FAR away in the east, there is a land called Arabia where the sun shines hot and bright almost all the time There you would see sandy plains and rocky mountains, little villages of white flat-topped houses and groves of tall graceful date palms. The people who live in Arabia are called Arabs, and they are thought to be descended from Ishmael, Abraham’s elder son. Most of them still live in tents as Abraham did, and travel about from place to place on camels to find pasture for their flocks and herds.
But sad to say, they do not know God as Abraham knew Him. Abraham was called “the friend of God,” but these poor Arabs are Mahommedans. Though they believe in one God, they do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in a false prophet called Mahommed.
However there are some Christian missionaries now in Arabia who are trying to teach the people about the true God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Twenty-four years ago, that is in 1888, a missionary was travelling through Arabia on his way to the coast. He was travelling with camels over the desert, and he halted on Sunday because he would not travel on the Lord’s day. He invited all the people of the caravan to stop and hear him preach. As they were sitting on the ground, he opened the Gospel and read John 3:1414And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (John 3:14), “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” He preached on the text and afterwards prayed. The following day the caravan broke up and travelled on.
The missionary never knew what was the effect of his sermon, but there was one man called Mirza who could never forget the words of that wonderful verse. He wandered about for a long time with his camels and tents, but at last settled down in the mountains of Oman.
Here, one night last year there came to his memory the story of the sermon, and he could not throw it off, but spent a sleepless night thinking of Moses and the serpent and the wilderness. So he knelt and prayed to God that He would send someone to him who could teach him more about the wonderful verse which he had once heard and never forgotten. Then it seemed as though he was in a dream. Someone said to him, “Tomorrow morning people will come to you carrying Holy books, and they will explain to you the verse which is perplexing you!” So he got up before sunrise and sat by the wayside, expecting the fulfillment of the promise he had received in his dream. He was sitting just outside a little village in Oman.
That same morning there were going along that very road two brothers called Ibrahim and Seyyid, both Arab Christians. They had a load of Bibles and Christian tracts, which they used to sell to the people and tell them of the good news the books contained.
But this morning as they walked along, they remembered that the last time they had come to that village, the people had beaten them, and taken away their books and burned them publicly. They were afraid that this would happen to them again, so they decided to enter the village secretly, buy some food and get away before trouble should come to them.
They did not know that the Lord Himself was sending them to tell Mirza the good news of salvation; but when Mirza saw them coming, he felt sure that they were the men who were to explain to him about the serpent in the wilderness. He rose smiling and said, “Come on; everything is ready and I am expecting you!” They thought it was only a trick to get them into the town where the people would treat them ill, but they followed him nevertheless, and came to his house. There he gave them refreshments, and immediately began to ask about the Holy book. He bought a Bible in Persian and in Arabic, and said, “Please show me the verse about Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness.” When they explained to him this verse and the Message of the Gospel, he began to understand and to believe that the serpent in the wilderness was indeed a type of Christ, and that Jesus was the Saviour of sinners.
Do you too, dear children, understand this verse? You have heard how the Lord Jesus was lifted up on the cross, how He died for our sins. If you look up to Him, and put your confidence in Him, He will save you. You may be quite sure that if you trust yourself to Him, He will receive you at once, for He knows you apart from every other child in the world now, and thinks of you.
After Mirza knew and rejoiced in his own salvation, he said, “I find I am in debt to tell the news which I have heard to a dear friend of mine, a brother who lives in this village.” To his great joy, his brother also accepted Christ as his Saviour. Mirza went on selling Bibles and speaking of Christ to everyone, so that all the people in that region call him “Mirza Injili,” or Mirza the Gospel man. He has endured persecution in no small degree because of his boldness in confessing Christ, and reading the Bible to the people.
ML 05/19/1912