Read Isaiah 40:6-8, 25-31, The Authority of the Bible (7)

Why is geography so important in the Bible?  Why is it so often front and center in the text?  In the Bible readings yesterday and today there were detailed references to places with names as well as the layout of the land of Israel.   we noted yesterday, while not all these named places have been found so many of them have been that it speaks of the Bible’s consistency with archaeology and history.  Time and again, when you are in Israel, you see even today how the stories fit the topography in front of you.

So why must the Bible be a book full of geographical and topographical statements?  It is because of who God is and how we are saved.  To begin with, the God of the Bible is the Creator of heaven and earth.  This is how He was differentiated from the territorial gods of the nations around Israel.  In the story of Jonah the sailors all cried out to their own gods (Jonah 1:5) but when Jonah came up on deck he declared his God (the Hebrew God) was the creator of the sea and land and this caused the others to be afraid (Jonah 1:9-10).  Did you see in today’s reading how God spoke of His uniqueness in terms of His being Creator of all things?  The Psalms regularly speak of God’s work in Creating all we can see.  God is eternal; matter is not eternal (Isa. 40:6-8).  We are alarmed these days by those who call themselves evangelical who have concluded that the story of Creation (Gen. 1-2) is myth or historical myth.  The religions of the world may have depended on myth but the Bible depends on the story of Creation being true.  Again and again the authority of the Bible is tied to the fact that the God of the Bible is the Creator.

But then geography becomes even more critical (is that possible?) when we see how God has made it possible for sinful men to come to Him.  He did it by leaving the glories of heaven and coming to earth as a Man, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan River, preaching around Galilee, and crucified and raised from the dead just outside of Jerusalem.  There is no salvation apart from geography.  And the prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled center around His return to earth, not at New York City or Tokyo or Salt Lake City but to Jerusalem and Israel.

Having noted how important geography is to the Bible, what about the Book of Mormon?  That supposed “holy book” speaks of a ridiculous story, that Jesus made another appearance on earth in the Western Hemisphere.  Am I speaking out of line to call this story ridiculous?  No!  There has never been a shred of evidence to confirm this story.  There is no reference in history or archaeology of Lamanites or Nephites or Jaredites.  No archaeological evidence to confirm any of it.  And you cannot get any clues from the Book of Mormon that would tell you where to look. 

We do not look to archaeology or history to prove the Bible to be the Word of God.  We simply expect that these disciplines will, when skillfully used, confirm the truth of the Bible.  If we totally lack that “external consistency” then we would have to conclude that it is either a lie or a fable.  We cannot say that about the Bible to be sure.