Post 3 of 3 on my reflections after DC…
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Living in Oklahoma, where Hobby Lobby is based, I heard quite a bit about the Museum of the Bible months before its opening. This is because Hobby Lobby president is the founder of the $500 million, now year-old, museum in D.C. Well, last week I finally got to see for myself what all the hype was about.
Everything about the museum – from the architectural design, the expansive collections, displays and technology – is top-notch. Full of interactive, super creative activities and short videos accompanying many of the cases of artifacts makes walking through this museum far more interesting than simply reading placards. One of my favorite exhibits is the 30-minute “coming to life” of the Old Testament. I would say it’s on par with something Disney himself would execute!
The museum is organized according to three primary themes by floor*.
- Floor 2 – The Impact of the Bible
- Floor 3 – The Stories of the Bible
- Floor 4 The History of the Bible
*There are six floors but the others contain a theater, special exhibits, a restaurant, gift shop and a children’s room.
What I loved about the second floor was seeing the vast influence of the Bible on our country and culture. We don’t even realize all the images, references and traditions that have come from the Bible, especially with the growing Biblical illiteracy in our country. But there are traces of it in all spheres of life from government, news, education, military, medicine, arts, fashion and pop culture.
“No other book of any kind ever written in English…has ever so affected the whole life of people.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Back in colonial times, teaching the Bible to children was viewed as a sacred task. In Massachusetts even, if a community had more than 50 families it was required to sponsor a teacher and school to teach the Bible to children. Boy, do I wish for a recovered urgency of rooting our children in God’s Word.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither. (Psalm 1:1-3)
This was one of the very first sets of verses my daughter ever learned (in her two-year-old Sunday school class). That my kids would be like strong and flourishing trees because of God’s Word imparted into their hearts has remained a prayer ever since.
On the 4th floor of the museum, represented by the yellow books in the picture below, are the many languages the Bible has yet to be translated into. I was amazed first of all that there are so many languages. But to think the Bible has had the impact it has on our country when so many others have not even heard the truth of God’s word is a sobering reality. Especially seeing our country become more and more post-Christian. The gospel is flourishing though among people in Asia, African and Arab nations. And so I trust God’s word when it says:
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11
What I hope the museum does for those who visit is impress upon them a greater desire to be in God’s Word and to know the God of the Bible, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
