The Bible's Value

 How valuable is your Bible to you?  If you were stranded on a desert island, would it be something you would choose to have with you?  That question cropped up again this summer as rumours about the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs hit the press.  Whereas in the past the fact that you would have the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare was a given, the Corporation is under pressure to drop the first of these to keep in line with our increasingly secular society.  Though the BBC denied that this change was under consideration, I guess only time will tell. 

    One of the questions that the Desert Island Discs debate fuelled was; What makes the Bible so important?  Lots of so called experts contributed their ideas to the discussion.  Even arch secularist Richard Dawkins is on record as saying that due to the impact the King James Bible has had on our language, culture and history, to not know the Bible make us little more than barbarians.  Many of the points that were made were ones with which we would agree.  The Bible is a great book.  It contains marvelous stories of all sorts, wonderful poetry, history that is proving more and more reliable as archeological finds increasingly prove its accuracy, and a moral code that still forms the basis of most of civilization.  But is that all there is to say?  If so, then one day the Bible will be outdated.  Other stories will be written, and more fine poetry will be composed.  As ideas change, a new set of laws, more suitable to the tastes of modern mankind will emerge, and so the Bible will no longer merit our consideration anywhere, let alone on a desert island.

    But the Bible is more than a great book.  It claims for itself much more.  Indeed it claims to be the Word of God.  The Apostle Paul wrote;

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16) 

If it is the Word of God, then it immediately transcends anything written by even the greatest of men.  That will also mean that we need to bring every area under the wisdom of its pages.  Only then can we hope to live life as God intended for us.

    But the Bible is also important because it is ultimately about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and not just a handbook to life on earth.  He told the religious leaders of His day; “You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39).  If we want eternal life the answer as to how to attain it is found in God’s Word. It is found in no other book.  But that is because the Bible from beginning to end points us to the Lord Jesus. He came into the world to deal with the problem of our sin that the Bible is equally honest about.  Outside of Jesus we must face an eternity separated from God – forever lost.  But when we commit ourselves to Him, confess our sin, and trust in the sacrifice He made on Calvary, then all our sins can be forgiven and we can enjoy heaven – more of a paradise than any desert island can be!

Indentity Crisis

“Don’t you know who I am?” is the famous line that celebrities often use to get them out of a sticky situation, or to get them into somewhere they initially are excluded from.  But in one of the funniest stories of the last few weeks, one famous face had to use the line in a most unexpected situation.

    Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was minding his own business walking in the grounds of Buckingham Palace when he was challenged by armed police who demanded to know his identity and the reason why he was there.  According to some reports, he was made to lie on the ground whilst he protested that this was his mum’s house, and he could go for a walk in her garden if he wanted to!  In a short time the confusion was sorted out, although the embarrassment to the police officer concerned might take a little longer to fade away.

    Just a few days earlier an intruder had evaded the security at the Palace and got into the building.  As a result, having been caught out once, the ‘boys in blue’ were being extra cautious and so the blunder resulted.  Being the Son of the Monarch was no use – they simply didn’t know who he was!
    When I heard the story I thought of a verse in the New Testament.  In John’s first letter, written to persecuted Christian believers in the first century he reminds them;
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1)

    One of the most wonderful things about being a Christian is that we become children of God.  That is not something that we are naturally, but a right we have when we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:11-13).  But although God knows that we are His children, the people around and about us do not.  We are just another member of the population to them.  But just like with Prince Andrew, just because we are not recognized as such, it doesn’t make us any less the child of the Sovereign One.

    In the next verse of the same chapter of 1 John we read;
“Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

     That verse tells us that there will come a day when the reality of what a Christian is will be unmistakable and recognized universally.  When the Lord Jesus Christ returns to this world every eye will see Him and will have to acknowledge Him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Those who have trusted in Him will go to be with Him forever, and as well as seeing Him as He is, we will be radically transformed and will have a resurrection body like His.

Are you a child of the King?  Does He know you now?