Episode 202 – Eternal Information – Part 10 – Supernatural Information Part 3
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script:
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram ...
Genesis, chapter 14, verse 18, New International Version

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VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We’re so happy you’re able to join us here today on Anchored by Truth. For several episodes now we have been working on a series we call “Eternal Information.” We’ve covered a lot of ground so far in this series. If you have missed some of the earlier episodes we encourage you to go to our website crystalseabooks.com where you can hear them. Today, in the studio today we have RD Fierro. RD is an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, what is the big idea that we have wanted to get across during this series. In other words, why spend so much time on a show devoted to the Bible to talk about information?
RD: Well, before we get into our discussion I would also like to welcome everyone to today’s episode. At Anchored by Truth we have one central focus – to help people discover or rediscover a basic truth: the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. That truth is unfortunately disappearing in contemporary America and it’s having a devastating impact on our culture. Every other year since 2014 Ligonier Ministries in conjunction with Life Way Research has conducted a survey to explore what Americans think about God and the Bible. Their most recent survey and the results have, sadly, shown the continuation of some alarming trends – especially as it pertains to how Americans view the Bible.
VK: And anyone who wants to see the results for themselves can view them at “thestateoftheology.com.” [THE STATE OF THEOLOGY dot com]
RD: Yes. There is a lot of valuable information that comes out of the survey but one item that particularly caught my attention and is directly pertinent to what we do on Anchored by Truth was the result of this question. The researchers asked people whether they agreed or disagreed with this statement: “The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but it not literally true.”
VK: In other words, the researchers were asking people whether they believed the Bible was true. That’s really important to note. They weren’t asking whether people BELIEVED in the Bible. They were asking people whether they thought the Bible was true. This goes directly to the whole reason we do Anchored by Truth. You have often said that the church in the west made a disastrous turn years ago when Christians began insisting that we had a right to our beliefs but we stopped insisting that the Christian faith was true.
RD: Yes. And the survey results are indicative of the consequences of the western church receding from an insistence that the Bible is true and teaches truth. The percentage of U.S. adults agreeing with the statement “The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true” went from 41 percent who agreed with it in 2014 to 53 percent in 2022. So, the percentage of U.S. adults who accept the Bible as being literally true declined by 12 percent in 8 years. Perhaps even more alarming is that the percentage of adults who would be classified as evangelical and who agreed with the statement rose from 17 percent to 26 percent – a 9 percent increase.
VK: And evangelicals, of course, are the group where you might expect that only 1 or 2 percent would agree with a statement that denies the truth of the Bible. Where would they derive the content of the faith they claim to espouse if not from the Bible? But if that 26 percent of evangelicals doesn’t believe the Bible is literally true why would they put any trust in the faith the Bible describes? I’m not sure which facet of the survey results is more alarming – the fact that a majority of U.S. adults now don’t believe in the truth of the Bible or the fact that over a quarter of evangelicals now doubt the source of their faith.
RD: Obviously, both facts are alarming and they are a graphic reason that those of us who know the Bible IS the word of God must redouble our efforts to spread that message. And we must ensure that we are prepared to answer the questions that will inevitably arise when we proclaim that the Bible is true – not just a source of comfort or inspiration in our lives – but literally true. So, back to your original question – the reason that we have been delving into our study of information is to help people have yet another line of evidence that our universe as we see it couldn’t exist without God.
VK: And, the basic line of reasoning that we are following is really pretty straightforward. The presence of information always indicates the presence of intelligence. And we see the existence of information all about us in the visible universe especially in living creatures. The nucleotide sequence in DNA is very clear evidence that information is present in how cells are built and operate. So, information must have been present to create life. And if the presence of natural information indicates the presence of natural intelligence then if we find any supernatural information then we would have to conclude that somewhere there is the presence of supernatural intelligence.
RD: And we do have one very clear repository of supernatural information that we know about – the Bible. And we have spent our last couple of episodes of Anchored by Truth discussing the supernatural character of the information that we find in the Bible. We started out by noting that the Bible does contain a great deal of what might be designated as natural information – the same kind of information that can be derived from many books. The Bible contains information about natural and human history, advice about raising children, managing money, or building stable societies, and practical guidance on everything from avoiding dangerous sexual or addictive behavior and maintaining positive relationships with our neighbors.
VK: And we called this kind of information, “pragmatic information.” But we noted that even if we considered just this pragmatic information the Bible is remarkable isn’t it? One thing we know for sure is that Bible has been cited by tens of thousands, and probably millions, of people as making a positive difference in their lives. Countless people have testified that Bible saved them from addition, disgrace, and sometimes suicide when they picked it up and read it. And the Bible has done this across the centuries and across cultures and nations. So, even if the only evidence of the Bible’s character that we had came from the pragmatic information it contains the Bible would be an amazing book. But in addition to the pragmatic information the Bible also contains an unequaled record of fulfilled prophecy.
RD: Right. So, alongside the pragmatic information the Bible contains there is also a large volume of prophetic information. And while it might have been possible for a natural man to record history or even give wise advice there is no way for men to reliably know the future, but the Biblical prophets did. To be an authentic Biblical prophet you had to be 100% accurate. This means that those prophets that have books in the Bible had to have received enough short term prophecies so that the people could verify the authenticity of the prophet but most also received longer term prophecies many of which were fulfilled hundreds of years after the prophecy was given. And we have reliable records that assure us even today of the prophets’ accuracy.
VK: I know that we’ve given some examples of fulfilled prophecies in previous episodes but how about if you give us another one just to illustrate the point that you are making.
RD: The prophet Daniel wrote the book that goes by his name in the 6th century BC. Quite likely Daniel finished his book sometime earlier than 530 B.C. Early in his book Daniel, who was a Jewish captive of the Babylonians, interpreted a dream for the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar and told him that a series of 4 great empires would control Israel, the Middle East, and much of the surrounding territory. We now know that the empires Daniel referred to were the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Daniel, in fact, gave the names of the first three empires and he lived to see the transition from the Babylonians to the Medo-Persians. Because of the linguistic and semantic characteristics of Daniel we can be very sure he wrote hundreds of years earlier than the documents we call the Dead Sea Scrolls which date from the 3rd century BC forward. The Roman general Pompey the Great didn’t conquer Jerusalem until 63 BC so we can be very sure hundreds of years elapsed between Daniel giving the prophecy and the final empire gaining control of Israel.
VK: In other words Daniel’s prophecy about the 4 great empires is just one more example of the prophetic information the Bible contains. And while we might be able to see how wise and careful men could produce much of the Bible’s pragmatic record only men who had been supernaturally inspired could produce its prophetic record. So, the Bible’s record of successful, fulfilled prophecy is strong evidence that it was prepared under the superintending direction of a supernatural source. Those of us who believe in God’s inspiration of the Biblical writers have no problem explaining how this record of fulfilled prophecy was produced. But anyone who denies the existence of God or God’s role in the preparation of the Bible have to come up with alternative explanations. And they do but that is not what we want to talk about today. You said that today you want to go into a 3rd line of evidence that demonstrates the supernatural inspiration that would have been necessary to create the Bible.
RD: Yes. In addition to the pragmatic and prophetic information that the Bible contains it also contains what you might call interconnected information. This interconnected information is unparalleled in any other book.
VK: What do you mean by interconnected information.
RD: There is an old, but well-known couplet that says, “the Old is in the New revealed. The New is in the Old concealed.”
VK: Ok. I want to be sure I heard that right before we continue. “The Old is in the New revealed. The New is in the Old concealed.” Right?
RD: Right. It’s a poetic and clever way of saying that the Old Testament and the New Testament display a supernatural connectedness. Many people think that because the Old Testament is called “old” that somehow we can dispense with it, do away with it. Nothing could be further from the truth. We can’t fully understand the New Testament without the Old Testament. And that is sort of easy to see. It’s not uncommon for later writers to base some of what they are writing on things that came earlier.
VK: At this stage we’re all familiar with sequels in movies and television. In most of the “star-something” sagas you can’t understand the latest installment unless you have seen the prior ones – and sometimes you have to have seen more than one to fully get what the characters in the latest thing are doing. I suppose that is the producer’s intent?
RD: For TV and movie producers, that is their intent. And that shows you something. The TV and movie producers know you can base a storyline on something that has already been written. But within the Old and New Testament the mutual dependency goes both ways. A lot of times we don’t fully understand Old Testament events or writings until we see what happened during New Testament times especially in the life of Jesus. And that’s something that man could never do. Only God could have something occur or be relevant in the history of the 1st century AD that then actually clarified what had happened centuries or millennia earlier.
VK: I think we’re going to need an example of what you’re thinking about.
RD: Well, let’s take a look at one of the most mysterious and enigmatic figures in the Bible, Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek is usually interpreted to mean “King of Righteousness.” He appears in person only once in the Bible and that appearance is in the 1st book of the Bible, Genesis.
VK: Our opening verse, Genesis, chapter 14, verse 18 reads “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram …” This verse describes an encounter between the patriarch Abraham and Melchizedek after Abraham had rescued his nephew Lot who had been kidnapped by some raiders. Lot had been captured by an army led by a confederation of 4 kings. When Abraham heard about Lot’s kidnapping he assembled a force of his own, chased the invaders, and defeated them. On the way back to where he had settled Abraham apparently went near the city of Salem. Most commentators think the city was an early version of Jerusalem.
RD: Exactly. So, Melchizedek, who is the “king of Salem,” has heard about Abraham’s achievement and success and goes out from Salem to celebrate Abraham’s victory. In the course of that celebration Melchizedek pronounces a blessing on Abraham.
VK: Genesis, chapter 14, verses 19 and 20 tell us Melchizedek said “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils he had obtained when he recovered Lot.

RD: So, this incident occurred during the life of Abraham who lived almost 2,000 years before Jesus was born. Moses included the reference to Melchizedek when he wrote the first five books of the Bible which he did around 500 years later. And it’s the only mention of Melchizedek in the entire Old Testament until God inspired King David to write the 110th Psalm which was around 1000 B.C. or another 500 years after that. I should emphasize that right now I’m just using round numbers for the purpose of making the larger point.
VK: You’re referring to Psalm 110, verse 4 which reads “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’”
RD: Yes. And those are the only 2 references to Melchizedek in the entire Old Testament – 2 very short verses. And David’s reference in Psalm 110 would have been confusing to his readers. David said that someone who David calls “his Lord” in verse 1 of the psalm will be a “priest forever” in the “order of Melchizedek.” All commentators agree that the “Lord” David referred to was the coming and prophesied Messiah. The Jews in both David’s time and Jesus time regarded the 110th psalm as being a Messianic psalm. So, when David said that the Messiah would be a priest that wouldn’t have been confusing to the people. But, and this a big “but,” at the time David composed the psalm Israel had a well-established priesthood that conformed to the Mosaic Law. And in order to be a priest you had to have been a member of the tribe of Levi who was one of the 12 sons of the patriarch Jacob. The Levitical priesthood was described in detail in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Well, there is no way Melchizedek was a member of the tribe of Levi – because Melchizedek lived 2 generations before Jacob was born.
VK: We often hear in the Bible the phrase “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Jacob was Abraham’s grandson. Levi was one of Abraham’s great-grandsons. Abraham had interacted with Melchizedek even before Isaac was even born. So, there is no way Melchizedek could have been a priest according to regulations established for the Levitical priesthood. Melchizedek was not, and could not be, a part of the tribe of Levi. He lived long before Levi was born. David saying the coming Messiah would be a priest “in the order of Melchizedek” would have been confusing to the people. In David’s day there was no priesthood “in the order of Melchizedek.” The priesthood would have been in the order of Levi. So, it’s fair to say David’s reference to Melchizedek in Psalm 110 would have made very little sense to the people of his day – or to the Jews who lived for the next thousand years because there was no priesthood “in the order of Melchizedek” during all that time.
RD: Right. And we don’t get any more information about why these two rather strange and oblique references to Melchizedek were included in the Old Testament until we get to the book of Hebrews in the New Testament – and then the mystery is clarified. The writer of Hebrews, which many people think was the Apostle Paul, makes 4 references to Melchizedek. So, it is not until 1,000 years after David wrote Psalm 110 that we find out why God inspired him to write that seemingly strange line. Paul explains that Jesus was in fact a priest even though Jesus did not come from the tribe of Levi.
VK: Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. As far back as Genesis, chapter 49, verse 10, the Jews had known that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. Near his death when Jacob was blessing his sons Jacob said, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.” The “scepter not [departing] from Judah” was well accepted to mean that a descendent of Judah would be a king whose kingdom would never end – in other words the Messiah.

RD: Yes. So, Jacob had said the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah and David had said the Messiah would have an eternal priesthood but that priesthood would be one that resembled Melchizedek’s priesthood. The Messiah’s priesthood would not be part of the Levitical priesthood. But until Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected no one knew how these two requirements could both be satisfied. But the Apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews explained how this was possible. The Jews’ genealogical records established that Jesus was a “son of David” and therefore came from the tribe of Judah. That part was easy. But Paul tells us that Jesus’ priesthood came from an older form of priesthood, one that preceded and superseded the Levitical priesthood – the priesthood of Melchizedek. And Melchizedek is the only person in the entire Bible besides Jesus who is identified as both a king and a priest.
VK: So, it wasn’t until Paul – or whoever wrote the book of Hebrews in the New Testament – explained how Jesus perfectly fulfilled David’s prophecy in Psalm 110 that people would have understood why David had written that one verse. And there’s no way the writer of Hebrews could go back and create those lines in the Old Testament. They were a thousand years old.
RD: Yes. And Paul couldn’t change the historical facts that were necessary to make Jesus’ life fit the requirements for the Messiah. The Jews had very complete genealogical records. They knew what tribe everyone came from. And Paul couldn’t just create a fictional predecessor that would serve to explain how Jesus who was not from the priestly tribe could legitimately be considered a priest. But the writer of Hebrews was inspired to reconcile the historical facts of Jesus life with the conditions that had been established in the Old Testament. Only, an omniscient, omnipotent God could put all that interconnected information into a unified record. This is just one example of the hundreds that show that Bible contains a significant body of information that connects the two testaments. This not only helps illustrate that the Bible possesses remarkable unity but also that only a supernatural mind could have planned and guided the revelation.
VK: This sounds like a time to go to God in prayer. Today let’s listen to a prayer of adoration for our God who created everything out of nothing except for His own unmatched power and creative decrees.
---- PRAYER FOR ADORATION OF THE CREATOR
VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!”
(Bible Quote from the New International Version)
Genesis, chapter 14, verse 18, New International Version