The Most Valuable Book I Have Ever Seen

   Last year, I attended an exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art called Passages.  This exhibit catalogs the history of the Bible from the original scrolls to the 1^st printed Bibles.  The collection contained some of the most valuable Bibles (at least in price) in the world.  Among many other things, I was able to see a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of the earliest complete Bibles in Greek, a Gutenberg Bible Book of Romans (first Bible ever printed on a press) and a “Wicked Bible” (A bible made famous and rare because of an printing error, they left out the “not” in Exodus 20:14).  These Bibles are worth millions of dollars because of their place in history and their rarity.

   But the Bible has a worth that cannot be simply measured in monetary value.  The wisdom, history, culture, and art found in its pages are some of the greatest of its kind.  Charles Dickens said, “The New Testament is the very best book that was or ever will be known in the world”.  Thomas Jefferson remarked, “I have said and always will say, that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands ... The Bible makes the best people in the world”.

   The Bible’s quality and effect come from the fact that it isn’t just a well written, historically accurate, work of literature; it is the literal Words of God.  2^nd Timothy 3:16 tells us that, “All Scripture is inspired by God…”.  The word inspired in the original language literally means “God Breathed”.  Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:21 that “no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”  The Bible is the words God wanted to speak to us.  That makes it the most valuable book we will ever own!