Waiting for human knowledge to catch up to the Bible – and why we still need more
Preaching from John 5 recently I was reminded that there was significant contention about the existence of the pool mentioned in verse 2. The details given are specific, namely ‘by the Sheep gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades’. Without visual confirmation, some historians and archaeologists dismissed it as a legend, while others insisted that the Bible was historically reliable.
Eventually, archaeology confirmed the site. Here’s a fun article from the New Zealand Herald – fun mainly because it’s dated 1888 – referencing the original discovery. Although my understanding (read here for instance) is that ‘it has taken more than 100 years for archaeologists to accurately identify and interpret the site’. But what was doubted is now established. And that discovery illustrates this simple point: again and again, human knowledge must catch up to what the Bible has already said.
The Limits of Human Knowledge
Even in an age gushing with information, there is so much we don’t know. Or as a preacher, in the context of Ecclesiastes, recently said: ‘The more we know, the more we realise how much we don’t know.’ Knowledge grows but so does our understanding of our limitations.
That should shape how we approach the Bible. For sceptics especially, humility is essential. Many sceptics dismiss the Bible because some details seem unverified or unlikely. But history has repeatedly shown that our lack of knowledge is not the same as the Bible being wrong. This is an ancient book that long predates us – and if history is any guide – will long outlast us. It has endured while countless other works have faded. And it has stood the test of time, not only as history, but as a text that transforms lives.
To dismiss it outright is to risk arrogance. To read it carefully is to be wise.
But we need more!
The Old and New Testaments of the Bible are rich with historical, cultural, anthropological insight. But we need care here. The Bible is not primarily a textbook of history or science. While those details often align with what we discover over time, they are somewhat secondary to a larger focus. To put it another way: they support the story; they are not the story itself.
Instead, the heart of Scripture is its revelation of God himself – who he is, how he has acted and acts. And indeed linked: who we are. But this knowledge takes his help to truly understand. Facts alone, including the discovery of theBethesda pool, are not enough to bridge the gap between us and God. There is an issue that science and history and religion can’t fix.
The Scriptures detail a God who comes to us, within human history, to make himself known to us for salvation. Because he did so, we can expect many historical and geographic details to match what we know and will know. But again, they are secondary to the emphasis that, besides creation, God’s greatest historical work was in the coming of Jesus.
In John 5, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath as a sign that he could bring the greatest healing we needed: of our relationship with God, and for us to find true rest. But knowing that is a gift from God, by his Spirit – one that mere human knowledge can’t acquire on its own.
An invitation
This year, I want to encourage you to dive into the Bible, as a true and trustworthy word. It will take work, especially to wrestle with its genres and claims and challenges. But as you do so, expect to be humbled, confronted, and drawn to the life it reveals in Jesus – the one to whom the Old Testament points, and from whom the New Testament flows.
But as we do this, remember that the true knowledge we need is ultimately God’s gift. But rest assured, as Hebrews 4:12 proclaims:
the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Bible is not merely a record of the past, or some prophecy of the future. It is God’s still active speech – still searching us, still shaping us, still transforming us. And for that, we always need his work in us, and grace to us.