THROUGH GATES OF SPLENDOR: The Elisabeth Elliot Story comes from the Museum of the Bible, kindly lent to the Biola community and supported by the Elisabeth Elliot Foundation. The exhibit will remain in the Biola Library through May 2026.
Walking through this exhibit, you are met with pale turquoise walls plastered with black and white poster-size photos of Elisabeth, the Waodani tribe and Ecuador. The first corner reveals a photo of young Elisabeth holding a child from the tribe, and next to that photo we see the propeller from Nate Saint’s Piper Family Cruiser. Nate was connected with the missionary couples in Ecuador, and flew the men over the Waodani tribe while they dropped down gifts to earn the people’s trust, before finally flying them down on Palm beach for the unknowingly tragic face-to-face meeting. Many other artifacts are displayed throughout the exhibit, from handmade pieces of life from the Waodani tribe, to stories and translations of scripture in English and the Waodani language, as well as a collection of Elisabeth’s written works. If you pause in the middle of the exhibit, you may take a moment to reflect and interact with a digital screen containing photo albums and scrapbooks that you can flip through. If you look up, you can watch Elisabeth speak about her experience, her testimony and the story from her very lips.
HER LIFE AND LEGACY
Stepping further into the exhibit, a display hangs on the wall, reading about “The Great Commission,” which Elisabeth Elliot and her husband Jim thoroughly obeyed. They met in 1947 at Wheaton College. They shared the same heart for missions, specifically in bringing the gospel to every unreached corner of the earth, as Christ commands all of His disciples of every age in Matthew 28:19-20, “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This call to mission, coupled with their love for the Lord which drew them together.
Elisabeth and Jim married in 1953 in Ecuador. They were joined by four other young couples in the mission field, living together in Ecuador and working with the Quicha, the people who first told them about the Waodani. The Waodani were considered the most violent tribe, murdering foreigners out of anger, revenge, mistrust or fear, believing them to be cannibals. Not to be swayed, Jim Elliot and the four other men traveled to and met with three of the Waodani people. This encounter, though positive at first, went sour after a misunderstanding was spread throughout the tribe, and just two days after their first encounter, Jim and the other men were tragically killed by a group of Waodani men.
Further in the exhibit, you can read how in 1958, Elisabeth, along with her daughter Valerie, made their way back to the jungles of Ecuador to not only visit but live with and minister to the tribe that had killed her husband only two years before. They were welcomed in, touching the hearts of the Waodani tribe with the Gospel, speaking of a God who loved them, and did not wish death upon them. Her sacrificial choice to forgive and express love rather than hate awoke a change within the Waodani tribe. She led these people to leave behind generational cycles of violence and death and step into a new life of love.
Throughout the next few years, Elisabeth worked to create a writing system for the Waodani language. She was an advocate for their education, and brought together a New Testament translation for them in 1992. She finally returned to the States and became a renowned author and speaker, advocating for missions, the gospel, women’s roles and more. Her best-selling book titled Through Gates of Splendor initiated her writing career, which she carried on for the next 40 years of her life.
Elizabeth left behind a transformative legacy, impacting the hearts and minds of families, young children, missionaries, church leaders and women in the faith. She reflected the love which Christ calls us to, by forgiving and serving our enemies. She was proof that obeying the Lord in everything brings more beautiful fruit than anything that we could do on our own. Her husband’s life was not taken in vain; their lives together are a testimony, not to their works, but their obedience to the Lord.
Elisabeth Elliot’s name will continue to inspire Christians for years. She was a wife, a mother and a Christ figure whose deep love and forgiveness for her enemies showed the power of the Lord and how it truly changes hearts.
