If there is a personal, infinite God who created all things including human life (and I believe there is!)….and, if this infinite, personal God wants us to understand how we are to navigate through life understanding good from evil, right from wrong and even more importantly how we are to understand the truth about who God is and how He wants us to be in a genuine, loving relationship with Him, then the question we must ask is this: Could this God make Himself and His will known to us in an understandable way which is absolutely true — true for all people throughout all time? 

I believe the answer to this important question is Yes! We have this communication by God in a book we call the Bible. I’ll admit there are parts of the Bible which are not easy to understand, but its basic message is clear enough that a young child can understand it. 

That basic message is this: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16) We should also understand that what it means to “believe in him” is not merely, “Oh yes, I believe Jesus Christ was a real person” but that we believe in the sense of being devoted to him, following him, seeking to be like him, and, believing that his death on the cross was a sacrifice for your own sins because you do not perfectly honor and obey God. 

Though the Bible is written by people over time, its claim is to ultimately be a book of truth handed down to us by God himself. Should that surprise us? After all, since God is infinite, personal, all knowing and wise, doesn’t it stand to reason that He would communicate with us, His creatures, that He loves us and wants to be in real relationship with us? 

One of the people in the early church used of God to communicate the truth He wanted conveyed was Luke (a well educated physician), from whom we have the third Gospel. He set about to compile an account of the life of Jesus Christ for an official named Theophilus. Luke’s Gospel, based on eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ life and teaching, has been found to be entirely accurate even by secular historians. Luke begins by clearly stating his purpose: Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 

With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4, NIV)

So that you may know the certainty — so that you might know the truth — so that you might also come to have eternal life, for that is what all the things Luke and the others communicated from God in their writings. The Bible really is, therefore, the Book of Life. 

I’ll close with a story conveyed though a mission organization our church supports, a true story of an amazing way in which God is still communicating with people to help them find eternal life in and through Jesus Christ. 

A Christian couple smuggled some Bibles into Iran but were nervous about handing them out. Stopping for gas one day during their travels, the wife said to her husband, “Do you see that man leaning against the building over there? I think we’re supposed to give him a Bible.” Her husband replied, “You mean the man with the rifle in his hands? Are you kidding? I’m not going to approach him!”

After wrestling with the Holy Spirit’s surprising nudge, they eventually agreed to give the man a Bible. The husband held it out to the Muslim man. Leaning his rifle against the building, the man reverently took the Bible, held it to his lips and kissed it. Tearfully, he said, “The book of life! Three days ago, I had a dream: a man in a white robe came to me and said, ‘Come to this place and wait right here, and somebody will soon give you the book of life.’” 

The Muslim man soon gave his whole heart to Jesus. 

Rev. Randy Crane is the pastor at Waldensian Presbyterian Church in Monett. He may be reached at [email protected].