Another reason to believe that the Bible is the truth, you only have to look at its historical and geological accuracy that have come to light in recent years. With virtually every turn of the archaeologists spade, we have evidence for the trustworthiness of Scripture. Down through the ages, many have doubted the historical accuracy of the Bible. Yet modern archaeologists have repeatedly unearthed evidence of the people, places, and cultures described in the Scriptures.
100 years ago, many Bible critics were trying to dismiss much of its history as a work of creative storytellers. But in the 20th century, archaeological finds have overwhelmingly supported and verified biblical data. For instance, two of the cities mentioned in the book of Genesis, Sodom and Gomorrah (c.1500B.C.) have been for many years considered mythological. However, recent excavations at Tell Mardikh, now known to be the site of Ebla, uncovered about 15,000 tablets. Some of these have been translated and mention is made of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Skeptics doubted the Bible’s description of King Solomon’s wealth. The archaeologist Henry Breasted, between 1925 and 1934, unearthed the remains of one of Solomon’s “chariot cities” at Megiddo in northern Palestine.
Critics of Scripture also doubted the existence of the Hittites, a people the Bible refers to some 40 times in the Old Testament. For centuries, those who studied the ancient world questioned the Bible because they had discovered no evidence of such a people. But in 1906 archaeologist Hugh Winckler excavated the Hittite capital of Boghaz-koi and recovered thousands of Hittite texts along with the famous Hittite code.
Scientists found evidence of a Biblical flood in the Black Sea. The archaeological evidence discovered by the National Geographic Society provides new evidence that humans faced a new flood, perhaps that of the biblical Noah, thousands of years ago. Man-made dwellings and tools at the bottom of the inland Black Sea prove a massive flood hit the area 7,600
years ago. ( Vancouver Sun, September 14, 2000 ). (True Biblical timingapproximately 5,500 years ago)
A 3000 year old temple used throughout the reign of the legendary Queen of Sheba has been uncovered in Yemen by an international team of scientists. (Toronto Globe and Mail, September 15, 2000 )
For years, critics dismiss the book of Daniel, partially because there was no evidence that a king named Belshazzar ruled in Babylon during that period. Later archaeological research, however, confirmed that the reigning monarch, Nabonidus, appointed Belshazzar as his coregent while he was waging war away from Babylon.
One of the most well known New Testament examples concerns the books of Luke and Acts. A Biblical skeptic, Sir William Ramsay, was trained as an archaeologist and then set out to disprove the historical reliability of this portion of the New Testament. But through his painstaking Mediterranean archaeological trips, he became converted as, one after another, the historical allusions of Luke were proved accurate. Truly, as you can see from just a small sampling of examples above, that with every turn of the archaeologists spade we continue to see evidence for the trustworthiness of Scripture.
Time after time, the descriptions in the biblical record have been shown to be more reliable than the speculations of scholars. You see, the Bible has and will stand the test of time. But the Bible is not primarily a book of history. It is His story, the story of Jesus, God in the flesh, who left behind His Royal robes of heaven to come down to earth to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins and to offer us hope, salvation, reconciliation and life eternal.
Love Oscar