“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:21)
In 2 Timothy 3:16 when Paul wrote “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” he was talking about Hebrew Scripture, but would now include New Testament Scripture. In our verse for today Peter explains that all biblical prophecy is included in God’s inspiration. Peter and Timothy agree that scripture and prophecy is provided from God to godly men and written down, so that we can know the will of God. Not just his past and present will, but also his future will through prophecy.
We, in America, need to remember that the Bible is the full revelation of God and is subsequently the only complete Holy Book. Unfortunately, we don’t treat the Bible as Holy anymore and it’s almost a pandemic of disregard. We should not worship the bible, but we should cherish it as the very Word of God, His revelation to us, His love letter to us, His inspired, infallible Holy history, instructions and prophecy. Please dust off your Bibles and treat them as Holy. Many were martyred to get that Bible people leave laying ignored on a shelf. The apostles were martyred for Christ and their adherence to scripture, but that’s not all.
Mary I of England (Mary Tudor), a.k.a. Bloody Mary, the daughter of King Henry VIII of England, became queen in 1553. She immediately started the forcible conversion of the people of England from Protestantism back to Catholicism. The people resisted and her first martyred victim was John Rogers who repackaged the Tyndale Bible into the Mathews-Tyndale Bible and was killed for it. At this time the only approved Bible was the Latin Vulgate Bible and it was illegal to have a Bible in any other language other than Latin. Tyndale and a few before him felt that all people should have access to the Bible in their own language, so they wrote and printed English translations and were subsequently killed. Mary ordered the deaths of hundreds of people and many were burned at the stake for being in possession of an English translation of the Bible. Some even burned with their Bible. The Bible was drilled through; a chain was put through the hole and then hung around the necks of the martyrs before they were burned. Mary died just 5 years after becoming queen and Queen Elizabeth I of England took her place and switched everything back to the pre-Mary religious liberties. Those that fled England due to Mary’s religious persecution produced the Geneva Bible that was the Bible of choice in the English speaking world until the early 1700s, and then the King James Version became the Bible of choice in America.
People died so that we could have the awesome privilege of reading the Word of God and knowing His will for our lives. The Bible is Holy (dedicated or consecrated to God; sacred), read, study and cherish it.