Bible – The Indestructible Book

One of the undeniable proofs that the  Bible is the word of God  is the amazing saga of its  indestructibility. The Bible has survived despite a myriad  of vicious attempts to destroy it. Satan first sought  to undermine the authority of God’s word  by posing the first question ever asked “Hath God said…” His assaults have continued  unrelentingly until the present hour. Yet the devil has never been able to  vanquish the power of the word. In the days of the prophet Jeremiah,  the wicked king was infuriated at the  judgments of the scriptures  and thus ordered the inspired page to be  burned. But God overturned the king’s edict  and re-transmitted the page to Jeremiah. In 167 BC, the Maccabeans  miraculously raised a revolt against the  Greeks  and drove Antiochus and his army in  shame out of Jerusalem. In 68 BC, when Pompey routed Jerusalem,  he plundered the temple  looking for the ark of the covenant. When all he found was the sacred scrolls  of Hebrew scriptures,  he was intent on burning them  but inexplicably he relented and turned  them over to the captive priests. The Roman emperor years later – Emperor  Constantine – issued an edict of  toleration and now offered a reward for any  remaining Bibles. In 24 hours, 50 volumes of holy scriptures  were presented to the king. It was clear to all that the Bible was  uniquely protected by God’s hand. 

Satan’s assault would take on a much  more subtle approach. If the word could not be destroyed,  then keep it from the people. During the ensuing years of church  history, the Roman Catholic church  meticulously copied the pages of the  Bible by the hands of their monks,  who spent their lifetime copying the  words of God. But they were sure to keep the word in  Latin,  a language that had died with the Roman  Empire. The priests and bishops claimed  exclusive rights to the Bible  and the Pope considered it an offense  punishable by death  if anyone dared translate the Bible into  a common tongue. John Wycliffe believed the best way to  break the grievous yoke of Romanism  would be to place the Bible into the  hands of the common people. This he did by translating for the first  time in history the complete Bible into  English. He then organized and sent forth a group  of preachers called the Lollards to  teach the word of God  all across England. In Germany, Martin Luther  faced the diet of worms, willing to die  for the cause. “I am convinced  by scripture  and by plain reason  and not by Popes and councils, who have  so often contradicted themselves. My conscience  is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither  right nor safe. I cannot  and I will not  recant. Here I stand. I can do no other.  God help me. After Luther, William Tyndale  carried out the same vision for a free  Bible to all the English-speaking people printed Bibles after  Gutenberg’s printing process was given  to the world. And so it has been and forever will be  the tyrant, atheist or Pope, they try to  stamp out these sacred words.  Jesus’ words shall stand the test of time. Heaven and earth shall pass away  but my words shall not pass away. The Bible indeed  is an indestructible book.