Why collect from the past?

As a child in Sunday school, I longed for someone to bridge the gap between Bible times and today. What did the money look like that Judas received for betraying his friend and teacher . . .? How small were the 2 coins the poor widow gave?

It wasn't until after I finished university that I came across a book by Florence Banks titled: "Coins of Bible Days". I was surprised to learn that not only did we know what these coins looked like . . . but that they were available and affordable. In a heartbeat I sold my modern coin collection and sought out Bible coins. How much more exciting was a coin that no one else had since each was handmade 2,000 years ago! More important, each coin had a story ­from the Widow's Mite to the Tribute Penny. . .

Bringing the Bible to Life

As believers with the world at our fingertips, we have a responsibility for making the Bible as real and exciting as it is! We have been entrusted with a message that has withstood the test of time and has changed our lives. If we can make the Bible real to someone . . .why not? Churches, Christian educators and parents can invest in the future by investing in the past. I have been rewarded many times over by seeing the fascination of a child in Sunday school or a teen at camp -or a veteran believer who has "seen it all."

Jesus used coins in His story-telling -shouldn't we?

Introduction of key Bible coins

What did Jesus look like?

It's a question every biblical believer, painter, and sculpturer wants to know.

The chances are good that we should have an image of the One who changed the world -yet we have no painting or sculpture to give us a clue. The earliest coin portrays Jesus more accurately than the Hollywood actors we are familiar with yet it was struck hundreds of years after His death. The Bible tells us that "He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him; nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him." (Isaiah 53:2). In otherwords, Jesus appeared pretty ordinary, -and if He was to fully experience being human and experiencing rejection -may have at times been considered "unattractive".

I truly believe that God purposed us to have no visual record of Jesus. If we had a painting or a statue then we would worship an object instead of the Creator. Secondly, any painting or sculpture would fall short of the true glory of God. The message of Christ transcends all cultures; all races.

It does not matter what the Son of God looks like. We do know that He looks upon us with love and when He returns He will have the radiance of the noonday sun! And if we fall before the beauty of angels -how much more will we bow before Him!