How would you like a vacation to one of the many islands in the South Pacific? Bora Bora, Fiji, Cook Islands, Tahiti, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and thousands of other islands, unspoiled beaches. Henry Knott did not take a paradise vacation to Tahiti. He was an English bricklayer who set sail for Tahiti in 1796 to bring Christianity to the island. A beautiful island but the island was full of war, brutal killing of enemies, idol worship, human sacrifices even of children, drunkenness. 30 years earlier British explorer Captain Cook visited Tahiti. He said, “There is an abyss of dissolute sensuality into which these people have sunk, wholly unknown to every other nation and which no imagination could possibly conceive.” The population had declined by 90% since Cooke’s visit due probably to diseases brought in to the island by crews of foreign vessels. Henry Knott said there was not in Tahiti a girl of twelve years who had escaped moral and physical contamination. The people were threatened with complete extinction. 2/3 of all babies were killed at birth. Euthanasia was practiced. Those whose infirmities made them a burden were buried alive. The king Pomare, who had sacrificed 2,000 humans to his idols, rejected Knott’s message from John 3:16. Knott translated John 3:16 into the language of Tahiti. The missionaries in Tahiti was persecuted and threatened, often having their goods stolen by natives (there was a god who was worshipped by stealing). Many of them left the island in fear for their lives, leaving Knott there all alone. Knott kept preaching the love of God from John 3:16.

Finally in 1813 King Pomare II, son of King Pomare, turned from idolatry. Hundreds began to turn from idols. Idols were cut into firewood, even the idol of the main god Oro. Thousands later came to hear Knott’s sermons in a big church building built by Pomare II. Laws were enacted to stop heathen practices. On Sunday, May 16, 1819 King Pomare II in the presence of 5,000 people was baptized. After 22 years of hardship and disappointments, this was the first baptism in Tahiti. During the ensuing decade hundreds were converted to Christianity. A building formerly used for human sacrifices was turned into a church building. During his 50 years of mission work, Knott only returned to England twice. He finished translating the Bible into the Tahitian language around 1838. He presented the Tahitian Bible to Queen Victoria and, at her request, he read John 3:16 in Tahitian.

AI: “Christianity remains the dominant religion in Tahiti, with a majority (84%) of the population identifying as Christian, particularly Protestant. The Maohi Protestant Church, deeply rooted in Tahitian culture, is the largest and most influential Protestant denomination. While Christianity is prevalent, traditional Tahitian beliefs and practices continue to exist, often blended with Christian traditions”. There is a large Mormon presence in Tahiti. Don’t you know that Henry Knott is looking down from heaven with great joy as he sees the continuing legacy of his work???????

Knott said, “The only sure and efficacious remedy for the ignorance, the depravities, the sorrows and sins of mankind, is to be found in the gospel of John 3:16.”

As I read about Henry Knott, I think of two things. One, why is the church not more focused on mission work in the world, especially among the unreached peoples groups. It is estimated that of the 8.08 billion people alive in the world today, 3.42 billion of them live in unreached people groups with little or no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why do churches keep pouring millions of dollars into buildings for our comfort and staffs “preaching to the choir” instead of printing Bibles into the major languages and sending missionaries out? Henry Knott was a bricklayer! But he spread Christianity to an unreached people group in Tahiti that eventually led to an island being 84% Christian. Maybe you are not a missionary to go to foreign fields, but you can still support financially and prayerfully the organizations and missionaries who do that.

But my second thought is John 3:16. Henry Knott wasn’t caught up in eschatology or church doctrine although he was probably of the Calvinistic Reformed theology. Apparently the love of God was the primary motivation for him to love others and sacrifice so much to share God’s love with the Tahitians. There is a song, “I love you with the love of the Lord”. When you feel how much God loves you, it just makes you want to love other people and share God’s love with them. There are so many people who just don’t feel that love. Many feel worthless and unloved, maybe due to a lack of love shown them by parents. Many seek love in the wrong places in the pursuit of materialism and hedonism. They might not even feel the need for God’s love.

I personally tend to major in doctrinal and exegetical Biblical studies, as you can see from my blog articles. But how much does John 3:16 really mean to me? Do I feel God’s love? Do I get up every morning and say “God love me”? Do I thank God often every day for sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross for me? Do I try to share God’s love with everyone I am around every day? Do I see people who are struggling with life and share God’s love with them? Do I tell people that God loves them? Do I share John 3:16 with those who aren’t Christians? Do I use my resources to try to spread the love of God and the message of John 3:16 to the world, especially to those unreached people’s groups?

What does John 3:16 really mean to you?