What Darkness Cannot Dim

This article is one of a number supplied by the Ameri­can Bible Society in the promotion of its 16th annual world­wide Bible reading program. We believe in, support, and utilize the work of the great Bible societies. The pictures of Bible society colporteurs were also supplied by the American Bible Society.

The Reverend JOSEPH R. SIZOO, D.D., Lit.D., LL.D., Professor of Religion, George Washington University

This title strikes a thoroughly harmonious note with the sixteenth an­nual Worldwide Bible Read­ing theme, which portrays the Bible as The Everlasting Light. This Bible reading program, sponsored by the American Bible Society, was sparked by the request of a marine on Guadalcanal who asked his family to join with him in read­ing certain verses from the Bible each day. It has now become worldwide, and the theme this year, The Everlasting Light, re­minds us that the divine light of the knowl­edge of the glory of God, through Jesus Christ, shining in the minds and hearts of all men, can yet make this a different world.

There are two things the Bible never takes into consideration;

The Bible never takes geography into consideration. It leaps across the barriers of the nations and disregards the frontiers of peoples. It is at home in every land and language.

Then, too, it never takes time into con­sideration. Written thousands of years ago, it is as relevant today as when the words were first recorded. It is meant for all lands, all languages, and all times. The Bible be­longs to the ages.

The Bible lights up the road to signifi­cance. Almost every page is aflame with the story of what man can do when he is willing to let God take possession of him. It is al­ways saying, "Look what you can do with life when it is God-guided." Moses may think himself inadequate for the respon­sibilities that confront him, but when he places his hands in the hands of God, he becomes one of the five great men of history and the founder of a great nation. A supplanter becomes a prince of God; a plow­man in Tekoa becomes a prophet at so­cial justice; a man of unclean lips becomes a herald of a righteous Redeemer; a tax col­lector, never a popular man, becomes the writer of the first gospel; a fallen girl by the well becomes a city missionary. A slave girl becomes the instrument through which a general is cleansed of leprosy; a boy's noonday lunch becomes a feast for thou­sands; an intolerant bigot becomes a preacher of the universal gospel of love.

The stone that the builders reject becomes the headstone of the corner.

Beneath the thin surface of the humblest are inestimable values. Deep in the hu­man heart are talents which grace can transform and glorify. In spite of what you say, man is made a little lower than the angels, capable of thinking God's thoughts after Him. "What can a man give in ex­change for his soul?" If you ever doubt the worth of life, go to Calvary and read the story of Christ dying for you. To an age overwhelmed with frustration and in­significance the Bible calls out, "Put your­self in the hands of God and leave yourself there." There are no iron curtains to keep the power of God from lifting the humblest and weakest to places of influence and power.

When Evangeline Booth returned from a world tour for the Salvation Army, she told me of a little village in India where lived the families and members of the rob­ber caste. The village was full of robbers, thieves, and thugs. Every attempt by the government to stamp out the wrong, failed. Then the government resolved to destroy the village entirely and scatter the people. The Salvation Army asked if it could have a chance to do something to save the village before the decree was carried out; so a little band of Salvationists preached on the street corners and in the rice fields. The redeeming grace of Christ began to work in the village. The chief of the robber caste was converted, and the entire village pop­ulation was baptized. Strangely enough, stealing stopped; not a complaint was made against them. The village had been made over.

The government police thought this was too good to last, and sure enough, rob­beries broke out in the next village. The police sent a secret agent to shadow the leader. They saw him late one evening, slinking down a narrow trail with a bundle under his arm, wrapped up in a newspaper. They were sure he was at it again. They followed him to his home, and then they watched through the window as he entered his house, closed the door, gathered his family about him, and unwrapped the bun­dle. They expected to see loot tumble out of the package. To their surprise they saw that the bundle was a Bible which he had borrowed from a neighbor in another village. The children gathered about him near the light, and through the open window they heard a clear voice reading: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." This is the Book that pierces the darkness of sin and offers redemption.

Some years ago, early in my ministry, I came to know and to befriend a man who was later convicted of murder. I stayed with him through his long trial and his impris­onment in Sing Sing. I visited him often in the death house. One day I asked the guard, who was always with me when I talked with the man, if I could give the prisoner a copy of the New Testament. The guard looked the Book over very care­fully and handed it to the condemned man through the steel screen that separated us. I remember well the last visit I had with him a week later. It was the last night of his life; the following morning he paid the penalty. As I walked through the corridor with the guard, he heard me come, and walked to the door of his steel cage and said to me, "That man Luke wrote a great story." His face was lit up with a light and a peace that I have never seen before. It would be Luke—the gospel of redemption for all those who have lost their way; for sheep that are lost and for prodigals who step across the pathway of indiscretion. "Be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again." This is the Book that sheds a light no darkness can dim.

The Reverend JOSEPH R. SIZOO, D.D., Lit.D., LL.D., Professor of Religion, George Washington University

October 1959

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