The Origin Of The Scriptures by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Two Sides to the Same Story

We are going to do something Bible-schoolesque because it's quite important. We're going to talk on the origin of the Bible. I don't know if you've ever been curious — how did this book come to be? And how is it that it is written by men but is still the word of God?

Someone came to me in university, knowing that I was a Bible teacher and campus fellowship leader, challenged me in the presence of people holding the Bible and said: "How do we know that this is the word of God? It was written by men, men like you and me."

I went home that day troubled about two things. Troubled, number one, that I was never taught. And troubled, number two, on how to answer the question. To my surprise when I began to research I discovered that a lot has been said about it. It just isn't taught.

Let me make a bold claim: the way I'm about to explain it to you, you've never heard it before.

Now, Philippians 2:13. God has a divine capacity to put in you an idea, and also to install in you the drive to execute that idea, so that at the end of the day when you have executed that idea, if you say it is God who did it you are right, and if you say it is you who did it, you are also right. I am saying that the same story can have two sides — it can have a human side and a divine side simultaneously.

The Story of Joseph

The Bible example is the example of Joseph. Who made Joseph prime minister? If you say God, you are right. If you say his brothers, you are right. If you say his own hard work, you are right. In fact, three sides.

In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says, "But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." It means that the same outcome can have two wills simultaneously superimposing on that story.

You meant it for evil. He did not exonerate them. You did the wrong thing. But in spite of your scheming and your plotting, the miraculous sovereign overarching hand of God saw to it that in spite of your scheming, His will still happened. Not even in spite, but because of your scheming. Only God can do stuff like that.

In Genesis 45:5, Joseph said, "Do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life." He reveals their culpability from a human angle and then the sovereign intervention of God from a divine angle. He said, "You sold me. You did something wrong. You sold me, but God sent me."

May you come to a point in your life where it will be said about you: "If they had known, they would not have crucified." Because we serve a God that can orchestrate all things to work together for your good.

The Inception Illustration

In the movie Inception, some people come up with a weapon that can get into your mind and plant an idea, so that when you wake up and carry out that idea, you are guilty, not them. Now when I say this, you now get it. Men wrote the Bible. God authored the Bible. Never forget that.

How God Inspired the Writers

A lot of people when they think of Bible inspiration, they think it has to be so dramatic: you are on the table with your pen and paper, then you get knocked off, and in your subconscious state your hand is just moving, and when you come back you have written 15 pages.

But the men wrote as men. The Bible writers were not all-knowing and they didn't have to fall into trances to write. So sometimes we expect inspiration to work in that way. And that's why many times we have the inclination to treat the Bible as a magic book.

Most of the New Testament books were letters. Imagine I write you a seven-page letter. Then you start reading from the middle. That's what many people are doing. And sometimes we open the Bible randomly: "Lord, anywhere I open now, you are speaking to me." And you open to: "And Judas went and hung himself." Close it. Open again. "Go and do likewise."

After you stop fooling around, you will learn to read the Bible didactically. It's not everything that is that deep. Guess what? Sometimes "up" means up.

So in the name of revelation we have made the entire Bible allegorical.

How God Disposed the Writers

In Acts 10, Peter was of the opinion that there was favoritism in salvation — that it was only the Jews who could be saved. So God walked him out of that understanding. He saw a trance three times — a sheet from heaven with animals on it and a voice saying, "Take, kill it." Peter corrected God: "No, Lord, for I cannot eat what is unclean." God said, "Don't call what I have cleansed unclean." He saw that trance three times. By the time he woke up, men from Cornelius's house were at the door. He went to Cornelius's house. And when he saw all that God did in that place, he said, "I perceive that there is no respect of persons with God, but that to all who call upon His name, He is faithful to all."

That's how God does it. If God wants you to write about something, He will make sure that by providence — where you grow up, the family to whom you belong, your education, your exposure — will put you in a position where you end up with an understanding consistent with His will when you write. So it's not magic.

You look at the Psalms and most of what you are reading are the personal experiences of a person, sincere experiences — his fears, his anxieties, his trust in the Lord. He verbalized it. And that is scripture.

If David has such a destiny, he will grow up in a family setting that looks traumatic. He's in the wilderness facing the lion and the bear. All his brothers are at home, presented to be anointed as the next king. He's in the wilderness. It looks like a trauma story. But all the wrong things he went through made him street smart, gave him a spine. That's how inspiration works. Providence works.

So don't read the Bible as a magic book, but it is undeniably divine. Don't treat it like a science textbook looking for mistakes.

When Joshua said "Sun, stand still" — he wasn't making a scientific statement. He was making a power statement. In fact, your scientific discovery makes what happened even more powerful. You thought you had found a loophole. You made the story more powerful. God honored that scientifically imprecise statement and made all the planets stop.

When we say the Bible is inerrant, we mean there are no errors of truth. What the Bible promises regarding salvation is true — that there is no other way given under heaven by which men should be saved. That is the inerrancy of the Bible.

And when we say people were inspired, what we mean is that God disposed them by exposure, by training, by real-life experiences to comment in a way consistent with His will.

2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

2 Peter 1:20-21 says, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old times by the will of men." They wrote it. It is God who worked in them to will. "It came not by the will of men, but holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

The Proof: Prophecy Fulfilled in Christ

Have you ever noticed the hermeneutical framework behind the writing of the book of Matthew? Matthew in writing his book was interpreting things and putting things side by side. He was retelling the story of how Christ was born using prophecies from the Old Testament.

• Born of a virgin — Isaiah 7:14
• Born in Bethlehem — Micah 5:2
• Flee to Egypt as a baby — Hosea 11:1
• Visit the temple for his dedication — Malachi 3:1
• John the Baptist to prepare his way — Isaiah 40:3
• Ride on a donkey — Zechariah 9:9
• Betrayed by his friend — Psalm 41:9
• The betraying friend paid 30 pieces of silver — Zechariah 11:12-13
• "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" — Psalm 22
• They divided his garments and cast lots — Psalm 22:18
• His bones not broken — Psalm 34:20
• Not left in hell to see corruption — Psalm 16:10

What you are seeing is a miracle working. How many of you have played jigsaw puzzles where you have different pieces and when you piece them together you see the bigger picture? Isaiah prophesied in parts. Micah prophesied in parts. Hosea prophesied in parts. When you put the pieces together, it forms the story of the prophecy of Christ.

Roman soldiers who don't know the Hebrew Bible — they just like the clothes and they're casting lots. Are you seeing what I'm saying? If they had known the Bible, they would have been afraid. You are part of the script.

40 different authors, in three different continents, in a span of several different millennia, writing their part of prophecy, and all of them coming together to talk about Christ.

He came to his own. His own did not believe him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the power to be called the sons of God.

These words, although written by men, are authored by God. When you stand upon the word of God, you will see what it says: He's faithful and true. He backs the integrity of His word in your life.

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. Lord, we thank you for the efficacy of your word. We believe you. We believe it and we live using this as our worldview, our lens. This is the light by which we see all things. And we thank you because you said if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth, we shall be saved. Thank you for saving us in Jesus' mighty precious name we have prayed.