If you're reading the Bible, as I hope you are, then it is highly likely you may
be finding it difficult to understand. Particularly if you come from a religious background and have believed all that was taught by those well-meaning but nonetheless 'false prophets'. Whether you're looking for hope, inspiration, guidance on how to live
your life or you're looking to better understand the prophecies of the Bible
you have to first understand how to read it.
The Bible is a book like no other primarily because it is not a single
book by one author but a compilation of books, letters, sermons, poetry and
prophecy written by many authors.
The Bible is the best place to look for explanations of
difficult or hard to understand passages as the Bible always explains itself. For example we know when we're reading
prophetic passages that if a woman is referenced it refers to a Church - how do
we know this with such certainty?
Because the Bible has already told us that. Christ described His Church as a pure,
spotless Bride, or, a woman. Therefore
if we read about a woman in the Bible, such as the women referenced in the Book
of Revelation we know immediately that God is talking about a Church, either a
corrupt Church or the True and Original Church founded by Christ.
Much of the Bible is straight forward history, the written history of a group
of people who would come to be known as the Israelites. Books such as Kings 1 and 2, Chronicles 1 and
2 are meant be taken literally as the actual events that occurred to a specific group
of people. Unlike much of history, which
is written by the victors and therefore must always be viewed with an eye for
bias, the Bible tells the simple, sometimes ugly, truth.
If it is discussing actual events we may be certain that the Bible tells
us exactly how it happened. Even if it
may seem unbelievable, such as the fall of the walls of Jericho, you may be
sure that the walls fell exactly as God describes for God performs miracles.
Many of today's scientists have tried to explain away the
Biblical miracles described, such as the Exodus, the fall of Jericho, the
burning bush etc. What you must remember is that God works miracles and therefore all the strange and wondrous things that are described are neither strange nor
explainable, merely the workings of God.
When God inspired the description of the Ark of the Covenant or the
Temple those descriptions are perfectly accurate no matter what science tries to tell us. However, this is, yet again, another area that requires pure and simple faith to believe the words of God's Holy Text.
One of the greatest difficulties in reading the Bible can be
separating what is designed to be prophetic and what is literal history. From the very beginning of the Bible, with
the Fall of Man, God begins to outline His plan for our eventual complete
salvation and begins to make prophecies about the future, sometimes the very
far distant future. In the Book of
Genesis, God tells Eve 'she will have a child where the snake will bite its'
foot while the child will crush the snake's head'. This is a future prophecy outlining the sacrifice
of Christ. Satan, as the snake, has
bitten the foot of mankind by introducing sin, but Christ, coming down from
Heaven above through the womb of a woman and yet being God in human flesh, sacrificed Himself on the cross to crush the head of
Satan the snake.
That prophecy alone is fascinating because Satan believed he
had won the war when he influenced mankind to kill Christ, or to kill God. What Satan did not know was that God wanted
that to happen in order that there would be a perfect sacrifice to wash away
the sins of all mankind forever. Therefore Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection,
one of God's first prophecies recorded in the Bible, which is the basic outline of
God's entire plan of salvation, yet, it is written in a part of the Bible that
is otherwise almost purely historical.
Studying prophecy is not easy, as you cannot limit yourself
to just the known prophetic books. You must
read all of the Bible, in context, and tease out those prophecies that God
inspired to be written. However before
you can understand anything you must give yourself over completely to God and
accept that every word of the Bible is true and inspired by God. While it may have been penned by many
different people over the centuries, each word has been inspired by God and God
alone. Not one word has been added or
detracted from God's message - making the Bible the greatest living miracle we
have today. The first step in a close, personal and loving relationship with God is to accept that the Bible is incorruptible
and the only source of truth.
In Christian love always,
Tracey
No comments:
Post a Comment