And God Spoke

Have you ever thought on the value of having the Scriptures in your own language? Have you ever considered how that  is different from having any other foreign novel translated to English? Many people don’t think about this very often and, even if they do, their Bible is just one more book on their bookshelves, being used every once in a while on Sunday mornings.

Throughout history, not many people had the same privileges that we are have today. Quoting from “Cracking Old Testament Codes,” written by Sandy D. Brent and Ronald L. Giese:

 (…) the majority of people throughout the history of the Church have had the Bible read to them or have only read the Bible themselves within the assembled community of the Church. Most have not had their own copies of the biblical texts in earlier centuries and many could not read anyway.[1]

Today, in a totally different scenario, we have a variety of faithful translations of the Bible into English, and the vast majority of the American population can read fairly well. But despite that, many don’t give  due attention to what our Creator spoke.

The Bible is God’s own words, “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). What should we do when the Almighty speaks? Should we ignore Him? Or should we “eat His scrolls” (Ezekiel 3:1-3)?

The Kimyal tribe, as shown in the video above, recognized the true value of having the specific revelation of God in their own language. Their tears display their thankfulness and acknowledgement of God’s grace and love in allowing them to have direct access to His words. They knew the Creator spoke, and they were eager to hear it.

Let us rejoice and praise the Lord!

God spoke… and it is in English!


[1] Brent, Sandy D.; Giese, Ronald L. (1995-06-06). Cracking Old Testament Codes: A Guide to Interpreting Literary Genres of the Old Testament (p. 289). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Lucas Leite
Lucas Leite is a pastoral intern at Faith Church. Born in Brazil, he is currently living in Lafayette-IN to take the M.Div. at Faith Bible Seminary.