Far away in the east, there is a land called Arabia where the sun shines hot and bright almost all the time. There you would see sandy plains and rocky mountains, little villages of white flat-topped houses and groves of tall graceful date palms. The people who live in Arabia are called Arabs, and they are thought to be descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s elder son. Most of them still live in tents as Abraham did, and travel about from place to place on camels to find pasture for their flocks and herds.
But, sad to say, they do not know God as Abraham knew Him. Abraham was called “the friend of God,” but these poor Arabs are Mohammedans. Though they believe in one God, they do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in a false prophet called Mohammed.
However, there are some Christian missionaries now in Arabia who are trying to teach the people about the true God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
About 70 years ago a missionary was traveling through Arabia on his way to the coast. As he was traveling on camels over the desert, he halted on Sunday because he would not travel on the Lord’s day. He invited all the people of the caravan to stop and hear him preach the gospel. As they were sitting on the ground, he read John 3:1414And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (John 3:14), “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” He preached on the text and afterward prayed. The following day the caravan traveled on.
The missionary never knew what the effect of his sermon was, but there was one man called Mirza who could never forget the words of that wonderful verse. He wandered about for a long time with his camels and tents, but at last settled down in the mountains of Oman.
One night many years later the season came to his memory very vividly, and he could not throw it off. He spent a sleepless night thinking of Moses and the serpent in the wilderness. He knelt and prayed to God that He would send someone to him who could teach him more about the wonderful verse which he had heard once and had never forgotten. Then it seemed as though he was in a dream. Someone said to him, “Tomorrow morning people will come to you carrying holy books, and they will explain to you the verse which is perplexing you!” So he got up before sunrise and sat by the wayside, expecting the fulfillment of the promise he had received in his dream. He was sitting just outside a little village in Oman.
That same morning two brothers called Ibrahim and Seyyid, Arab Christians, were going along that very road. They had a load of Bibles and Christian tracts, which they used to sell to the people and tell them of the good news the books contained.
But this morning as they walked along they remembered that the last time they had come to that village, the people had beaten them and taken away their books and burned them publicly. They were afraid that this would happen to them again, so they decided to enter the village secretly, buy some food and get away before trouble should come to them.
They did not know that the Lord Himself was sending them to tell Mirza the good news of salvation. When Mirza saw them coming, he felt sure that they were the men who were to explain to him about the serpent in the wilderness. He rose, smiling and said, “Come on; everything is ready and I am expecting you!” They thought it was only a trick to get them into the town where the people would treat them ill, but they followed him nevertheless, and came to his house. There he gave them refreshments, and immediately began to ask about the holy book. He bought a Bible in Persian and in Arabic, and said, “Please show me the verse about Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness.”
When they explained this verse to him and the message of the gospel, he began to understand and to believe that the serpent in the wilderness was indeed a type of Christ, and that Jesus was the Saviour of sinners.
Do you too, dear children, understand this verse? You have heard how the Lord Jesus was lifted up on the cross, how He died for our sins. If you look up to Him, and put your conference in Him, He will save you. You may be quite sure that if you trust yourself to Him, He will receive you at once, for He knows you as He knows every other child in the world, and thinks of you.
After Mirza knew and rejoiced in God’s great salvation, he said, “I find I am responsible to tell the news which I have heard to a dear friend of mine, a brother who lives in this village.”
To his great joy his brother also accepted Christ as his Saviour. Mirza went on selling Bibles and speaking of Christ to everyone, so that all the pele in that region called him “Mirza Injili,” or Mirza, the gospel man. He endured persecution in no small degree because of his boldness in confessing Christ and reading the Bible to the people.
ML 07/14/1956