What an incredible blessing to be able to see up close and personal such significant biblical history. Not many people in the world will ever have an opportunity to come face to face with seven thousand years of history including one of the oldest biblical manuscripts as we had last Sunday. What a gift the Green Collection is to the Christian community. I am praying that God will bless the efforts of Scott Carroll and Steve Green beyond measure as they move forward with their plans to make these artifacts available in a biblical museum some day.
While I was listening to Scott's exposition of 2 Timothy and his explanation of the words "God breathed" I remembered a story I heard recently at one of our IMB board meetings.
In many Muslim dominated countries in North Africa it is against the law to give someone a Bible. But there is a crossing from Europe into North Africa in the south of Spain that provides a great opportunity for Christians to get the Word of God into these countries legally. There is a narrow passage in the straight of Gibraltar in which ferries operate all day long taking cars from Europe across a twelve mile stretch into Morocco. It is at these docking stations that thousands of Christians have gathered over the past few years to walk from car to car handing out New Testaments to people who are waiting in their cars to get onto the ferries to cross over into Muslim dominated North Africa. It may be illegal to distribute Bibles in Morocco, but it is perfectly legal in Spain.
In many Muslim dominated countries in North Africa it is against the law to give someone a Bible. But there is a crossing from Europe into North Africa in the south of Spain that provides a great opportunity for Christians to get the Word of God into these countries legally. There is a narrow passage in the straight of Gibraltar in which ferries operate all day long taking cars from Europe across a twelve mile stretch into Morocco. It is at these docking stations that thousands of Christians have gathered over the past few years to walk from car to car handing out New Testaments to people who are waiting in their cars to get onto the ferries to cross over into Muslim dominated North Africa. It may be illegal to distribute Bibles in Morocco, but it is perfectly legal in Spain.
The story my missionary friend told me was of a young man who accepted one of those New Testaments as he was waiting for a ferry in Gibraltar Spain. His car was packed full of European goods to bring back to his large family in a small village in Algiers. What he did not know was that back home in that village one of his young cousins had been praying that God would show her the truth. A few nights earlier she had a dream in which God said to her that one day soon He would reveal Himself to her and she would finally know the truth about God.
She had the same dream every night until the day her older cousin arrived in her village with his car packed full of European goodies.
When he came into the village honking his horn the entire family excitedly ran to the car and helped him unpack. Every bit of space inside and outside and on top of the car was packed full of things he had purchased. It took the family a long time to unload his car.
She had the same dream every night until the day her older cousin arrived in her village with his car packed full of European goodies.
When he came into the village honking his horn the entire family excitedly ran to the car and helped him unpack. Every bit of space inside and outside and on top of the car was packed full of things he had purchased. It took the family a long time to unload his car.
When all the unpacking was finally done and all the gifts distributed, the young man reached into his car and pulled out the Bible he had been given at the border and said, "Oh yeah, and there's this that some fanatic at the border gave to me!" He took the Bible and threw it over his head as far as he could as if to throw away a piece of trash.
The package flew like a missile hundreds of feet behind the car bounced a few times and literally landed in the lap of his young cousin who was sitting in front of her house minding her own business. The girl was amazed that the book had just miraculously landed in her lap. And to think that this was a book about the revelation of God! The girl knew in an instant that this was the answer to her prayers and fulfillment of her dreams. The New Testament was written in her native Arabic language and easy to understand. She carried it into her house, went into her room by herself and began reading. Several weeks later that girl came to Christ and is today one of the key leaders within the underground house church movement in Algiers.
What we all saw at the front of our church last Sunday was a physical demonstration of the miracle of how God's word has been passed down through the generations. What we also need to all understand is that the miracle is not just in the formation of the Bible, but also in what happens every time someone reads it.
It is the very breath of God!
It is the very breath of God!
