Book 4 of Musings By Prayer Rather Than by Analysis
One can dissect the Bible until every word has been analyzed, including the definite and indefinite articles, and every preposition and conjunction, in every conceivable manner, and yet never understand what God is declaring.
In order to know what is being said, particularly in the prophetic declarations, one must hear from the Writer. This is done through prayer.
One could exhume the body of Beethoven and dissect every inch of the corpse. But no sonata or symphony would be found. Why is this? It is because the his gift of composing came from a spiritual source and guided Beethoven's inward, true person, not the house of dust in which his true personality resided.
It is true of the Bible also that no amount of dissecting will reveal the will of God to an individual. It is a fact that the scholars of the past and present have helped us in many ways, particularly with the careful translations that have come forth and also with commentaries, word studies, and other analyses.
All these painstaking efforts insure that we have the most accurate rendition of the original writings that is possible to make. Thank God for such diligent efforts.
But hearing from God is another matter. Knowing what God is saying at any particular point in time does not come from careful study alone, although I think we would be greatly helped in our day if we had more expository preaching and less repetitions of the current unscriptural traditions.
Also, the Prophets and the Book of Revelation cannot be understood by any degree of exegesis.
There is in addition the problem of when and how to apply the Scriptures. If someone sues us and wants ten thousand dollars, do we give him our house and car also? Probably not. Yet this is what Jesus taught.
The experienced Christian learns to read the Bible and then go to the Writer, the Holy Spirit, for wisdom in applying what he read. Isn't that the truth?
I don't guess any two writers have agreed on the configuration of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. Making a timeline to study the Book of Revelation leads one scholar in one direction and another scholar to a different conclusion.
Theologians have labored over Paul's Epistle to the Romans and have managed to destroy the moral strength of the Christian people by insisting that Paul meant we are saved by forgiveness alone and how we behave ourselves is not critically important in our redemption.
How many writers have made a considerable amount of money by predicting the time when the unscriptural "rapture" will take place?
It might be accurate to state Christian theology is divided into various schools of often contradictory thought. Yet the theologians are devout, intelligent scholars using the same Hebrew and Greek texts.
What is the explanation? It is simple and straightforward. God's Word was written by holy men who were guided by the Holy Spirit. God's Word can be interpreted and applied correctly only by holy people guided by the same Holy Spirit.
If all of us Christians would go to the Lord and ask Him for truth we would all be speaking the same thing.
Why don't we do that!
Above all, you must understand no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)