The Bible Helps Us Understand The Bible

A look at the fundamental principles in studying the bible. The different levels of meaning are examined with particular focus on the gospel of salvation.

Before we can even begin to understand the nature of the final tribulation, the end of the church age, the latter rain or anything the bible teaches it is very important we understand some basic principles on how we should study the bible. Unfortunately many people read the bible like they do a history book written by men. We have been so spoiled in the way we look at the world and the things around us and so we begin to apply the same principles to the bible as we read it. You may have some people who will look to a dictionary to understand a particular word. Some may look to notes written by men in the margin of their bibles for guidance.

We have to realize that God is wise. Just think of the idea that he spoke and brought a whole universe into existence. In the blink of an eye, God can create something out of nothing. We live in a world that is so complex that many scientists spend a lifetime studying the matter we see all around us and the only thing they’ve been able to learn, which by the way is very little, is only what God has allowed them to know.

So if God is so infinite that he’s able to do all these things, then surely he is able to give us a book that is all sufficient. The bible holds a vast amount of information that even if we studied it for a whole lifetime, we would still not be able to discover all the wisdom and truth God has put within it. So then how do we study the bible? Before we try to answer that question also, we should take it one step further.

A Humble Attitude

When we approach the bible, we have to realize that we are coming into the presence of his infinite majesty. So our attitude is also very important. God is the one that has to open our spiritual understanding before the message will begin to make sense to us. Because of man’s fall in the garden of Eden and our sins, the whole human race came under the wrath of God. We were created to live forever. We are created in the image of God and we were to have harmony with God and enjoy all the beautiful blessings that flow out of the creator. However, because man disobeyed God when he was tested in the Garden of Eden, mankind fell. We became slaves of Satan and of our sins. By nature we’ve come to be an enemy of God. We read in Romans 8:7:

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

The most frightening aspect of this though is that we are blind to this fact. We are blinded by our sins and we do not see this spiritually. This is all part of being under the wrath of God. We are spiritually DEAD and will never come to understand the nature of the kingdom of God unless we become saved. Becoming saved has to do with the fact that God has forgiven our sins. When he does that, our spiritual eyes become opened and we are brought again into a right relationship with him. We do not remain blind. God gives us eternal life. He makes us to become priests and kings with the Lord Jesus.

So you can see, if we go to the bible with preconceived ideas and try to apply our normal wisdom and ways of thinking to it, it will remain a closed book. We will see nothing but contradictions and God will not open our spiritual eyes. We read in II Corinthians 4:3-4 and I Corinthians 2:14-15:

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Why are the things of God foolishness to the natural man (unsaved)?  He is still under the wrath of God. He is left outside in spiritual darkness and is sure to come under eternal damnation if he remains unsaved. When God saves us, then these things are no longer foolishness. They make perfect sense to us because God has opened our spiritual eyes. God also gives us the desire to serve him. Of course while we are still in this body, we will not serve him perfectly because our bodies have not yet become saved. Salvation here on the earth comes to us only in our spirit being. But our bodies are still unsaved and will continue to lust after sin. This is a whole other subject and we will take some time to review that in the lessons to come.

We also read in Psalm 34:18:

The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

You will hear me talk about the fact that God is the one who does the saving. We can’t save ourselves because the bible teaches in Romans 3:11 that “there is none that seeketh after God.”

The idea is to keep in mind that we are dealing with an infinite being who is from everlasting. We are very finite. We came to be at a point in history and yet our existence was in the mind of the almighty from eternity past. An idea that is overwhelming if you think about it. He created all things. So we have to be certain that we come humbly on our bellies and knees when we come to the bible. It can mean the difference between the it being a closed book that frustrates us vs. one that we delight in as the Lord opens our spiritual eyes more and more.

The Bible Alone is the Divine Word of God

The next principle we need to realize when we study the bible is the fact that we have to trust in the bible alone. This goes back to what I said earlier. An infinite God who spoke and brought the world into existence can surely give us all we need to know to come to truth. The bible was written over a period of about 1500 years. Holy men of God penned the words as God the Holy Spirit moved them as we read in II Peter 1:21. So while God used men to write the bible, nevertheless, the words that are penned there are God breathed. God in essence is the author because everything we find there is what he would have to read. Moses, for example, wrote the first five books of the bible. He wrote about creation and the conversation that took place between God and Adam and Eve. How did he know what went on? He wasn’t there. God moved him to write these words. Likewise, we have to trust that the whole bible is God breathed and that we can trust and rely on the bible alone for truth.

One of the greatest concerns is the idea of God bringing additional revelation in our day through a tongue, a vision or other signs and supernatural wonders. Is that possible? When Christ was on earth, he performed many miracles. The apostles also performed miracles in the book of Acts for a short time after Christ went back to heaven. So the idea is that if they did miracles believers today should be in a position to do miracles. What we have to realize is that Jesus did miracles for two main reasons; of course there maybe other reasons. First, only God or someone under the authority of God can perform such supernatural miracles. Second, through these miracles, God is telling us something about the nature of the salvation message. Christ is the messiah, the Son of God, the one who came to bring salvation. Therefore when he opened the eyes of a blind person, God is also giving us a spiritual message. Just as he does it physically, he can also give the unsaved spiritual sight. Remember when we are unsaved, we are in spiritual darkness; we are spiritually blind. So when Christ comes to us through the gospel, he gives us spiritual sight. Likewise when he raised people from the dead. This becomes a picture of someone who is spiritually dead coming to spiritual life. How do we know this? Well we read in Isaiah 53:5

But he was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

This is talking about the savior who was to come. It says with his stripes we are healed. Healed from what? Well before we are saved we are spiritually sick. We are under the wrath of God because of our sins. It’s only when God saves us by giving us a new heart and making us born again that our sins are forgiven. So spiritually we become well, we are healed of our sin-sick souls.

When Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and a few fishes, this is a picture of the fact that he feeds us when we become saved. Remember he said “I am the bread of life.” When he walked on water (the sea) was a symbol of the fact that he rules over hell. The sea in the bible depending on the context is seen as a synonym or picture of hell. Christ said he would make us fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). So men is pictured as fish in the sea (hell). The believers are sent to rescue them from hell by pulling them out. You don’t see anyone doing those types of miracles today, do you? To top it off, God tells us in the book of Revelation 22:18-19:

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and the things, which are written in this book.

By this statement, found in the closing verses of the bible, God is telling us that now that the revelation of God has been given to us in the pages of the bible, there will be no more supernatural revelation. God would no longer send an Angel to send a message to someone. God would no longer use a believer to perform supernatural wonders. These verses tell us that the bible and the bible ALONE is the divine word that we are to look to and get our information from. The stories have been penned down for us to read and receive blessings and edification, but the idea of receiving additional revelation is contrary to the bible.

Think of it this way. If you saw in a dream where an Angel came to you and gave you a glorious message and told you that this is from God. What would stop you form writing down the experience you had and stapling it to the back of revelation. If your message was truly form God, then the whole world needs to know about it. God doesn’t speak in a corner here or there to individuals. When he speaks he speaks to the whole creation. That’s why the stories are recorded for us in the bible. There are those who say well if they get a message from God that is consistent with what the apostles were doing (direct quotation) then it’s not an addition to the bible. Every word in the bible is important. Even when God repeats things in the bible he does it for a specific reason. You can’t go through the bible and delete duplicated messages or passages. Four times in John 6 Jesus says of the believers “… and I will raise him up again at the last day.” Too much of a repetition? Can we eliminate three of those passages? The answer is NO. It is the word of God and through them God is making a point. So likewise if you receive a direct quotation from God that’s in the bible, that too would be important. You can see that this kind of reasoning is not biblical. If anyone receives a message today; no matter how holy it may appear to be, then it is part of the revelation of God and the world needs to know that God has spoken. But the bible tells us that God would no longer speak in this fashion once the bible was completed. The next time we will hear the voice of God is when he comes again at the end of the world with the Command for the dead to be resurrected and for the angels to gather the believers from the four corners of the earth. This is judgment day itself.

The tricky part now comes when Satan, who is allowed to break the silence between the natural and supernatural, comes as an angel of light to deceive and give us what our sinful hearts and minds are lusting after; namely additional revelation. So we become vulnerable. Satan is the master deceiver the bible tells us. The only way we will recognize him is if we obey the word of God as we read in Revelation 22 verses 18 and 19. Likewise we can’t take away from the bible. That is to say that only part of the bible is true; or that there are certain things in the bible that we don’t agree with: verse 19 speaks to these things.

Three Levels Of Meaning

When we allow ourselves to be guided by the word of God, we find that the bible has different levels of meaning. As we study a verse in the bible, we must remember that while it may have only one level of meaning, it may have as many as three.

The first level is Historical. There are things we read in the bible that simply gives us a historical account of truth. The fact that a massive flood destroyed the world in the days of Noah is a historical fact. That really did happen. This is why scientist today find fossils of the ancient world of dinosaurs. Today scientists will have you to believe that the extinction of these giant animals came from some meteor from space that brought total destruction millions of years ago. They know that water played a major role in the destruction because the bones would not have fossilized unless they were buried under tons of mud caused by a cataclysmic flood. However, since they are not looking to the bible for their answers, they are blinded. They will come up with all sorts of theories as to what happened, including errors in the timing of these events, but they will never acknowledge the truth because it’s not in the nature of unsaved men to acknowledge God. He is under the enslavement of Satan. Remember we saw that we are enemies of God, even from birth, and we love our sins. This is the reason men come up with theories like evolution. They have to find a way to put God out of the picture. He does not want to have to answer to God for his sins.

Other historical accounts in the bible include the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and of course the physical appearance of the savior Jesus Christ. He came from heaven. Born of a woman, he took on a human nature in order to be identified with the sinners that we are. However, he is eternal God, from everlasting.

The second level of meaning is moral and spiritual. God give us lots of moral laws like the Ten Commandments and in many other passages. Man by nature knows that it’s wrong to murder, to steal, to commit adultery, to lie etc. These are part of the commands we find in the bible. We read in II Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. We have the bible to instruct us in moral issues as well and to correct us from the error of our ways. The interesting thing is that we have an intuitive knowledge of these laws. That is, even if we never read the bible, our conscious would witness to us that these actions are wrong. This is because God not only gave us the written law, he also wrote the law on the hearts of every human being. So by nature we know that it’s wrong to commit these sins. We read this in Romans 2:15:

Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.

Even little children as they start to grow up will tell lies. They are not taught this. It’s a sin that is inherent in the heart of every human being. People often wonder how can God send little children to hell. They fail to realize that babies and children are part of this human race that has rebelled against a Holy God. The child also is infected with sin:

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.(Psalm 58:3)

We, in our sin-tinted minds, see children as being innocent and without sin. For this reason man over the years have come up with the idea that children will go to heaven unless they have reached the age of accountability. The problem with that is the bible does not speak of an age of accountability. The bible says that "there is none righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10). As a matter of fact when God destroyed the world of Noah’s day, only eight people were saved (Noah and his family). The ark was a picture of Christ that the believers will have to escape the flood of God’s judgment on the last day. The world that day, no doubt had all kinds of people living in it. The same holds true for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. These judgments were pictures of the final judgment to come. The final judgment of God is Eternal Damnation. To be forever abandoned by God because of our sins. Since God did not spare babies and children in those days, then we know that the final judgment will include the same.

The problem is that God is Holy and cannot tolerate sin. Since babies and children are also infected by sin, they too must be eliminated unless they become saved through the sacrificial blood of Christ. In other words, everyone has to become saved by the same means. When you look at the world today. You will see that the majority of the people in it are unsaved. If they are unsaved as adults, it means they were also unsaved as kids. This is why God is the only one that can save us. He has to do that through the process of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). We in our sins will not understand this. We will not see our natural enmity towards God. A good illustration used in the bible (Psalm 58:4) is that of rattlesnakes. If you have a mother and father rattlesnake and they have baby snakes. Will you pet the baby snakes and wonder how cute they are? The answer is NO! The baby snakes carry the same poison as that of mom and dad. If you are going to destroy the adults because of the poison they carry, then you have to eliminate the little ones as well.

The third level of meaning is the gospel of salvation. This is probably the most significant of the levels and often missed by a lot of people. The reason for this is that the gospel message is often hidden within the biblical language. I guess you can say that this is where the Lord speaks to you personally. When you begin to see truth on this level, you also come to realize that God is indeed the author of the bible. No one, absolutely no one can write the bible with such harmony and with such a beautiful message of salvation that is sprinkled all through its pages. On this level of meaning, you begin to see Christ as the savior that he truly is. This is why it’s important to pray as you read the word, because only God himself can open our spiritual eyes in order for us to understand the bible on the third level of meaning.

It’s also important to mention here that some people can have an intellectual understanding of the bible on this level. Someone can talk about the spiritual meanings of the bible and still may not be a true believer. The thing that differentiates the believer from the non-believer is the desire to be obedient to anything and everything the bible teaches. We may not do it perfectly because our bodies have not yet become saved, but the love for God is there and is ongoing. The desire to read the word and to be submissive to the word would be an indication that God has done the work of salvation in our hearts that gives us this love for the Lord.

The salvation message started out with the beginning verses of Genesis. When we read about the earth being without form and void and that darkness covered the face of the deep. This is language pointing to the curse that would come on the earth because of man’s sins. This is language identifying with hell. Genesis 1:3-4 goes on to say that God created the light and then separated the light from the darkness. We know in the New Testament that Jesus said “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). So in a world that was to be plunged into darkness, God provides Christ (the light of the world) for salvation. He then separates that light from the darkness. This is what is happening as people become saved through the gospel. They are being translated from the kingdom of Satan (darkness) into the kingdom of God (light). Can you begin to see the salvation message even in the first few verses of the bible? This is not surprising of course because God is from everlasting and knows the end from the beginning. He knew that mankind that he would create perfect in his image would come under the tyranny of Satan and rebel. So then God was already making provision for man’s salvation through the savior. We see the same picture after the fall. After Adam and Eve sinned, they realized they were naked and made fig leaves to cover themselves. In the bible physical nudity is a picture of being spiritually naked before God; he sees all of our sins. This is why Moses was told to take off his shoes by the burning bush (Exodus 3:5). He was in the presence of the almighty, Holy God before whom all of his sins were exposed; i.e. he was spiritually naked. When Adam and Eve tried to cover up, the bible says that God himself killed an animal (a figure of Christ as the lamb of God who was to be killed) and made a covering for them (Genesis 3:21).

This is what the gospel of salvation is all about. It has to do with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ in the atonement as payment for the sins of those he came to save. God in his mercy has hidden this message in a lot of historical parables in the bible. A parable is simply an earthly story that has a heavenly or spiritual meaning. There are some people who are a bit reluctant to spiritualize in the bible. They feel that if a verse makes sense just the way it is then we don’t have to make anything else out of it. Doing so, they end up missing some of the most beautiful pictures that God paints in the word. We know that a good deal of the bible deals with parables. Consider the following passages:

Matthew 13:3 - And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

Matthew 13:10 - And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

Matthew 13:13 - Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Matthew 13:34 - All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

Matthew 13:35 - That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

Matthew 13:53 - And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

Matthew 21:45 - And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

Matthew 22:1 - And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

Mark 3:23 - And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

Mark 4:2 - And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,

Psalms 49:4 - I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

So you see. Christ spoke in parables. We know that Christ is the word and so we have to be alert to the fact that the gospel message is hidden among the parables that he gives us in the word. When we read about the beast coming up out of the sea, in revelation 13:1, with seven heads and ten horns, we know that it can’t be a literal beast. Other passages in the bible identify Satan as the beast. So we have to look for what the symbols represent and make sense out of them. However, we have to do so in the context of the whole bible. We have to let the bible define the bible. If we see a word in a passage where we don’t understand what the context is saying, we have to search the rest of the bible to guide us. We have to see how God uses that same word in other places in the bible in order for us to know what it means. This is a simple concept and is also written in the bible. We have to compare spiritual things with spiritual (I Corinthians 2:13).

Some great personalities in the bible are types and figures of Christ. Moses, for example was a great type of Christ. He was the one to lead the children of Israel in the wilderness. Likewise Christ brings the believers through the wilderness of this world to the promise land of Canaan (heaven). David also was a type of Christ as a Shepherd and as King; Christ is our good Shepherd (John 10:11) and the king of this world. Remember Pilate asked him if he was a king and he said, “Thou hast said.”

Joshua, who led the children of Israel out of the wilderness and into the land of Canaan, is another type of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is shown particularly in Hebrews 4. Canaan was the land of physical rest for those in the nation of Israel who followed Joshua. Citizenship in heaven (salvation) is the land of spiritual rest for those who follow the Lord Jesus. The name Joshua (Hebrew) is identical to the name Jesus (Greek) in the New Testament.

The Gospel in the raising of Lazarus

One of the most significant passages that teaches us of the salvation message is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. As he was physically dead, so too we are spiritual dead before we become saved. We saw that. So Christ, who is the resurrection and the life stands outside the tomb commands that Lazarus comes forth. We read in John 11:43 “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth” the next verse tells us that Lazarus came forth!

In like manner, Jesus commands us to be saved, to come into spiritual, eternal life. When we are unsaved, we are as spiritually dead as Lazarus was physically dead. Lazarus had no will or capacity of his own to respond to the command of Jesus, and we have no desire or will within our lost souls to respond to His command to be saved. The elect of God in the whole world will hear and respond in the same manner when God brings them the gospel and commands that they believe.

Us and the thieves on the cross

Another beautiful historical parable is found in the crucifixion of Christ. Notice that he is crucified in between two thieves (sinners). They typify the two types of people in the world: those who will hear the gospel and become saved, and those who will hear and yet remain in their sins. They both started out reviling Christ like we do before we become saved. However, one came to realize he sins and the innocence of Jesus. He says in verse 40-42 of John 23: “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus; Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus says in verse 43: “And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

We know from the rest of the bible that we can’t get into heaven except our sins are paid for (salvation), and we can’t become saved unless God makes us born again. So in this historical parable, God is showing us again the nature of the gospel as it goes into a sin- darkened world. Christ is the light of the world. Unless we become saved; unless our sins are paid for in him, we too will end up having to face God to answer for our sins. At judgment day, all of our sins will be exposed before the holiness of God and anyone of our sins will be sufficient to send us to hell forevermore. We will be spiritually naked. This is the reason why we need a covering (Christ) for our sins.

There is so much more information in the bible that speaks to the gospel of salvation. Little by little we will be seeing a few. I bring it up here as a means to prepare you for the lessons you will be looking at that deal with the end of the church age. Hopefully the Lord will begin to open your mind so that you will be able to see the beautiful gospel truths shining forth.

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