God is most patient and long-suffering to those whom He will save. He is not hindered by pride nor arrogance. It is truly astonishing above all measure how He saves those who are bent on their own destruction.
Twice Antonio, the rough bricklayer from Tessin, rudely and wickedly refused to accept the same Bible. God had decreed to use this very Bible as a means to draw Antonio unto Himself and make him eternally happy.
For the third time this untiring, compassionate, loving God will cross Antonio's path. Again God will use the same Bible with the dented cover. Jesus says in Rev. 3:2020Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20), "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Jesus kept knocking on the door of Antonio's heart with this same Bible!
Our now aged Giovanni had again found work in one of the Swiss towns. He soon found that the stubborn troublemaker, Antonio, not only worked in the same town but also on the same building. Antonio felt uncomfortable at first, especially when he saw how the other men treated Giovanni with great respect. Giovanni was a foreman over all the Italian workmen.
Gradually, Antonio began to feel more regard and even some affection for his foreman, Giovanni. He anxiously wanted to have Giovanni forget the ill-treatment he had received at Lugano—ill-treatment pushed by Antonio. Giovanni willingly forgot the past and began to take a great interest in the young man.
One day as Antonio carried a heavy piece of stone upone of the unsteady ladders, his foot slipped. Perhaps weakness caused by his heavy drinking helped lead to his fall. Antonio fell backwards from a height of about fifty feet. His fellow workers carried an unconscious Antonio to the little hospital in the town where the Sisters of Charity cared for him.
Poor young man, there he lay for weeks and months on a bed of suffering. Remember what God said to His people when He said He would send His chastening hand upon them for their sin. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart," Jer. 29:11-1311For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11‑13).
Giovanni often visited Antonio in the little hospital. Before the fall, Giovanni had warned Antonio against his sinful way of life. He had reminded Antonio of the certainty of God's chastening hand if he continued in sin. Now with tenderness and love Giovanni pointed the unhappy man to the Good Shepherd. Until people have been drawn to Christ, they are as Jesus said, "...they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd," Matt. 9:3636But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. (Matthew 9:36).
It was God who sent Giovanni to Antonio to tell him that God used chastening in love to bring His wandering sheep to Himself. Jesus says in Matt. 9:37-3837Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:37‑38), "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." We must pray for God to send more to labor in His vineyard who will be honest with our souls like Giovanni.
Giovanni didn't stay long when he came to visit. Work began at four o'clock in the morning and didn't end until nightfall. This left him little time or strength at his age to visit the sick. He wanted to do something more for poor Antonio, so he left him his old, precious Bible. Giovanni left the Bible on the condition that Antonio would read it and would take the best possible care of it.
Antonio didn't care a bit about the Book. In fact the Bible laying on the table beside him made him feel angry. One day, however, Antonio picked it up when he was bored. He didn't read it; he just turned the pages for something to do. Some Godly ladies, who came to visit him often, saw him just turning the pages to pass his time away. They told him about the Twelfth Chapter of HEBREWS. They told Antonio that this chapter speaks about the blessings of suffering and how God sends suffering out of love. It tells about the love of God which reveals itself in a special way in chastening.
These words caught Antonio's attention. They soothed his dark and aching heart. As his eyes fell on the fifth verse, these precious truths struck his heart, "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." He read Heb. 12:6-76For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (Hebrews 12:6‑7), "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"
The mystery of what Giovanni told him became clear. Now Antonio understood how God sent sore affliction in love to bring His wandering sheep to Himself.
Antonio's heart of rebellion melted as he read, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord," Heb. 12:11-1411Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: (Hebrews 12:11‑14).
From this time on Antonio read the Bible often, especially the passages his Christian friends suggested. Sometimes they gave him clear explanations of these passages. Slowly Antonio began to make progress in the knowledge of Christ and the things of God. He grew in love to the Word of God itself.
At first Antonio had hoped to regain his health and leave the hospital within six weeks. That did not happen. Six months passed before he could set a foot on the floor or even drag himself around the room on crutches. His hip had been broken in the fall, and the injury crippled him for life. Antonio's Christian friends told him he could never go back to work as a mason. He would need to find a different way to earn a living. His friends suggested that perhaps as he healed and had less pain, he could study. If he could increase his general knowledge enough, he might become a teacher. Antonio took their advice. He studied with great enthusiasm. He made rapid progress in many useful subjects. His desire for spiritual things also increased every day.
At length he gained the deepest and most important knowledge a man can get. He learned that he was a great sinner who deserved eternal judgment. The more the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to see the beauty there is in Christ, the more he could understand what Paul said in 1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15), "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." Even the prophet Isaiah said, "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." ISAIAH 6:5.
The more Antonio learned of God's wrath upon his sin, the more he saw his need for the blood of Jesus Christ to atone for it. He learned to see that he needed Christ's blood to cleanse him from sin, as well as His sacrifice to take away the penalty of sin.
Antonio learned the publican's prayer in Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13), "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." What joy sprang up in Antonio's soul when he found that the Son of God could cleanse even such a sinner as he from all sin. From this time forward he experienced peace and joy. Antonio kept these feelings of peace in spite of his suffering. He even could thank God for the suffering which God used to bring him to Himself.