Spiritual Insights from Classic Literature: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Spiritual Insights from Classic Literature, #5

By Ruth ONeil

Reading is an important part of a child's education, so are studying the Scriptures. This series of books combines both of those things. Each book in this series is developed to go with a classic work. This one is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Read one chapter of Jules Verne's classic and the corresponding chapter in this devotional book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruth ONeil
• Release date: Feb 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781733730747

Ruth ONeil

Ruth O’Neil has been a freelance writer for 20-plus years. She sees everything as a writing opportunity in disguise, whether it is an interesting character, setting, or situation. You can find her book series “What a Difference a Year Makes” on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or her website (http://ruthoneil.weebly.com/). You can also visit her on her blog at http://ruths-real-life.blogspot.com/. When she’s not writing or homeschooling her kids, Ruth spends her time quilting, reading, scrapbooking, camping and hiking with her family.

Book preview

Introduction

Preparing for this devotional companion was the first time I had ever read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. This was originally published in French as a serial in a magazine from 1869-1870. It was later translated and published in English.

It may not end up being one of my favorite classics, but it was still enjoyable. I enjoyed the imagination and the knowledge it took to write this story. I appreciated the things that made me think or even do a little research on my own. To me, those are the marks of a good book.

So, dive right in and join the journey that is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Read one chapter of Jules Verne's work and then read the corresponding chapter here.

Chapter One

"There appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary creature, from the white whale, the terrible Moby Dick of hyperborean regions, to the immense kraken whose tentacles could entangle a ship of five hundred tons, and hurry it into the abyss of the ocean."

Have you ever been caught up in the exaggerated hype of a story?

In the first chapter we are introduced to an enormous thing, a monster. Ships came into port with damage and great tales of how that damage occurred. The problem was there were no definite, full-monster sightings. Their stories were only bits and pieces of the truth that grew more exaggerated with each telling, so much so that the truth of the matter was almost completely lost.

The same thing happens today. The news might report a story filled with half-truths, which too often many people take as complete truth. Those half-truths are then dispersed through word of mouth and social media so quickly that the facts become quite muddled. It comes to a point that we have no idea what the truth of the matter really was in the first place. We then depend on the opinions and memories of other people to discover the truth.

Unfortunately, we do this with the Bible as well. Instead of reading the Bible for ourselves to learn what God has to say, we depend on other people to tell us. The problem with that is that those people are not always right. Some purposely lead people astray.

'Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!' declares the Lord (Jeremiah 23:1).

Before the Protestant Reformation, people had to depend on church leaders because most of the people couldn't read and didn't own a copy of the Bible for themselves. However, after the Bible was translated into a language they could understand, printed, and made available to common people, things began to change.

There are lots of great pastors and Bible teachers out there, but only when you stay in the Word yourself will you be able to recognize the difference. We need to be like the Bereans of the New Testament and listen to the Word preached, but also study it for ourselves.

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11).

Don't depend on others to tell you what the Bible says, read it for yourself.

Chapter Two

The mystery puzzled me.

Has there ever been a mystery that you needed to solve?

The narrator, Professor Aronnax, had been reading stories from all over the world about the monster. No one in the Americas, no one in Europe, and no one anywhere in the world was able to explain exactly what it was or give any specific details about it. As a man who enjoyed history and learning, this mystery baffled him. He assumed someone somewhere must have had some definitive answers.

When we read the book of Ephesians, we see that Paul talked a lot about a mystery; but that mystery was no longer a secret, and Paul wanted to loudly proclaim it everywhere. The mystery was the salvation of the Gentiles. In the Old Testament, the Jews had to follow a whole lot of rules. However, by the time Paul wrote Ephesians – from a prison cell, by the way – the mystery had been solved.

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ (Ephesians 1:9).

That is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:3-6).

"Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery