Bible Stains
I presented a Wedding Bible last Friday to a newlywed couple in our church:
“This Bible is new, clean, and unstained. May it not remain this way.
First, may it gather some coffee stains, where sitting down to talk about your day, it is very close at hand.
Second, may it bear some food stains, as you eat your daily bread together, and feed on His Word by faith.
One day perhaps little hand-stains, where children and grandchildren climb into your lap during family worship and leave their marks behind.
Next, may it contain many tear stains of brokenness, repentance, forgiveness, joy and laughter, learning to weep before the Lord.
And above all, may it contain bloodstains. That on every page you see He is the Living Savior, where all the promises of God are yea and amen.
So, husband, wife, what will this Bible look like in fifty years time? Worn? Weathered? Stained? That will be its beauty, that it has lived with you, spoken to you, read you, and carried you through life with Christ together. May it tell your story as it tells His.”
Thank you for this. Yes, May we handle the Word as John the Apostle did in 1 John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands handled concerning the Word of life.”
The footnote on handled in the Recovery Version Bible says, First, have heard, then have seen; after having seen, beheld, gazed at with a purpose, and handled, touched with hands. These expressions indicate that the Word of life is not only mysterious but also tangible, because He was incarnated. The mysterious Word of life was touched by man, not only in His humanity before His resurrection (Mark 3:10; 5:31) but also in His spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44) after His resurrection (John 20:17, 27).
Amen !!