Revelation - Part 1 - Interpretation Foundation

To make a long story short (and this ain't no short story...) – I am helping a guy at church go through a study of Revelation for Sunday school.  So to help myself, I’m trying to document my journey of study.  Today’s article is the first in a series.  This one is a very basic look at interpreting scripture, and although basic – it is very important to establish some rules on which you will apply logic to your study. If you don’t have some foundation to fall back to, then you may just find yourself endlessly chasing facts that lead you nowhere.

So at some point you may have been sitting in on a sermon or lesson and heard some reference to a Biblical passage and said to yourself, “What does that mean?”  The preacher or the teacher may have spouted out some references to the meaning, or shared with you some Greek translations and then told you what it meant.  They then pressed on with their lesson.  You may have accepted it as the truth, or you may have had questions about the validity of the interpretation.  Possibly you may have been doing a study on your own or with a small group and came across some passage or reference that prompted the same question.

If you are like me, you probably went to your study Bible and read the comments there, or you may have done a quick Internet search.  The study Bible or a Bible commentary probably gave you a sound interpretation of the passage – or it may have left you just as confused before.  The Internet search more than likely provided you with so many different interpretations that you were then more confused than when you started your quest.  Either way you choose to find this interpretation, you will be lacking the interpretation you need; the interpretation God has for you.

Now don’t go screaming from the room or stop reading.  I’m not saying we’ll all interpret things differently and that is right or okay.  And I’m not saying the information you find in the Bible commentaries are wrong and you shouldn’t use them.  I’m not even saying that all the interpretations you find on the Internet are wrong (although we do have to apply a little more diligence when reading those…).  What I am saying is that the Bible is God’s message to us, and we need to spend the proper study and meditation with the Bible so that through proper prayer and study, we truly get the message He is trying to convey to us (both personally and as the Church in whole).

So your next question may be this, “Why should I listen to this guy on how to interpret the Bible?”  And that is one valid question.  I am not a theologian, a Bible scholar, a preacher, Seminary professor, or even a Seminary student.  To coin a phrase, “I’m just a big, dumb, country boy.”  And that is exactly why I think you should take what I am going to teach you and use it your own study.  If I can use these methods and find rich, rewarding communication from God, so can anyone! (And by the way, I clearly state right here that not all of these are original ideas, but they have been gleaned from years of trying to figure this out, prayerful consideration, and trial and effort.)

So now you have calmed down and declared, “Finally, clarity to all this confusion and the answers I’ve been looking for.”  Not even close.  This is not a one stop answer to Biblical secrets.  As a matter of fact, you are going to find out that there are things you still won’t be able to understand.  But we’ll deal with that in time.  What this is though, is a way for you to personally dive into the Scripture; to spend time in communication with God through his Word and prayer; to allow yourself the freedom to follow God’s Word where it will take you (not someone else); and finally to enjoy the deep satisfaction of drawing the conclusions that God has led you to and experiencing that wonderful feeling of really communicating with God through His Bible.

So let’s get started!  Turn in your Bible to Revelation 6… just kidding.  There are some things we need to cover first.

Prepare yourself to receive God’s message

                Before you begin any quest (mountain climbing, jogging, repairing a toilet), you have to ensure you are prepared.  The same is true for Biblical studies.  This first component is the key to why it is sometimes impossible to debate the Bible or Scripture with someone, or why you yourself may find that you don’t understand any of it.  If you don’t have this first element taken care of, you will not find fruit in this guide, and you won’t find it in the Bible.               

John 3:3-6- ³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  ⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”  ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” (NIV)

Matthew 13:11-17 - ¹¹ He (Jesus) replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:  “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.    ¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:  “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. ¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. ¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (NIV)

                Now from these two passages we can deduce the following.  Jesus clearly states that to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven you must be born again.  He clearly states that there are some who have eyes and ears but do not see or hear.  Your heart has to be open to what God wants to tell you (even if it is just a little crack).  You cannot approach your study with a closed and calloused heart.   Basically you have to get yourself out of the way and let God do the talking.  You can’t do that if you have Him shut out.

First, let me state the obvious.  God can do anything He desires.  So the Bible can be understood by anyone He wants it to be understood by and it can reach anyone at any level of belief.  However, those who are believers and have Christ as their Savior can have a distinct (major) advantage over someone who does not believe (or worse who “anti-believes”). So if you are not a believer or don’t have Christ as your Savior, you can still get God’s message by being open to Christ so that he can communicate with you.  You just cannot have a closed heart and expect to be enlightened.

                Along those same lines, you have to be open to the truth.  This almost sounds too simple, but it is sometimes the biggest hindrance to our understanding.  Many times we have a pre-conceived notion of what a Bible verse means (or more to the point, what we want it to mean).  We have to let go of those notions and allow God to truly show us the meaning without interjecting our own idea (or Satan’s prompting) of what the verse may mean.

                Finally, you have to be willing to obey God.  If the interpretation starts going towards pointing out where we have been disobedient, you would be surprised how quickly our “self” jumps in and redirects the interpretation to something a little more amiable.  That cannot be allowed to happen for the truth to be unveiled.

                So, basically you have to get yourself out of the way.  Open up your heart to the Lord so he can get in.  Remove your own interpretation. Be willing to accept what you learn.

Holy Spirit

                This is how God is going to deliver his message to you if you are prepared to accept it.  We are incapable of interpreting God’s word perfectly all the time.  We are incapable of doing anything perfectly all the time. We need help.  The Holy Spirit will (and must) guide your Bible study. Imagine if you will, while reading this article there is something you don’t quite understand (I can’t believe that would ever happen).  Who would be the best person to answer your question?  The author, of course.  The same holds true for the Bible.  God is the author – using the Holy Spirit to inspire and direct the authorship. Who better than the Holy Spirit to guide your study?

2 Peter 1:21 - For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (NIV)

John 16:13 - But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 2:10-11 - these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (NIV)

                Clearly the Bible is God inspired through the Spirit, and the Spirit reveals things to us, so it should be easy to allow the Spirit to guide your study, right?  I wish.  (You have to revisit the first section on preparing yourself.)  You have to pray for guidance.  And just as importantly you have to listen.

                When I am studying a lesson (or preparing an article or lesson) I try desperately to listen what the Spirit is telling me as it guides my study.  While doing this there are two things I make myself very cognizant of in order to keep me on track.  First, I watch closely to make sure it is not me driving the direction.  I have had some really cool ideas in the past (so I thought).  Ones that made me think, “Wow, the class is going to love this parallel I’m drawing and the ‘real world’ example I’m using.  This is going to really hit home with them.”  But I’ve ended up throwing those ideas in the trash either because the Biblical reference was weak, or I finally realized that was not the message I was being “told” to deliver.  The second big distraction is Satan (and it is debatable who is the bigger distraction, me or him.)  If you are on to something good, you can be sure the Deceiver is going to be right there trying to get you to chase rabbits rather than finding the intended meaning God has in store for you.

                You are now ready.  You have opened your heart.  You are ready and willing to hear the truth.  You are keeping yourself and Satan at bay.  So the Holy Spirit is going to whisper in your ear the true meaning of all that has eluded you, right?  Wrong. Don’t get me wrong, there may be some “ah-ha” moments when the light bulb finally goes on, but don’t be expecting any great revelation like John got; one that suddenly makes everything crystal clear (remember, even John didn’t understand everything he was shown).  The Spirit will work through your diligent study.  If you are not open to the Spirit, reading the Bible can be like reading someone else’s mail – but, if you are open to the Spirit, it is like God is talking directly to you. (that is not my original line, but I do not know who said it).

Scripture interprets Scripture

                So let’s get into the tools of interpreting.  The first (and best) tool to use when interpreting the Bible is the Bible.

2 Peter 1:20 - Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. (NIV)

                The prophets didn’t use their own interpretation.  The disciples didn’t use their own interpretation.  Why should you or anyone else get to use your own interpretation? Since the Bible was God inspired, let’s use God’s inspiration to help us understand what He is telling us.  The following five items can be used to help whenever you come across a particular word, phrase, symbol, or passage that you have difficulty understanding.

                First/Common/Other Usages: This technique is designed to help you understand the most relevant definition of the item in question.   You will need a good concordance (there are many online versions now that can really help you.  I have been using www.blueletterbible.org).  Remember, regardless of the message you think you are supposed to get from the Bible, the author was writing it to first century Jews for the most part – so you need to see a couple of references to how they used that word to really understand what the writer (or speaker) means.

                Word Definition: This tool is very closely related to the first tool.  This is the actual definition of the word.  It is important to note the relevant first century definition.   It is also important to use a good lexicon of the original Greek wording.  I know this can be daunting, but if you find a good online version to use, it can really help your study. (again, I use www.blueletterbible.org).  An interesting verse to look at for this is John 21:15-17.  This is where Jesus asks Peter if he “loves” him (they use two different words for love throughout the exchange).  I won’t spoil the search for you by divulging any clues.

                Context: Next and still closely associated with the first two items is context.  This one may be the most abused rule but if you are looking for true meaning – context has to be taken into account.  Many verses or “one liners” if not placed within the whole picture of the message have different meanings.  Paul said, “Wives, submit to your husbands.” (Eph 5:22) – Therefore the Bible says women should do what men say – wrong.  Read the entire chapter (actually read the entire book! Read 1 Corinthians while you’re at it).

                Historical background: This one may be a little harder to gather information on, but the history of the time and place can be so vital to understanding.  A great example of this is the economic posture and geographical status of Laodicea – the lukewarm church in Revelation.  Knowing about the hot springs and cold springs surrounding the city, knowing that Laodicea had a medical school that produced eye salve for various ailments, and knowing that they were famous for certain tunics makes several of the references much more meaningful.

                Genre: This one is almost too simple, but can keep you from getting off on the deep end when the message is much easier.  What I mean by genre is that the books of the Bible can be divided into different categories of writing (Prophetic, Historical, Epistles, Gospels, Poetry).  Knowing what you are reading can streamline your interpretation to some degree.  For example, an Epistle to the Corinthians (a letter to the church members) has a great wealth of information that we can also use to live our lives by, but it is going to pretty straight forward in its direction – much straighter forward than prophetic literature such as Revelation – which uses symbols and imagery.         

                Hopefully this introduction has you pointed in the right direction. The next article in this series is going to start my journey through Revelation.  It will be a summary look at Revelation – followed by several other articles that will be an in-depth look into the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rev 6).  Hope you enjoy and come back for more.