Daniel Webster, who was a famous American statesman, that lived in the nineteenth century and served as United States Secretary of State under three different US Presidents, made this above statement almost 200 years ago.
There is no doubt in my mind that he knew in his heart that the Bible is the only book that truly gives man meaning in this life and provides us with the only real satisfactory antidote for death – Heaven! In our sophisticated society today the occult, the New Age, humanism, and Scientology are just a few of our modern answers to finding true meaning in life. The big question is do these belief systems prepare us to experience maximum peace, joy, and meaning in this life and some certainty of what to expect when we depart from planet earth.
Sadly these false movements talk a good game but never deliver in the now or the afterlife. They can’t answer life’s three big questions: one, where did I come from – two, where do I go when I die – and three, what is my purpose in life. These systems are based on human reasoning and ideas and can never satisfy a heart that was made for a vibrant relationship with God. Only the Bible gives us the answer to these three basic questions.
The Bible tells us first, we are created by God in His image; thus we come from God. Second, when we die we – if our sins are forgiven and we invited Jesus into our hearts – go to be with Him forever in heaven. And third, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, says it so well when answering the question, what is the chief end of man? The answer is: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. Real meaning consists of knowing your Creator, living to glorify Him in the now, and spending eternity with him.
The Bible is not just another book, but it has been called the Book of Books!
Professor Monier Williams spent 40 years studying the religious literature of the Orient – his conclusion is summed up by the following quote:
“Pile them, if you will, on the left side of your study table; but place your own Holy Bible on the right side – all by itself, all alone and with a wide gap between them. For there is a gulf between it and the so-called sacred books of the East which severs the one from the other utterly, hopelessly, and forever…”
Finally I can’t think of a better way to close this devotion then to echo what Abraham Lincoln said: “Without Divine assistance I cannot succeed; with it I cannot fail!”