Ancient history is a giant puzzle, none of which, according to modern experts, is certain. Yet, the Bible is often found wanting in judging it according to the (shifting) reconstructions of archaeology and ancient chronologies. The time benchmarks of the ancients, however, were not infallible (much more so scholars’ piecing them together), and they, in fact, often contradict themselves.
Liberals long ago succumbed to Satan’s temptation, ‘Yea, hath God said?’ (Gen. 3:1) and denied Scripture to be true in all of its historical details. Most evangelical scholars today, while defending the inerrancy of the autographs of Scripture as they were originally written, yet still believe that significant chronological details have been forever lost through the transmission of Scripture into our hands, contrary to our Savior’s promise: ‘Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law…” (Mt. 5:18)
It is time to boldly assert with the apostle Paul, “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4). One of the first Christian chronologists, Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (c. AD 412), said, “All times and years are made known to them who are willing to obey the truth.”
While there are some challenging issues to sort out regarding the chronological statements that Scripture makes, yet the simple and faithful Christian may rest his faith upon God’s Word, having full assurance that the ‘times and seasons’ that Scripture records are true, as surely as God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).
The Bible believing resources below will be a great aid and guide through this vast subject-field.