple of Israel's God. He will teach us what he wants us to do; we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the Lord's teaching comes from Jerusalem; from Zion he speaks to his people." Isaiah 2.2-3

Before I was born, the Lord appointed me; he made me his servant to bring back his people, to bring back the scattered people of Israel .The Lord gives me honour; he is the source of my strength. The Lord said to me, "I have a greater task for you, my servant. Not only will you restore to greatness the people of Israel who have survived, but I will also make you a light to the nations-so that all the world may be saved." Isaiah 49.5-6

When the apostles met together with Jesus they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time give the kingdom back to Israel?" Jesus said to them, "The times and occasions are set by my Father's own authority, and it is not for you to know when they will be. But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." After saying this, he was taken up to heaven as they watched him, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They still had their eyes fixed on the sky as he went away, when two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them and said, "Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven." Acts 1.6-11

When the day of Pentecost came; all the believers were gathered together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched every person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak. There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious men who had come from every country in the world. When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. they were all excited, because each of them heard the believers speaking in his own language. In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, "These people who are talking like this are Galileans! How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages? Amazed and confused, they kept asking each other, "What does this mean?" Then Peter stood up with the other eleven apostles and in a loud voice began to speak to the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, listen to me and let me tell you what this means. Listen to these words, fellow Israelites! Jesus of Nazareth was a man whose divine authority was clearly proven to you by all the miracles and wonders which God performed through him. You yourselves know this, for it happened here among you. In accordance with his own plan God had already decided that Jesus would be handed over to you; and you killed him by letting sinful men crucify him. But God raised him from death, setting him free from its power, because it was impossible that death should hold him prisoner. God has raised this very Jesus from death, and we are all witnesses to this fact. He has been raised to the right hand side of God ,his Father, and has received from him the Holy Spirit, as he has promised. What you now see and hear is his gift that he has poured out on us. For it was not David that went up to heaven; rather he said, 'The Lord said to my Lord; sit here at my right until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.' "All the people of Israel, then, are to know for sure that this Jesus, whom you crucified, is the one that God has made Lord and Messiah!" When the people heard this, they were deeply troubled and said to Peter and the other apostles, "What shall we do, brothers?" Peter said to them, "Each one of you must turn away from his sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that you sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit. For God's promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away-all whom the Lord our God calls to himself." Many of them believed his message and were baptized, and about three thousand people were added to the group that day. They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers. Acts 2.1-42

Until Jesus returns, suffering and injustice will continue in the world. Only his coming will put an end to it all. But before he comes, the whole world must hear the Gospel message, and this is the work he has commanded his followers to finish.

And this Good News about the kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all mankind; and then the end will come. Matthew 24.4

But before the end comes, the Gospel must be preached to all peoples. Mark 13.10

For God has fixed a day in which he will judge the whole world with justice by means of a man he has chosen. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from death!" Acts 17.31

May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow more and more and become as great as our love for you. In this way he will strengthen you, and you will be perfect and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all who belong to him.1 Thessalonians 3.12-13

Yes, my children, remain in union with him, so that when he appears we may be full of courage and need not hide in shame from him on the Day he comes.1 John 2.28

The world at the time of his coming-An unprepared world. Even though many people will become followers of Jesus through hearing the Good News, many more will not.

For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief comes at night .When people say, "Everything is quiet and safe," then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labour, and people will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in the darkness, and the Day should not take you by surprise like a thief. All of you are people who belong to the light, who belong to the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, we should not be sleeping like the others; we should be awake and sober. It is at night that people sleep; It is at night that they get drunk. But we belong to the day, and we should be sober. We must wear faith and love as a breastplate, and our hope of salvation as a helmet. God did not choose us to suffer his anger, but to possess salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us in order that we might live together with him, whether we are alive or dead when he comes. And so encourage one another and help one another, just as you are now doing.1 Thessalonians 5.2-11

No slave is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too. John 15.20

Israel, God's clock. The Bible foretells the return of the Jews to Israel and its rise again as a nation.

Some of the disciples were talking about the Temple, how beautiful it looked with the fine stones and the gifts offered to God. Jesus said, "All this you see-the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one will be thrown down."..."When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that she will soon be destroyed. Then those who are in Judaea must run away to the hills; those who are in the city must leave, and those who are out in the country must not go into the city. For these will be 'The Days of Punishment' to make all that the Scriptures say come true. How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies! Terrible distress will come upon this land, and God's punishment will fall on this people. Some will be killed with the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up. Luke 21.5-5 and 20-24

When that day comes, the Lord will once again use his power and bring back home those of his people who are left in Assyria and Egypt, in the lands of Pathros, Sudan, Elam, Babylonia, and Hamath, and in the coast lands and on the islands of the sea. The Lord will raise a signal flag to show that nations that he is gathering together again the scattered people of Israel and Judah and bringing them back from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11.11-12

But when that time comes, I will make Jerusalem like a heavy stone-any nation that tries to lift it will be hurt. All the nations of the world will join forces to attack her. Zechariah 12.3

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times have I wanted to put my arms round all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me! And so your temple will be abandoned and empty. From now on, I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, 'God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Matthew 23.37-39

I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son. Zechariah 12.10

The day when the Lord will sit in judgement is near. Then Jerusalem will be looted, and the loot will be divided up before your eyes. The Lord will bring all the nations together to make war on Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the people will go into exile, but the rest of them will not be taken away from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. At that time he will stand on the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem. Then the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west by a large valley. Half the mountain will move northwards and half of it southwards. You will escape through this valley that divides the mountain in two. You will flee as your ancestors did when the earthquake struck in the time of King Uzziah of Judah. The Lord my God will come, bringing all the angels with him. When that time comes, there will no longer be cold or frost, nor any darkness. There will always be daylight, even at night-time. When this will happen is known only to the Lord. When that day comes, fresh water will flow from Jerusalem, half of it to the Dead Sea and the other half to the Mediterranean. It will flow all the year round, in the dry season as well as the wet. Then the Lord will be king over all the earth; everyone will worship him as God and know him by the same name. Zechariah 14.2-9

There is a fault running from east to west across the Mount of Olives, discovered 100 years ago. Under it is a large water table.

"There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near." Luke 21.25-28

The Son of Man will come like the lightening which flashes across the whole sky from the east to the west. Matthew 24.27

What we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died. There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice, the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first; then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 1Thesssalonians 4.15-17

For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, and then he will repay everyone according to his deeds. Matthew 16.27

For God will reward every person according to what he has done. Some people keep on doing good, and seek glory, honour and immortal life; to them God will give eternal life. Other people are selfish and reject what is right, in order to follow what is wrong; on them God will pour out his anger and fury...And so, according to the Good News I preach, this is how it will be on that Day when God through Jesus Christ will judge the secret thoughts of all. Romans 2.6-8 and16

Then I saw heaven open, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True; it is with justice that he judges and fights his battles. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and he wore many crowns on his head. He had a name written on him, but no one except himself knows what it is. The robe he wore was covered with blood. His name is "The Word of God." The armies of heaven followed him, riding on white horses and dressed in clean white linen. Out of his mouth came a sharp sword, with which he will defeat the nations. He will rule over them with a rod of iron, and he will trample out the wine in the winepress of the furious anger of the Almighty God. On his robe and on his thigh was written the name: "King of kings and Lord of lords." Revelation 19.11-16

The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had: He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to become equal with God. Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like man and appeared in human likeness. He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death-his death on the cross. For this reason God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any other name. And so, in honour of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2.8-11

The Lord says, "The time is coming when I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will rule wisely and do what is right and just throughout the land. When he is king, the people of Judah will be safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace. He will be called, 'The Lord Our Salvation.' Jeremiah 23.5-6

When that time comes, Jerusalem will be called 'The Throne of the Lord,' and all nations will gather there to worship me. They will no longer do what their stubborn and evil hearts tell them. Jeremiah 3.17

Your king will make peace among the nations; he will rule from sea to sea, from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth." Zechariah 9.10

But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord's glory as the seas are full of water. Habakkuk 2.14

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the abyss and a heavy chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent-that is, the Devil, or Satan-and chained him up for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the abyss, locked it, and sealed it, so that he could not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that he must be let loose for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and those who sat on them were given the power to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been executed because they had proclaimed the truth that Jesus revealed and the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image, nor had they received the mark of the beast on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and ruled as kings with Christ for a thousand years. [The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were over.] This is the first raising of the dead. Happy and greatly blessed are those who are included in this first raising of the dead. The second death has no power over them; they shall be priests of God and Christ, and they will rule with him for a thousand years. After the thousand years are over, Satan will be let loose from his prison, and he will go out to deceive the nations scattered over the whole world, that is, Gog and Magog. Satan will bring them all together for battle, as many as the grains of sand on the sea-shore. They spread out over the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people and the city that he loves. But fire came down from heaven and destroyed them. Then the Devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown; and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever .Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sits on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence and were seen no more. And I saw the dead, great and small alike, standing before the throne. Books were opened, and then another book was opened, the book of the living. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. Then the sea gave up its dead. Death and the world of the dead also gave up the dead they held. And all were judged according to what they had done. Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire. [This lake of fire is the second death.] Whoever did not have his name written in the book of the living was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20.1-15

Then the end will come; Christ will overcome all spiritual rulers, authorities, and powers, and will hand over the kingdom to God the Father. For Christ must rule until God defeats all enemies and puts them under his feet. The last enemy to be defeated will be death. For the Scripture says, "God put all things under his feet." It is clear, of course, that the words "all things" do not include God himself, who puts all things under Christ. But when all things have been placed under Christ's rule, then he himself, the Son, will place himself under God, who placed all things under him; and God will rule completely over all.1 Corinthians 15.24-28

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished. And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride for her husband. I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: "Now God's home is with mankind! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared." Then the one who sits on the throne said, "And now I make all things new!" He also said to me, "Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted." And he said, "It is done! I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty I will give the right to drink from the spring of the water of life, without paying for it. Whoever wins the victory will receive this from me; I will be his God, and he will be my son. But cowards, traitors, perverts, murderers, the immoral, those who practice magic, those who worship idols, and all liars-the place for them is the lake burning with fire and sulphur, which is the second death." Revelation 21.1-8

The angel also showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing down the middle of the city's street. On each side of the river was the tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once each month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Nothing that is under God's curse will be found in the city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. There shall be no more night, and they will not need lamps or sunlight, because the Lord God will be their light, and they will rule as kings for ever and ever. Revelation 22.1-5

There are many rooms in my Fathers house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself ,so that you will be where I am. John 14.2-3

God in his love has done everything necessary to deliver us from eternal punishment. His justice requires that he punish sin, but his love has provided salvation for all who will accept it. We are not told what happens to those who have never heard of Jesus ,because that is God's business, not ours, but we are very clearly told that for those who have, their eternal destiny depends on whether they accept or ignore Jesus.

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its Saviour. Whoever believes in the Son is not judged; but whoever does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in God's only Son. This is how the judgement works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. Anyone who does evil things hates he light and will not come to the light, because he does not want his evil deeds to be shown up. But whoever does what is true comes to the light in order that the light may show that what he did was in obedience to God. John 3.16-21

I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. If anyone hears my message and does not obey it, I will not judge him. I came, not to judge the world, but to save it. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my message has one who will judge him. The words I have spoken will be his judge on the last day! John 12.46-48

The Christian faith rests secure upon an unshakeable rock-the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. As well as the Old Testament prophecies of his deity [Godhood] we have the combined evidence of his claims, his character, and that greatest sign of all-his resurrection [coming alive again] from the dead.

ALONE AMONG THE RELIGIOUS TEACHERS OF THE WORLD, JESUS CLAIMED TO BE THE SON OF GOD, AND MADE HIMSELF EQUAL TO GOD.

They said to Jesus...Abraham died, and the prophets died, yet you say that whoever obeys your teaching will never die. Our father Abraham died; you do not claim to be greater than Abraham, do you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are? Jesus answered, If I were to honour myself, that honour would be worth nothing. The one who honours me is my Father-the very one you say is your God...Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see the time of my coming; he saw it and was glad. They said to him, You are not even fifty years old-and you have seen Abraham? I am telling you the truth, Jesus replied. Before Abraham was born, I AM [I AM is God’s name]. Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple. John 8.52-59

How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us the plain truth: are you the Messiah [the One the prophets foretold was coming]? Jesus answered, I have already told you, but you would not believe me. The things I do by my Father’s authority speak on my behalf...The Father and I are one. Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him. Jesus said to them, I have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do; for which one of these do you want to stone me? They replied, We do not want to stone you because of any good deeds, bit because of your blasphemy! You are only a man, but you are trying to make yourself God! Jesus answered...as for me, the Father chose me and sent me into the world. How, then, can you say that I blaspheme because I said that I am the Son of God? Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father. Once more they tried to seize Jesus, but he slipped out of their hands. John 10.24-39

The High Priest questioned him, Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God? I am, answered Jesus, and you will all see the Son of Man seated on the right of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven! Mark 14.61-62

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness. John 8.12

I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me. John 14.6

If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, take up his cross every day, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it, but whoever loses [spends] his life for my sake will save it. Will a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but is himself lost or defeated? Of course not! If a person is ashamed of me and of my teaching, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9.23-26

When I am lifted up from the earth [crucified], I will draw everyone to me. John 12.32

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Mark 13.31

He claimed what belongs to God- to give life, to accept worship, to forgive sin and to judge the world.

I am the bread of life, Jesus told them. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6.35

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. John 11.25-26

Jesus looked up to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you. For you gave him authority over all mankind, so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him. And eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom you sent. John 17.1-3

Just as the Father is himself the source of life, in the same way he has made his Son to be the source of life. John 5.26

Jesus said to Simon, Push the boat out further to the deep water, and you and your partners let down your nets for a catch. Master, Simon answered, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will let down the nets. They let them down, and caught such a large number of fish that the nets were about to break...When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said, Go away from me Lord! I am a sinful man!...Jesus said to Simon, Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching men. Luke 5.4-10

Jesus said to Thomas, Put you finger here, and look at my hands; then stretch out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting, and believe! Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God! Jesus said to him, Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me! John 20.27-29

Jesus said to the paralysed man, My son, your sins are forgiven. Some teachers of the Law who were sitting there thought to themselves, How does he dare to talk like this? This is blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins! At once Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, Why do you think such things? Is it easier to say to this paralysed man, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up, pick up your mat, and walk? I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So he said to the paralysed man, I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home! While they all watched, the man got up, picked up his mat, and hurried away. They were all completely amazed and praised God, saying, We have never seen anything like this! Mark 2.5-12

Nor does the Father himself judge anyone. He has given his Son the full right to judge, so that all will honour the Son in the same way that they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him...And he has given the Son the right to judge, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned. John 5.22-29

For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will repay everyone according to his deeds. Matthew 16.27

His miracles, done out of compassion for others and to convince them about himself, are as would be expected from God.

A man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to Jesus, knelt down, and begged him for help. If you want to, he said, you can make me clean. Jesus was filled with pity, and stretched out his hand and touched him. I do want to, he answered. Be clean! At once the disease left the man, and he was clean. Mark 1.40-42

What I do, that is, the deeds my Father gave me to do, these speak on my behalf and show that the Father has sent me. John 5.36

Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people who were with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved. Where have you buried him? He asked them. Come and see, Lord, they answered. Jesus wept. Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance. Take the stone away! Jesus ordered. Martha, the dead man’s sister answered, There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days! Jesus said to her, Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believed? They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, I thank you, Father, that you listen to me. I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me. After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out! He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave clothes, and with a cloth round his face. Untie him, Jesus told them, and let him go. John 11.33-44

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people. Matthew 20.28

The Father loves me because I am willing to give up my life, in order that I may receive it back again. No one takes away my life from me. I give it up of my own free will. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it back. This is what my Father has commanded me to do. John 10.17-18

Jesus answered, What I teach is not my own teaching, but it comes from God, who sent me. Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know whether what I teach comes from God or whether I speak on my own authority. A person who speaks on his own authority is trying to gain glory for himself. But he who wants glory for the one who sent him is honest and there is nothing false in him. John 7.16-18

I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me...What my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day. John 6.38-40

He who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him. John 8.29

Jesus committed no sin, and no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous judge. 1 Peter 2.22-23

You know that Christ appeared in order to take away sins [to pay for our sins] and that there is no sin in him. 1 John 3.5

Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Hebrews 4.15

Jesus was sinless because he was selfless. Unselfishness is love. God is love.

At noon the whole country was covered in darkness, which lasted for three hours. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? Which means, My God, my God, why did you abandon me? Mark 15.33-34

Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Father! In your hands I place my spirit! He said this and died. Luke 23.46

The army officer saw what had happened, and he praised God, saying, certainly he was a good man! When the people who had gathered there to watch the spectacle saw what happened, they all went back home, beating their breasts in sorrow. All those who knew Jesus personally, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance to watch. Luke 23.47-49

Then the Jewish authorities asked Pilate to allow them to break the legs of the men who had been crucified, and to take the bodies down from the crosses. They requested this because it was Friday, and they did not want the bodies to stay on the crosses on the Sabbath, since the coming Sabbath was especially holy. So the soldiers went and broke the legs of the first man and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, plunged his spear into Jesus’ side, and at once blood and water poured out. John 19.31-34

It was towards evening when Joseph of Arimathea arrived. He was a respected member of the Council, who was waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God. It was Preparation day [that is, the day before the Sabbath], so Joseph went boldly into the presence of Pilate and asked him for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead. He called the army officer and asked him if Jesus had been dead a long time. After hearing the officer’s report, Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. Joseph bought a linen sheet, took the body down, wrapped it in the sheet, and placed it in a tomb which had been dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were watching and saw where the body of Jesus was placed. Mark 15.42-47

The women who had followed Jesus from Galilee went with Joseph and saw the tomb and how Jesus’ body was placed in it. Then they went back home and prepared the spices and perfumes for the body. On the Sabbath day they rested, as the Law commanded. Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb carrying the spices they had prepared. Luke 23.55-24.1

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the entrance. She went running to Simon peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and told them, They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him! Then Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb. The two of them were running, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and saw the linen wrappings, but he did not go in. Behind him came Simon Peter, and he went straight into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there and the cloth which had been round Jesus’ head. It was not lying with the linen wrappings but was rolled up by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in; he saw and believed. [They still did not understand the Old Testament scripture which said that he must rise from death.] Then the disciples went back home. John 20.1-10

The next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees met with Pilate and said, Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, I will be raised to life three days later. Give orders, then, for his tomb to be carefully guarded until the third day, so that his disciples will not be able to go and steal the body, and then tell the people that he was raised from death. This last lie would be even worse than the first one. Take a guard, Pilate told them; go and make the tomb as secure as you can. So they made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and leaving the guard on watch...Suddenly there was a violent earthquake; an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid that they trembled and became like dead men...some of the guards guarding the tomb went back to the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. The chief priests met with the elders and made their plan; they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said, You are to say that his disciples came during the night and stole his body while you were asleep. And is the Governor should hear of this, we will convince him that you are innocent, and that you will have nothing to worry about. The guards took the money and did what they were told to do. Matthew 27.62-28.15

On that same day two of Jesus’ followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about eleven kilometres from Jerusalem, and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; they saw him, but somehow did not recognise him. Jesus said to them, What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along? They stood still, with sad faces. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have been happening here these last few days? What things? He asked. The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth, they answered. This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free [from the Romans]! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him. Luke 24.13-24

For forty days after his death Jesus appeared to his apostles many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive. They saw him, and he talked with them about the Kingdom of God. Acts 1.3

Mary stood crying outside the tomb. While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb and saw two angels dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. Woman, why are you crying? They asked her. She answered, they have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him! Then she turned round and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. Woman, why are you crying? Jesus asked her. Who is it that you are looking for? She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him. Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned towards him and said in Hebrew, Rabboni! [this means Teacher]. Do not hold on to me, Jesus told her, because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God. So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the lord and related to them what he had told her. John 20.11-18

Then Jesus said to them, How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory? And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets. As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going further; but they held him back, saying, Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark. So he went in to stay with them. He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us? They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others and saying, The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon! The two then explained to them what had happened on the road, and how they had recognised the Lord when he broke the bread. Luke 24.25-35

While the two were telling them this, suddenly the Lord himself stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. They were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. But he said to them, Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming up in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet, and see that it is I myself. Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you can see I have. He said this and showed them his hands and his feet. They still could not believe, they were so full of joy and wonder; so he asked them, Have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of cooked fish, which he took and ate in their presence. Luke 24.36-43

Jesus returned to his mutilated human body and instantly it was changed into his deathless spiritual body, never to age or die again. It was real [he could prove it by eating] but different [he could disappear]. Because of this he was not immediately recognised, but was known by his talk and manner [his ways]. His followers will someday have a body like his.

In his disciples’ presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book. But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life. John 20.30-31

What convinced the apostles and Paul beyond any shadow of doubt was the empty tomb followed by seeing Jesus alive. History traces the Church to around 30AD and its earliest documents, contemporary [written within living memory of Jesus] and unembroidered [unexaggerated], say it started from its Founder rising from the dead. There is no question about the truthfulness of the disciples’ accounts because they stood up to severe persecution. They were demoralised by Jesus’ death and then were joyous, risking death to say that he was alive again.

God has raised this very Jesus from death, and we are all witnesses to this fact...we cannot stop speaking of what we ourselves have seen and heard. Acts 2.32 and 4.20

They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free. As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus. And every day in the Temple and in people’s homes they continued to teach and preach the Good News about Jesus the messiah. Acts 5.40-42

They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, Lord! Do not remember this sin against them! He said this and died. And Saul approved of his murder. That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judaea and Samaria. Some devout men buried Stephen, mourning for him with loud cries. But Saul tried to destroy the church; going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women, and threw them into Jail. The believers who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the message. Acts 7.59-8.4

We had been there for several days when a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judaea. He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied up his own feet and hands with it, and said, This is what the Holy Spirit says: The owner of this belt will be tied up in this way by the Jews in Jerusalem, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles. When we heard this, we and the others there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. But he answered, What are you doing, crying like this and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be tied up in Jerusalem but even to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Acts 21.10-13

I persecuted to the death the people who followed this Way. I arrested men and women and threw them into prison. The High Priest and the whole Council can prove that I am telling the truth. I received from them letters written to fellow Jews in Damascus, so I went there to arrest these people and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem to be punished. As I was travelling and coming near Damascus, about midday a bright light from the sky flashed suddenly round me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? I asked. I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute, he said to me. The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. I asked, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that God has determined for you to do...I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant. You are to tell others what you have seen of me today and what I will show you in the future. I will rescue you from the people of Israel and from the Gentiles to whom I will send you. You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God’s chosen people. Acts 22.4-10 and 26.16-18

The Good News was promised long ago by God through his prophets, as written in the Holy Scriptures. It is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: as to his humanity, he was born a descendant of David: as to his divine holiness, he was shown with great power to be the Son of God by being raised from death. Through him God gave me the privilege of being an apostle for the sake of Christ, in order to lead people of all nations to believe and obey. Paul in Romans 1.2-5

Only letters or gospels from apostles [who were eyewitnesses of the ministry and resurrection of Jesus] were accepted or from those closely associated with them.

We have not depended on made up stories in making known to you the mighty coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. With our own eyes we saw his greatness. 2 peter 1.16

So then, our brothers, stand firm and hold onto those truths which we taught you, both in our preaching and in our letter... With my own hand I write this: GREETINGS FROM PAUL. This is the way I sin every letter; this is how I write. 2 Thessalonians 2.15 and 3.17

Jesus promised that all the apostles’ teaching would be directed by the holy Spirit.

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you. John 14.26

The Gospels themselves appeared from about 60AD onwards. Mark, who is mentioned in Acts and in the letters, wrote down Peter’s preaching. We also have two of Peter’s letters. Matthew wrote a list of Jesus’ sayings which he later expanded with further material and with material from mark. Luke who was Paul’s companion, did careful research collecting material into which he inserted Matthew’s sayings and Mark’s account. He also wrote Acts and is mentioned in the letters. John wrote last to provide additional information. We also have his three letters and the revelation given to him. We get a considerable knowledge of Jesus from the selections given, which Jesus said the Holy Spirit would make sure to happen. The Gospels were immediately accepted as accurate accounts of the apostles’ teaching at a time when many people could still remember Jesus.