Several years ago, I read an article that listed the Holy Bible as the best seller every year for decades. The next statistic was really interesting. It stated that there were more Bibles stolen each year than the next best seller. As of 2021, one source estimated that since the invention of the printing press 1500 years ago by Gutenberg Press, the total number of Bibles that have been printed ranged between 5 and 7 billion copies.
This past weekend I was informed that there is a certain ministry in America that is currently raising funds to provide 1 million copies of the Bible to an unnamed closed country, where the gospel church is growing rapidly. Today there are several Bible societies which have accelerated the availability of the Bible.
Many of us have read a story of Corrie Ten Boom who smuggled Bibles into countries behind the Iron Curtain. I remember reading where, instead of hiding the Bibles down under the contents of her suitcase and luggage, she decided to trust God and place the Bibles on top. Miraculously, the border guards never saw them and allowed her to pass and subsequently distribute the Bibles.
Several years ago I was visiting with a missionary in an international ministry. He related stories of Bibles being distributed but since there were so few compared to the number of people, they would tear the pages out of the Bible and distribute them among the people. God will not be denied!
God, in his infinite wisdom, and his desire for all people to be saved, ordained the development of the Holy Scriptures. It is the means by which men, women and children receive salvation. It’s not just a book of words and philosophies, but “the inspired word.” “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (I Tim. 3.16,17). God breathed life into Adam, and he breathed life into his word. He does not leave any stone unturned, so that man will have no excuse.
Peter, while addressing Christ’s Majestic Glory, and the prophetic word of God, wrote this. “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1.19,20).
Do you see how serious God was and is about you, me and the world to know his eternal truths, especially about the gospel of his Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God. Before Jesus ascended back to the right hand of the throne of God, he let his disciples know that he was not leaving them alone but would send a Helper. That Helper is the Holy Spirit. And one of his most significant objectives is to reveal the truth about Jesus and God’s kingdom. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (Jn. 14.16,17).
God has gone to the extremes to make his word available, and even sent his Spirit to interpret it for us. It’s what we need for victorious living. I want to ask you, and me; are we as serious about his word as God is? The Psalmist puts it correctly. “But his (man) delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (vs. 1.20).