A tourist approached the curator of the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy, with the remark. “Are these your masterpieces? I certainly do not see much in them.”
The curator replied, “Sir, these masterpieces are not on their trial, it is the visitors that are on their trial.” In other words the opinion of the visitors would not decide whether the pictures were master-pieces, but their opinion of the masterpieces would prove whether they could appreciate true art. Their opinions proved what THEY were, and did not affect the pictures.
The remark of the tourist only showed to the curator his utter lack of appreciation of form and colour, of the genius of the old masters represented in the gallery, whose works had delighted real connoisseurs for many years. His remark only betrayed the impudence of a conceited ignorance. He was on HIS trial, and failed miserably.
It is so with the Bible, though in a far higher sense. The pictures were the produce of genius. The Bible is the work of God. It is not on its trial. It tests man according to his attitude towards it.
We need not elaborate how the Bible has proved itself—in the fulfilment of prophecy, in the delineation of such a person as Christ, in the changed lives of those who have come under its power. There are plenty of books that will furnish these proofs in abundant measure.
The great trouble today lies in the fact that men are ignorant of the Bible. An atheistical colonel at a dinner party declared that the Koran, the sacred book of the Mohammedans, was superior to the Bible. A Christian officer in the company asked him if he had ever read the Bible through. He had to admit that he had not. He then enquired if he had ever seen the Koran let alone read it. He had to admit that he had never even seen the Koran. “Then,” said the officer, “to say that the Koran is superior to the Bible when you have never read the Bible through, and you have never even seen the Koran, is an opinion not founded on knowledge. It is the remark of an arrant humbug.”
This may be an extreme case, but it is a sample of nine tenths of the adverse comments on the Bible. What is badly needed today is the knowledge of the Bible. The Bible tests everyone of us. The Bible is not on its trial. Indeed the Bible is the universal judge for we read that “the Scripture has concluded all under sin” (Gal. 3:22).
It is well when the Word of God puts us in our true place, for then we are ready to accept God’s way of blessing.
Then again how many men attack the inconsistencies of Christians as if they were the inconsistencies of the Bible. They think that the excrescences of Christian belief, that have no foundation in the Bible, are the excrescences of that venerable hook. We plead for fair play for the Bible.
I was speaking to a man a few moments ago, who denied that the Bible was the Word of God. I pressed upon him that his opinion was not formed by a true and accurate knowledge of the Bible. I said to him that if the Bible was not what it purported to be, it was the very worst of of books. I then asked him, “if a man really governs his actions by the Bible, is he not a man you can absolutely trust for honesty, truthfulness, virtue, morality, kindness, consideration?” He had to admit that this was so. I then said, “A bad book will not produce lives like that. It has produced thousands and tens of thousands of such lives.”
The book lives, it produces life. The claim that it lives is seen in that it produces life in those who come under its power. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever” (1 Peter 1:23). Here we get the claim that the Word of God lives, and that it produces life. It is the only ancient book that rings true to the reality of things at the present time.
May we ask in conclusion, have you allowed this book to put you on your trial? Whether an unsaved person, or a Christian, true life and living is tested by the Book.