Today and tomorrow, I would like you to travel with me on the greatest treasure hunt known to man. Please sit back and relax as I act as your tour guide into exploring some of the fascinating facts that make the Bible the greatest treasure a man can find. I guarantee you that the more you read the Word the more you will fall in love with its author – Jesus Christ.
Today, I would like to share some fascinating observations that make the Bible so unique and compelling a book. And tomorrow, I would like to unearth, on this two day treasure hunt, five verses that reveal why the Bible is such an amazing and valuable treasure. So let the journey begin!
Treasure 1
“What has God wrought,” (Numbers 23:23 KJV) is a fitting verse for the great inventor, Samuel Morse, to use for his first message on his 1844 invention of the telegraph. Morse was a devout Christian who loved the Bible and honored it with this great tribute. He lived his whole live with a deep love and reverence for the holy Scriptures. Near the end of his life, he shared just why he considered the Bible such a great treasure when he said: “The nearer I approach to the end of my pilgrimage, the clearer is the evidence of the divine origin of the Bible, the grandeur and sublimity of God’s remedy for fallen man are more appreciated, and the future is illumined with hope and joy.”
Treasure 2
Johannes Gutenberg, is considered by many to be one of the most influential people in the last 1,000 years. His invention of the moveable type printing press in the mid 1400’s clearly marks the advent of the information revolution. Many people don’t know that Gutenberg was a humble man of God who had a noble mission in life. This mission was to be able to mass produce the Bible so that all of mankind could read this sacred treasure. Is it any coincidence he chose the Bible for the first major book printed on his press. May the following two Gutenberg quotes give you an idea how much he loved the Word of God:
“God suffers in the multitude of souls whom His word cannot reach. Religious truth is imprisoned in a small number of manuscript books, which confine instead of spread the public treasure. Let us break the seal which seals up holy things and give wings to Truth in order that she may win every soul that comes into the world by her word no longer written at great expense by hands easily palsied, but multiplied like the wind by an untiring machine.”1
“Yes, it is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams, the most abundant and most marvelous liquor that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of men! Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men.”2
Treasure 3
In the winter of 1968, a historic event took place that sent excitement throughout the entire world as few events had ever done before. The spaceship Apollo 8 made the first voyage from our planet to the moon. Commander Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first men to orbit the moon. Few people probably remember that Commander Borman after much thought, at the suggestion from an individual, decided for his first message, while orbiting the moon, to a world waiting to hear what he would say, decided to read a portion of the creation story. So, while orbiting the moon, with the earth behind them and the entire universe before them, over one billion people began to hear the opening ten verses from Genesis. It is only fitting that the creation story was read on man’s first flight to the moon. God’s Word has now not only been circulated throughout this world but to other worlds as well.
Treasure 4
Historian Bernard Ramm realized that the Bible is more than just a book but an immense treasure to the civilized world. Its incredibly wide scope is vividly depicted by Ramm when he shared the following: “From the Apostolic Fathers dating from AD 95 to the modern times is one great literary river inspired by the Bible – Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedias, Bible lexicons, Bible atlases, and Bible geographies. These may be taken as a starter. Then at random, we may mention the vast bibliographies around theology, religious education, hymnology, missions, the biblical languages, church history, religious biography, devotional works, commentaries, philosophy of religion, evidences, apologetics, and on and on. There seems to be an endless number.”3
Treasure 5
I could go on and on sharing why so many people consider the Bible to be such a precious treasure but I would like to share one more observation on our journey into the fabulous world of the Bible.
Very early on in life all American children learn to recite our alphabet – all 26 letters – from A to Z. But for one young American child I doubt he could have ever dreamed of an undertaking that would consume 35 years of his life surrounding our English alphabet. While the scope of his project was relatively simple the execution of it must have been a true labor of love.
And just what was the project that James Strong literally would spend almost half of his 72 years of life engaged in? Simply put he chose to alphabetize every word in the Bible. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, compiled during the last half of the nineteenth century by Dr. James Strong, professor of exegetical theology at Drew Theological Seminary, lists every word in the Bible in alphabetical order. In addition, the reference and the context of every appearance of that word is given. In Dr. Strong’s original work even words such as: a, an, in, I, etc., are shown, with reference to every occurrence of them. And all of this was compiled manually, without the benefit of modern computers or other electronic equipment. Just imagine the time it must have taken (35 years) to alphabetize the over 750,000 words in the Bible.
Can you imagine if someone tried to alphabetize every word in Charles Dicken’s masterpiece novel, A Tale of Two Cities? They probably would lock them up in an insane asylum for what purpose could this ever serve. Only a crazy person would attempt such a foolish project. But Strong’s Concordance, which alphabetized every word in the Bible, has still proven, 134 years after it was first published in 1890, to be a fabulous Bible study tool. Once again the Bible has proven itself to be a very unique book with a fascinating history.
In tomorrow’s part II of our exciting treasure hunt we will explore five special Bible verses that I pray you will memorize and treasure in your heart.
1 Alphonse De Lamartine, Memories of Celebrated Characters, Vol. 2, 2nd ed. (London: Richard Bentley, 1854), 323.
2 Alphonse De Lamartine, Memories of Celebrated Characters, Vol. 2, 2nd ed. (London: Richard Bentley, 1854), 334.
3 The Forerunner: https://www.forerunner.com/orthodoxy/X0003_2._Authority_of_Scri.html