Hey friends, we just spent the week talking about the Bible, which is a miraculous work in and of itself. Think about it…no other book in the world has survived many attempts to destroy it, yet year-after-year continues to be the #1 best-seller in the world!

Just as impressive, the Bible has very accurately predicted things that have already proven to be true, and many more prophecies of which we are assured of fulfillment. It gives us guidance and direction, hope and encouragement, and clear instruction about how to live life.

Because of the Bible’s veracity, we know we can trust it from the first verse to the last…and we know for certain God has not forgotten His people (who preserved His Word), nor has the church taken Israel’s place. Enjoy a few quite moments considering our amazing Word of God!

"Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?" (Rom 3:1-3). The Protestant Reformed tradition puts great emphasis on Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone as the highest and final authority in all matters of faith and practice), and on the importance of exegeting the Scriptures in their original languages (the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament). I find it ironic, therefore, that many within the Reformed tradition actually believe that the Church replaced Israel considering the fact that it was unbelieving Israel who faithfully preserved the Hebrew Scriptures. For nearly a thousand years, the Western Church had studied and preserved the Bible in Latin. It was the Jewish people who not only gave the Reformers the Hebrew Bible, but even taught them how to read it. If history has anything at all to teach us it is this: God never revoked Israel's calling to preserve the oracles of God... even in their unbelief. The Protestant return to the Hebrew Bible, therefore, serves as proof, not that the Church replaced Israel, but rather, that "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom 11:29).