Meditation & Study: Opening Our Understanding of The Bible

God wants us to understand the Bible.

I want to share a question that has burrowed its way into my mind and will not leave.

I want you to consider the question honestly, openly, and sincerely. In your own heart and mind, I want you to delve into the answer because I believe that the root of the answer to this question is the truth of why we struggle to understand the Bible.

The question:

Why do you want to go to Heaven?

It seems rather elementary and self-explanatory.

Even as I typed it out, I couldn't believe I was asking this question.

And yet there it is: Why do I want to go to Heaven?

Now, leave it there and go with me in another direction, and let’s ask another question:

What is the most challenging book of the Bible to understand?

Well, having been preaching for twenty-nine years and pastoring for over a decade. The book I am asked about the most is, you guessed it;

The Revelation.

What if I told you that our answer to the first question determines our ability for the Spirit of God to enlighten us about the answer to the second?

Let’s look at what I believe is a powerful truth that should lead to a bold awakening within our hearts!

This is how the Book of Revelation opens:

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:”

Revelation 1:1

When you read that, what does your mind immediately gravitate to?

“Things which must shortly come to pass”

Am I right? That’s where my mind has gone for decades. And it was only by the Holy Spirit impacting my heart with the truth that I saw the real meaning and the key to opening my understanding of the book of Revelation.

The focus isnt on “things must shortly come to pass.”

The focus of the entire book is built upon and gravitates around the opening words;

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The word “Revelation” means unveiling. When we read it by definition, we understand that in the book of Revelation, God the Father is unveiling His Son, Jesus Christ, to all through the message of the Revelation.

Every event, the scene described, and the prophecy given circulates the glorious unveiling of Jesus Christ and Him being honored by The Father through the fulfillment of Psalms One hundred and ten.

So consider this thought process!

Revelation isn’t about who the Anti-Christ is; it’s about the faithful Christ!

Revelation isn’t about the horsemen, the vials, the trumpets, or the seven seals; all of these things circulate the glorious coming of Jesus Christ to the earth to claim His inheritance, promised by his Father!

We struggle to understand the Revelation because we miss the central theme and purpose of the book: Jesus Christ!

Now, let’s return to that first question.

“Why do I want to go to Heaven?”

Our general thinking is we don’t want to go to Hell.

We consider more and determine we want to be reunited with those who have gone on before us.

This thought process is the same as we had about the Revelation and things to come, but not about Christ.

The truth is this: we should want to go to Heaven to be with Jesus, which should be enough.

Jesus should be my first, and as I mature, my singular reason for going to Heaven.

When Jesus becomes the central figure of my life, the Spirit of God can open the Bible more and more because Jesus becomes the central figure of my understanding and wanting to learn the Bible.

Now, if you are thinking, wow, I was so off point. Please don’t beat yourself up; I was too.

But now that I am looking for Jesus, things make much more sense in the Bible and my life.