From the beginning of time God has had three passions. They are His Name, His Word and His Glory. Many people believe the Bible was written to meet the needs of man, but the Bible was written to tell us about God. We were created to reflect His glory and we discover how to do that through the pages of the Bible.
It has always been God's design for His glory to go to the nations so that people everywhere would worship him. So, in the opening verses of the Bible in Genesis 1:28 God told the people to "fill the earth". Again in Genesis 9:1 at the time of Noah and the flood God told the people to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth."
The Tower of Babel
By the time we get to Genesis 11 in the Bible we discover that at that time the entire world had one language and a common speech. There we find men building a tower for two reasons:
They wanted to make a name for themsleves
They didn't want to be scattered
Since God does not share his glory with another and His glory is designed to be seen in every area of the world He came down and confused the languages and scattered the people. Now, people would live in the uttermost regions of the world.
To reach them with the Gospel message now, it was necessary for people to "go". This was the message they were to proclaim, "Declare His glory among the nations." Psalm 96:3
God's Great Commission
After Christ came and died and before He rose again and ascended into heaven, He gave a command to the Church. That command is called the "Great Commission." That commission found in Matthew 28:19 was a command to "go and make disciples of all nations... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded." That word 'nations' in Greek (ethnos), when it is unpacked by various scholars and translations, really means "all the unsaved people groups of the world."
In order for the Church to accomplish this command Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to give power to the Church so that they could "go and make disciples". At Pentecost we read in Acts 2:8 that God began to unscramble the world's languages. Each man could hear the message of the Gospel in their own tongue! As a result of God's power being poured out, over 3000 people were saved that day!
How Is This Command To Teach and Make Disciples To Happen?
This command happens when God's people take God's Word to the nations! God's Word is the basis of the message and reveals to man his sin. It shows people how to be saved so that their lives can show God's glory.
When God revealed His Word to us in written form, He has always given it to us in the language of the people. The Old Testament was written primarily in the Hebrew language because that was the language of the Jewish people. However, when people started speaking different languages God also revealed His Word in those languages. Therefore, the New Testament was written primarily in the Greek language.
Since the language that we grow up with is the language that speaks to our heart, it is important that the message of the Gospel reaches the "heart" level. Second languages we learn often only reach us at the head level. However, our first language reaches us at a much deeper level.
Why Must The Gospel Reach People At The Heart Level?
The Bible answers that in Matthew 13:15 and Matthew 15:19 which states that wickness is found in the heart. Therefore, the message of the Bible needs to reach the "heart" level. The best way to do that is by delivering God's Word in the "heart" language of the people.
God chose to speak to the people in the Bible in their "heart" language. Therefore, Bible translation work has also always been a significant part of the Christian churches' work, even before the time of Christ and up until now.
The Spread of Bible Translation Work
Great men like Jerome translated the Bible into Latin in 400 AD. Methodius and Cyrill translated the Bible for the Slavonic people in 800 AD. John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English in 1380 AD. Martin Luther translated the Bible for the Germans in 1534 AD. William Carey translated the Bible for the people of India in 1809 AD and the Puritan John Elliot translated the Bible for the Massachuset Indians in 1663 AD.
Cameron Towsend started Bible translation work for the minority languages of the world in 1919. He first went to Guatamala as a Spanish Bible salesman, but he was challenged by a Guatamalan Indian who ask him, "If your God is so great, why doesn't he speak my language?"
Cameron Townsend (better known as 'Uncle Cam') quit his job and lived among the Indian people for over 15 years and translated the Bible for them. As he did his translation work he discovered many more minority languages existed that needed the Bible.
At first he thought there were only 500 such languages in the world. However, as the work grew into Mexico and Latin America, it was soon learned that there were at least 2000 unwritten languages and all without the Bible.
Today we know that there are over 6800 languages in the world. Still, there are almost 2,400 languages yet to be written and the Bible translated for them.
Do you have the Bible in your language?
The Bible says in Luke 12:48 that "to whom much is given, much is required." In Acts 13:47 the Bible reminds us that we were created to be "a light and a blessing." We also know from Matthew 24:14 that the return of Christ will be hastened.
Aren't you thankful you have a Bible in your 'heart' language and what will you do for those who wait?
