Robert Morris had gone to Asia Minor to visit some Christians living in a very remote section. But no one seemed to be able to direct him to them.
Looking around he saw a man coming towards him. So he asked him if there were any Christians in the neighborhood.
“Christians?” The man shook his head. He had never heard of such people. Who were they?
“People who believe in Jesus Christ,” replied Morris.
The man looked very puzzled, and then after a moment’s thought, he said, “I don’t suppose you mean ‘the people of the Book'?”
This time it was the missionary who looked astonished.
“The people of the Book? Who are they?”
“Well,” replied the man, “they are a little band of people who get their way of life from a big Book which they say is holy. They do everything the Book tells them to do, and so they are called ‘the people of the Book.’ "
“Is the Book called the Bible?” asked Morris eagerly.
“That I couldn’t say,” was the reply; “but these people live about two miles from here across the valley and over the hill.”
“Thank you very much indeed,” said the missionary warmly and pressed forward on his way.
A little later he came upon a row of humble cottages and rapped on the door of the first one. A tall swarthy-looking man opened the door and invited him in. As Morris stepped inside the rough room, a strange and beautiful sight met his gaze. Half a dozen men and women were gathered round a rough table on which lay a large volume. The missionary discovered it to be a translation of the Bible in their own language.
Having made friends with the little group, Morris learned that they had obtained this treasure sometime previously, and although no one had ever visited them from the outside, they had read and studied the Scriptures so diligently that they had discovered God’s way of salvation, and had come to know the Saviour.
Their joy was as great as that of their visitor. Even as he entered, they had been considering how they could tell others of their wonderful discovery that they, too, might share in the blessings of knowing Christ.
When Robert Morris had to depart, it was with mingled feelings of joy and sadness that he bade them good-bye.
“The people of the Book,” he thought to himself, “what a title! Here are poor folk receiving a Bible for the first time, and not only reading and believing every word, but obeying it; while over in our country there are educated people who scorn and despise this same precious Book, calling it foolish and out of date though it has been in their possession for centuries. What grander title could be bestowed on any people than which these isolated Christians have earned, ‘The people of the Book'?”
ML-12/19/1976