Mark 16:9-20

Good to see everyone this morning.

Just join me in prayer, just briefly, before we get going.

! Holy Father, we thank you for our chance to be together this morning.

! You have brought us from so many different places,

so many different stages of life and things that we're dealing with.

And God, we come together to not just dwell on the things that burden us

and make us anxious that we've come to dwell on you

and to behold your glory and your word.

And God, I just ask this morning that you would use me

and to build up your people.

And God, I just thank you for this opportunity.

So, Holy Spirit, work in and through us today for Christ's sake.

And we pray that in His name. Amen.

Amen. So, Mark 16.

We're going to start in verse 9.

It says,

Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week,

He first appeared to Mary Magdalene,

from whom He cast out seven demons.

She went and reported to those who had been with Him

while they were mourning and weeping.

And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her,

they refused to believe it.

After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them

while walking along the road in the country.

And they went away and reported to others,

but they did not believe them either.

And afterward, He appeared to the eleven themselves,

and they were reclining at the table.

And He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart,

because they had not believed those who had seen Him,

that He had risen.

And He said to them,

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

He who has believed has been baptized and will be saved,

but who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

And these signs will accompany those who have believed.

In My name they will cast out demons,

they will speak with new tongues,

they will pick up serpents,

and if they drink deadly poison,

it shall not hurt them.

They will lay their hands in the sick,

and they will recover.

So then when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them,

He was received up into heaven,

and He sat down at the right hand of God.

And they went out and preached everywhere,

while the Lord worked with them

and confirmed the Word by signs that followed.

So, that's kind of what we're dealing with today.

But if you have a study Bible,

or a New American Standard Bible,

or an ESV Bible,

there probably is a footnote

connected to this passage.

If you can find it, just look at it.

And it says,

basically,

most of, or some of,

the early manuscripts do not contain

verses 9 through 20.

So, what do we do with that?

Well, we're definitely going to deal with that this morning.

But,

right off the bat,

I just kind of want to say just two things,

two goals

that I really hope and pray

that will happen this morning

for me and for you.

The first one is that we would increase

our love and our wonder

for God and His Word,

the Scripture.

and also to

bring maybe a proper ending

to the Gospel of Mark

that we've been in for a long time now

and to increase our love

and wonder for the Savior.

So, with that in mind,

I really hope that

you treasure the Word of God.

when I first became a believer,

probably around 2001,

I couldn't put it down.

It was just something

I was always wanting to be in,

something I always wanted to read

and have my mind in.

This was my first copy I had

that I started reading

when I first became a believer.

It started falling apart

and good many years ago,

my grandmother took it from me

and had it rebound

and she put

Solideo Gloria on the back of it

to God alone be the glory.

This is the new American standard.

Back in my early days

as a believer,

I was like a highlighting maniac.

I highlighted everything

before the whole book

was kind of highlighting.

There was really no point

in highlighting.

And I loved the Word of God.

I spent many nights

in the hospital

kind of battling

with life and death

with this Bible.

And I just put my face

in it every night.

And the promises

that were in it

gave me hope.

And it speaks to us today.

This is not a book

that is not relevant

to our lives,

but in fact,

most relevant.

Those of you

who have been to my house

and been in my room

and seen,

I have this on my desk,

but it's something

that my mother wrote

to me a long time ago.

She used to give

my brother and I

scripture.

I mostly got this

when I was at least

five or six,

but it has Joshua 1,

8 and 9 on it.

Do not let this book

of the law

depart from your mouth

and meditate on it

day and night

so that you may be careful

to do everything

that is written in it.

Then you will be prosperous

and succeed

and will have success.

Have I not commanded you?

Do be strong

and courageous.

Do not be terrified.

Do not be discouraged

for the Lord your God

will be with you

wherever you go.

And I'm just telling you

that this is such

a precious gift

and so few people

have any idea

about how we actually

got this in front of us.

It didn't just shoot

out of a factory

and just come before you.

It has been a process.

The stuff that we just

sang about

are you listened to

more or less.

Ancient Words

is such an awesome song

of how we got the Scripture.

So,

that's kind of the goals

for this morning.

And so,

hold that in your hand.

Hold the Word of God

in your hand

and participate

in a little activity

but just hold the Word

in your hand.

If you have it on your phone,

you can't participate

in this activity.

Just kidding.

But,

just to be encouraged

by an older brother

in the faith.

So,

when I first became

a believer,

I was introduced

to the writings

of a man

who had a huge impact

on my life.

He's dead now

but he still speaks.

And,

those of you

who love John Piper,

this is where

John Piper gets

a lot of his stuff

from.

But,

Jonathan Edwards

is one of my heroes.

And if you guys,

particularly college students

who are really into

wanting to read

some stuff

that's really scripturally

in-depth

and cause you

to want to live for God

and die for God,

get into Jonathan Edwards.

Edwards

was a Puritan pastor

in colonial America.

He went to Yale

when he was 13.

And he graduated

at the top of his class

when he was 17.

He knew Greek,

Latin,

and Hebrew.

He pastored a church

in Connecticut.

And,

in 1758,

he became

the president

of Princeton.

So,

pretty smart guy.

Encyclopedia

Britannica,

which is not

a Christian source,

I remind you.

It voted

Jonathan Edwards

the most brilliant mind

America has ever produced.

So,

all these things

are,

these stats

are impressive.

But,

those of you

who really want

to know Edwards

will see more

of his heart

rather than

just

these stats.

See,

this man

loves

and adored

the Savior.

So much so

that even after

he experienced

some rejection

from his church,

he went to be

a missionary

to the Indians

in colonial America.

And,

he loved the Savior.

And,

the things

around his mind

that you hear him

say the most

are the glory

of God.

How can I live

for the glory

of God?

So,

as you hold the Bible

in your hands

this morning,

just listen to something

he says

about the Scripture.

He says,

you all have

by you,

this,

a treasure

of divine knowledge

and that you

have your Bible

in your hands.

Therefore,

do not be

contented

with just

possessing a little

bit of this

treasure.

God has spoken

much to you

in Scripture.

Labor

to understand

as much

of what he

has said

as you can.

God has made

you all

reasonable

creatures.

Therefore,

let not

the noble

faculty of

reason

or understanding

lie

neglected.

Content

not yourselves

with divine

truth

you accidentally

gained in

conversation,

but

let it be

very much

your business

to search

for it

and that

with the

same

diligence

and labor

with which

men ought

to dig

in the

mines

for silver

or gold.

This is

such a

precious

gift

and we

need to

have our

minds

and our

hearts

in it

on a

daily

basis

and to

labor

for it

the way

that men

labor for

silver

and gold

to have

divine

truth.

As a joke,

some of you

in the earlier

days don't

remember,

I like

Jonathan

Ewers so

much that

a friend

of mine

in Ireland

bought me

this.

Jonathan

Ewers is

my own

boy.

It's a

little too

small for

me right

now,

so this

is the

only thing

I can

use it

for.

Something

like

this.

So to

keep in

mind,

we're going

to talk

about just

the Word

of God

this morning

and then

at the

end kind

of bring

it back

into the

Gospel of

Mark.

But we

need to

understand

that because

of our

sin and

because of

our rebellion

against such

a wonderful

Creator,

we don't

deserve

anything.

God could

have just

chosen to

keep us

in the

dark,

keep us

in silence,

dealing with

the consequences

of our sin,

left in

eternal

darkness,

left us to

our sin

indefinitely.

He could

have.

Y'all

understand

that when

the angels

rebelled

against God,

God did

not save

one of

them,

not one,

to the

fact that

He even

tries or

is going

to work

in the

hearts of

man,

such a

grace.

So God

could have

left us

in silence

and in

the darkness,

but yet

He spoke.

He chose

to speak

to us,

foretelling

of a Savior

to save

us,

to bring

redemption.

And so we

have to see

this book

as a

precious gift

of grace.

It really

is.

And it

hasn't come

to us

really in

an easy

way.

Martyrs,

people who

have shed

blood to

bring the

word to

us.

Scripture

is such a

gift.

So many

people in

the world

don't have

it,

as some

of you

are aware.

But Scripture

is what we

call a specific

revelation.

Nature is

general revelation.

It's enough

to tell us

that there

is a God,

that He

is powerful,

that He

should be

adored.

That's why

you can go

to many

places in

the world

and they

know that

there's a

God,

they know

that there

is a

Creator.

I always

use the

Native

Americans

as an

example.

I really

love the

Cherokee

a lot.

I go up

there a

good bit

and they

believe

that there

is an

ancient

Creator

who made

all things.

He needs

to be loved

and revered.

Out west,

the Apaches,

some of you

have heard of

the Apaches

before,

Geronimo,

Cochise,

all of them.

They believed

in Yosin

who is the

one God

and the

Father of

all men.

So that is

what general

revelation is,

but Scripture

is specific

because it

tells us

who God

is,

who we

are,

and what

we have

to do

to live

right before

Him and

to be

saved by

Him.

You can't

get that

in nature

alone.

So this

is specific

revelation.

And before

we go

further,

I know

there's a lot

of questions

that you're

going to

have that

I won't

be able to

answer this

morning.

I'm already

worried I'm

going to go

over time,

so if I

start,

Daniel Swanson

Esquire is

going to let

me know if I'm

going over time

this morning.

But just,

I'm always about

resources,

but one book

you can look at

is called

Nothing But

the Truth,

The Inspiration,

The Authority,

and The History

of the Bible

by Brian Edwards,

Nothing But

the Truth.

So,

this is called

the Word of

God,

and it's not

called that

for no reason.

God Himself

defines truth,

has inspired

truth in this

Word,

and He's

revealed it to

us,

though we were

lost and

separated from

Him.

Holy Scripture

is a witness

to us about

who God

is,

the true

knowledge of

God and how

He relates

to us.

So,

unlike any

other book,

it claims to

be the Word

of God.

In the Old

Testament alone,

that phrase is

used 2,000 times

alone.

In the New

Testament,

the term Word

of God is

used 40 times.

So,

it is an

actual book

that calls

itself the

Word of

God,

over and

over.

So,

I'm pretty

sure you

only have

like two

or three

places to

look this

morning,

but look

at 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 3:16

chapter 3,

verse 16.

Paul writing

to his

young

apprentice

Timothy.

So,

those of you

who are

around here

are no

strangers to

this verse,

but I'm

begging you

to refuse

for it to be

familiar to

you.

Don't allow

it to be

familiar.

When you

really put

your mind

on what

this says,

it will

just spin

your world

around.

So,

chapter 3,

verse 16,

says,

all scripture

is breathed

out by

God and

is profitable

for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

for training

in righteousness,

that the man

of God may

be complete,

equipped for

every good

work.

So,

amazing words.

All of

scripture is

there,

again,

for us to

know God,

to be saved

by Him,

to live

rightly before

Him.

And if you

see here,

it is all

valuable,

it is profitable,

and it is

useful.

There are

not parts

of it that

don't have

some meaning

for us

today.

It all is

relevant and

speaks just as

loud today.

But the

phrase I want

you to really

look at is

right at the

beginning.

It says,

scripture is

breathed out

by God.

And in

this text,

Paul uses

a word that

is not used

in any other

ancient Greek

text.

and it's

not used

in any

other Bible

Greek text.

So,

it's almost

saying like

he put this

word together

to really

emphasize

a point.

This is the

word

theopneustos,

God,

theopneustos,

which is where

we get our

word pneumatic

or pneumonia

from,

this idea of

breathing out.

That's what it

means.

It means that

God literally

breathed out

that God

spoke to us

in the dark.

of sin.

It expresses

the divine

origin,

inspiration,

authority of

scripture.

So,

it's a huge,

huge word

that he put

together to

emphasize a

point that

scripture has

a divine

origin.

All of it

is beneficial

for our

souls and

to help us

to know

God.

Very

similarly,

flip over

to 2 Peter.

We're doing

all eternity

now and you

can just

listen the

rest of

the time.

But,

2 Peter

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1,

2 Peter

2 Peter 1:19

chapter 1,

verse 19.

Alright,

Peter just

described the

transfiguration

and how they

were with

Christ on the

mountain.

verse 19.

He says,

And we

have the

prophetic word

more fully

confirmed,

to which you

would do

well to pay

attention,

as a lamp

shining in a

dark place,

until the day

dawns and the

morning star

rises in your

hearts.

Knowing this,

first of all,

that no

scripture,

no prophecy

of scripture

comes from

one's own

interpretation.

For no

prophecy was

ever produced

by the

will of

man.

You see

that?

Like,

man did

not do

this,

but man

spoke from

God as

they were

carried along

by the

Holy Spirit.

Look at

verse 19.

It gives

us the idea

that paints a

picture of the

darkness of a

fallen world

and sin,

right?

And that the

word of God

is the lamp

that shines

light into the

darkness.

Into the

dark places.

God spoke.

Alright?

And then it

says,

as the day

dawns,

until the day

dawns,

and the

morning star

rises.

So God's

word is like

bringing about

a new creation,

a new heaven

and a new

earth,

and it is a

process.

It is here

now and it

is now coming.

It will be

fully here one

day when Christ

returns.

But then he

goes on and he

says that this

has not come

from man.

This is something

that God has

done.

So where we get

our term,

the idea of

inspiration of

scripture.

Now, when

man wrote God's

word, it

wasn't like he

just sort of

possessed them

and they became

just a machine

and they started

writing stuff.

And they were

like out of

their minds.

God used

them.

This phrase

here where it

says carried

along by the

spirit.

It's this idea

of a leaf or

something else

like that that

could be in a

river that's being

carried along by

this flow of

the river.

And God is

involving them in

the process of

writing his word.

He used their

experiences, their

own vocabulary.

He used their

backgrounds.

Everything unique.

But God involved

them in the process

so that all the

Bible writers could

say, like David

said in 2 Samuel

23, David said,

the spirit of the

Lord speaks by

me.

His word is on

my tongue.

The God of

Israel has spoken.

The rock of

Israel has said

to me.

Right?

So God worked

in the hearts of

men and the

souls of men and

they spoke and

wrote the words

of God.

And it's amazing

because I hope

you realize that

your very life

right now,

very life,

like the

heartbeat you have,

the air in your

lungs, is being

sustained by the

word of God.

When Jesus says,

man shall not

live by bread

alone, but on

every word that

proceeds out of

the mouth of

God, it's like an

active tense of

God speaking.

All right?

So literally, in

him we live and

move and have our

being.

And in him is our

life, breath, and

everything.

He sustains us by

his word.

By his word.

So the Bible

really has no

equal.

There's no other

text in ancient or

modern literature at

all that compares to

the Scripture.

It's not written by

one man in a short

period of time who

claims that he heard

from God, like the

Koran, for instance.

But rather, the

Bible was written

over the course of

1,500 years,

roughly.

It has 66 different

documents that span

that 1,500 years,

and at least 40

different authors

that contributed to

this.

And what's crazy is

like you have that

large span of time,

all these different

men telling you the

same story, that

there is a creator,

that we have rebelled

against him, that

there is sin, that

there is a Messiah

coming.

That's crazy.

That's just simply

astounding.

And including in

that, the Bible is

composed of many

different types of

literature, law, poetry,

history, everything in

there, prophecy.

It's all there.

So, such a variety

just in the Bible

itself, literature.

And when we talk

about this idea

that no matter the

1,500 years that

God has done this,

the Bible is

astoundingly

consistent in its

themes, its message,

and its truthfulness.

Right?

That's what we refer

to by, you've heard

the term inerrancy.

We could talk about

inerrancy a long

time, but it really

just means that the

original Bible

manuscripts, okay,

the original Bible

manuscripts do not

affirm anything

contrary to fact or

truth.

Right?

That it was literally

from God and that

they wrote it down.

So, the harmony of

the Bible is, it

kind of, it blows

us away.

It is so consistent.

And those of you

who looked and really

read, like, you

learn that the Bible

is also a very real

book.

It shows the

ugliness of sin,

how there's no hero

in the Bible that

doesn't have some

serious screw-up.

Abraham sold his

wife out, at least

twice, and was a

coward and ran.

David committed

adultery, murder,

and scandal.

The Bible is a very

real book.

Very real book.

And it exposes how

needy we are, okay?

It's unlike fantasy at

all.

One writer said,

Behold, the works of

all our philosophers

with all their pompous

dictum, how mean and

contemptible they are in

comparison with the

scriptures.

It is possible that a

book at once so simple

and sublime should never

be merely the work of

man.

Another writer, he

says, the Bible is not

such a book a man would

write if he could, or

could write if he

would.

It's just not

possible.

And so today, we

could talk about the

Old and New Testament,

but just because we're

in Mark, we're going to

focus on the New

Testament particularly.

So we're just going to

look at three questions.

So, the first one won't

take as long to answer,

but what are the origins

of the New Testament

manuscripts?

Where do we get the New

Testament?

Well, for the originals,

God's own word was

written by men who were

chosen and prepared by the

Spirit of God to do

this.

The original copies of

the Old Testament were

written in the first

century, A.D., the same

time as Christ lived and

walked the earth, days of

the early, early church.

And it's not reflecting

back on events that

happened hundreds and

thousands of years ago.

It's reflecting on

recent events that

happened.

So, those of you who

study history know that

the longer the time

gaps, the more danger

you would have being

inconsistent.

And God shows his joy

and his wisdom by

choosing a large variety

of different types of

men to write.

Rabbis, tax collectors,

fishermen, doctors,

scholars, all contributed

to the New Testament.

God loves variety, and so

he elected these men.

So, we're blessed to have

this New Testament.

And God chose also to pick

one of the most descriptive

and precise of all languages

that's ever been around.

Koine Greek, most of the New

Testament written in Koine Greek,

a very precise language,

that God would choose that

language to write the

Scripture.

Pretty awesome.

So, that's a very simple

answer to that one.

What are the origins?

So, these men in the first

century wrote the New

Testament.

Okay?

So, a little bit longer here.

Number two, how do we get

our current New Testament?

Like, how do we get this?

Alright?

Because, there are no original

manuscripts left.

Alright?

We have no original copies of

any of the New Testament.

But don't be alarmed by that.

We're going to get into that.

So, there's two reasons mainly

why we don't.

The first one is the materials

that they use to write,

papyrus or papyri,

not the most durable material.

It would crack and crumble

pretty easily.

And most ancient writings

are written in that.

There's no originals that exist.

Any kind of physical mistreatment

or bad weather can destroy

papyri.

And secondly,

in the second and third

centuries particularly,

there was immense

persecution.

And not just

on the believers themselves,

but on the Scripture.

Particularly under Domitian,

Trajan, Marcus Aurelius.

They really tried to

annihilate the Scriptures.

Like, find all that we can

and burn them.

Just destroy them.

So, there was an immense

persecution

in those early centuries.

They felt like it was

their responsibility

to stamp out

Christianity

and the Scriptures.

So,

are we lost

because we don't have

any of the originals?

The answer is no,

we are not.

And why?

Because we have

copies

upon copies

upon copies

of the originals.

Alright?

If you went to

some of the college

you guys have heard

some of this stuff before,

but

I can just get over it

and hear it again.

If you went to

Washington, D.C.

And,

I love colonial history

in America,

but if you went to

Washington, D.C.

and you saw the,

you can go and see it,

the Declaration of Independence.

Right there.

I've seen it.

With these very eyes.

I've seen the

Declaration of Independence.

Yeah.

You can go and see it.

So,

let's just say

that there was

a massive fire

that occurred

and

something happened

and the Declaration

of Independence

was completely

obliterated.

So,

would we

at one time

say,

wow,

I guess we just

don't know

what the Declaration

of Independence

says anymore.

And,

and why is that

so,

you know,

absurd?

And,

the reason is

we have

copies of copies

of copies

of the Declaration

of Independence.

Tons of them.

So many

that if there was

a small difference

we could tell

because of the other

99.99% of them

say this

and not that.

So,

God

is the sovereign

preserver

of Scripture.

Y'all do,

y'all do know

that like he says,

like when I have

a purpose

that cannot be thwarted.

I've declared

the beginning

from the end.

I work all things

according to the

counsel of my will.

No man can stop me

or say,

what have you done?

This is God.

So,

even though

Satan

and the world

have sought

to destroy

the Word of God

by persecution,

listen to this,

there are roughly

5,366 copies

made of the original

New Testament

manuscript.

Alright?

So,

just as God

is the author

of Scripture,

he also is

the preserver

of Scripture

to pass down

to us

his Word.

Alright?

He moved

on the preservers

to make sure

the Scripture

stayed true

and pure

throughout history.

Some of the

early church fathers,

when you get

into the 4th century,

particularly,

the emperor

Constantine

made Christianity

kind of like

the state religion.

Maybe it wasn't

even the best thing

that could have

happened,

actually,

but probably

not,

definitely not

a Christian.

But,

he made it

legal

to follow Christ

and

when that happened,

copies of the Scripture

began to pop up

everywhere.

There was a huge

kind of resurgence.

And around

325,

the Council of Nicaea,

there was two

manuscripts,

particularly,

of the New Testament.

Alright?

The first one

is called

Synecetus

and it's actually

in a British

museum today

and it's about

350 A.D.

and it's the

entire New Testament.

Entire New Testament.

The second

is called

Vaticanus

and it's actually

at the Vatican

in Rome

325 A.D.

and it's also

the whole Bible.

So,

these two

full,

complete

New Testaments

are there

for us to see

and very close

to,

again,

the originals.

So,

think about this.

The writings

of the early

church fathers,

alright?

We're talking

just in

the second,

third,

fourth centuries.

They quote

from the New Testament,

direct quotations

from the New Testament

32,000 times.

Alright?

Their writings

are contained

in libraries,

museums,

you can go

and see it.

And there's

so many

quotations

of the New Testament

that you literally

can reconstruct

the entire

New Testament

just on their

quotations.

Pretty awesome.

And there's

over 19,000

quotations

from the

Gospel writings.

So,

the early

church fathers,

again,

preserved,

helped preserve

the New Testament.

So,

in our New Testament,

you can always

look at your

table of contents,

but what you see

in front of you,

I remember

when I was

an early

Christian,

every Bible study,

I went to

turn to

so-and-so,

and everybody

like,

I'd be like,

you know,

didn't know

where to turn.

But you look

at the

table of contents

and the New Testament

that you see

before you

was kind of

decided on.

There was a

series of

church councils

that met,

and one

particularly,

397 A.D.,

the Council

of Carthage,

they used

certain criteria

to decide

whether or not

books belonged

in the Scriptures

or not.

So,

here's these

three criteria,

and they're

very good.

You couldn't

come up

with better

criteria.

The first

one was

whether or

not the

document was

written by

an apostle

or one

in close

association

with an

apostle.

So,

he was one

or he talked

to the guy

who was

there.

So,

not from

this guy,

from this guy,

from that guy.

Very close

to the

knowledge

itself.

Secondly,

whether or

not the

document was

recognized as

authoritative

by the early

church.

meaning that

if there was

some crazy

writing out

there,

that the

apostles could

have said,

like,

that writing,

stay away

from it.

This guy,

stay away

from it.

And did they

use those,

did they

affirm each

other?

Peter and

Paul actually

talk about

each other

in their

letters.

They say,

what Peter

says,

what Paul

says.

They affirm

the truth

back and

forth.

And thirdly,

a good

blanket one

here,

whether or

not the

document

conformed to

the high

standards and

truths taught

already by

recognized

scripture.

Is it

consistent with

what we know

is scripture?

Alright,

so from what we

know about the

character of God

from the Old

Testament,

what we know

about the

writings of

John and

Mark and

guys who

were there,

is it

consistent?

Does it

tell the same

story?

right?

So those are

great criteria,

and that's

how you get

your New

Testament.

And so

just for

fun,

this is

definitely,

this is just

where I nerd

out,

so sorry,

it's just,

I'm a history

guy,

and this is

kind of where

I nerd out.

But the

New Testament

manuscripts

compared to

other ancient

writings from

the ancient

world,

there's nothing

that compares

to them.

There really

isn't.

Both in

their uniformity

and consistency,

all right?

So you

should just

know that

we have no

copies of

any original

ancient writing,

none whatsoever.

So let's

just take a

well-known

one,

Homer's

Iliad,

what was

written in

the archaic

period of

Greece,

800 B.C.

is when he

was supposedly

penned the

Iliad,

all right?

So,

but the

earliest copy

we have of

the Iliad

is from

400 B.C.

So there's

a 400-year

time gap

between when

he wrote

his original

and the

ones we

actually have

today.

And then

there's only

643 copies

of it,

all right?

Herodotus,

who wrote

about the

Persian Wars,

you know,

Leonidas,

Thermopylae,

all of that,

Marathon,

he wrote in

480 B.C.

And the

earliest copy

we have of

Herodotus is

in 900 A.D.,

the

1300-year

gap,

and there's

only eight

copies.

Plato,

from the

classical

Greek period,

400 B.C.

is when he

supposedly wrote

his stuff.

The earliest

copy we have

is 900 A.D.,

again,

a 1300-year

gap,

and there's

only seven

copies of

Plato.

And so,

compare that

to the New

Testament.

The largest

time gap,

it was written

around 50 to

100 A.D.,

the New

Testament,

and we

have anywhere

from 50 to

100 years

in the time

gaps.

It's not

hundreds,

not thousands.

The New

Testament has

the shortest

time gaps

between the

originals and

the ones we

have today,

so you're

looking at

a huge

difference

there,

and there's

5,366

copies of

it,

which dwarf

all the

others put

together.

643 copies

of the

Ilias,

nothing

compared to

5,366

copies of

the New

Testament.

So,

think about

that.

So,

these Greek

manuscripts

that we

have today

are from

the 2nd

and 3rd

century.

Christ

walked the

earth in

the 1st

century.

That is a

tiny,

tiny time

gap.

So,