November 22, 2021
Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. John 15:20
William Tyndale, the fearless preacher and translator of the Bible into English, had stood against the order handed down from Rome which forbade translating the Bible into English. It was also forbidden to use the Bible in training clergy. But God’s watch-care protected him as he carried out his calling during many tedious years of continued harassment by the papacy. Having the privilege of an excellent education, Tyndale used the Hebrew and Greek texts to craft a stunning masterpiece of the English language in his Bible translation.
Eventually, a false friend betrayed him into the hands of guards in Antwerp, Belgium. Under German Emperor Charles V, he spent over a year in a castle dungeon outside Brussels. Condemned as a heretic, he was publicly executed by strangulation followed by burning at the stake in 1536. His last words were, “Lord, open the eyes of the king of England!” He was only 42. Within a single year his dying prayer was answered in a mighty way. A Bible was placed in every parish church—all over England—by order of the king!
The “sword of the Spirit” which he had so lovingly prepared for his English countrymen under God’s divine protection enabled fellow Christian soldiers to stand in battle through the centuries ever since. Oh, beloved, do you recognize the great cost at which God’s Word has been placed in our hands? It is a treasure-trove of glittering jewels reflecting the light of Heaven.
Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— Ephesians 6:14-18