For the people of this world, the Bible has been—and can still be—a rejected book, an ordinary book, or a living book. What kind of book is the Bible to you?
THROWN INTO THE FIRE, YET NOT DESTROYED
One man for whom the Bible was a rejected book was Jehoiakim, king of Judah, the son of Josiah. Of course, at that time the Bible was not yet finished; it was still being written. Even so, its texts were no less holy. When King Jehoiakim heard part of the Bible, he cut it into pieces and threw it into the fire (Jeremiah 36:20-28,32).
20 After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. 21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. (Jeremiah 36:20-23)
When King Jehoiakim heard the words of God spoken by the prophet Jeremiah and written down by the scribe Baruch, he grew angry, because they were not pleasing to him, and he threw the scroll into the fire. This was a horrifying act of blasphemy, but the witnesses present there did not grasp it.
24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. (Jeremiah 36:24-25)
Despite the pleas and appeals of some of those present, King Jehoiakim burned the scroll with the words of God. He even wished to silence the prophet’s mouth forever, but he did not succeed, because God preserved him.
26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them. (Jeremiah 36:26)
Of course, an earthly king cannot stop God or the writing of God’s Word.
27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. … 32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them. (Jeremiah 36:27-28,32)
Throughout history there have always been people who tried to destroy the Bible. But they have never succeeded.
GOD’S WORD IS NOT CHAINED
While in prison in Rome, shortly before he was executed, the apostle Paul wrote the following (2 Timothy 2:8-9):
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. (2 Timothy 2:8-9)
Despite his sufferings, despite his prison and his chains, despite the injustices, the apostle Paul is an optimist. Why? Because he knows the power of the Word. He himself, as a man, can be chained—but not the Word of God. It cannot be isolated or silenced. It is invincible. Why? Because it is God’s, because it is eternal. In Isaiah 40:6-8 the prophet hears the words of God and passes them on to us:
6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)
To receive the Bible as the Word of God, we must humble ourselves. Without it we have no answers to the fundamental questions of life. Without it we cannot know God. We must humble ourselves in order to receive the revelation that He gives us about Himself in His Word.
THE MIRACLE OF THE ARMENIAN BIBLE
The translation of the Bible into modern Bulgarian began in 1859 and was completed in 1871—it took twelve years. It was led by the American missionary Elias Riggs, who invited as his coworkers Christodoulos Kostovich, Dr. Albert Long, and our well-known writer Petko R. Slaveykov. The first Bible in the modern Bulgarian language was printed in Constantinople with the help of the British and American Bible Societies.
Before translating the Bible into Bulgarian, Dr. Riggs had translated the Bible into Armenian (1845-1852), and later into Turkish (1873-1878). It is told that at a jubilee gathering, somewhere around 1882, in token of respect for him as a translator and a servant of God, Dr. Riggs was given one copy each of the three Bibles he had translated—the Armenian, the Bulgarian, and the Turkish. It is interesting what happened to one of them—the Armenian one. Dr. Riggs gave it to an Armenian believer, who took it to Armenia. This Bible was held in special honor in her family, since it was in modern, understandable Armenian, and besides that, on its first page there was an autograph from its translator—Dr. Riggs. Especially read and loved, over the years it became a family heirloom.
In 1915, during the Turkish massacres in Armenia, in a moment of flight, this woman snatched up Dr. Riggs’s Bible, wrapped it in white cloth, and fled from the Turks to the neighboring village. There she entered the local church, where—as in the days of the Batak massacres in Bulgaria—all the local people had gathered and were waiting to be burned alive. They spent a terrible, sleepless night. Throughout the night they read from Dr. Riggs’s Bible, which this woman had brought, and they prayed. In the morning the commander of the irregular troops came, opened the door, and let them go. He told them: “During the night we tried several times to set the church on fire, but the fire kept going out. We thought that we must be doing something wrong, something Allah wants us to stop. So we are letting you go; go your way.” In a spiritual way the people understood that this miracle of deliverance was owed to their prayer for salvation and their reading of Dr. Riggs’s Bible. It was as if God preserved them for the sake of that Bible.
I do not know whether it happened exactly this way, but I am convinced that God saw the devotion of these people, their hunger for His Word, heard their prayers, and intervened. The God of whom the Bible speaks to us is a God who hears prayers; He is a God of miracles! But these miracles happen only to those who believe in God and in the Bible. Despite the power and grace hidden in this Book of books, throughout history there have always been people who persecuted it—people like Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other persecutors of God’s Word. Why did they do it? Because they were blinded and did not see the Bible in all its power, might, and beauty. How do you see it?
UNINTELLIGIBLE AND DULL?
Perhaps for you the Bible is not a bad book. Perhaps for you it is simply one book among many. Perhaps you just do not understand it. You read the text, but you cannot understand it or grasp its application to your life. I want to tell you that if you have not believed in Jesus Christ with all your heart, this is normal. For the Bible cannot be understood without the illumination of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 the apostle Paul says:
14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Not only can the natural man not grasp spiritual things without the help of the Holy Spirit, but in addition to this, Satan, “the god of this world,” blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot believe the gospel and be saved (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
HOW CAN I, UNLESS SOMEONE EXPLAINS IT TO ME?
In Acts 8:26-35 we read the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch:
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. (Acts 8:26-28)
Notice that this man was devout. He was highly educated, held an important post in the state, and was responsible for an enormous amount of money—he was set over all the treasury of Queen Kandake—which means he was trustworthy. He had even come to worship Yahweh in the temple in Jerusalem. He had obtained a copy of the sacred writings and was reading the book of the prophet Isaiah. God had noticed that his heart was seeking God, and so He sent Philip to him.
29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. (Acts 8:29-30)
The Ethiopian dignitary was reading aloud. Philip heard him and asked, “You read well, but do you also understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian, among his other qualities, was also honest. He admitted:
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. (Acts 8:31)
What was the eunuch reading?
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” (Acts 8:32-34)
If a person does not know about Jesus, he would find it very hard to understand this passage. It speaks of someone who bears his death without complaint, dies, and at the same time has a countless posterity. Who is He?
35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. (Acts 8:35)
After Philip’s explanation, things became clearer for the eunuch. He understood that this text is a prophecy about the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And then, in an instant, the Bible came alive before his eyes.
When the Holy Spirit illumines the Bible for us with heavenly light, it comes alive. Notice that it was precisely the Holy Spirit who instructed Philip to accompany the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch. In 1 Corinthians 2:12 it says:
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. (1 Corinthians 2:11-12)
When we sit down to read the Bible or to listen to the Word, we should always pray with the words of Psalm 119:18:
18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. (Psalm 119:18)
A LIVING BOOK
When it is looked upon with the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Bible comes alive. And this is so because it is a living book. In Hebrews 4:12 it says:
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
The word of God is alive and active, especially when we receive it “not as a human word, but as the word of God,” and as such we let it work in our hearts. In 1 Thessalonians 2:13 the apostle Paul says:
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
The Bible is not a dead book but a living one, one that exerts a positive influence on every culture and every person who lets its message into their heart.
Many years ago a captain anchored his ship in the bay of a beautiful island in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. He had heard that the local inhabitants, who had previously been cannibals and fed on human flesh, had now become very friendly and were interested in trade. While the captain was talking with the chief of the tribe, he noticed a large old Bible in his hands. He laughed condescendingly and said to him, “Surely you do not believe in that old book. Its time has long since passed, and now it is of no use to anyone.”
The chief glanced at the strong armed warriors who stood around him, then smiled under his mustache and turned to the captain with these words: “Captain, you may think that this book is of no use to anyone, but what you do not know is that it is of use precisely to you. If this ‘old book,’ as you call it, had not changed us and our way of life, by now you would already be in our cooking pot, being prepared as a sacrifice.”
The missionary who years before had first brought the Bible to this island died a martyr’s death, but his self-sacrifice was not in vain. The seed of the gospel that he sowed among this wild tribe produced its fruit. Thanks to the working of God’s Word in the lives of these cannibals, they ceased to be such and stopped feeding on the flesh of their enemies.
The Bible is a living book—a book that can change every human life, including yours.
WHAT KIND OF BOOK IS THE BIBLE TO YOU?
What kind of book is the Bible to you—rejected, ordinary, or living? If it is still something foreign or unintelligible to you, then humble yourself, pray for God’s illumination, and find someone who can “guide you along its pages.” Then you will be amazed at the life and wisdom that flow from it, and for you it will become a lighthouse that points the way of salvation and a faithful companion in your life.