For over 500 years the world has had a printed Bible. Johann Gutenberg, a printer in Mainz, Germany, was the first to print with movable type, and the first book he printed was the Bible. For 10 years--from 1445 to 1455--he labored at the noble task. "The Gutenberg Bible," as it is called, is one of the most valuable books ever printed.
Since then, many translations and editions have appeared. The first Bible printed in English was by William Tyndale in 1525. In 1611, the King James authorized version was published which is still greatly used today. Perhaps it was the version which the Pilgrims took with them to the new world in quest of religious freedom.
In 1620, when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, it is said of them that "the single indestructible thread that sustained them was a belief in the Bible as the sole foundation of religious truth." William Bradford (the governor of Plymouth) we are told, "took to reading the Bible very assiduously at an early age."
When the Pilgrims harvested their first crops and saw that the earth of their new home had been good to them, they prepared a feast and gave God thanks for what they had received. That day in 1621 was the first Thanksgiving day in America. Elder William Brewster read from the Bible Deuteronomy 8:3 (a very significant passage) on that day of celebration: "And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know: that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." They were truly grateful for the bountiful harvest, but they knew and acknowledged the superior value, and necessity for, the spiritual food for their souls found in "every word" of the Lord in the Holy Scriptures--the indestructible, sole foundation which sustained them in all their trials.
The more one learns of the spiritual blessings he has in Christ as revealed in the Bible, the more he will be characterized by genuine thanksgiving. "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20) will become a practical reality. Thanksgiving Day will truly be every day for the believer.
Daniel is an Old Testament example of a man of prayer and thanksgiving, as well as a student of the Word of God. In Daniel 9:2, we learn that he understood from books (especially from Jeremiah) what God had in store for the captives in Babylon. Three times a day he turned aside and kneeled, we read, "and prayed and gave thanks" (Dan. 6:10).
Our Lord Jesus, in the place of dependence as Son of Man, often lifted up His voice in Thanksgiving to His Father. How grieved He must have been when, having healed ten lepers, only one returned to give Him thanks. He sorrowfully asked, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?" (Luke 17:17).
May it be that we are ever mindful never to be ungrateful. Rather let us ever keep ourselves in the sense of His boundless love and in the fresh enjoyment of the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. If so, we shall constantly experience an attitude of heartfelt thanksgiving, exclaiming with the apostle Paul:
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift" (2 Cor. 9:15).
"Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place" (2 Cor. 2:14).
Other Articles in This Issue:
November-December 1985 Moments For You
Thanksgiving
The Only Perfect Sacrifice
It is the World That God Loves!
God Our Refuge
Question & Answer
Thanksgiving Acrostic
Answers to Acrostic
Gratitude
