February 9, 2023 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Greetings, friends! Today we will be looking at the life of an amazing man featured in Chapter 5 of The Great Controversy.
The man had been dead and buried for more than 40 years when one gray day a strange-looking group of people approached a church graveyard in Lutterworth, England, shovels in hand. Gathering around the grave, a priest ordered the diggers to exhume the remains of John Wycliffe, a much-loved pastor, speaker, diplomat, author, and Oxford professor who died on December 31, 1384. Declared a heretic and excommunicating him retroactively, Rome sought revenge against this early Reformer. Wycliffe’s bones were burned, and his ashes scattered in the river Swift.
What had he done to deserve such a fate? Why was the Church of Rome so intent on ridding the earth of his remains? Because he dared to speak the truth and provide the Word of God to people in their native tongue.
A century before the birth of Martin Luther, John Wycliffe proclaimed, “Trust wholly in Christ; rely altogether on his sufferings; beware of seeking to be justified in any other way than by his righteousness.”[i]
Born around the year 1328 on a sheep farm 200 miles from London, Wycliffe proved himself early in life to be an excellent scholar with remarkable talents.
He also had a deep love for God. While studying at Oxford University, he was, through his ability to read the ancient languages, able to access the Scriptures.
Ellen White writes, “In the word of God . . . he saw the plan of salvation revealed and Christ set forth as the only advocate for man. He gave himself to the service of Christ and determined to proclaim the truths he had discovered” (The Great Controversy, p. 81).
Wycliffe was appalled to see how Rome had forsaken the word of God for human tradition, and he urged the Scriptures be made available to the people and that its authority be again established in the church.
“He was an able and earnest teacher and an eloquent preacher, and his daily life was a demonstration of the truths he preached,” writes Ellen White. “His knowledge of the Scriptures, the force of his reasoning, the purity of his life, and his unbending courage and integrity won for him general esteem and confidence” (The Great Controversy, p. 81).
Serving as chaplain to the King of England, Wycliffe advised the king against paying tribute claimed by the pope and showed that “the papal assumption of authority over secular rulers was contrary to both reason and revelation” (The Great Controversy, p. 82).
He also spoke against the evils of the many Catholic friars swarming across England, selling indulgences, demanding alms, and living luxuriously while robbing the country and people of wealth. Wycliffe began writing and publishing tracts against the friars, directing the minds of the people to the teachings of the Bible and its Author.
Wycliffe was appointed a royal ambassador, serving two years in the Netherlands where he defended England against the pope’s representatives from France, Italy, and Spain. He learned much, and after returning to England continued to uplift the Bible, “declaring that covetousness, pride, and deception were the gods of Rome” (The Great Controversy, p. 85).
The pope soon sent three public declarations, known as “papal bulls,” to England, demanding this teacher of “heresy” be immediately silenced. God intervened to protect his servant, and although Rome made repeated attempts to end Wycliffe’s life, none were successful.
Even when he seemed to be on his deathbed, Wycliffe remained true. Thinking this so-called heretic would succumb to a serious illness, priests and friars rushed to his bed. “You have death on your lips,” they said. “Be touched by your faults and retract in our presence all that you have said to our injury” (The Great Controversy, p. 88).
The Reformer listened in silence. Then, sitting up and looking straight at his tormentors he replied in a firm, strong voice: “I shall not die, but live; and again declare the evil deeds of the friars.”
“Wycliffe’s words were fulfilled. He lived to place in the hands of his countrymen the most powerful of all weapons against Rome—to give them the Bible, the Heaven-appointed agent to liberate, enlighten, and evangelize the people” (The Great Controversy, p. 88).
This was the first English translation of the Bible ever made. Although Wycliffe had spoken clearly against Rome, the papists were not allowed to make him a martyr. He later died of natural causes, and his foundational work lived on, providing solid ground for the Reformation to come.
“The character of Wycliffe is a testimony to the educating, transforming power of the Holy Scriptures,” writes Ellen White. “It was the Bible that made him what he was. . . . The study of the Bible will ennoble every thought, feeling, and aspiration as no other study can. It gives stability of purpose, patience, courage, and fortitude; it refines the character and sanctifies the soul” (The Great Controversy, p. 94).
“The entrance of Your words,” says the psalmist, “gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Ps. 119:130).
The Wycliffe Bible had a profound influence, giving thousands direct access to God’s Word. In the classic Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, John Foxe wrote: “though they digged up his body, burnt his bones, and drowned his ashes, yet the Word of God and the truth of his doctrine, with the fruit and success thereof, they could not burn; which yet to this day…doth remain.”
Let us thank God for the work of John Wycliffe and many others who have remained true to God, no matter the cost. I invite you to pray with me just now.
[i] “John Wycliffe, Pre-Reformation Reformer,” Christian History, Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/moversandshakers/john-wycliffe.html
Father in heaven. Thank you for wonderful, powerful preachers of righteous ness, people who led the way in reformation such as John Wycliffe. We ask that you will help each one of us to stand firm for truth, pure truth, Bible truth, and not let any human tendencies enter into any of our beliefs, but to ground our beliefs upon your holy word. Thank you for this inspiration from the past. And now, as we head into the future, we place ourselves firmly in your hands, asking you to help us to stand firm for you. In Jesus name, we ask it. Amen.