The Lasting Volume (Bulletin Article for February 5)

If you had a book on your shelf that told stories of victorious armies, romance and acts of heroism, would you not be inclined to read that book? If you had a book with all those things in it and you knew it was all true, would you not be pulling it off your shelf at least a couple of times? What if you had a book that told of all those things and was written by a famous writer?

You know where this is going, don’t you? The Bible has all those things in it, it is totally true, and it was written by God Himself. Add to that, the Bible is the only volume among the millions on shelves that can teach us how to live here and how to go to Heaven when this life is over.

What a powerful volume the Bible is. Sadly, many in the world do not read this great book. Even more tragically, many have it on a shelf at home (or on the coffee table) and do not ever open its pages.

The Bible has survived countless attacks. From Jehoikim of old (Jeremiah 36) to Voltaire to Robert Ingersol, many have tried to discredit or destroy the Bible. But the Bible cannot be destroyed. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

The following is a lengthy quote, but it presents the thought well. It was written by W.J. Russell in his book New Testament Christianity.

The last book of the Bible was written nearly 1,300 years before the invention of printing. And when you think how those many centuries horde after horde of heathen barbarians swept like destroying blight over the lands where the Scrip-
tures had a home; when you think of all the great libraries of the world, those for example at Alexandria and Constantinople, and Athens and Rome, were destroyed by fire; you see that it is a wonderful thing that the Bible has come to us in its integrity. How true are the words: “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.”…Nations have been born and have passed
away since the Bible was written….It has flourished, while its adversaries have been entombed one after another.

Truly, “how precious is the book divine!”