My Words Shall Not Pass Away
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles Tags: Bulletin Articles on the BibleOver the centuries, many men have tried to destroy the Bible. In A.D 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an edict to destroy Christians and their Bibles. The persecution that followed was brutal. Over a burned Bible, he built a monument on which he wrote these words, “Extineto nomine Christianorum” (meaning the name Christian is extinguished). Twenty years later, Diocletian was dead and the new Emperor, Constantine, commissioned forty copies of the Bible to be prepared at government expense.
In 1776, Voltaire, the French philosopher, announced, “One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except that is looked upon by some antique seeker”. One hundred years later, Voltaire was dead and his own house and press were being used to print and store Bibles by the Geneva Bible Society. One hundred years from the day of Voltaire's prediction, the first edition of his works sold for eleven cents in Paris, but the British government paid the Czar of Russia half a million dollars for an ancient Bible manuscript.
It is truly distressing to read what men have tried to do to pervert, distort, and destroy God's Word. However, our Lord, knowing the eternal nature of His Word, declared, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Let us, along with the inspired writer John declare, “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints” (Revelation 15:3; cf. Psalm 92:5; Psalm 111:2).