Along with the publication of the Spanish Bible, on 26 July 2023 a new distribution centre was opened in Medellín, Colombia to facilitate the distribution of the Holy Scriptures in Colombia and surrounding countries. At the official opening of the centre, a devotional message was given highlighting the Lord's good kindness in the continued efforts of circulating His Word among all nations. 

The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
(Deuteronomy 28.8)

1. The Storehouses

In Spanish the word for storehouses is ‘graneros’. This is very like a word we have in English: granary. It is how I think of the warehouse in London—some of you will have visited it. There are many racks ascending to a great height, shelves full of pallets containing boxes. And in every one of those boxes is some portion of the Word of God or at very least something that upholds it.

I think of the warehouse as a granary full of seeds ready to be sown. The motto of the Society reminds us of this—‘the Word of God among all nations’. This is drawn from two verses where the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking. ‘The seed is the word of God’, He says in the parable of the sower in Luke 8. And then in Mark 13.10 we read, ‘the gospel must first be published among all nations’. So we have the Word of God—the seed—among all nations. And so it is that as this seed leaves the granary in London it goes among all nations.

But our verse speaks of more than one storehouse. And so the Society also has many ‘granaries’ around the world, with more in the future, God willing. They may be of different sizes, but they have the same purpose—the precious, God glorifying task of sending out that seed. The core purpose of the Society is to circulate the Scriptures, and so our task is not finished when a translation or revision is drafted. Neither is it complete when we submit that work to the printer. And when we receive the printed copies in the storehouse—it is not the end of our work, it is only the beginning.

We may apply the promises of this verse that speak of the Lord’s outward blessings for the children of Israel. It is God’s Word, and these are also ultimately the Lord’s storehouses also. Their purpose is to distribute the Scriptures to the glory of God alone. Joseph wisely stored up corn in Egypt in storehouses. Apparently Egyptian storehouses were filled from the top and is not that a picture of the Lord’s work in relation to providing us with the seed of the Word? There is much labour and activity on our part, but it is all subject to the overarching activity of Divine providence. Sometimes He intervenes in a remarkable way to bring about translations and to make a way for His Word. He works by His providence to bring all these things about.

‘Joseph opened all the storehouses’ (Genesis 41.56). There was famine but he had prepared the necessary provision for that time and now he supplied the need. Our New Testament Joseph is the Lord Jesus Christ, He opens all the storehouses of His grace for perishing sinners—it is a full provision. But part of this is His opening the storehouses of His word so that sinners may hear and their souls may live.

Although they are ultimately the Lord’s storehouses, He is gracious to give us these resources to steward wisely. Thus, we read here that they are called ‘thy storehouses’. Those of you who have laboured in revising the Reina-Valera, these are your storehouses in a sense. You have laboured to see places like this filled with the Scriptures, and then constantly emptied and filled as the Word goes out. Those of you who have helped with practical arrangements, these are your storehouses. Those who have given generously in Gospel partnership—some whose names we never will know— are, in a real sense, their storehouses too.

We pray that this revision will be adopted by many churches and Christians in Spanish-speaking nations. Our desire is that this storehouse will serve them and that there will be many more storehouses springing up in many countries. Not just here, and in Bolivia and Sao Paolo, Brazil, but across Latin America and indeed Spain itself also, if the Lord will.

2. The Responsibility

That indicates a great task. More than four hundred million people in more than twenty countries speak Spanish. It is the fourth most spoken language in the world. Much work is needed to ensure that people know about this revision and the reasons it is to be preferred. We read here in this verse, ‘in all that thou settest thine hand unto’. That indicates there is much work to do, there is a great deal of responsibility laid upon us. There are many things great and small we must set our hands to.

And as we are reminded in Ecclesiastes 9.10, ‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest’. We must diligently seek the Lord’s glory in all lawful ways. We are to make use of all opportunities in redeeming the time.

‘In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good’ (Ecclesiastes 11.6).

Sometimes—and this is certainly true of translation projects—things do not turn out as we plan and hope. We pursue possibilities and they are not fruitful. We speak to different people, but nothing seems to come of it. But the Lord has His time, He knows what will prosper and is able to make it prosper.

We need to fill the storehouses not just with Spanish Scriptures but with equally accurate and faithful translations of the Scriptures in the other languages spoken in Latin America. Spanish is spoken by 60% of Latin America as the first language and Portuguese 30%. But that remaining 10% constitutes a lot of people. There is French and Dutch for French Guyana and Suriname, but what about Quechua, Guaraní, Aymara, Nahuatl, and many others? Should we not be praying to the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust forth other labourers into this harvest and to set their hands to this work of translation in other languages?

There are many people in many countries, speaking many languages—souls perishing for hunger. Christ is saying to us ‘Give ye them to eat’. We are inclined to look at our scarce resources like the disciples; they looked at only five loaves and two fishes and they asked, ‘but what are they among so many?’ ‘Give ye them to eat’, Christ had said. He told them of their responsibility—perhaps you have heard the following: responsibility means our response to His ability. That’s what launched the modern missions movement: ‘Attempt great things for God and expect great things from God’. Christ is able to multiply and abundantly bless the seed sown so that it may be said, ‘there is that scattereth, and yet increaseth’ (Proverbs 11.24).

3. The Blessing

We must not separate our responsibility and the Lord’s blessing. The verse says ‘the LORD shall command the blessing upon thee … in all that thou settest thine hand unto’. He is able to command the blessing in the sphere of labour and activity. The notes of the Geneva Bible on this verse read as follows, ‘God will bless us, if we do our duty and are not idle’.

The Hebrew word translated ‘storehouses’ is only found here and in Proverbs 3.9, 10, ‘Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine’. We must be diligent and wise stewards, ‘the hand of the diligent maketh rich’ (Proverbs 10.4). There may be various disappointments and challenges. We may sow in tears, but we have the sure expectation of reaping in joy (Psalm 126.5,6).

‘He shall command’, this is greatly encouraging, the Lord has all things at His sovereign disposal. When things seem most difficult and impossible to us, He can intervene. We labour in hope and sow in hope. In hope of the blessing. It is His own Word and He will always bless it. This is how it was in the time of the Apostles, ‘So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed’ (Acts 19.20).

But God’s Word can express these principles best of all. Let us remind ourselves of the promise of Isaiah 55.10,11:

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Amen.