The psalmist said, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103). General Robert E. Lee once said, "The Bible is a book in comparison with which all others in my eyes are of minor importance, and in all my perplexities and distresses has never failed to give me strength" (Gospel Digest 20). Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of these United States said, "The Bible is the word of life. I beg that you will read it and find this out for yourselves" (40).

No other book has been more widely read, distributed and cherished. When the first printing press was finally operational in 1455, the choice of what to print first was an easy one: the Bible. Before then, men took deep and reverential pains to make copies of this book. Clyde M. Woods, former Professor of Bible, Hebrew and Greek at Freed-Hardeman College [now University], said of the Old Testament, "One can but marvel at the painstaking attention devoted to the transmission of the Hebrew text by generations of Jewish scribes which made it possible for our present text of the Old Testament to be so accurate" (19). Due to God's Providence, and for all of man's enduring affection toward it, there is more compelling evidence "for the text of the Bible than for any other document of comparable antiquity" (18).

Even in the face of its worst critics, and those who wish to destroy it, the Bible lives on. French infidel Voltaire claimed the Bible would be erased; he was erased, and his house was used for printing Bibles. Some rulers of Rome ordered all known copies burned. The Bible lives on. Its critics were slicing it in pieces and tossing it into the fire in Jeremiah's day (Jeremiah 36:23). The Bible lives on.

The psalmist was right when he said, "Forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in heaven" (Psalm 119:89). God, through Isaiah, said his Word, "...shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (55:11). Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

The Bible is the written revelation of God to man, and it provides for his every need. No other book, ancient or modern, begins to compare with its value. It cannot be destroyed, as it lives forever (1 Peter 1:23). It will be open at the doorstep of eternity to judge our hearts (Revelation 20:12). May we each treasure it in our hearts (Psa. 119:11) and join together in the sweet melody, "Precious Bible, book divine, lamp to my feet and a light to my way, to guide me safely home."

Gospel Digest. Elam Kuykendall, ed. 1961.18:8.

Woods, Clyde. "The Circulation, Translation and Survival of the Bible." Spiritual Sword. Thomas B. Warren, ed. 1970. 1:1 (18-20).