The airplane dropped through the hot Mexican sky and flew low over the sleepy village. The loud buzzing noise made nine-year-old Panchito afraid, and he ran outside to see the first airplane he had ever seen. Suddenly a white cloud burst from the plane. Was it smoke? The white cloud quickly broke up into a thousand pieces as the wind scattered the little papers. On flew the little plane, apparently just fine.
Others also noticed the little papers fluttering downward over the fruit gardens on the edge of town. Panchito forgot his fear and joined the other children as they squealed and laughed, running through the fields to pick up as many of the little papers as possible.
The picture on the front is very interesting, Panchito thought. I wonder what the words say? His parents had died, and since he had never been to school, he could not read. He knew who must help him. He ran to her house.
Grandmother sat down beside him and read the touching story of God’s love for sinners, of how the Lord Jesus died on the cross and about heaven and hell. This was a new message, and it was very different from the religious superstition and witchcraft that Panchito had always heard in his town.
One man was very upset when he read the papers. He frowned and spoke angrily to the people. “Bring me all of these papers. Come and we’ll burn these lies in the town square.”
The adults fearfully and quietly handed their papers over and carefully collected them from the children. But Panchito was interested in the stories and Bible verses in the papers and tried to save them to be read another day.
Tucking his papers inside his shirt, Panchito took the shortest way home and quickly slipped his treasure under his straw sleeping mat. Then he joined the other children in the town square where they watched the papers flame up. The smoke and ashes rose into the sky as some men said bad things about the people who had dropped the messages of God’s love from the airplane.
The curious Panchito often brought out his hidden papers and secretly had somebody read to him. What is wrong with these words? he wondered. The paper explained how that God’s Word, the Bible, teaches that God loved the world so much that He gave His beloved Son to die for our sin. Was there something wrong with such words? Were they not true?
The paper talked about sins. Panchito felt bad as he thought about some of the swear words he had used that week. He had learned in church that stealing was sin. So were bad thoughts and disobedience. This seemed to be the bad news that the paper talked about. But apparently the Bible said that God had done something about sin. The verse from the Bible was beautiful: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
Many years passed as Panchito sometimes thought about those important words. The papers had long ago become dirty and frayed, and he had finally lost them. In 1991, as he walked across the main plaza in town, he was handed a gospel tract. At home his daughter read it to him. He was surprised. “This is like the message that came from the sky at my village fifty years ago.”
The next day he went to the place where the man was speaking about God. Panchito had never heard anybody read from the Bible before, but he recognized the message.
The preacher asked, “Do you know that the Bible tells us that we have all sinned?” Panchito nodded his head. He knew this. He had read this in his paper from the sky. The preacher read John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24): “He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Panchito could hardly sit still. He had also read this message. SO, it was true! SO, it was in the Bible!
As he walked toward the preacher, Panchito thought, This is the same message I read in a paper when I was a child. This message is true. I am a sinner and I know that God sent His Son Jesus into the world so I can be saved and forgiven of all my sin. I receive and believe this message right now, and I must thank God for saving me.
Not only did Panchito welcome the Lord Jesus, but his wife, four of his children and some of his grandchildren also received the message of the Saviour and were saved. In order to read more of the Bible on his own, Panchito learned how to read, even though he was not a young man.
Perhaps the message of the Bible has not come to you from an airplane. Perhaps you have the Bible in your hand or nearby. The message is the same - we have sinned. God did send His Son Jesus into our world to pay for our sins. He was sinless, but He suffered as though my sins were His. God offers us the gift of eternal life and salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It’s a message from the sky -from heaven. It’s for the heart. Have you received it?
ML-11/20/2005