The most recent movie to capture my attention is the Denzel Washington flick, The Book of Eli. It’s one of the few movies that use the Bible in the central plot. But before you gather the kids around the TV for Christian movie night, be warned that The Book of Eli is very, very violent and filled with hard language. It’s rated R for a good reason. But the plot is riveting.
The setting is the second generation after a nuclear holocaust. Civilization is in horrible shape and the people in power are deeply corrupt. They keep control over the people by removing books from society. The younger generation can’t read and the older generation who can read has nothing to read. The main character is Eli who is called by God to carry the last known Bible left on the planet. Throughout the movie, you don’t know his destination but just know he has a place he needs to take it. The villains in the story want to capture the Bible not so they can learn truth from it, but so they can gain power from having it. The movie is about the survival of the Bible in the face of evil. Evil seems to prevail as his copy is violently taken from him.
At the end of the movie Eli, beaten and battered, arrives at
his destination (beware… I’m about to tell you the end of the story). He
arrives at Alcatraz where a group of people are building the world’s library.
Their quest is to recover as many relics of literature they can and begin to
reprint them. We learn at the end that Eli is blind and his copy of the Bible was
written in Braille. Over many years of carrying the Bible, Eli has not only
read the Bible but he’s memorized it. The stolen copy is worthless to the
villains. Only what was embedded in Eli’s mind and heart lasted. Eli spends his
remaining days quoting the Bible to a scribe who writes each word. Alcatraz has
the only printing press and the Bible is set to print and reproduced again.
I can’t imagine the world without God’s written Word. I
think I have 10 to 15 different copies in my home and office. My goodness, Ada
Bible Church just distributed 9,000 copies of the New Testament in just a few
short weeks. The Bible is everywhere in our society. But, that hasn’t always
been the case and is not the case worldwide. The Bible’s existence has been
threatened and assaulted throughout history, but it has always survived the
test of time and persecution. The Book of
Eli really isn’t too farfetched in terms of history. Centuries before the Bible was completed, the Law of God had almost been lost forever. The nation of Israel had divided into two kingdoms because of their rebellion against God. King after king rose into power, each more evil than the last. The nation and its people had drifted far from God. The One True God of Israel had been replaced by idols that led the people into vanity and immorality. It took a new king, an eight-year-old king, to lead the people back to God. Somehow, he learned the ways of his godly ancestor David and how he obeyed God. Josiah, this young king, set out on a mission to trash all the false gods and to restore the hearts of the people to the God of Israel. As he does this, a relic is found. It’s the written Book of the Law. It had been lost. No one had read it in years. Listen to what Josiah does with this incredible find.
He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant,
which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the
presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes
and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the
covenant written in this book. Then he had everyone in
Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did
this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. 2 Chronicles 34.30-32
The Word of God had gone from being virtually extinct to being the spiritual guide of God’s chosen nation again. It was rescued and revived. It had life and power to give the nation hope again.
Stories like these cause me to hold my Bible more tightly. Sometimes I forget how valuable these words truly are. They are God’s written words to us. He has preserved them over thousands of years. Maybe we need to treat our copy of the Scriptures like Eli did in the movie—as if it was the last copy on the face of the planet. How would we read the New Testament differently this week if we held it as a beautiful relic that has immeasurable value to our world and to our lives? Read it this week as if it’s your only opportunity to hear from God. Cherish the time and cherish the words that have survived the assault of evil for several millennium.
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