Yesterday, I was having this conversation with a friend at a cafe. “Hey, do you believe in the Bible?” He scoffed.
“Hey, it’s all written by people. How can you believe it?”
For a moment, I felt a strange sensation.
Just moments ago, he was reading Naver News and exclaiming, “Wow, amazing!”
It’s quite strange, when you think about it.
The news we read every day, the textbooks we learn at school, even the YouTube comments are all written by people.
But some people say the Bible is the only one they can’t believe because it was written by people.
If I say that, many people will probably retort, “No, that’s different!”
That’s right. I completely understand that feeling.
I used to think that way too.
What I’m going to say today isn’t about religious coercion.
I’m going to talk solely about what the Bible itself says and what actually happened.
I’m not forcing you to believe the Bible, but rather, let’s think about it together.
After reading this, you might be thinking, like my friend, “Huh? This is a bit different?”
Are promises we send via text messages also a form of prophecy?
This happened last week. A friend sent me a text message saying, “I’ll be there in 10 minutes,” and it did indeed arrive 10 minutes later.
Come to think about it, this too was a kind of fulfilled “prophecy.”
You might be thinking, “Wow, isn’t that a stretch?” But wait a minute.
If you predict what will happen in the future and it comes true exactly, isn’t that the essence of prophecy?
So, what about the prophecies in the Bible? What if they contain far more specific and surprising events than my friend’s “I’ll be there in 10 minutes”?
“All books are written by people, so why can’t you believe the Bible?”
That’s a really good point. I’ve asked myself this question too.
Every book we read was written by people. The scientific papers we believe in were written by people, and even the legal codes were written by people. Yet, we live our lives by “referring” to and “trusting” these things.
Let me give you an example. History books, they were also written by people, right?
Yet, we accept them as historical facts without question. Why? Because various pieces of evidence and records agree.
So, what about the Bible? Could it be that we have a bias against it?
Who really wrote the letter written by his secretary?
Let me tell you an interesting story.
I saw it on the news recently. The chairman of a large corporation sent a letter to an important client. But later, it turned out that his secretary had ghostwritten the letter. So, who really wrote that letter?
The secretary may have written the letter with a pen, but the content and intent of the letter are the Chairman’s. That’s why we call it “The Chairman’s Letter.”
How about considering the Bible in a similar way? 2 Peter 1:21 reads:
“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
Moses, David, Paul… these men may have held pens, but what they wrote was not their own thoughts, but a message from God.
“But how can a human being write down the word of God?”
The Bible writers reportedly received messages from God in various ways:
Some heard a direct voice (like Moses in Exodus 3),
some saw visions (like John in Revelation),
and some received revelations in dreams (like Daniel in Daniel).
But the crucial question here is whether the messages they received actually came true.
If they don’t follow the message, it’s fake; if they do, it’s real.
The Bible has a very clear standard. Deuteronomy 18:22 states:
“If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and what he says doesn’t happen or come true, that’s the thing the Lord has not spoken.”
Simply put, “If what he says doesn’t follow the message, it’s fake.” Conversely, “If what he says follows the message, it’s real.”
So, let’s see what actually happened.
- The Birth of Jesus – The Exact Location Prophesied 700 Years Ago
Micah 5:2 (written around 700 BC) contains the following prophecy:
“But you, Bethlehem, though you are small among the rulers of Judah, from you will come one who will be ruler in Israel.”
However, 700 years later, Matthew 2:1 records that Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem.
Everyone, 700 years is the time span from the early Joseon Dynasty to the present.
How could they have prophesied the exact location so long ago?
- The Crucifixion of Jesus – A Detailed Description Written a Thousand Years Ago
Psalm 22, written by King David around 1000 BC, is truly astonishing:
“They pierced my hands and my feet… They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
Years later, in Matthew 27, we see this exact thing happen when Jesus was crucified.
It says that the Roman soldiers divided Jesus’ clothes among themselves and cast lots for his clothing.
Following your example, crucifixion didn’t occur in David’s time.
So how could he have predicted the piercing of Jesus’ hands and feet?
Coincidence? Or…
It’s not just one or two; there are hundreds of such prophecies and fulfillments in the Bible.
I thought to myself, If I were to make a bet with a friend, could I predict, “A great person will be born in such a town 700 years from now?” It’s impossible.
And yet, the Bible consistently falters in these impossible situations. Is this really a coincidence?
Of course, believing the Bible is a personal choice.
But at the very least, isn’t there too much evidence in the Bible to reject it simply because “it’s written by a human being, so I can’t believe it”?
My friend texted me a few days after we parted ways at the cafe that day. “Hey, I looked up what you said… It’s kind of fascinating.”
I hope you can see for yourself and experience it in your heart.
Sometimes, feeling it with your heart is more important than understanding it with your head.
