I recently received a letter from a listener who asked about the “great multitude” of people who would be saved at the end of time, as we read in the book of Revelation. We have come to understand this to be, most likely, a very literal number from the book of Revelation where it speaks of 200 million people towards the end of the world who would be in God’s great company of believers.
This person wrote, in particular, with a concern for the many people who are coming to faith or to the knowledge of this truth that we are at the very end of time, many who probably have very little knowledge of the Bible. It does seem that those who are most interested in these warnings and these things concerning the end of time are those who are un-churched people, people who are not that familiar with the Scriptures. This is not the case for everyone, obviously, but it does seem that a very high proportion of people are those types of people; for example, the trip to Brazil that our missionaries just took. What about these people who are just coming in and hearing this warning and being fearful of the end of time, and yet they do not really have much Bible knowledge?
So the person asked me, “Would you please do a study on how to study the Scriptures, how to understand things in the Bible? It does seem to be a very long Book and a very complex Book, so could you go through a step-by-step lesson on how somebody who is not that familiar with the Bible, or even someone who is, can accurately and effectively study the Scriptures?”
Earlier this morning, Chris gave us a great lesson in one of the questions that he answered regarding how the Holy Ghost speaks today. How does the Holy Ghost speak to us? He speaks to us as we compare Scripture with Scripture.
So let us take a look, for starters, at how we approach the Bible itself by looking at 2 Peter 1. It is really good to establish a foundation so that we can understand what it really is that we are looking at on the pages of Scripture. Then let us look at how we can study it, why it is so complex and difficult to understand, and how we can go about unwrapping some of the complexities.
In 2 Peter 1:20, we read:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
And that word can be translated “origin.” So it was not out of somebody’s mind. They were not thinking it themselves. These Scriptures were not written by men nor did they come by men just dreaming or thinking things up.
Verse 21 tells us how it came, 2 Peter 1:21:
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man…
Man did not will it. He was not thinking, “Let me write this down. Let me try to capture what just happened to Israel. It sounded like it was important, etc.”
No. The Bible says:
…but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
In other words, even though there are many physical authors of the Bible, as far as the different books of the Bible—the prophets: Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc.; Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible; David wrote many of the Psalms; Solomon wrote Proverbs and Ecclesiastes; the Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; Paul wrote much of the New Testament following the Gospels—yet all of these men spoke how? They spoke as the Holy Spirit moved them.
So, first and foremost, this Bible is the Word of God. It is God’s Word that has been delivered to mankind. It is God’s gift to mankind of His message, His revelation to people. This is what the Scripture says. If you do not believe this, then this Book is worthless to you. But the Scripture says this and if you are sensitive to this, then this Book is important to you and you will want to understand it more than any other book that you have ever read.
The Bible should be the first Book that you read every day. It is the most important Book because it is God’s Word to you as a human being. I have heard that someone has referred to it as “the instruction manual for living,” and this is not a bad way to put it because it is. If you follow it, you are going to live life much more fulfilling. You are going to have a much more effective, fruitful, and, especially, godly life. So the Bible says that God spoke it and then men wrote it as they were moved.
In the earlier study, Chris taught from 1 Corinthians 2. Let us look at this again. How did the Holy Ghost speak? He spoke through these men. How did the Holy Ghost teach? Men were moved by the Holy Ghost, the Bible said. But how does the Holy Ghost then teach us as we read the Scriptures 2,000 years after most of the New Testament was penned and even more thousands of years later than when Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible?
In 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, we read:
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God…
Remember that the Holy Spirit is the One who wrote the Bible.
…that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth…
So how does the Holy Ghost teach us? The Holy Ghost is the author of the Bible and now the Holy Ghost is going to be a teacher of the Bible, too, because it is not me. I am not the teacher. Chris is not the teacher. But what do we read here? How does the Holy Ghost teach?
…comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Therefore, I do not need to get a commentary on the Bible to understand the Bible. I can successfully study the Bible by just using the Bible. In other words, it is its own dictionary. This is what that means.
So “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” means finding things that are similar and alike, comparing them, and then seeing how they all fit together. This is the beauty of studying the Word of God and coming to truth as we compare spiritual with spiritual.
Now the Bible is not easy to understand and this is the problem. This is now the challenge because the Bible was not written on a sixth grade reading level. It is very difficult. God wrote it a certain way for His own purposes.
We read in the same chapter in 1 Corinthians 2, in 1 Corinthians 2:7:
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery…
So already the Bible is saying, as Paul is writing this under the inspiration of God, that it is “a mystery.”
What is the challenge of a mystery? When you read a mystery novel or you see a mystery movie, what is always the challenge? You want to know who did it, right? You try to find out from the clues given when a certain event has taken place or, in particular, who is guilty.
Well, the Bible is written as a mystery; therefore, it is not easy to understand. When we speak about 2011 being the end of the world, that date is not written as “2011” in the pages of the Bible. It is a mystery, but it can be uncovered by comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Now, what does it mean to compare “spiritual things with spiritual”? This is when you have to start digging. This is when you have to start getting serious about doing some thinking and some work as you read through verses. This is when you will need to go deeper than the physical surface meaning of a verse or a passage. This is what it really means to compare spiritual with spiritual.
Let us take a look at an easy passage to show an example of this. It is always good to prove something by using an example. In the Gospel of John, we have a beautiful example. This one might be easy, so let us start with an easy one. Although people at the time who heard this did not think that this was easy, maybe you will. I hope that you do.
In John 6:48-49, Jesus is speaking. He says:
I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
So we see right away that Jesus is talking about the manna in Moses’ day that the Israelites ate. It was physical bread, like a little wafer. They ate that bread. Of course, they eventually died, including Moses.
Then Jesus says in verse 50, John 6:50:
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
So can you see already that this is challenging language, to a degree? This is because Jesus is speaking about bread but He is not talking about a wafer or about wheat bread. He is talking about something different. He is saying that if you eat the bread that comes down from Heaven, you are not going to die.
Now go to verse 59. After He got done speaking these things, it says in John 6:59-60:
These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
So they were very challenged and perplexed, “What do you mean that if a man eats of this bread, he will never die? You are saying that You are the bread. What do You mean?”
Then it says in verse 61, John 6:61-63:
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
So who can put two and two together, comparing spiritual with spiritual, and tell me what the bread is that He was talking about when He said that if you ate it you would not die? It is the Word, because He said here in John 6:63:
…the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
The key word here is “life”; and back in John 6:50, He said:
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
The opposite of death is life, so He was talking about Himself being the “bread of life.” Then He said, “the words that I speak unto you…are life.”
So what is the “bread of life” that He is really talking about? It is the words that He speaks. So this is the bread that He is referring to, the bread that is spiritually life giving, eternal, and forevermore.
As we see here, this was a hard saying for them to understand at the very moment that He spoke this, which was almost 2,000 years ago on earth. But what does John 1 say? It says, “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Jesus is called “The Word of God,” so these are the words that He speaks to us. This whole Bible is about Jesus Christ. It is the revelation of Him. This is what He means by “bread,” and so this is an example of comparing spiritual with spiritual, of digging for the deeper meaning of what we read in the Bible.
So now, let us go to Matthew 6 and look at a prayer that is commonly known as the “Our Father.” If you were in any kind of a Christian church when you were younger or even when you became older, you most likely recited this umpteen times.
In Matthew 6:9-11, Jesus said:
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
Let us stop right here. When you read this when you were a child, what did you think that this meant? You were praying for what? You were praying for food. You were praying for God to give you food everyday.
Today we take this for granted because we have at least three meals per day, plus plenty to snack on in between. But a lot of times when people pray this, they think that this is referring to physical food. In one sense, sure. There is a physical meaning to “give us this day our daily bread,” in that we can pray, “Lord, feed me.” But what does Jesus really mean by saying this? We already saw this in John 6.
When you pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” what are you praying to the Father to give you? You are praying for a daily dose of understanding of God’s Word. You are praying for a dose of it every day, and this is why you should read the Bible every day and pray that He would give you understanding of what you read, that it would bless you.
What did Jesus say to Satan when He became physically hungry? Satan tempted Him by saying, “Command that these stones be made bread.” Then Christ replied, “Man shall not live by bread alone,” referring to the physical bread, “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
So it is the Word of God that we need for spiritual life, strength and energy, and to get us through each day. So here is how we see that to study the Bible, we have to compare spiritual with spiritual. We need to find common language and then tie it together. When we do this, we come to these understandings and to a much deeper understanding than what it might, on the surface, appear to mean.
God also instructs us in the Old Testament to compare Scripture with Scripture. Let us go to Isaiah 28. Isaiah is found in the Old Testament. It is after Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and then Isaiah.
Do you want to know? Are you not intrigued? When you are intrigued or interested in something, you want to know more about it and so you study it. If you are interested in spiritual things, in God’s things and in the Bible—for example, whether or not what we are hearing about May 21 in 2011 is really true—then we read in Isaiah 28:9:
Whom shall he teach knowledge?…
So this is the question that is being asked:
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? …
Do you understand the doctrine of the end? It continues:
…them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
In common language, this means that you are not just looking at bread in the Bible as physical bread. You have been taken away from the milk and now it is time for real meat in order to understand what is really being taught.
Now Isaiah 28:10:
For precept [or law] must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
So this is how it is done. It is a little bit here and a little bit there.
What does the Bible say in Proverbs 25? “Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.” This means that we cannot take it all in in one day and expect to understand it. It is like if you eat too much food, you will just vomit it out; and the Bible is likened to honey, so the Bible’s directive is “line upon line” and “precept upon precept.”
A doctrine is going to take a little time to understand in order to ferret out truth. We need to be patient but we need to do this with diligence, in other words. We should not try to speed read or to take it all in at once. Read so that you can understand. This is what the Bible is saying here when it is referring to “precept upon precept; line upon line.”
Now let us take another look at an example of trying to compare Scripture with Scripture, “spiritual things with spiritual,” in order to understand something a little more complex than just bread not being physical bread but Jesus’ Word, the Bible.
Go to Isaiah 1:1. This is in the same book that we just looked at. We will take a look at another example here. I am going to read three verses and then I am going to ask you a question. Diligently read every word and then I will ask my question. Isaiah 1:1-2
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Do you get the idea so far?
Now let us go to one more verse, verse 21 of the same chapter. Isaiah 1:21:
How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
So I am going to ask a question about verse 21. What is “the faithful city”? Looking at Isaiah 1:1-2, who or what is “the faithful city” referring to from Isaiah 1:21? Yes, it is “Judah and Jerusalem.” This is how the book started, so I really need to keep that in mind as I read this. He is talking about “the vision…concerning Judah and Jerusalem.”
So God is talking about His nation, His people, and the capitol when He says in Isaiah 1:2:
…I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
And what did Isaiah 1:21 say that the “faithful city” became? What is the word that He used? He said that they had become “an harlot,” so I want you to keep that name or title parked in the back of your mind. Jerusalem and Judah, His chosen people, “the apple of his eye,” are becoming “an harlot” now. They were faithful, but now they are a harlot.
So let us compare Scripture with Scripture and go all the way to the book of Revelation to see if we can find common language. Let us see if we can understand something. Revelation is the last book of the Bible; and in Revelation 17:5, we read:
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
So what common word do we see here that we also read in Isaiah? We see the same word “harlot.” Who is being called a harlot in Revelation 17? Just tell me what it says on the surface because we are not digging very deep as yet. It is Babylon. So whatever Babylon is, it is being called a harlot. Who was the harlot in the Old Testament? It was Jerusalem and Judah.
Okay, let us go to Revelation 18:2:
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Now Revelation 18:4-5:
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
So what is going on in the city of Babylon? What is happening to it at the end of time? It is becoming a “habitation of devils.” Right? It is a place where Satan is having free reign. Whatever this city is, it is a harlot.
What is the definition of a harlot? A harlot is a prostitute, someone who is being unfaithful. Actually, she is being immoral against her spouse if she is married, for instance.
So what is going on here? Let us go to another verse in the same chapter of Revelation 18. Revelation 18:18:
And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
What is similar here? What was Jerusalem and Judah called? They were called a “faithful city” in Isaiah. This it is now being called a “great city.”
Then we read in verse 19, Revelation 18:19:
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
So the key word here is that she is now “desolate.”
But, wait! Is she desolate? It is a habitation of something. What is it a habitation of? It is now filled with sin and what is it a habitation of? What is roaming freely in this city? Devils. So it is not desolate of something. Devils are there. So what is it then desolate of?
It is probably God, right? Because if it is now a “habitation of devils,” it must have been a place where God was before. We know that the devil has free reign. He roams about “as a roaring lion” across the earth “seeking whom he may devour.” So this place, this city, this Babylon is now a “habitation of devils.”
Now look at verse 23 of the same chapter, Revelation 18:23:
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
This is very cryptic language here. It says:
…the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee…
What is the “candle”? Yes, it is the Holy Spirit. It is God. It is “the light of the world.” It is Jesus Himself.
But then it says here:
…the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride…
How do I understand this language? Does this mean that no one is getting married in Babylon?
Let us go to Ephesians 5 to understand “bride” and “bridegroom.” We are comparing Scripture with Scripture and not coming up with a wild doctrine off the top of our heads. Ephesians 5 is that great chapter on marriage. We read in Ephesians 5:25:
Husbands, love your wives…
How?
…even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
This is referring to His people.
Now go to verse 32 of this same chapter. Ephesians 5:32:
This is a great mystery…
So now we are back to the mystery of the Bible. It has very difficult language because it means something deeper. So this is not just talking about physical husbands trying to be like Christ in loving their wives, even though that is part of the meaning of this verse, but it has a deeper meaning.
Ephesians 5:32 again:
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
So who is Christ? Is he the bride or the bridegroom? He is the Bridegroom because He is the man. Then who is the bride? The bride is the church who are His people. There is an external and an eternal church. There is an external body of a church, but not everybody in that church is saved through time. The eternal church is the Church that is His people, those whom He really has saved; and they do not have to be in a physical church to be called His Church.
But this is what He is referring to with the bride and the bridegroom. This mystery is about Christ and His people.
So when we read in Revelation 18:23:
…the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee…
What does this mean? Does this mean that no one is getting married in Babylon? Is it saying that there are no judges or pastors or preachers there to officiate a marriage? No. Then what does this mean?
We know that there will be marrying and giving in marriage until the end of time. Chris read that earlier, “As it was in the days of Noe [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.”
So they will be marrying and giving in marriage. We know that marriage is going to continue until the last day, but what is missing?
Well, what is missing is Christ and His people. Christ and His people are no longer there. Why? What does Revelation 18:4 say? It says:
…Come out of her, my people…
So what do you think that place is? What is being referred to as Babylon in the book of Revelation?
Yes, it is Satan’s domain. It is now his domain. It was Christ’s church, but God has given it up. It is now Satan’s place because it is now desolate of God. It now has devils everywhere, but there are also people there and they are getting married. But Christ, the Bridegroom, and His people are not there. They are missing because they are obeying His command to “come out of her.”
Now look at Matthew 24. Jesus even said this Himself during His earthly ministry when He was teaching about the end of time. In Matthew 24:3, we read:
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Right away, Jesus is being asked about the end of the world. So what will be the sign of the end of the world?
Look at verse 15 of the same chapter. He begins to answer this question in verse 4 (Matthew 24:4) and it continues on, but Matthew 24:15 reads:
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
What is the key here? There are a lot, but let me say just one. One of the keys is the phrase, “whoso readeth, let him understand.” This is a phrase that is a clue that points us to the need to dig for a certain spiritual meaning in this verse.
So He refers to “the holy place.” What do you think this is referring to? Is He talking about Jerusalem?
No, that is meaningless because “the veil of the temple was rent,” so Jerusalem does not matter to God anymore as a physical place on earth in Israel. This is referring to the church; because in the New Testament, what was “the holy place”? It was the church that God had set up.
This also refers to “the abomination of desolation.” Is it desolate of people? No. People are still there. Revelation 18:2 said that it was “a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” and a “habitation of devils.”
This is why it is now an abomination. It is because Satan himself and his emissaries are working in the church like never before because God has taken Himself out. It is desolate of God and His people, but it is not desolate of human beings and Satan.
So He says in the next verse in Matthew 24 that when we see what was “spoken of by Daniel,” Matthew 24:16:
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
This is another issue and another topic. We will not get into this today, but this is another spiritual thing that you will now have to develop.
So what do we mean when we say that God has taken Himself out? Is this what the Bible really means? Does the Bible really say that God will take Himself out of the church?
Let us look at 2 Thessalonians 2 to continue to try to compare Scripture with Scripture in order to understand what is being referred to as Babylon in the book of Revelation. Is it really referring to the church of today and not to a city like San Francisco, or New York City where there is plenty of wickedness and immorality, at least publicly? So in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, we read:
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
And now we read of another mystery:
For the mystery…
So here is another clue phrase. It is very difficult, so we just have to compare Scripture with Scripture.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth…
Or “restrains” is another word for this Old English word.
…will let [restrain], until he be taken out of the way.
Or “out of the midst.”
…until he be taken out of the way [midst]. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
So what is happening here? This “mystery of iniquity” is already working.
The Bible is telling us that even back when this was written, decades after Christ was crucified, this mystery was already at work. Satan was still allowed to have his way. This is why every member of a church was not saved. Everybody who stood up in 1,250 A.D. and said “I accept Christ” was not saved. “The mystery of iniquity” was already working, but he was being restrained.
So God was restraining Satan’s work in the churches from the New Testament time when the church was first instituted, until when? Until He, the Spirit of God, was “taken out of the way [midst],” and then that wicked one would be revealed, which is the “abomination of desolation.” It is the cage of every foul and unclean spirit.
So the church is now a haven for the devil to work through deception. We all know of that proverbial picture of Satan in the red suit with the forked tail. But he works like he did with Eve, by deception, “Hath God said?” That is how he works, and the Bible tells us that he is the great deceiver.
Remember what Revelation was saying about Babylon? It said that the candlestick was no longer there and that the bride and the bridegroom were gone. Do we really know that this is referring to Christ? Was it really referring to the Spirit of God being taken out of the church or “Babylon,” whatever that is and if that is referring to the church?
Let us look at one more thing to tie this all together in Revelation 1. This sets up the whole book of Revelation. The context of the book of Revelation is set up in this first chapter about the seven churches. Let us go to Revelation 1:13:
And in the midst…
This is the same word as when the Holy Spirit was taken “out of the way.” Sadly, the King James translators translated this word in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 as “way” but it should have been “midst.”
So we read in Revelation 1:13:
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man…
This is referring to Jesus.
…clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Now verse 20, Revelation 1:20:
The mystery…
Jesus is now defining a mystery for us.
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels [or messengers] of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
So now the Bible is defining this “candlestick” as the church. The number seven in the “seven churches” is referring to the completeness of all the churches at the end of time when the knowledge of this Book would be unsealed. And Revelation 1:13 referred to someone who was “in the midst of the seven candlesticks,” or in the midst of the church as referred to in Revelation 1:20 because the mystery is defined for us.
So are you following this? The “seven candlesticks” of the “seven churches” represent all of the churches because the number seven represents all. For example, God created the whole world in seven days. He did not just create some of the world; He created all of it in seven days.
So as we read in Revelation 1:13, in the midst of the seven candlesticks or the churches was the Son of man, Jesus. He was “in the midst” of them. But 2 Thessalonians said that at the end of time, He would be taken “out of the midst”; and Revelation told us that “the faithful city” or that “great city” fell and became the “habitation of devils.”
When Christ came out, the devils came in with reckless abandonment. Now the churches are the hold of every foul spirit. Therefore, there is no truth there. There is no spiritual blessing there because now God is gone.
So this is what the reference to Babylon is all about, and this is why in Revelation 18:4 it says:
…Come out of her, my people…
This is why there is a command to “come out” and not to stay in order to try to reform it or to try to convince others. We are to “come out.” This is where we get this doctrine, and we do so by comparing Scripture with Scripture.
Do we see how we need to do this? We did not even do an exhaustive study. We are just scratching the surface. But do you see how we are to do this? We are to compare the same words with the same words.
So the “harlot” is referring to “Judah and Jerusalem” who represent Jesus’ chosen people. In the Old Testament, this is who they represented. In the New Testament, His focus and “the apple of his eye” was the church. In the Old Testament, it was Israel and Judah and Jerusalem, as Jerusalem was the capital of His nation.
Okay, we have time for maybe one more example. We are looking at how to study the Bible systematically. We are intrigued with the Scriptures and we want to know more, but we do not know how to understand the mysteries. We see the word “mystery” everywhere so far as we have read, and this is tough.
So does God have anything to say about numbers? Yes, He is very, very interested in math and numbers. They have meaning and there are reasons why numbers are used in the Bible, so let us look at one number.
For today, let us just look at the number four. Where does the number four show up in the Bible? How do we understand it? What does it teach us?
Let us look at two verses to understand the number four, then we will look at the spiritual meaning. The first one is in Isaiah 11. We are going back to the book of Isaiah, which is in the Old Testament after Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. In Isaiah 11:12, we read:
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Do you see the number four here? And what is the phrase? It is “the four corners of the earth.” The earth is not flat, so this is a picture. The “four corners” mean something.
When you think about the earth and its directions, what does the number four remind us of today? It reminds us of north, south, east, and west: the compass or the directions. The “four corners” are really encompassing the whole landscape, the whole earth, “the four corners of the earth.”
Go to Revelation 7:1 to look at the number four again. In Revelation 7:1, we read:
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
We see the number four several times in this verse, but let us pick up this phrase again, “the four corners of the earth.” So whatever is about to happen here, which is that “the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree,” we can now see is talking about the whole because it is referring to “the four corners of the earth,” meaning north, south, east, and west. The whole earth is in view here. So the number four is talking about something.
Another synonym for “everything” is “universal.” So what is
something that is universally true? What is universally true about all of
mankind, whether you speak Portuguese in Brazil or you are Asian or you are an
American and you speak speak English? There are many things
that are universal. For example, we all need food. Human beings all need food
and we all need to be loved. These are universal qualities in the human race,
even though each nation has specific things that might be different.
Four is talking about universality or all, meaning that the whole of something is in view. So let us look at one thing in Scripture to learn something about the number four.
Do you remember the story in John 11 of Lazarus when he was dead for awhile and Jesus came and raised him from the dead? In John 11:38-39, we read:
Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
So here we see the number four. Why four? Why did God tell us “four days”? We know that every word in the Bible is God-inspired and is therefore “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
So Lazarus was dead for four days, and then Jesus said in John 11:40-43:
Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
So what is important about this? Lazarus was dead for how long? He was dead for four days. How did he become alive again? Jesus called him and said, “Lazarus, come forth.”
This was a huge miracle, and what is the spiritual lesson in this? Can anyone put this together? We are talking about the four corners of the earth, the number four representing universality, and Lazarus was dead physically? What do you think is the spiritual lesson of this miracle?
We are all dead, but you and I are alive right now and everybody else that I can see is so far still breathing in this room, so we are “what” dead? We are all spiritually dead, as Romans 3:10-12 says:
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
So every human being is spiritually dead. God had said to Adam and Eve, “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Therefore, why are we dead? We are dead because of sin. “For the wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:23 says.
So we are all spiritually dead. This is why the Bible says that Lazarus was in the grave for four days and not three or five. It would have been just as dramatic a miracle if he had only been three days in the grave or two or if it was ten days, but God says that it was four days. In doing so, He taught a lesson here. There is a spiritual lesson in this. This means that we are all spiritually dead.
How do we then become alive? Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth.” Do you remember that Jesus said in John 10, “I am the good shepherd.” He said that He was the “shepherd of the sheep” and “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
You have to be called of God. He needs to call you to save you and to make you alive. You cannot just kind of somehow resurrect yourself. You cannot just try to do something in order to make yourself alive.
There is a great lesson in this on salvation, too. Lazarus was dead for four days and he was bound hand and foot with grave clothes. The Bible tells us that we are bound under Satan and his tyranny. Jesus looses us from this binding when He calls us and saves us. This is a beautiful picture.
So the Bible is filled with spiritual lessons that are deeper than the surface, because it is a mystery. This Book is a mystery. It is difficult and complex to get into it in this depth; but when you do, it is so rich and rewarding when you find truth.
You will not understand some things but that is okay. You just continue on and keep studying and keep looking for more understanding. Hopefully, the Holy Spirit will teach us as we compare spiritual with spiritual. He is the author of the Book and He is the teacher of the Book. The teacher is not me, it is not Chris, and it is not anybody else. The Bible is the Book by which the Holy Ghost will teach as we compare spiritual with spiritual.
I am going to close with this thought. I am not going to answer this one. I am going to give you a challenge, because this Book is a mystery. Maybe you will take this and work on this yourself if you are challenged by this, because this is yet another challenging mystery but there has to be truth somewhere. The only way to find the answer is by comparing Scripture with Scripture, which I will leave you to do.
We read in Exodus 33:11:
And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
The key here is:
And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face…
And this was reiterated and underscored afterwards:
…as a man speaketh unto his friend…
And yet when you go to verse 20 of the same chapter, we read something else. In Exodus 33:20-23, the Bible says:
And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand…
And listen to this:
…and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
And yet the Bible just said in Exodus 33:11 that the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”
How is this possible? Is this not contradictory?
It cannot be. The Holy Ghost wrote it, but the Holy Ghost is also the One who will interpret it. The only way to understand this is by researching the clue phrase “face to face” and see what this means, as well as what God means by “as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Look at these words and study them and dig out the meaning. Perhaps you will come to a conclusion that harmonizes these verses.
They have to be harmonized because we know that this is the Word of God. But this is a challenge that we do not have time to develop here. So I leave it with you as God the Holy Ghost hopefully and prayerfully will teach all of us every day as we read His Word. May we understand more and more truth as we dig deeper, “comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” Amen.