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Sabbath, June 10, 2006 Newark Seventh-day Adventist Church
Pastor Thomas M. Hughes

THE DA VINCI CODE – Part Four
Is The New Testament Credible?

We’ve had an interesting situation in the world in the last several months. This book, The Da Vinci Code, has captured the imagination of television programs such as National Geographic, and The History Channel. There have been a lot of books written about The Da Vinci Code. Christians are up in arms arguing about how terrible it is.

We’re in the midst of a series of sermons that are a response to the claims made in The Da Vinci Code. We’re trying to answer one big question and a bunch of related questions.

We started out with, “Was the Resurrection Real?” and continued with “Does the Lord Have a Day?” After that, we turned our attention to the authenticity of the Bible, and we wanted to see how its claims vary from Dan Brown, who writes, “The Bible is a product of man not of God” and that “history has never had a definitive version of the Bible.”

But we surveyed the biblical and archaeological finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other historical documents and analysis. And we found a mountain of evidence even from non-Christian sources that actually say the opposite. Mainly that we have had a definitive version of the Old Testament since 167 BC and because prophets called by God wrote its 39 books and very careful scribes copied it letter by letter through the years. The Old Testament is extremely accurate and we can absolutely depend on it. That’s what we learned about the Old Testament.

In the Dead Sea Scrolls, we have portions of every book in the Old Testament except for the book of Esther. And the copies that are around today are identical to the copies that date all the way back to 167 BC when the Old Testament
was firmly established in its form with the books of the Bible that we use today.

Now, today, we’re going to begin a Bible study on the credibility of the New Testament related to The Da Vinci Code.

Five Good Questions we will ask and answer;

How do I know, outside of the Bible, that the New Testament is authentic?

Who were the men that wrote the New Testament? What qualifications did they have?

Were they just a bunch of fishermen who were ignorant and illiterate? Well, 70% of the New Testament was written by somebody who happened to have a Ph.D. So they weren’t all just ignorant fishermen – however, quite a few of them were. Why did they think they were recording the words of God?

How do we know that these are the right books that really make up the New Testament?

How did we get 27 books of the New Testament? Is it true that history has never had a definitive version of the New Testament part of the Bible like Dan Brown claims?

Was the Emperor Constantine a Christian? Did he commission and finance (as Dan Brown claims) a new Bible? And was it he that canonized the New Testament books?

These are good questions, aren’t they?

How do I know outside of the Bible that the New Testament is authentic?
The brief answer is: through “fulfilled, predictive prophecies.” We know it is true because the things it prophesied about came true. God’s word made certain predictions and you can tell whether God’s word is true by whether or not these predictions come true.

The best way to build your faith is to build it based upon fulfilled prophecy. Let me say it again. The best way to build your faith is not on your own experience, which changes from day to day depending on what mood you’re in, what foods you have eaten, what medications you’re taking, how old you are, how good a body you have – some of you have Rolls Royce’s and some of you have Volkswagens! Depending upon how your particular chassis is working that day you may feel great or you may feel like you can barely make it through the day! So if you base your faith on your own personal experience you’re going to be disappointed often enough, aren’t you?

Our feelings and emotions change based on our health and based on how people treat us. No matter how much we don’t want to admit it, sometimes people can have a dramatic affect on us. Somebody in the church can give us a dirty look across the room; and I’ve seen people actually leave the church and never come back. That is really a bad thing when that happens.

I’ve seen people get discouraged because someone disagreed with them and made their life miserable when they came to church – they were critical or unkind – and I’ve actually seen sincere souls driven from the church of God by unkind Christians who would never want to do that. I’ve seen grandchildren driven away from the church because sometimes grandma and grandpa can’t stop talking about what the children are wearing for instance. I’ve seen people driven away from church because they were criticize for what they ate or didn’t eat.

I could stand up here and give you a half-hour list of things that have happen; that, if the people knew that they were hurting people they would never do it! But because we’re so insensitive and oblivious to the effects our words have on others, we hurt people all the time and don’t even realize we’re doing it.

You may think Pastor Hughes is a little too liberal or a little too glib but there’s a reason why I say: “I don’t care what you wear as long as you’re there.” “I don’t care what you eat as long as you’re sweet.”

Now the Bible teaches us rules of health and what to wear and not wear, and all that, and I think it’s always good to lead by example. I think we should lead by example, don’t you? But it’s not our place to lecture people or to give them a hard time at church. And I’m going to resist the temptation to go through my little litany.

What I’m trying to tell you is: Don’t base your experience with the Seventh-day Adventist Church on the way that people treat you! All churches have untrue members. But a true church should not have untrue teachings!

And what I’m trying to say to you is grandpa and grandma, brother and sister, mom and dad, if you’re not wearing worldly things and you’re not eating worldly foods, and you’re trying to live a righteous life but you’re mean as a snake and you’re kids can’t stand you because you’re so critical what good is your religion?

Now is it possible to lead by example and to live a righteous life and be loving as well as, you know, show the way in these areas? Absolutely! And they’re wonderful doctrines and truths.

We all need to dress humbly, and eat right. Amen? But let us not be overly righteous J and make it a burden upon people, hurt people, or harm people.

Now on what do we base our faith? We don’t base it on our personal experience, we base our faith on the Word of God. We base our faith on fulfilled prophecy. Fullfilled prophecy will give you a faith that cannot be shaken.

You know, when I read in Daniel 9:24-27, where it predicted the year, the month, the day and the hour of the death of Christ on Calvry’s Cross, and it predicted it over 600 years before it happened – that gives me confidence that only God can write history in advance. And for God to write the year, the month, the day and the hour of Christ’s crucifixion and death over 600 years before it happened, and then to have it happen on the exact day, at the exact hour that He prophesied it would – that gives me a rock to build my house of faith upon!

The book of Daniel was written by the prophet Daniel in Babylon near modern-day Tikrit and Baghdad, in Iraq! Sound familiar? That’s where Daniel lived (in) modern-day Iraq near Tikrit! Maybe Saddam Hussein is one of his descendents. He’s from Tikrit, too, isn’t he? I don’t know. Daniel might be upset if he knew that!

Chapter 2 of Daniel describes an outline prophecy. An outline prophecy is a predictive prophecy that covers in this case a span of time from the prophet’s day (around 600 BC) until the Second Coming of Jesus.

Now if you’ll read Daniel 2, you’ll find the prophecy was centered on a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had of a really tall golden image. Long story short, the king couldn’t bring to memory the dream and none of his wisemen could either. So they bring in Daniel. Daniel prays to God. God gives him the interpretation of the dream that night. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar the next day (Daniel 2:37, 38) that the head of gold on this image represents Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, Babylon.

The non-Christian historians confirm that Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon and much of the known world from 606 BC to 538 BC as one of the mightiest empires of antiquity.

Daniel goes on to explain (Daniel 2:39) that just as silver is inferior to gold; the kingdom that followed Babylon would be inferior to her. And in 538 BC historians agree that Medo-Persia led by Cyrus conquered Babylon and reduced it to ruins before ruling the world from 538 BC to 331 BC. Daniel 2:32 and 39 portray this kingdom making up the image’s chest and arms being silver.

It is interesting, Isaiah actually identified Cyrus by name before he was even born as Babylon’s conqueror (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1). Daniel named him (Cyrus) over 200 years before it occurred! Now I think I’d be impressed if some historian told me today who our President was going to be in 200 years! They can’t get the thing straight two months from now; let alone 200 years from now!

Now archeologists have uncovered the Cyrus cylinder, and ancient inscription, clearly stated the policy of Cyrus to return captives to their homeland, which Jeremiah 50:38; 51:11, and Ezra 1:1-4 confirm that he did.

Next, Daniel (Dan. 2:39) predicted to king Nebuchadnezzar that a third kingdom would come along 300 years in the future that would conquer the Meads and the Persians. And sure enough every world history book ever written describes how Alexander the Great led the Greeks to conquer the Meads and Persians in the battle of Arbella in 331 BC.

Daniel 2:32 and 39 describe the third kingdom of Daniel’s predictive prophecy being symbolic of the image’s belly and thighs, and being made of brass.

Now near the end of the prophecy (Dan. 2:33), it describes the legs of the image being made of iron. This was extremely appropriate. Because anybody taking western Civics class in their freshman year of college would know that the kingdom which followed Greece was universally referred to as “the iron monarchy of Rome.”

Rome ruled the world from 168 BC to 476 AD, which brings us back to our question today: How do we know outside the Bible that the New Testament is credible? Because Rome was the kingdom according to the writers of the New Testament that dominated the world when Jesus was born.

It was the Roman Emperor Augustus according to Luke 2:1-4 who decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea: David’s ancient home.

How else do we know the New Testament is credible? Because it was in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Roman ruler Tiberius Caesar according to Luke 3:1 that historians and Bible scholars agree that Jesus was baptized and inaugurated in His earthly ministry that year.

Now the interesting thing is in that prophecy in Daniel 9:24-28, it talks there about the Messiah the Prince being anointed and His ministry continuing for three-and-a-half prophetic days (or three and a half years). And it says in the midst of that three-and-a-half year period He would be cut off (or killed) but not for Himself but for His people.

So because of that historical fact we can go back and in Daniel 9:24-27 the Bible predicted hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was even born: the year he would be baptized and begin His ministry, the year He would be crucified, the month in which He would be crucified, the day upon which He would be crucified, the year, month, day and hour He would be nailed to the Cross, and then the hour that He would die! And he did all this hundreds of years before it even happened. Are you impressed? I am impressed. So Daniel is an amazing prophet. And because of the writings of the book of Daniel, we have learned that the Old Testament is authentic and that we can have absolute confidence in the Old Testament.

Now did Jesus get baptized in 27 AD? Yes, He did. Because it says, “In the fifteenth year, the Emperor Tiberius…” and we can all look that up and see when. Therefore we can also go back and look up when the prophecy began in Daniel and it comes out to the exact day predicted over 600 years before! That is something you can build a faith on! So with unerring accuracy, Daniel predicts a thousand years of world history absolutely accurately.

Not only does the Bible reveal the rise and fall of specific empires (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome), but if you keep on reading Daniel 2, you’ll discover how it even describes how Rome would be conquered by invading barbarian tribes and divided forming seven of the countries of modern Europe. You can read all this in any modern history textbook.

So you don’t need to be a Christian or have much faith in the Bible to see (that) the Old and New Testaments are authentic and credible. You can simply read what the Bible says and then pick up any modern history book and you can read the fulfillment of these prophecies. All you need is some common sense, a Bible, and an ordinary history book to compare its fulfilled, predictive prophecies from hundreds of years before Christ to the very days of the New Testament writers. Then you will see that the Old Testament is authentic and dependable.

Now they used to say Daniel couldn’t true, it had to be written later. Daniel must have been written around the time of Jesus. And then suddenly come the Dead Sea Scrolls and confirm that they were written before Christ, and that the manuscripts are ancient. And now (the book of) Daniel, with his cylinder of Cyrus etceteras is rooted firmly 600 years before Christ.

So they tried to explain it away by dating Daniel later. And then when the archeology nailed them to the wall, they had to admit that Daniel was true! J

Did you know that the Jews have a curse that if you study the book of Daniel they curse you? Because they know if you study the book of Daniel, you’ll accept Jesus as the Messiah.

“Cursed be the fingers on the hand on the arm of the man who turneth the pages of the book of Daniel to readeth thereof. Cursed be that hand!”

Well, I reject their curse. And I say to you, the Messiah was predicted 600 years before He came, the year, the month, the day, and the hour. And on the very Passover at the time of the early morning and then the early afternoon sacrifice Christ was crucified and died at 9 (a.m.) and 3 (p.m.) fulfilling those prophesies.


Who were the men that wrote the New Testament? What qualifications did they have? Why did they think they were recording God’s words?

I told you the last time that the Bible says that the prophets wrote the Old Testament. Well, the same is true of the New Testament. The New Testament writers were given the same prophetic gift that the Old Testament prophets had to write the very words of God. The vast majority of the books of the New Testament were written during the lifetime of the apostles.

2 Peter 1:16—“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

So they were actually eyewitnesses. This is not hearsay evidence in the New Testament. Most of the New Testament was written by these eyewitnesses of Jesus. And if you look in the New Testament, you will see they were eyewitnesses; they were there. This gives them credibility. Peter said, “we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” So you can have faith in the credibility of the Bible. It is based on an eyewitness account.

And then in 1 John 1:3, John adds “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you.”

Then Peter, on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2:22 before a mixed crowd that included many Jews, said, “Men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, signs, which God did through Him in your midst as you yourselves know.”

Now how did their critics know the things they were saying and writing in the New Testament were credible? He said to His critics, “as you know.” The people that Peter was talking to knew the history about Jesus Christ. They knew the prophecies. They knew that Jesus fulfilled those prophecies! Which is in my opinion powerful proof of their authenticity and their accuracy. Men called by God, many of who were eyewitnesses wrote down the books of the New Testament. They knew they were writing the words of God because they witnessed the mighty acts of God themselves.

Their critics saw and heard the same things the Bible writers were recording! Peter said, “we were eyewitnesses.” John says, “we wrote what we saw and heard.” And then Peter said in Acts, “You know these things happened because you saw them happen.”

Now because their critics saw and heard the same things the Bible writers were recording this was very powerful proof of their authenticity and accuracy. Men called by God, many of whom were eyewitnesses, wrote down the books of the New Testament. They knew they were writing the words of God because they witnessed the mighty acts of God themselves. They were eyewitnesses: They beheld the transfiguration. They watched as Lazarus came forth from the tomb. They saw Jesus crucified. They saw Jesus rise from the dead. They touched His hands and put their fingers in His side after He rose from the dead!


How do we know that these (the 27 books) are the right books that really make up the New Testament?

To answer this question, I’d like to introduce you to a guy named Ralph Muncaster. I don’t know him personally but he’s my friend because I like the conclusions he came to. Like Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code, he was asking all the right questions. But unlike Dan Brown, who came up with all the wrong answers, this guy came up with the right answers!

Now I have problem with Dan Brown asking questions. That’s great. Ask all the questions you want. I have no problem with Dan Brown having his own opinions. Opinions are like armpits: Everyone has at least two and they often don’t smell very nice! So everybody has a right to their opinions. You have a right to at least two opinions in my opinion even though they might not smell too good.

Dan Brown has a right to his own opinion but he doesn’t have a right to his facts. The facts are the facts. What are the facts when we talk about Dan Brown and what he has to say? Well, we’re going to get into that. He is totally wrong in all the conclusions he draws but at least he’s asking some good questions. The facts prove him wrong, and the facts illuminate you and give you a great blessing.

How do know these 27 books are the right books? How can we have confidence in the New Testament?
You know how engineers are. They want to see the facts. They want you to do it the right way and the proper way.

Dr. Ralph O. Muncaster was an engineer and is a former atheist. He set out to disprove the Bible and reveal once and for all that this book is a book of myths and superstitions. He wrote a book A Skeptic’s Search For God. Muncaster developed a statistical test that he applied to the Bible regarding prophecy. He felt that a perfect God should be able to make a perfect book so that it made sense to him; and that if he could discredit the claims of prophecy in the Bible he could destroy its credibility. As he studied further, he found out that the Bible itself challenges its readers to test it using prophecy that God alone knows the future.

Muncaster says, "I was somewhat surprised by the Bible’s arrogant-seeming boast about its God being The God, and that there were no others.

Okay, I can see him saying that it’s arrogant—if it wasn’t God! This is God! You can’t call God arrogant especially when He does what he says! Amen? What’s arrogant is for a person like Dan Brown to say this stuff! That’s what you call arrogant! This isn’t arrogant; this is the God of heaven. Let’s read it:

Isaiah 41:21-23—“‘Can your idols make such claims as these? Let them come and show what they can do!’ says the LORD, the King of Israel. 22 ‘Let them try to tell us what happened long ago or what the future holds.
23Yes, that’s it! If you are gods, tell what will occur in the days ahead. Or perform a mighty miracle that will fill us with amazement and fear. Do something, whether good or bad!’” (NLT)

Come on, you idols of wood and stone. Do anything! Just do something but sit there like the dead idol you are! Of course, they can’t.

In Isaiah 46:8-10, God puts out this challenge:

“Do not forget this, you guilty ones.
9And do not forget the things I have done throughout history. For I am God—I alone! I am God, and there is no one else like me. 10Only I can tell you what is going to happen even before it happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.”

Whoa! I’m feeling very small right now! I’m feeling very, very small!

11I will call a swift bird of prey from the east—a leader from a distant land who will come and do my bidding. I have said I would do it, and I will.
12Listen to me, you stubborn, evil people!
13For I am ready to set things right, not in the distant future, but right now! I am ready to save Jerusalem and give my glory to Israel.”

Muncaster says,

"… I was surprised by the law that prophecy be 100-percent perfect…”

According to Deuteronomy 18:20 if a prophecy did not come true, the prophet was killed!

“…In probability testing (remember, he’s an engineer) only an acceptable degree of statistical significance is necessary to reach a conclusion—not perfection. But I reminded myself that a perfect God of the universe would be able to perfectly predict the future in any writing or person he inspired, just as the Bible had declared . . .I decided to examine each testament individually to see if either could clearly point to a God through 100-percent accurate historical prophecy."
Ralph Muncaster: A Skeptic’s Search for God, 131 & 135.

So Muncaster applied his 100-percent accuracy statistic to over 118 different biblical prophecies in the Old Testament alone and found that they were all true.

“The statistical prophecy testing I was going through was hitting me like a ton of bricks. My rational mind told me it was impossible. After all, hadn’t man written the Bible? Yet, something was quite amazing—almost frightening. How could books written centuries in advance predict the future? And with 100-percent accuracy?” Ibid, 146.

Oh, the atheist is getting scared now! Whoa! What if there really is a God? What if God is really up there! I’m not afraid of my Dad, are you? He’s big, He’s strong, He’s the king of the universe, but He loves me and died for me! I’m not afraid of Him. I’m in awe of Him. But this atheist is getting a little worried, isn’t he? Be afraid, Mr. Muncaster, be very afraid, because the God of the Bible is real! Fear the Lord!

Statistically, he determined that:

“For 118 prophecies to occur randomly would be 10 with 118 zeros!”

That would be like me buying a lottery ticket, one ticket each time, and winning 17 lotteries in a row. That’s the probability of that coming true apart from God! Isn’t that amazing! That would be like being struck by lightning 24 times in one year – in the same spot! The chances of all 118 prophecies happening randomly are impossible! So if you want to gain unbelievable confidence that the Bible credible and the 27 books we have in the New Testament are the right books, just look at the fulfilled prophecies that these Bible writers specifically applied to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is man historians cannot explain away! Of the many Messianic predictive prophecies in the Old Testament, there are 29 that were fulfilled by Jesus and recorded by the New Testament Bible writers during 24 hours before He died. All of these prophecies point to one who was betrayed, tried, crucified and buried. All 29 of these prophecies were written by different prophets over five centuries!

He was betrayed by a friend
Sold for 30 pieces of silver
Betrayed money thrown into God’s house
Price given for a potter’s field
Forsaken by His disciples
Accused by false witnesses
Silent before His accusers
Wounded and bruised
Smitten and spit upon
Mocked
Fell under the burden of the Cross
His hands and feet were pierced
Crucified with thieves
Made intercession for His persecutors
Rejected by His own people
Hated without cause
Friends stood afar off
People shook their heads
Stared upon Him
Garments were parted and lots cast for them
He suffered thirst
Gall and vinegar were offered to Him
His forsaken cry
Committed Himself to God
Bones were not broken
He was heartbroken
Pierced sides are evidence of His heart that had literally burst
His side pierced (Zech. 12:10)
Darkness over the land (That was prophesied in Amos 8:9; fulfilled in Matthew 27:45)
Buried in a rich man’s tomb.

All these prophecies without a doubt prove that Jesus was the Messiah. That’s how we know that He is because He fulfills the prophecies. It takes more faith to believe that Jesus somehow manipulated things so that he would fulfil the prophecies than it does to believe simply that He’s the Messiah. All 29 of these prophecies are so convincing that the only way Rabbis and liberal scholars can deal with them is to try and discredit them in some way.

This is what Hugh J. Schonfield tried to do in his book, The Passover Plot. He said that all these types of prophecies were a farce; that Jesus pretended or manipulated situations so as to appear to be the Messiah.

Think about it. Common sense says there is no way that He could manipulate people to respond to Him like they did so He could fulfill each of these prophecies perfectly. It takes more faith to believe that than to believe He was the Messiah! The Old Testament over and over again 456 different times spoke of a coming Messiah and all the New Testament writers say Jesus was that Messiah.

That’s according to The Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah, by Alfred Edersheim, page 980.

That’s how we know we’ve got the 27 right books. The predictive prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus and the rest of the New Testament book affirms the same thing.

I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases 1 John 4:1-3 in The Message:

“My dear friends don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.
2-3Here's how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!”

So we know we’ve got the right 27 books because they fulfil exactly the predictions of the Old Testament. I think you are beginning to get a picture of the credibility of the New Testament. There is much more evidence and stronger proof than even this. What do we base our faith on: Fulfilled prophecy! Can we have absolute faith that the New Testament is credible? Absolutely! The claims of The Da Vinci Code as we have been talking about have been definitely proven false by God’s Word.

God’s Word is a sure foundation. The Da Vinci Code can’t even predict what happened in the past accurately; let alone in the future! The Da Vinci Code that has all the historical records got all the facts wrong of the past! Now I know if they can’t even get the past right how am I supposed to trust them to predict the future. But God in His Word got the past right and the future right! So I’m going to stick with the Bible.


How did we get the 27 books of the New Testament? Is it true that history has never had a definitive version of the New Testament part of the Bible?

I can’t answer that question in the next few minutes, so I’m giving you a handout, this one by David Marshall called “Where the New Testament Came From.” I believe it will clarify the historical developments of the New Testament canon and how it came to be officially accepted by the Christian church. But let me try to explain an answer to the second question regarding if history has ever had a definitive version of New Testament. In short, the answer to this question is yes!

We know this is true using the same rules scholars of ancient literature apply to all other works of antiquity. C. Sanders in his book: Introduction to Research in English Literary History lists three criteria that scholars use to determine whether or not an ancient document is credible.

Test #1—The Bibliographical Test.
Test #2—The Internal Evidence Test.
Test #3—The External Evidence Test.

For the sake of time, we’ll only focus on the Bibliographic Test.

The Bibliographic Test describes the process whereby a scholar evaluates all the current manuscript copies of a document to test them for consistency. If you have one manuscript that is 500 years old and a newer copy that is only 100 years old, you would compare the newer document to the older one to see if there were any changes. Everyone in this field of study always considers the oldest copy as the most reliable source because it was written or copied closer to the original texts.

The other part of the bibliographical test has to do with the number of copies made. This is another place where the New Testament is unique to all other literature in antiquity. There are a number of ancient writings that all scholars regard as part of history with basically “no questions asked.”

Now I want to compare these old, ancient texts with the Bible, the New Testament and see how credible the New Testament is. Now the first one I want to mention is the book written by Julius Caesar called The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar. These writings speak of Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul (modern–day France) during the first century. You will find this documented in any history book of ancient Rome. Nobody refutes this—even though we have only 10 copies of these original writings. From over 1,000 years after Caesar wrote them! But although these copies were written 1,000 years after Caesar, nobody disputes The Gallic Wars. Everybody agrees it’s authentic.

Another commonly accepted work of early Rome is The History of Rome by Livy. Currently there is only a portion of a copy made 400 years after the original. The earliest complete copy was dated at 1,000 years after the original. And as with The Gaelic Wars, all historians accept these ancient documents as accurate and historical as well. Tacitus wrote a book called the Annals of Roman History around 100 AD. We have 20 copies of that book that are dated 1,000 years after his death. A thousand years after 100 AD or around 1100 AD. But nobody doubts the authenticity of that book even though we have copies that weren’t made till 1000 years after the original.

Now there is a book called the Iliad. How many of you have heard of Homer’s Iliad? That is a very famous book in antiquity. Scholars have discovered 643 manuscripts the oldest dating from the 13th century. So Homer’s Iliad and the Oddessy dates from AD 1300. The oldest one we have goes back to 1300 AD and yet everybody believes that that is an authentic and genuine book.

Maybe you’re wondering: Why is the consistency and number of copies of ancient literature so important when proving a definitive version of the New Testament? Because when we apply the same rules that these “scholars” apply to all these ancient, historical books, when you try to hold their feet to the fire and make them apply the same rules to the Bible, suddenly they can’t do what they were doing. And suddenly they change course and say " Oh well, I guess we don’t know if the Bible is authentic." When we have better proof than they have on these books that, they all agree on are authentic! What’s that tell you about them: They’re liars! They are manipulating the facts and trying to twist the truth to downplay the importance and the validity of the Bible.

The New Testament is far more reliable than any of these ancient books I just mentioned.

Instead of 643 copies like Homer’s Iliad that wasn’t made till 1300 AD, do you know how many copies we have of the New Testament that are valid copies? Listen to this: There are 5,684 Greek Manuscripts and 19,284 other language translations totaling 24,970 manuscripts available for comparison. This is unprecedented in all of ancient literature! There are no other copies of any ancient literature that even come close to confirming their authenticity using the bibliographic test of all ancient literature.

So if skeptics wish to question the credibility of the copies of the manuscripts of the New Testament, they may do so. But only if they also question the credibility and the copies of the manuscripts of every other piece of literature from all of antiquity, which curiously, the vast majority do not.

That’s why one Christian scholar wrote,

“The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning...And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.” (The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?: F.F. Bruce, 15)

Well I think there beyond all doubt anyway even though they’re not about secular things.

Josh McDowell says there are…

“Nearly 25,000 copies and portions of New Testament manuscripts are all consistent not only with the Syriac and Latin translations of the New Testament made around 150 AD, but also with the English New Testament I hold in my hand today. (New Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Josh McDowell, 41).

Even skeptics like Richard Carrier agree we have had as early as 150 AD a definitive version of the New Testament. Sorry, Dan, you’re wrong! Again! And I believe that we today still have a definitive version of the New Testament.

So as early as 150 AD we have had and still do have definitive versions of the New Testament. How we received it and how God preserved the New Testament’s credibility and accuracy is nothing short of miraculous.

5. Was Emperor Constantine a Christian? Did he “commission and finance a new Bible” and was it he who canonized the New Testament books?

Finally, on page 231 of Dan Brown’s book, one of the characters claims the 66 books we have in the Bible today were included and Canonized by Emperor Constantine the Great and that “Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible...” (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 234)

Now whether or not Constantine became a true Christian or not isn’t really the issue. The issue is that The Da Vinci Code says that he financed a new Bible and called the Council of Nicea in AD 325 and that the 27 books of the New Testament were decided upon in the Council of Nicea and it is where we get our 27 books. Wrong! Total lie! The 27 books of the New Testament were already formed by 150 AD; 175 years before the Council of Nicea. Newsflash to Dan Brown: The Council of Nicea had nothing to do with establishing the New Testament whatsoever. The Council of Nicea was about resolving a dispute over the deity of Jesus.

Now some even in the Newark Church in the past have made the mistake of teaching that there is only one God and that Jesus was not a divine being; that He was a created being and that there is no Holy Spirit. That is antichrist. And in the Bible it talks about Christ being divine, being the great “I AM.” Jesus Christ is God and we worship Him as the divine being. Back in the days of the Council of Nicea they are going around teaching that Jesus Christ was a created being – the same thing that some were teaching here in the Newark Church and actually had to leave the church over it. And that Council of Nicea was convened to straighten those people out and let them know that Jesus was God, that He was divine, that He has always existed and always will exist, and that there are three persons in one God. And this, they did establish.

So the Council of Nicea had nothing to do with deciding what books would be in the New Testament – as early as 150 AD.

Constantine did not decide on what books were to be part of the New Testament; 157 years before, that was already decided. If you look at the scholars they say that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul’s letters were all written in the first century. Conservative scholars date the books of the New Testament even earlier: Matthew 70–80 AD; Mark 50–65 AD; Luke 60–65 AD; John 80–100 AD and Paul’s Letters 50–66 AD.

We also know Constantine had nothing to do with determining which parts of the books became part of the New Testament because it was not until 367 AD that we find the first extra biblical evidence listing the New Testament books in their present order. The list is contained in an Easter letter written by a Christian bishop, Athanasius. (see David Marshall’s handout “Where the New Testament Came From” for more details on that.)

The bottom line is we’ve had a definitive version of the New Testament since shortly after 150 AD. Constantine did not decide which books went into the New Testament. And there is a mountain of evidence inside and outside the pages of the New Testament that prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the New Testament books we have today are not only the right books, but that they are the most accurate and credible in all of the books in ancient antiquity. And Jesus Himself said (John 5:39 (NIV)) that, “These are they which testify of Me.”

So I am going to continue with some of these falsehoods and false teachings and I want you to understand this so well…as we go through the summer, we’ll spend a little more time on some of these false teachings and try to get you rooted and grounded in the truth. But I feel we have used this error and falsehood. Ellen White rights about this. She said God will sometimes allow error to come into the church to test the people and to force them to go to their Bibles and become stronger in their understanding of God’s word. And I think God has allowed this to inspire Christians to go back and to look at the facts and do the research and come to the right conclusion.

Now, Jesus is the Messiah. He was predicted in 29 prophecies (see handout). As we’ve studied the authenticity of the Old Testament, how many of you have had your faith strengthened that the Old Testament is God’s word and that it is dependable? How many of you today as we’ve talked about the New Testament and we compared it with the ancient writings of antiquity and we have shown that Homer’s Iliad and Oddessy only had 643 copies, and nobody questions that, we have 25,000 copies of the New Testament and it is exactly the same as was when it was written in Jesus’ day we can show that all the way back to 150 AD, the second century, that the same New Testament you have today is the New Testament that they had in the days of the apostles. How many of you does that strengthen your faith in the New Testament?

How many of think that if Jesus is the Messiah that you need to have His blood applied to your life so you can be forgiven for your sins. Praise the Lord! We have used The Da Vinci Code to strengthen our faith in the Old and New Testaments, and to strengthen our faith and belief in the Bible and the Messiah – Yeshua Hammashiach – Jesus the Messiah. This book predicted the most important prophecy of all: that Christ would come be slain, and die, for your sins. Do you have more faith in this book now? Are you willing to accept the Yeshua Hammashiach as your sacrifice? As your Messiah? If you are, then stand up! Stand up for Jesus!

Our Father in heaven, we surrender ourselves completely to Jesus our Messiah who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Father it’s amazing to us that You could, hundreds of years before it happened, predict the rise and fall of kingdoms, the ministry of Your Son, His crucifixion; Lord, it’s amazing to us that hundreds of years before it happened, You could predict the very year, month, day, and even the hour of Christ’s crucifixion and death.

Only a God like You, who knows all things, could predict the future. You said you are God there is no other and we do bow before You today. Forgive us for our sins we worship you; we love the Bible, the Old and New Testaments. We’re glad that we can have absolute faith in its authenticity and credibility. And we pray that You will help us to read it and not just let it sit on our shelves this week. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

* Special thanks to Pastor Mike Fortune for sharing his research with me and giving me permission to use the information in this message

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All Scriptural References: New King James Version / New American Standard Bible / The Message

Special Thanks to Pastor Mike Fortune sharing his research for this message.


Transcription: Wendy J. Riebel

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