“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

2018 marks the 151^st anniversary of a little book without words that has found its’ way to over 80 countries and has been explained to countless children in every language known to man.  It “speaks” through the universal language of color.  It’s known as “The Wordless Book.”

The book was first designed with three pages:  black, red and white.  It was introduced by Charles Spurgeon in 1866.  Preaching at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, his sermon was entitled “The Wordless Book.”  Mr. Spurgeon told of an old minister who put three pages together and often looked at them to remind himself of his sinfulness, of Christ’s blood poured out for him, and of the “whiter than snow” cleansing provided for him.  “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”  Psalm 51:7 

Nine years later in 1875, Dwight L. Moody preached in Liverpool and added another page, a gold page depicting the love of God and the glories of heaven.  Mr. Moody preached at a children’s service, the newspapers put the number at 12,000, plus an overflow crowd of 2,000.  His address was founded on the book with four leaves, black, red, white and gold and gave a simple explanation of the cross and Jesus’ love for them.

Fanny Cosby, the famous blind hymn writer loved children and enjoyed telling them stories.  It is said she carried a wordless book in her purse and would bring it out and tell the story of Jesus everywhere she went.  The children loved it!

Hudson Taylor and the missionaries of the China Inland Mission used the four-page version in open air preaching and individual evangelism.  Later, Amy Carmichael took the book to India.  Her biographer tells how Amy and her assistant made a satin flag of gold, black, red and white and hoisted it on a cart pulled by oxen.  They went from village to village in southern India sharing the gospel.  Amy said it was “a most useful text for an impromptu sermon.”  She used the book itself in small groups.

In 1924, Ruth Overholtzer of Child Evangelism Fellowship discovered the book in a bookstore operated by Dr. Harry Ironside, the pastor of Moody Church.  CEF began to print the little book and added a green page to represent Christian growth.  They published a leaflet with instructions on how to use it with scripture verses for each page.  The Wordless Book is still being used today!  Over 40,000 of the little books were ordered from CEF in 2016!  You can go on their website and order one for yourself!  (CEFonline.com)

Today, the “colors of faith” are used in an array of forms for easy use in everyday language.  Among these are salvation bracelets, pins, various sports gear including soccer balls, basketballs and volleyballs.  More important we remember what the colors represent:

Black:  (dark) represents the sinful state of humanity by nature, Romans 3:23

Red:  represents the blood of Jesus that takes away our sin, 1 John 1:7, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

White:  (clean) represents the perfect righteousness God gives to believers through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, John 1:12.

Gold:  our future glory as believers, our home in heaven, John 3:16.

Amazing things can be found in four little pages without words!!

Your friend, Jean