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Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105, ESV).
My favorite college professor once told our class, “I believe in the Bible because of verisimilitude!” which is a very “big and beautiful”* theological word meaning “very similar throughout.”
The Bible, written over 1,400 years, contains 66 books (39 in the OT and 27 in the NT) with 40 authors (kings, paupers, prophets, scholars, fishermen, a doctor, court officials, scribes, and others), and yet verisimilitude perfectly describes their work.
I can’t get a story straight about my childhood, but the Bible with 40 inspired authors gets it right after 3,500 years!
The Bible contains 929 chapters and 23,214 verses and can be read in English in about 76 hours (a supposed world record). I think that I can read it in 60 hours, though! And all this reading contains filler between the two most important verses of the Bible.
The first verse: Genesis 1:1. . . In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
and. . .
The last verse: Revelation 22:21. . . The grace of the Lord be with all. Amen.
God created the world, and the grace of Jesus saved it — talk about verisimilitude!
The Bible contains 900 prophecies about Jesus, or 300 about His first coming and 600 about His second coming. We are fortunate to live during the time of history with hundreds of prophecies fulfilled before our eyes (if we have eyes to see).
There are about 3,500 promises in the entire Bible, which can all be summarized in three verses of Philippians 4:7, 13 and 19. . .
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (4:7 – Peace).
I can do all things through him who strengthens me (4:13 – Power).
My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (4:19 – Provision).
Prophecies all pointing toward Jesus, and promises all directed at our peace, power, and provision. Again, let’s consider v-e-r-i-s-i-m-i-l-i-t-u-d-e!
There are about 200,000 Bibles in English distributed daily. In 1238, Cardinal Hugo de S. Caro, a lecturer thinking it would make lecturing on the Bible easier, divided it into the chapters that we have today, while Roberto Stephanus, a prominent printer, added verses to the chapters while riding a horse.
In the 16th century, horses were the AI of the day in that they could find their way home without steering. That’s hopefully the case today with our Teslas, but with Stephanus, it gave him time to bless us with verses!
Back to my favorite professor, as he continued the lecture on verisimilitude with, “How can you explain such similarity without divine inspiration, guidance, and providence?”
Let’s read our Bibles this summer and if someone asks why, tell them. . .
It’s similar from beginning to end, the first book (Genesis) was written 3,500 years ago, and the last book (Revelation) was written about 2,000 years ago, and yet it’s a lamp unto my feet today!
Amen!
*Yep! Borrowed “big and beautiful” from the current President of the United States.