The Walking Library

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” [John 1:1]

During the days of the Persian Empire the grand vizier was typically the most influential officer in the realm. He was second in authority only to the sultan himself, who often left politics to others so he could indulge in palace pleasures. The grand vizier served much like a prime minister, with complete powers of attorney and was the leader of the imperial council.

In the 10th century, the grand vizier of Persia, Abdul Kassem Ismael, carried his library with him whenever he went on official business. The 117,000-volume collection was carried by 400 camels that had been trained to walk in alphabetical order! This was to simplify locating official documents for the librarians quickly pulling a book for their master.

The Bible exalts Jesus Christ as the Grand Ruler of the universe. Because of Christ’s willingness to come to this Earth, Paul writes, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” (Philippians 2:9,10). Much like a giant library, Jesus is not only called “the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelation 1:8), but John tells us regarding the works of Christ, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).

Jesus is called “the Word.” He knew the written Word of God because the library of Scripture pointed to Himself. After His death and resurrection, Jesus appeared to two men walking on the road to Emmaus. They were confused about the recent events in Jerusalem. Christ pointed them to the Bible to encourage their faith. Luke writes, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27).

The Bible is like a walking library. Everything in this sacred library points to Jesus’ life and work to save people. No matter which book you pull out and open, it tells of Christ. No matter where you are in the world, you can open the Word of God and find that all of Scripture testifies of Him (John 5:39). And you don’t need 400 camels to carry around this amazing book!