07/10/2021
Good day all.
Please consider the following thoughts that relate somewhat to the life and service of William Tyndale.
He is certainly Worthy of our lives!
I must confess that living in a relative affluent society I often become preoccupied with matters that are simply material and temporal. I find that I am quick to engage in matters relating to our common misguided sense of entitlement or deserved rights? I get all worked-up and upset when things don’t go my way; I grumble and complain and quickly jump on my pet hobby horses and passionately justify my childish little irrelevant whims. Far too much that consumes my mind is simply all about me, myself and I.
Gratefully, our Lord so graciously breaks into our self-absorbed sinful reasonings and awakens us from our pathetic stupor.
This morning, after some self indulgent preoccupation, I was confronted by a brief account of someone who dedicated their life to one thing; the production, preservation and the provision of an accurate Bible translation for the common people.
Yesterday, Wednesday the 06 of October 2021 marked the anniversary of the death of one of the great Martyrs of the Faith. In 1536, William Tyndale was killed at the stake in Belgium for defying Rome, which had outlawed any form of the Scriptures in the common tongue. The only Bible that was allowed by the Pope was the Latin translation, a compromised translation which was foreign to the common English speaking people.
In fact, Rome determined to execute anyone for producing, reading, or even memorizing Scripture in the vernacular.
This sounds rather far removed from our contemporary context where multiple translations are freely available to us. Can you imagine being executed for teaching children the Bible in their mother-tongue. Yet, this is exactly what happened in 1519, when a woman and 6 men were publicly burned at the stake for teaching children the Lord’s Prayer and the 10 Commandments in the English language.
After self exile in Europe so that he could translate and have Bibles printed and shipped to England, William Tyndale was arrested, imprisoned and later executed for persistently defying Rome.
His absolute passion and conviction for getting the Word of God to the common man may be seen from an argument he had with a Catholic Priest who said to him, “We are better to be without God’s laws than the Pope’s.” Tyndale responded, “I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life ere many years, I will cause the boy that drives the plow to know more of the scriptures than you!”
Friends, how blessed we are to read God’s Word in our own language, to meet weekly to Worship God publicly and study His Word. How sad to see that these privileges are so easily taken for granted or simply ignored. How sad to hear the poor excuses we conjure up to justify our laziness or our silly little personal preference arguments.
May this account of William Tyndale and his passionate resolve to distribute the truth of God’s Word, no matter the cost, grip our hearts so that we are found to be about the business of faithfully serving our gracious Lord’s agenda, and obey His Word.
Surely such determination with sacrifice in service does not point exclusively to William Tyndale; this points beyond him to our Great and Glorious Lord who is so utterly worthy to be served with our entire lives, with our every breath. To Him alone be all the Glory! Amen!
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been” (Rev.6:9-11).
Kind Regards
Deon
