Today we discover that ours is a revealing God. He reveals himself to us. He speaks to us. He gives his word to us.

If he is God, he must: "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord" (v. 8). Mark Twain was right: if I could understand every part of the Bible, I wouldn't believe God inspired it. God speaks. God reveals himself.

Why believe that this book contains such revelation? It says it does:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).

"Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1.21).

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8).

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35). When God is your King, his word must be your authority.

But the Koran says that it comes from Allah through Mohammad; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints maintains that the Book of Mormon contains further revelation from God to mankind; Buddhists and Hindus consider their sacred writings to be "divine" revelation. Why trust the Bible?

Because it keeps its promises. For instance, the Old Testament contains 61 specific prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, each of which was fulfilled by the historical Jesus. The odds of his fulfilling just 48 of them is one in 10 followed by 157 zeroes. To count that high, you'd have to count 250 numbers per minute for 6,589,000,000 years.

Because you can trust its transmission. The Greek New Testament we possess is judged by scholars to be 99.2% accurate with regard to the original, with no questions remaining concerning any facts or elements of faith.

Why trust the Bible?

Because archaeological evidence continues to validate its claims. Here's a recent example: skeptics claimed that no evidence for the existence of King David exists outside the Bible. But a group of archaeologists recently found an Assyrian stone tablet in Northern Israel dating from the ninth century B.C. The Aramaic inscription listed Assyria's foes, including the "king of Israel" and "house of David." The skeptics were wrong again.

And because the risen Christ said it is the word of God. Neither the Buddha, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, nor the Hindu masters died on the cross for our sins and rose from the grave. And Jesus called this book the "word of God."