The Most Ancient Of Ways.

During several of my recent bible studies I have become increasingly aware of an ancient document. The “Codex Sinaiticus”.  I had come across references to it many times before but I had never given it much more than a scant thought. Because firstly, it was a very ancient manuscript and secondly, it was written in an ancient and archaic language that I wouldn’t understand. So, what was the point of looking? I decided to leave it to the experts.

Now! Let’s skip over to mid-2024 when my wife and I had planned a short holiday to the City of London. We love that city and have visited it many times. At some point in my previous studies I had found out that this ancient document could be seen on display in the British Library in London.

So, I decided that it was worth a visit. But before I went I began to read a bit more earnestly into the artifact to see just exactly what it was I was looking at. And what I discovered made me take my thinking of it far more seriously than I had ever done before.

The pictures that I looked at were just of a very old book with a jumble of meaningless characters and symbols written on it. It is known as the “Codex Sinaiticus”. “Codex”, which is an old word for a book which is written on separate pages, (as opposed to a scroll which continually rolls through its text) and “Sinaiticus” because it was first located in an ancient monastery in the Sinai Desert. The Greek Orthodox Monastery which is officially known as “The Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai”. I love that title.

According to the several sources that I contacted or read this document was of far more importance to christians and christianity than I had ever realised.

Firstly because of its history. Experts from several fields of history have dated this document to have been written in the original, millenia old languages. And secondly, the document has been dated to have been written around 350A.D. That makes it nearly 1700 years old. And it was a hand written copy of older documents were the text in them has been handwritten from well before that date.

But most importantly it is the oldest intact copy of the Holy Scriptures that we have. Among its writing are contained the complete New Testament and a large amount of our Old Testament writings. This is invaluable because we can use this to compare against our modern day versions of King James Version, Wycliffe Version, Lutheran Version, Douey Version and see how they stand up against this most ancient of documents.

So, off we went to The British Library in London.

The Library was very easy to find and the staff were able to direct us straight to the department that contained the manuscripts. And when I saw it across the room my pace actually slowed down. I was aware that I was approaching a very old document that contained the very earliest copies of God’s inspired Word. And I was in awe.

Countless people have been killed so that these holy words could be preserved for us. Two Bishops from Oxford, England - Latimer and Ridley – were burned at the stake for preaching the words of this Bible. John Bunyan, the writer of The Pilgrim’s Progress, spent twelve years in jail just for preaching from the Bible. Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1521 for challenging some of the teachings of his church. He went on the produce his own translation, The Lutheran Bible. And many more people who contrubuted to the preservation of the original writings.

And here I was, looking at the oldest, most complete copy of our scriptures that we can visit.

But I was also processing some thoughts about other people’s claims that there have been a lot of mistakes and mistranslations of the years. Well, this Codex has shown that the writings that we have in print today almost exactly match the wordings that were written almost 1700 years ago.

And that made me realise that the God who authored these words has also preserved this volume for us so that we have validation that He always provides for us so that we can learn more about Him. God has always had His words recorded in books and scrolls of one sort or another so as they could be re-read to the people. Consider the time when Moses was instructed to write down God’s words…

Exodus Ch17 (14) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua,

Moses was to refer to these again when addressing the people…

Exodus Ch24 (7) Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people.

And as Old Testament history rolled on the Patriarchs always wrote and referred to the ancient books and scrolls…

Joshua Ch24 (26) Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God.

1st Samuel Ch10 (25) Then Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD.

Nehemiah Ch8 (1) Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses

Even when the Israelites were taken into slavery by Babylon, books from the ancient times were still available. Listen to the words from Esther…

Esther Ch6 (1) That night the king (Ahasuerus) could not sleep. So someone was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.

God’s words and records have always been written up and preserved for us. In Old Testament times the prophet Isaiah says…

Isaiah Ch40 (8) The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever."

Or the words of Jesus in Matthew…

Matthew Ch24 (35) Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

The Codex Sinaiticus also has a lot of writings from the Old Testament times which match our own Old Testament very closely. And it has all been translated and put online for us all to see should we want to take our studies into a deeper level.

So let us continue to read and remember God’s words as written in Scriptures of old. Following these teachings means that we are carrying on a spiritual lineage that has existed even from the very beginnings of Israel’s history. And what a lineage to be a part of. From the tablets of stone carved by Jehovah himself on Mount Sinai to Jesus reading from the Scroll of Isaiah in the Temple – We have the privilege of carrying on this tradition for God for future generations to come.

Psalm Ch1 (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
 
Email - TheseLivelyOracles@hotmail.com
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Location: 1 A1, Belfast BT1 5YE, UK

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