William Tyndale's story is one of perseverance—his determination to translate the Scriptures into the English language was an admirable act of service to the Lord.
In England in the 1500s, most parents could not read the Christmas story from the Bible to their children. They weren't allowed to teach their children the Lord's Prayer or the Ten Commandments in English, because it was against the law.
At the time, only a few people in England could read the Bible. It was available to them only in Latin, and most of the people could speak and read only English.
Church leaders did not want the Bible to be translated into English because they thought that people would not understand Scriptures and that their misunderstanding would lead them to follow false teachings. They felt it was the church's job to interpret Scripture.
But translator William Tyndale loved God's Word and yearned to make it available to everyone. He persevered in his plan to translate the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into English, even when the plan angered the leaders of the government and the church.
In order to avoid capture, he devised a plan to continue translating and printing the New Testament in Germany and smuggling it into England by ship. The King of England ordered the copies to be burned, and William lost many copies of the New Testament and the Pentateuch in a shipwreck and had to rewrite them all by hand—more than 150,000 words!
Ultimately, William was betrayed by someone he thought to be a friend, arrested, and sentenced to be burned at the stake. His final words were, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." His prayer was answered a year after his death, when King Henry VII authorized the Scriptures to be translated and printed in English.
The sacrifices he made, including his own life, are a reminder that we, too, are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus despite the suffering and trials we might face. |
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